See For Yourself

Study of Rocks at Glenfinlas: John Ruskin

The art shelves of our public libraries are laden with  how-to-do-it books which are there to enthuse the amateur artist. In the UK, typically they deal with watercolour painting. This is the medium with which so many  beginners choose to begin their struggles. It may not be a wise choice because it is a very difficult medium to handle successfully.More tractable media such as oil or acrylic are seen as more expensive or more "advanced". It is also more awkward to transport oil paintings to and from class.I expect that these books are aimed at the evening class market and the timid neophyte.They typically have titles similar to the following: Landscape in Half an Hour, or Landcape Free and Easy-I made those up. Landscape painting is not easy and never was, nor will be:not for Cotman,Cézanne,or Constable.You might  think that  the 10.000 hour rule would be more to the point here.If anyone offers to teach you the secrets of creating art be very wary. Tricks of the trade,if they exist, will only help you to imitate someone else.If you must imitate someone, as one does a little when starting out, then pick someone who produced good work. (it is unlikely that they will have written a how-to-do-it manual.)

I have looked at a few how-to-do-it books recently and my rough conclusion is that you will get somewhat better quality from an American author than an English one. Also, you are likely to find that if this author is established he probably (They are frequently he) trained as an illustrator and cannot escape his training.That is not a recommendation.

The technical side of painting is not excessively complicated.There is much information-and disinformation, available on the web if you need to know how to prepare for painting.You might want something which explained colour mixing and I would hope that any text would say something about at least one kind of colour system such as Munsell. It is very difficult describing and talking about colour but artists at any level should have some ability to make reasoned descriptions of the colours and the contrasts  they see.

The work illustrated in these texts is usually mediocre in the extreme.I don't think that I have seen one which I really liked.If you want to copy someone else's schemata look at the acknowledged masters and start from there.Copying has its place. The process of observation and recording is complex.We have our own idea even if we cannot execute it.This can be modified by study of other artists and of course by our own observation.If you must copy, then choose an artist of quality.But you will make no progress without putting in time to observe and literally, see for yourself.

So, are there any books which I would recommend? You could do worse than start at the very beginning with Ruskin's The Elements of Drawing.Ruskin had a lot more imagination than most who teach beginners in watercolour.His exercises are written in a friendly and thoughtfully practical manner which show that he had given time to thinking about the way to begin and been able to visualise someone starting out.He tells you how to set up a simple scene to draw and begin from there.But be warned,it isn't something you can pickup overnight.Nevertheless,as he says,it is easier to learn than piano playing. You can get a free copy of this book from Project Gutenberg  or an exceedingly cheap text for Kindle. If buying the book I would recommend the Dover reprint with introduction by Lawrence Campbell.