Amazon.com.au:Customer reviews: The New Oil Painting: Your Essential Guide to Materials and Safe Practices

Reviewed in Australia on 5 June 2021

This book has saved me years of trial-and-error experimentation in working with oil paint. As an acrylic artist I was long in awe of the grand tradition of oil painting but felt overwhelmed by all the equipment and put off by the dangerous solvents I believed were necessary for the practice.

Kimberly Brooks has allayed all my concerns in this engaging and accessible guide that revives the non-toxic techniques of pre-nineteenth century painters. I now enjoy the freedom of working with oil in almost any setting and experience a greater creative freedom without the guesswork.

Kimberly Brooks’ knowledge, whilst steeped in history is imparted with the practical know-how of a practising, contemporary artist who is literally in conversation with today’s art world.

Helpful

Deirdre E Siegel

Oil painting explained

Reviewed in Australia on 5 May 2022

Verified Purchase

This is a book about Oil Paint,
it’s applications, surfaces, tools,
and safety when utilizing them :-)

Helpful

minimalist

disappointing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 2 September 2021

Verified Purchase

I started painting with oils about 2 months ago. To understand the medium I have read a fair bit online and in the books/magazines. I bought this book to learn what's new in oil painting, 'new' I haven't come across yet, especially how to not use any solvents, odourless or not. Sadly, out of about 200 pages there is very little information about this, in fact perhaps less than 10 pages and even that I had to look up online to understand further and was surprised to find much more information there. The rest is your usual - paints, brushes, set up, support...

I so wish the author would expand much more on the way she uses solvent alternatives but all what's offered is few recipes and then recommendation to experiment. Also, adding pictures to illustrate various ways of solvent alternatives would greatly enhance the book.

I have found very little new in this book and am returning it.

8 people found this helpful

Larry D. Marshall

Behind The Scenes Of Oil Painting

Reviewed in Canada on 19 November 2021

Verified Purchase

This isn't a "how to" book on painting. If we use driving a car as a metaphor, this book is more about how the engine and brakes work. As such, it fills an important information deficit we find in most general painting books. You learn about paints, mediums, surfaces and how each is formulated and why they work the way they do.

The author's principle theme is that oil painting doesn't have to use toxic chemicals and she succeeds in that. I think the one weakness of the book is that she mostly dismisses modern water-mixable oils, which may be a better alternative to her own approach. Unto itself this isn't a problem but to not even discuss them beyond an acknowledgement that they exist stands out as a deficiency in my view.

One person found this helpful

Amazon Customer

Instructif et bien écrit

Reviewed in Canada on 18 May 2022

Verified Purchase

Pour tous les niveaux de peintres

Translate review to English

Courtney Daniels

THIS BOOK CHANGED MY LIFE

Reviewed in the United States on 30 May 2021

Verified Purchase

It's like an art education packed into one little slim volume! I've been painting, with both acrylics and oils, for over 25 years, yet I learned so much. I had abandoned oils because I was tired of living with the smell of turpentine. But it's disappointing to go back to acrylic paint after the richness and nuance of oils! The plastic-like quality of acrylic paint and its super-fast drying time means you don't have time to work--it's already drying before you've even had a chance to think about what you're doing. And it looks more garish and amateurish, to me. I just love oil paint, and this book made it possible for me to embrace it again. Plus, you learn so much about how to set up your workspace, what traits different pigments have and why (I always knew some colors were thinner and some were more opaque than others, but I didn't know why!), what kind of palette to get and how to mix colors on it, and more. The chapters are short and sweet and the illustrations are charming and helpful. The author is a great guide to both beginners and experienced painters. Cannot recommend this book enough. Get it and start painting with OILS!

13 people found this helpful

Kate

Only for beginners

Reviewed in the United States on 16 September 2021

Verified Purchase

I was disappointed. I expected an in-depth discussion and instead got a shallow, superficial book. In the short bit about alkyd mediums she virtually dismisses them. She is glib about materials being “toxic” without any true understanding of what the term means. Her fear of “toxicity” is distressingly simplistic.

10 people found this helpful

Laura Malone

A must have resource

Reviewed in the United States on 31 May 2021

Verified Purchase

Move over Ralph Meyers' Handbook of Materials and Techniques! The New Oil Painting is a much needed revisiting of painting studio materials for the Green Age. You can still paint beautifully without damaging your lungs, your skin or the planet. If you have allergic reactions (as I do) to solvents and broadly available oil painting mediums - or if you simply care about our mother earth - you will be so grateful to Kimberly Brooks for putting together this book. Well researched, tested, and easy to read, you will reach for this book to guide you in creating the studio practice you need in order to paint safely and skillfully, with the effects you want. Every artist should have The New Oil Painting on their bookshelf - no, next to their computer for the next time they shop for supplies.

10 people found this helpful

AnnieMac48

Oil painters must read

Reviewed in the United States on 3 June 2021

Verified Purchase

Even if you are comfortably grounded in your own practice, this book is an essential for the painter's library. Kimberly breaks down every element of oil painting in a manner both practically useful and complete, as well as delightfully engaging. Her degree in chemistry, together with her unparalleled generosity in sharing the fruits of her thirty year love affair with the joys and vagaries of painting with oil, come together here in a clear and readily accessible fashion. The thoughtful painter, particularly in oils, will find themselves returning often, seeking both technical information and the reassurance of her unique and encouraging style.

7 people found this helpful

Ale

Informative. This is a must have for any oil painter

Reviewed in the United States on 10 September 2021

Verified Purchase

The book explains the different products that have been used for varnishing and thinning paint in detail, in history and up to today.
The best part is the concept of painting with solvents or at least minimize the use of it. It’s a game changer and totally doable.
I know understand the composition of all mediums out there and how their properties affect paint. I have been painting with oils for 4 years now, and there are tons of things we do because we were told that’s the way to do it. Specially that you need solvent to thin your paint at all times adding more at the beginning and reducing as you add top layers of paint.
Instead of going that direction you can use solvent just for a block in (or use acrylics, water mixable oils for the no solvent at all approach) then switch to using just paint adding more oil to it to the top layers. You will read it in one session. It’s super good.

3 people found this helpful

5 star		72%
4 star		15%
3 star		5%
2 star		4%
1 star		5%

The New Oil Painting: Your Essential Guide to Materials and Safe...

›

Customer reviews

Customer reviews

The New Oil Painting: Your Essential Guide to Materials and Safe Practices

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From Australia

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

From other countries

The New Oil Painting: Your Essential Guide to Materials and Safe... › Customer reviews

Customer reviews

The New Oil Painting: Your Essential Guide to Materials and Safe Practices

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

From Australia

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

There was a problem loading comments right now. Please try again later.

From other countries

The New Oil Painting: Your Essential Guide to Materials and Safe...

›

Customer reviews