The Elements of Landscape Oil Painting: Techniques for Rendering Sky, Terrain, Trees, and Water

Beautiful book full of practical and useful landscape painting instruction. I have made about 3 paintings using the suggested instructions, and I am pleased with my progress. She offers help with colors, the handling of oil paint, brush strokes and more. It is divided into the parts that make up a landscape, such as trees, water, land and sky. The only thing I think I would like better: the images are a little dark. When I looked up her paintings on the internet, they were even more brilliant. I definitely recommend this book.

Brooker is a gifted teacher who writes with a clarity I haven't seen in any other painter's descriptions. She doesn't just repeat, "Fat over lean!" She describes exactly how one should proceed. She includes diagrams, very specific color comparisons, and even photographs of how familiar objects reflect light if that’s what it takes to be absolutely clear. In every demonstration, she emphasizes the thinking behind a successful painting. The book is filled with advice about how to avoid mistakes that scream, "Amateur!" I recommend the Kindle edition, which will allow you to appreciate and analyze the many lovely reproductions of other artist's work. Her demonstrations are, for the most part, pedagogical, not exciting. Fair enough. This is not a book for beginners or Sunday painters. She's writing for painters who hope to master the craft; a good part of that mastery is strategic thinking. Copying pretty pictures won't further that end.

I could immediately understand and put these techniques and color theory and mixing tips to use in my paintings. The included art examples are beautiful. The demo sections are very easy to follow. I have several books on oil painting but this is the most interesting and practically instructive. It was a little confusing to follow a couple of illustrations where the caption referred to rows but I think she meant columns, and at least one which captioned a brushstroke with a name she hadn’t defined or described in the text. I’ve looked for errata or how to contact the author without success.

I found the book helpful for explaining some things about understanding how to simplify a subject and conceptualize a landscape painting. The illustrations are often black and white, so I gave 4 stars, and it was definitely years ago, so the wording can be quaint. But on the whole I gained some insight and some new ways of thinking about organizing a painting, so it was a worthwhile read.

I am a huge fan of Suzanne Brooker. She is probably one of the most generous authors in painting out there. I own all of her books. I will keep buying them if she keeps writing them. I think that the most interesting aspect of her books for me is the use of color theory that is woven throughout. The use of underpainting in particular. She has also included painters that I have been totally unaware of. These are people that aren’t a part of the New York scene where I lived for thirty years. But, wow, are they interesting. Her books are well worth investing in.

Many artists limit their selection of paintings in their books to their own works. This book, in contrast, includes the artist's own works (particularly when she is showing, step by step, how she goes about painting), but also works from many other magnificent landscape artists. (In fact, this book first came to my attention because the cover features a work by Renato Muccillo). The paintings are very well selected to illustrate particular points she's making. I love that the instruction in this book encompasses both the big picture and the nitty gritty (such as brush techniques). While many art books are geared to beginners, this is an excellent art book that I believe has a lot to offer even for advanced painters. I consider myself intermediate, and it's perfect for me.

Very informative and worth owning

A beautiful dust cover on this hard backed book. This book is an engaging and successful how-to book on painting landscapes in oil. Extensive coverage in a step wise approach. As a neophyte in this medium and having previously worked in watercolors, I found the information very concise and "do-able". I am inspired to get started in this course. The example paintings are from a variety of artists and are beautiful and expert paintings. Very pleased with this purchase it will have a treasured place in my repertoire and library of art instruction books.

This book has many great applications and suggestions in creating vibrant landscapes.

Ótimo conteúdo, e o trabalho visual impecável.

Dieses Werk der renommierten Autorin und Künstlerin Suzanne Brooker ist eine wahre Freude. Es bietet unzählige Erkenntnisse für jeden, der sich praktisch oder als Kunstliebhaber für Landschaftsmalerei interessiert. Hier findet der Leser fundiertes Wissen und praktische Erfahrungen in einem Band. Die unzähligen Landschaftsformationen mit all ihren Elementen, von Wolkengruppen bis zu Methoden Blattwerk unter verschiedenen Lichtverhältnissen abzubilden, werden so dargestellt, daß sie für jeden mit guten Kenntnissen der Ölmalerei umgesetzt werden können. Die vorgestellten Methoden werden gut erklärt. Man spürt, daß hier eine passionierte Pädagogin ihre Erfahrungen teilen will. Ein besonderes Augenmerk wird dem Einsatz von Fotografien als Vorlagen gewidmet. Nicht alles kann malerisch umgesetzt werden. Der Blick des Fotografen muß sich vom Blick des Malers unterscheiden. Wie diese beiden Methoden Landschaften abzubilden, dennoch in einen kreativen Dialog treten können, was malbar ist, was nicht, welche Ausschnitte gute Kompositionen ergeben, welche ungünstig sind, all dies erläutert Brooker. Ein Buch der alten Schule, das mit seinen vielen Abbildungen und seinem Format unbedingt als Printausgabe erhalten bleiben sollte.

A very useful book for advanced students. Focuses on techniques. it could have added an angle in detail about how to convert a regular scene into an emotionally impactful piece

THIS BOOK IS ALL YOU NEED. The last time I squeezed a tube of open oil paint was twenty years ago. I got the urge to revisit my interest in landscape painting only recently, and decided I needed to recap on mixing and techniques... So I purchased book after book on the subject, and slowly filled up one shelf of the bookcase. A few book's I found quite helpfull, but none had that something special, a book that actually explained the magic of oil painting. Then I purchased this book, and finally I had it, a key that unlocked all those Questions I wanted answers to.The book is a tad on the top end of some people's book budget, but the information in this book is second to none. Those of you that have unanswered questions (like me) need only buy one book.