Conversations in Paint : A Notebook of Fundamentals

by Dunn, Charles

• ISBN13: 9781563056642
• ISBN10: 156305664X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1995-01-10
• Publisher: Workman Pub Co

Summary

A fresh introduction to the fundamentals, conversations in paint (previously titled The Principles of Painting) is part painter's sketchbook, part philosopher's journal, part instructor's primer. If you paint, it will give new insight into your work. If you don't paint, it will inspire you.It is also a unique object in its own right, a book as work of art. Developed as a sketchbook, the pages are crammed with watercolor sketches that look as if they've been painted right on the page, plus diagrams, charts, and reproductions of old masters and contemporary artists. Quotations from Cezanne to such unexpected authors as Harvey Penick are printed in a specially designed typeface based on the author's handwriting, giving each spread the intimate, layered quality of Sara Midda's books. Indeed, the spread-designed with text, quotes, illustrations and captions, to be read and absorbed on its own-is the book's basic building block. Open the book anywhere and learn something new about painting. About seven ways an artist sees. About the language of line. About mood and the four ways to stimulate emotion. About perspective, light and shade, style, composition, drawing, technique, mass, scale. And, from a life-long teacher, a little section at the end of the book about "Learning-applicable to any area of life.

Table of Contents

Introduction	8	(13)
Seeing	13	(22)
See For Yourself	14	(8)
Seven Ways the Artist Sees	16	(6)
The Language of Painting Aesthetic Conventions	22	(6)
Seeing in Symbols	24	(2)
Form Follows Function	26	(2)
Style	28	(7)
Exotic Locations and Local Equivalents	30	(2)
Learning From the Masters Looking at Paintings	32	(2)
Tastes Change	34	(1)
Principles	35	(52)
The Fatigue Mutations	38	(2)
Design Contrast	40	(12)
Gradation	40	(2)
Theme and Variations Major and Minor Themes	42	(2)
Restraint	44	(2)
Every Picture is Not a Painting	46	(2)
Center of Interest	48	(2)
Design Principles May Combine	50	(2)
Pattern	52	(16)
Organizing Principles	54	(2)
Element Patterns	56	(2)
Combining Patterns	58	(2)
Organizing Patterns	60	(2)
Balance	62	(2)
Passage and Counterchange	64	(2)
Patterns of Clarity and Interest	66	(2)
Type	68	(10)
Instinctive Types	70	(2)
Acquired Types	72	(2)
Formal Types	74	(2)
Using Type	76	(2)
Emotion	78	(9)
Mood	80	(2)
Stimulating Emotion	82	(2)
Organizing Emotion	84	(3)
Materials	87	(64)
Color	88	(16)
Basic Characteristics Color in Nature and Paint	90	(2)
The Three-Value System	92	(2)
Relative Clarity	94	(2)
Secondary Characteristics	96	(2)
Color Relationships	98	(2)
Balance and Organization	100	(2)
Seven Ways to Use Color Open and Closed Color	102	(2)
Line Generating a Line	104	(10)
The Language of Line	106	(2)
Lost and Found Edges	108	(2)
Hierarchy of Edges	110	(2)
Texture the Golden Section	112	(2)
Mass	114	(6)
Form Description and Surface Texture	116	(2)
Figure and Ground	118	(2)
Volume	120	(31)
The Picture Box	122	(2)
Perspective Defined	124	(2)
One-Point Perspective	126	(2)
Two-and Three-Point Perspectives	128	(2)
Proportional Division	130	(2)
Uphill and Downhill Illusions	132	(2)
Compromise Perspectives	134	(2)
Overlap Perspective	136	(2)
Aerial Perspective	138	(2)
Light and Shade	140	(2)
Scale	142	(2)
Volume Control	144	(2)
Look Into, Look Through, Look Over	146	(2)
The Sense of Space	148	(3)
The Bridge	151	(4)
Style, the Bridge From Theory to Practice	152	(2)
Personal Profile	154	(1)
Procedure	155	(38)
Planning	156	(18)
The Notated Sketch	158	(2)
The Plan View	160	(2)
Pattern Schemes	162	(2)
Format and Horizon	164	(2)
Point of View and Key	166	(2)
Color Plans	168	(2)
Composition	170	(2)
Drawing	172	(2)
Painting	174	(8)
The Underpainting	176	(2)
Notan: The Second Layer	178	(2)
Layering	180	(2)
Editing Spotting: The Final Darks	182	(11)
Calligraphy the Line-and-Wash Job	184	(2)
Framing	186	(2)
The Crit	188
Fine Points	109	(84)
Learning	193	(13)
The Purpose of Learning Apperceptive Mass	194	(2)
The Gateway to Learning	196	(2)
The Pathway to Memory	198	(2)
The Pleasures of Practice	200	(2)
The Autonomous Stage The Anitdote to Tension	202	(3)
Picture Credits	205	(1)
Bibliography	206