Acrylic Painter, The

A complete course on acrylic painting forbeginners and experienced artiststhat covers classic approaches and new innovations Embraced for versatility, quick-drying properties, and non-toxicity,no medium offers a wider range of effects forcreating highly expressive art than acrylics. With its flexibility and ease of use, acrylic paint is a must-try for painters-no matter your skill level. Here noted artist and School of Visual Artsinstructor James Van Patten draws from years of experience to show you how to use acrylics to achieve a variety of results-from watercolor-like transparency and the flatness of tempera and gouacheto the buttery quality of oils. He presents an insider's look at the most up-to-date tools, materials, and techniques used by top painters in the medium toproduce highly expressive art. Van Patten offers guidance on materials, processes, balance, and composition, and focuses on effectively using color in painting. Replete with detailed step-by-step technical demonstrations and a catalog of inspiring works by notable past and contemporary artists, as well as the author himself and his students, The Acrylic Painterprovides a complete, classic art instruction manual for painters of all abilities in one of today's most popular types of paint.

Table of Contents:
CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction 01 Chapter 01 ACRYLIC PAINTS AND ADDITIVES 03 Types of Acrylic Paint 04 Additives 21 Chapter 02 PALETTES, BRUSHES & OTHER PAINTING TOOLS 31 The Palette: Dry or Wet? 32 Brushes 34 Other Studio Supplies 41 Keeping Clean and Cleaning Up 42 Chapter 03 SURFACES FOR PAINTING 45 Prestretched Canvases 46 Stretching Your Own Canvas 47 Gesso 50 Panels 54 Paper and Board Grounds 56 Chapter 04 VISUAL EXPERIENCE 59 Really Seeing What You’re Looking At 60 The Elements of Visual Experience 61 Chapter 05 COLOR 75 Color Theory Basics 76 Mixing Colors 91 Chapter 06 YOUR VISION AS A PAINTER 97 Choosing a Style 98 Choosing a Subject 109 Chapter 07 ACRYLIC PAINTING TECHNIQUES 121 Underpainting 122 Using Photographs 127 Overpainting 132 Painting Hard Edges 136 Blending 138 Glazing 139 Impasto Painting 143 Letting the Painting Communicate with You 147 Chapter 08 FINISHING AND PRESENTING A PAINTING 151 Protecting the Surface 152 Matting, Mounting, and Framing Under Glass 153 Framing Works on Canvas or Board 156 The Next Painting 159 About the Author 162 Index 163

About the Author :
James Van Patten is a native of Seattle, Washington, where he graduated from the University of Washington in 1965 with a BA in art education with an emphasis on painting. He completed his MFA in 1968 in Painting with minors in both Art History and Printmaking from Michigan State University. He has taught painting (as well as other studio classes), and lectured in art history at the university level in the ensuing years on both coasts and in the Midwest. Presently, he is a professor of painting at the School of Visual Arts in New York, NY. There he has taught the only course in acrylic techniques offered by SVA for over twenty years. He's spent bulk of his career in the studio as a practicing artist, working primarily in acrylic paint on large-scale landscape paintings. OK Harris, New York, NY represented him exclusively for over thirty years, and for over a decade the Plus One Gallery of London has shown his work exclusively in England. His work is featured in collections throughout the United States and Europe.

Review :
"This beautifully illustrated and clearly written book is destined to become the Bible for acrylic painters. Based on a lifetime of experience as a painter, Van Patten walks the reader through the various properties of competing brands and products of acrylic paint, brushes, additives and supports.  He describes and demonstrates a wide variety of techniques including blending, layering, feathering, rewetting, glazing, stippling, wet-into-wet and much more besides.  Van Patten also discusses a broad swath of artistic endeavors ranging from hyper-real rendering to painterly abstraction.  He introduces basic color theory and shows how knowledge of it can be used in practical situations.  Along the way the book is peppered with tips on studio practice, demonstrations, analysis of paintings, solutions for framing  and a great deal of sheer enthusiasm for both the medium and the art of painting in general. It's hard to imagine a book that could be more useful, practical, informative and inspiring for an acrylic painter." —JOHN PARKS, painter and faculty member at the School of Visual Arts in New York, author of Universal Principles of Art “ James Van Patten shares his world of painterly know-how as a masterchef communicates a lifetime of kitchen savvy. This book is redolent withthe taste of color, the sound of paint, the smell of canvas . . . and repletewith visual spectacle. It’s easy to consume, just follow the recipes.” —MARILYNN GELFMAN KARP, author of In Flagrante Collecto, professor of art at New York University “James Van Patten is an innovative and gifted technical painter whobrings decades of insight into the making of this book.” —JAMES KIRK and MARK R. SMITH, artists and educators