The New Oil Painting: Your Essential Guide to Materials and Safe Practices

by Kimberly Brooks

Overview

Oil painting is a timeless yet endlessly adventurous medium, but many painters feel daunted by the overwhelming variety of materials or the thought of using dangerous solvents. All of that changes now. The New Oil Paintings walks you step-by-step through oil painting fundamentals-the nature and history of pigments, which materials you actually need, how to set up your painting space-and most revolutionary of all, how to eliminate harmful solvents from your work and replace them with safer, more environmentally friendly substitutes. Whether you're a true beginner or have been painting with oils for years, you will find that this book has everything you need to build a thriving, new, safe practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781452184791
Publisher:	Chronicle Books
Publication date:	06/15/2021
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	295,545
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 5.00(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Kimberly Brooks is a contemporary American painter who lives and works in Los Angeles. The New Oil Painting is her first book.

Table of Contents

Introduction 8

Understanding Your Materials

Your Space 14

Paint 18

Mediums 58

Solvents 84

Brushes 96

Palettes 104

Surfaces 108

Digital Technology 126

Non-Art Store Supplies 130

Best Practices

Setting the Table 142

Tone Your Canvas First 146

Color Mixing Golden Rules 150

Light over Dark, Fat over Lean 156

Think in Three Dimensions 160

Studies & Maquettes 164

Cleaning Brushes 168

Storing Your Work 176

Framing & Painting the Sides 180

Documentation 184

Varnishing 188

Safety 194

Art Is Love 198

Glossary 200

Resources 205

Bibliography 206

Acknowledgments 209

About the Artist 211

Index 212

Editorial Reviews

This is no ordinary how-to-paint book. Instead, artist Brooks assumes readers have mastered the rudiments of the art and focuses on the composition of materials required for painting, such as solvents like turpentine (which, in her opinion, are to be avoided) as well as everything else comprising the paint environment.” —Booklist Starred Review

“A one-stop resource for both experienced and novice artists who want to paint in oils without exposing themselves and the environment to harsh solvents.” -Artists Magazine

"It's strange, since so many thousands of people enjoy (and are obsessed by) painting, that there is such a lack of good guidebooks. There are some amazing doorstops that are nearly impossible to use, and there are dozens of colorful how-to manuals that offer limited information. Kimberly Brooks's The New Oil Painting is unique in the field: it's comprehensive, up to date, and friendly—exactly what painters need to have by their side." —James Elkins, Chair of art history, theory, and criticism at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and author of What Painting Is

"I learned to think about paintings three-dimensionally...among many other things. I now know things about linseed oil its own mother doesn't know." —Cintra Wilson, culture critic for The New York Review of Books

"Insightful, straightforward.... I have been painting for a long time, yet I learned many things from this book. It would be a great addition to any studio—keep it near your painting table." —Enrique Martinez Celaya, artist

From the Publisher