Painting Abstracts: Ideas, Projects and Techniques

I am a fiber artist and bought this book to help me in my abstract work. It doesn't disappoint. This book is an excellent resource on the topic.

Excellent book. Good approach to trying paintings and good information
shared with reader at appropriate points in book. Highly recommend it
to beginning as well as advanced painters--particularly artists new to
abstract concept.

A dead handy book this one--lots of good ideas. But the translation's a little off at times (especially some of the definitions). In fact, for me, half the fun of this book's figuring out what the heck the author's going on about. Once you've unbent the translation, Ms. van Vliet has plenty of practical tips for working in this genre. Definitely one for the atelier bookshelf.

For me, this book is too formulaic; it is more about "getting it right" than about awakening creative inspiration. While it is true that the abstract artist needs a good grasp of design, this is not the essence of abstract art; it is a medium for expressing intangibles visually.

If you believe a 'paint by numbers' kind of approach will give you confidence to begin, by all means start with Painting Abstracts. But if you want your abstracts to sing, I would recommend working from Mary Todd Beam's book, "Celebrate Your Creative Self." (She also has a new book coming out in March of 2009.)

For me, all the examples in "Painting Abstracts" have the same emotional temperature and use exactly the same visual metaphors. To get the idea of different visual metaphors, I would recommend looking at works by artists using other mediums, especially fibre artists and ceramic artists.

What I most find missing in this book is help with awakening inspiration: in the texture of rocks and leaves and trees for example, in different moods of water. Have you ever looked at a sunset that made you gasp? No doubt we cannot all aspire to creating the same emotional impact, but it is possible to put some of that feeling into an abtract painting.

Look further than this book if you want to do more than know how to handle your medium or how to create a pleasant design.

I love this book. I would recommend it to anyone who wants some instruction in abstract art. Very easy to follow & all kinds of ways to use all sorts of media.