The Simple Secret to Better Painting

July 1, 2003
Beware of art teachers offering the one secret to painting, whether it be a new brush or a new design concept. In the case of Albert's book, however, read carefully and discover a very old and universal concept that really will improve one's work. Albert, who is editorial director of North Light Books, also teaches at the Art Academy of Cincinnati. Simply put, his rule is "never make any two intervals the same." In a carefully designed, progressive text, he applies the concept to intervals of distance, length, spacing, and dimension, as well as those of tonal value and color. Concise, abstract diagrams and sketches evoke movement, stasis, lightness, heaviness, boredom, tension, and chaos. As the theory becomes more complex, the works of contemporary artists, like Frank Webb and Tony Couch, are used to buttress it. In The Painter's Workshop, Dews (Creative Discoveries in Watermedia) puts her years teaching workshops to practical use, offering a good if unexceptional manual on composition and design. She uses the elements of line, shape, space, form, color, value, and texture to explore issues of proportion/scale, unity/variety, contrast, and rhythm/repetition. The works of six professional artists illustrate the concepts in a variety of media and styles. Though it goes unmentioned, Dews's theory has a firm basis in the Greek design doctrine of the Golden Section (or the Golden Proportion). Of the two, Albert's work makes the more imaginative contribution to the field and is highly recommended for all collections.

Copyright 2003 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

April 15, 2003
\deflang1033\pard\plain\f3\fs24 Albert's how-to reduces compositional guides to one "master rule": never make any two intervals--of distance, length, spacing, and dimensions of shapes, or the value intervals on a value scale and colors on the color wheel--the same. His discussion of the "golden rule" and its uses entail an exploration of design dynamics, an examination of the finer points of dynamic balance, tonal value, and contrast, and application of the theoretical knowledge to analyses of still lifes, landscapes, and portraits. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)