Daily Painting by Carol Marine

Daily Painting by Carol Marine ISBN-13: 9780770435332 Trade Paperback: 192 pages Publisher: Watson-Guptill Released: November 4, 2014

Source: Review copy from the publisher through Blogging for Books.

Book Description, Modified from Back Cover:
Jump-start artistic creativity, experimentation and growth, and increase sales--for artists of all levels, from novices to professionals. Author Carol Marine was suffering from painter's block--until she discovered "daily painting." The idea is simple: do art (usually small) often and post it online. Marine reveals the tips and tricks that helped her and other daily painters pick up the paintbrush and start creating beautiful, bountiful, marketable work.


My Review:
Daily Painting is a book about painting, though much of it applied to any art medium. The author paints mainly in oil, but watercolor and acrylic paintings and even an ink drawing are used in the illustrations.

I was already painting small and often when I picked up this book since I've found this a great way to learn how to paint. I still found this book encouraging and useful. She suggested working in 6" by 6" panels (or similar small size) and setting aside a regular time to paint--daily, weekly, whatever--so you can get regular practice.

She described what daily painting is, why you should do it, and the materials and set-up she uses (mainly oils to paint still life, but she also suggested other topics to paint). She then taught the basics of value, color mixing, proportion, and composition. She described how she works--a "loose" style in oils. Then she moved on to advice from different artists in dealing with artistic block. She wrapped up the book by describing how to photograph your work to post it online and how to sell your work online. She gave enough detail for all but the most novice computer users.

I was left wondering how one ships a painting in the mail--it's assumed we will, but it's not described. Perhaps there are no special considerations so she didn't feel the need to include it. Otherwise, she did a good job of describing daily painting and the process of photographing and selling art online.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.