INTRODUCTION
If you’re reading this book, it is likely that you found your way here because of my first book, Landscape Painting: Essential Concepts and Techniques for Plein Air and Studio Practice. That book has been the best-selling book on landscape painting in the United States for over ten years. Readers often write to me, telling me how helpful they found it.
The obvious question, then, is why another book on landscape painting? Quite simply, there was more to say and more to show. In the years between the publication of my first book and The Landscape Painter’s Workbook, I grew both as an artist and as an instructor. I developed new material and new exercises for my workshops, which were working very well for my students. These needed to be shared.
WHAT’S NEW IN THE LANDSCAPE PAINTER’S WORKBOOK?
The Landscape Painter’s Workbook differs from my first book in three significant ways. First, it covers entirely new topics that were not included in the first book, such as “complete” color strategies, color grouping, the harmony of neutrals, picture formats, notan, and movement.
Second, it includes over ten useful exercises. Over the years, I realized that watching demonstrations or following them in a book, although inspiring, was not as helpful as exercises that showed painters how to do it themselves—and do it in a way that was achievable. If you do these exercises, I believe you will make faster progress and have more “ah-ha!” moments than if you only read about them or look at the illustrations.
Third, Workbook is intended for painters working in any media, not just oil. The lessons and exercises on shape, composition, and color are universal and so are applicable to all landscape painters. Workbook features more than forty-five contemporary painters—over eighty paintings in all—working in oil, acrylic, pastel, and watercolor. Regardless of what medium or style you prefer, you’ll find meaningful lessons in this book.
A QUESTION-ORIENTED APPROACH
In my workshops, I always tell students that the difference between painters who make progress and those who don’t isn’t necessarily talent. It’s whether or not they have trained themselves to ask the right questions. Solutions to painting problems are much more difficult to come by if we don’t know what questions to ask. For example, when I present new ideas about composition, no one ever has a problem seeing what I am referring to—once it’s pointed out to them. In large part, what this book does is teach painters what to look for in their subjects and what questions to ask about shape interpretation, composition, and color. Each chapter also concludes with a Q&A section that summarizes the key questions for that topic.
Mitchell Albala, Study, Grasser’s Lagoon in Gold, oil on gold gesso ground, 8" × 8" | 20.5 × 20.5 cm
We all want to be motivated and inspired. These feelings are the fuel that keeps our creative engines humming. But to make real progress on our creative path, to improve our skill level, we also need practices and principles that are understandable and can be readily applied. That’s why I have written this book and why I have made each lesson and exercise as practical and realizable as possible.
I have adopted the practices I promote, and as a result, I’m a better problem solver and a better painter. It really works! I have asked the same questions you are asking now, about shape, composition, and color. This book contains the answers I’ve found. It is my sincere hope that if you apply these lessons and do the exercises, achieving your goals in painting will become easier, faster, and more enjoyable.
MITCHELL ALBALA