Realistic Abstracts: Painting abstracts based on what you see

Bought for inspiration. Fits the bill perfectly. Excellent quality photographs of other artist's works. I look and read the contents often. It would make an excellent coffee table book.

Good. Lots to inspire.

Bought this on a whim whilst browsing.... It must be fate, I feel like this is the book I've been waiting for! It clarifies and make sense of the confusion in your head when you know in essence how you want your paintings to look and feel but can't quite pull it all together! Read it in one sitting and now feel inspired. If you're a beginner looking for a book on technique, this is not it, and it's not about realism. This is about composition, using marks and colour to create vibrant impressionistic paintings expressing how you feel about what you see or simply putting paint onto paper and seeing what happens. Liberating!!

Interesting book which I bought after seeing at a friend's house. Doesn't exactly give you step by step instructions, but does explain the theory of how to do them, plus gives lots of insight into colours and how they work together. Lots of nice pictures as examples, and as a crafter, rather than a painter, many of the techniques mentioned are ones I use already. It's a nice book to have, but for a non-painter it's a little confusing at times, though not being restricted by any structured art training myself, it's maybe easier to produce abstracts than for someone who has been trained in more precise techniques.

I have always painted realistic pictures but when I found this volume it really changed my perspective. The work of several well chosen artists is reviewed and appraised very competently by the author. It is a delight to read and the colourful illustrations chosen are a feast for the eyes. This is a truly inspirational book that will intice an artist away from realism, away from the photo references we cling to and into the world of abstractions, seemlessly, and before you know it, you too could be experimenting with colour and form and your imagination.

But scruffy but ok, no worse than expected. Satisfactory.

The front cover, and a few of the illustrations inside, are very interesting and to my eyes fall under the category of "realistic abstracts". However most of the book consists of water colours that look to me more like preparatory sketches than finished pieces. If they were my attempts I wouldn't be happy to show them, much less publish them in a book. To that degree, they didn't inspire me, and inspiration is the stated aim of the book. That said, I can certainly use and develop some ideas from the book and at a cover price of £12.99 even if I take away only one idea it would be worth the money.

Sadly, I can't say very much about the book, as it never turned up if it had I would've been delighted.

Molto bello , interessante tecnica da provare per gli amanti dell'acquarello ! Soprattutto come con alcune macchie di colore si ha la suggestione di intravedere certe forme e paesaggi inventati

I hadn't clued in that it was all about watercolor but still quite useful and I was able to use some information for oil painting. A nice book.

I am an accomplished painter, using mainly oil and watercolor, and have been trying to find a way to free and loosen my tehcnique and approach, and get away from being too close to reality. This book is exactly what I was looking for. Contracrary to the 2 negative reviews, the book gives extremely helpful, clear, concise, and complete advice on ALL important aspects that would contribute to achieving successful results. Throughout my life as a painter, I have bought many art books (some of them on how to loosen your style and hand), but I find this one to be the most helpful and inspirational. I was negatively surprised by the comments of the reviewer who gave 1 star to the book when she said that all the points and advices covered in the book could be found in other books, as if the author was to invent a new magical formula, pill, or potion in art that could help artists instantly imporve their work!!!! The book also includes an impressive amount of outstanding work by other artists, ranging from almost abstract to almost realistic work. This greatly helps the reader to get a wide spectrum of possible approaches to compare and choose from. I only refgret that the book did not give a brief bio on each of them. Though the book focuses on watercolor and acrylic, the same principles, rules, and approaches it provides could be applied to all other media. Finally, the quality of the reproduction of all paintings is outstanding, making it a great pleasure to admire all the works reproduced. If you are trying to change and loosen your style, this is THE book to buy and read!!

Excellent little book. Some great inspirational ideas. Well worth it.

水彩画で風景画に挑戦中の妻が、絵画教室の先生から貸してもらって気に入り、手元に置きたいというので購入しました。水彩で風景を描くときに、すべての細部まで写実的に描写せず、主部以外の背景などをいかに省略して表現するかのヒントがいろいろと見つかると言って重宝しています。