Foundations of Classical Oil Painting by Lea Colie Wight

Foundations of Classical Oil Painting by Lea Colie Wight ISBN-13: 9781440352423 Paperback: 144 pages Publisher: North Light Books Released: Sept. 25, 2018

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from Goodreads:
Professional painting instructor Lea Colie Wight demystifies the formulaic process of oil painting into a simple approach to help you paint confidently and accurately in full color. Develop a core foundational skill set to develop your paintings and discover a signature way of working from life that can be applied to figure painting, portraits, landscapes and still life. Though the focus is on oils, the methods in this book can be applied to all painting mediums including as acrylic, pastel and watercolor.

Informative lessons and simple exercises help to build confidence and lay the foundations for successful oil painting

Learn a straightforward system for painting realistically with a focus on accurate color.

4 full-length step-by-step demonstrations show how to paint a figure, a portrait, a still life and a landscape


My Review:
Foundations of Classical Oil Painting covered some basic, foundational principles behind painting that can be used to create still lifes, landscapes, and portraits. The author worked in oils, but the focus was more on the principles than specifically how to paint using oils. Also, she talked a lot about painting live scenes and how to work with models or changing light for stills and landscapes.

She first explained value and composition. She briefly covered anatomy and how to use it to draw people accurately. She also talked about three basic steps to get the proportions right and the values on the objects correct. She then talked about a way to add color to the scene so that the colors are accurate and so you don't gray out colors that need to be vibrant. She ended with some step-by-step demonstrations on how to do this entire process for figures, portraits, landscapes, and still lifes. I would recommend this book to painters who have trouble with these basics.


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.