Saturday, 8 November 2014

Book Review - Color Mixing Recipes for Portraits

Having a collection of about 100 art books I'm not inclined to buy any more, especially as bookshelf space is at a premium. However I am easily tempted and having bought many off Amazon in the past I constantly receive e-mails from them prompting me (they hope!) to buy more.

This modest little book was one such they recommended and as it was inexpensive I decided to take the plunge. One reason for doing so was that I, up to now, have based my colour choices on those of Charles Reid which basically are skin combinations of Cadmium Red Light, Yellow Ochre or Raw Sienna plus Cerulean. He does use other colours when painting people of different ethnicity but these are the main ones.

As well as Charles Reid I greatly admire the work of several other artists who paint portraits in watercolour, Lin Fealing, Stephie Butler, Stan Miller, Janet Rogers. Ted Nuttall and some of the Asian artists. And there are many others. The thing is they often use different colour combinations and I wondered if I ought to experiment a little more, especially as I regard my portrait painting still very much a work in progress. It may always remain so.


Approx.10" x 61/2"  48 pages £6.99p Amazon

MORE THAN 500 COLOR COMBINATIONS FOR SKIN, EYES, LIPS AND HAIR'

This isn't just about watercolour as other mediums feature but the basic principals relate to all. The author is William F.Powell who is described as `an internationally recognized artist and one of America's foremost colourists'. 





The book is composed of profusely illustrated descriptive pages, all similar in layout to those above. I haven't actually used it much - yet - but I think it could be very useful. Is it worth buying? Certainly if you are into portraits or even figures it could be very helpful and at the price - second hand copies are even cheaper -  is a steal.

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9 comments:

  1. Ray Maclachlan Art8 November 2014 at 13:05

    Thanks Peter, looks interesting.

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  2. Peter Ward8 November 2014 at 14:32

    Yes it is Ray.

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  3. markmors9 November 2014 at 13:46

    Hello,
    Thanks for showing some pages of the book. I always like to look thru a book as much as possible for buying it.
    I am guessing the other books in this series follow the same layout.

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  4. Unknown10 November 2014 at 01:11

    I buy too many books too, and this one looks just too interesting for me to stop my buying addiction just yet. Thanks for the tip Peter!

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  5. Peter Ward10 November 2014 at 04:20

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. Peter Ward10 November 2014 at 04:21

    It's a modest little book David but crammed full of interesting `stuff' - if you are into portraits.

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  7. Peter Ward10 November 2014 at 14:40

    Thanks for comment Markmors - a useful little book indeed.

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  8. Jayelle21 November 2014 at 21:31

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  9. Peter Ward23 November 2014 at 03:15

    Thanks for comments Jayelle. I wouldn't go overboard about the book but given the price I think it a worthwhile and useful buy.

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