Anita M. Giddings & Sherry S. Clifton 
Oil Painting For Dummies 

Nobody ever said that oil painting was easy. But it gets much
easier and a lot more fun when you follow a step-by-step approach
that starts you off on the right foot, helps you build your skills
one at a time, and gives you plenty of exercises to develop your
craft. That’s what you’ll find in Oil Painting For
Dummies.

Completely free of arty jargon, this full-color guide has all
the hands-on instruction you need to master the basics.
You’ll see how to plan a painting, build an image in layers,
mix colors, and create stunning compositions. You’ll also
find everything you need to know about oil paints, solvents, and
pigments; brushes, palettes, and painting surfaces; and how to keep
costs down at the art supply store. Discover how to:

* Choose the right supplies

* Set up your studio and care for your equipment

* Handle your materials safely

* Develop your design and composition skills

* Make practice sketches and studies

* Use broken stroke, dry brush, glazing, scraffito and other
brush strokes

* Try out different compositions

* Mix any color you want

* Simplify tricky still-life subjects

* Paint landscapes and common objects out doors

* Paint portraits and the human form

Complete with handy color chart, basic materials list, and a
very useful viewing square, Oil Painting For Dummies is the
fun and easy way to discover your inner artist!

Table of Content

Introduction.

Part I: Getting Your Feet Wet in Oil Paint.

Chapter 1: So You Want to Paint.

Chapter 2: Getting to Know Your Oils.

Chapter 3: Assembling Your Materials.

Chapter 4: Preparing to Paint.

Chapter 5: Walking Through the Painting Process.

Part II: Break Out the Brushes and Start Painting!

Chapter 6: A Study in Black and White.

Chapter 7: Mixing Color and Three Oil Studies.

Chapter 8: Putting Paint to Canvas: Brushstrokes and Glazing
Techniques.

Part III: People, Places, and Things.

Chapter 9: Tricky Still Life Subjects Made Easy.

Chapter 10: Take It Outside: Landscapes.

Chapter 11: Basic Portrait Painting 101.

Chapter 12: Beyond Portraiture: More on Painting People.

Part IV: Color and Design.

Chapter 13: Planning Your Painting.

Chapter 14: Shape, Space, and the Surface of Your Painting.

Chapter 15: How the Parts of a Composition Work Together.

Chapter 16: Communicating Ideas Visually.

Chapter 17: Using Color with Confidence.

Part V: The Part of Tens.

Chapter 18: Ten Strategies to Immediately Improve Your
Painting.

Chapter 19: Ten Artists You Should Know: The Painter’s
Painters.

Index.

About the author

Anita Giddings and Sherry Stone Clifton are award-winning artist-educators who have made careers out of teaching beginning artists of all aspirations.