Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting

Me encanto.

If you are a landscape painter, then this is one of the books to have in your collection. The theory and principals to approach a landscape painting are timeless and need to be part of your thinking process when you have a brush in hand.

Good explanation of concepts and techniques.

Excellent information, but it would be improved by color photos. Maybe it was published in a time when using color was prohibitively expensive, but I was surprised to see that this iconic book was in B&W. That said, you don't need color photos to benefit from the info on composition, perspective, values, and (especially in the case of values) sometimes color makes it more difficult to see. OTOH, it would be helpful to have at least a few examples showing how colors are mixed to create that value change. Beginners tend to think that some colors (like brown) are dark, while some (like yellow) are light, and they can't see the fact that every color has light and dark values until someone shows them exactly how that works by converting a colored image to grayscale. It's a shame that examples of this aren't available in this book. Still, it's a small flaw in an otherwise excellent amount of information.

No easy read, this book is blowing my mind with method as well as philosophy on landscapes and art in general. It is changing the way I see the world around me. I took a workshop with a master landscape painter who told me it was the ONE absolutely essential book to any student or artist. He has several copies and rereads it even to this day after painting for over 40 years.It is in the school of abstract expressionist design to express what you are seeing. It encourages the artist to use nature as a well spring for inspiration and a starting point, and is not at all about dry literal copying of exactly what you see. There are valuable insights as to how to pick an "idea" you are supporting in your image, as well as the tools to render it, because art is an expression, first and foremost. It is technically and spiritually wonderful. Much of the advice could cross over to other styles of art. There are so many lines in the book I would like to quote, but here are two:"Art is a thing of the imagination. The underlying principles, the fundamentals, should be so hidden away by the beauty they are eventually to support, that it would require much digging to disclose them."and"There is no irresponsible or accidental child's play about the composing of a fine picture. Men like Leonardo, Michelangelo or Rubens were men of fine intellect as well as of sensitivity. Pure beauty is an orderly quality which seldom emanates from imbeciles or charlatans."While you will find very useful basic information on materials, etc, do not expect a "How to draw fence posts" type book. This book is a masterpiece. I plan to read it many many more times. If provides a vehicle for total self expression, which only years of tireless application can yield, yet spares the reader years of trial and error with timeless instruction on elements of atmosphere and technical laws known to the masters, thus delivering hope and inspiration.No serious artist should be without this book. I'm so grateful for it, and I sprang for the hard copy.

Although this book was written years ago and the illustrations are in black and white, it is still the go-to book for landscape painting. Every landscape painter should have it in their library.

This book is a treasure trove of solid art fundamentals. I highly recommend to anyone who is starting or has been painting landscapes for a while to add this to their library.

My book arrived with two chunks of the back cover missing. It did not happen in the mail, it was put in the box this way.The book itself was just what I wanted.