Paint Alchemy: Exploring Process-Driven Techniques through Design, Pattern, Color, Abstraction, Acrylic and Mixed Media

✍ Scribed by Ms. Eva Marie Magill-Oliver

• Publisher: Quarry Books
• Year: 2018
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 123
• Edition: Illustrated
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Experience wonder and excitement as you mindfully take your painting technique to the next level: It’s Paint Alchemy.

Part of the new Alchemy series, Paint Alchemy explores how to build a painting practice. Whether you’re a novice or an experienced painter, you’ll learn how to create freely by combining a foundation in solid techniques and design principles with an open approach that stays focused on the moment, rather than the end result.

You will learn how to prepare your art space, work with intention, and move between action and observation, responding to the work along the way. Paint Alchemy will help you cultivate a full perspective on the process: from developing ideas in a sketchbook to crystalizing your vision.

As you work through the exercises, you’ll gain a better understanding of color theory, mark making, representational form, abstraction, and composition. Mindfulness, experimentation, and reflection will give way to wonder as your paintings develop. 

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Introduction
chapter one: BUILDING A PRACTICE
Preparing Your Workspace
Using a Sketchbook to Develop Your Practice
exercise one: Creative Mental Warm-ups: Flex Your Artistic Muscles with Personal Mark Making
exercise two: Using the Sketchbook to Achieve Focus: Collecting, Arranging, and Reflecting on Inspirational Images
chapter two: FOUNDATIONS OF DESIGN
The Five Principles of Design
exercise three: Color Wash Paintings: Understanding Size, Shape, and Color
exercise four: The Five Key Elements to Good Design: Putting Principles into Practice with Paper
chapter three: SEEKING BALANCE
exercise five: Shape Paintings: Learning to Create Balance
exercise six: The Ripple Effect: Use Collage to Create Composition
exercise seven: Deconstructing a Landscape to Abstraction: Three Ways with Watercolor
chapter four: WORKING WITH INTENTION
exercise eight: Blind Contour: Drawing What You See, Not What You Know
exercise nine: Discover the Essential Elements: Planning Your Mark Making
chapter five: EXPLORING MIXED-MEDIA TOOLS
exercise ten: Incorporating Unconventional Materials: Adding Rubbing Alcohol to Watercolor and Ink
exercise elev en: Playing with Color, Texture, and Uncertainty: Experimenting with Three Unusual Materials
exercise t welve: Pattern Play: Discovering and Using Patterns in Mixed Media
chapter six: SPACE, COMPOSITION, AND FORM
exercise thirteen: Negative Space: Create Breathing Room in a Painting
exercise fourteen: Finding Your Focal Point: Emphasize an Area with Complementary Colors
chapter seven: IMPROVISING WITH A CRYLICS
exercise fifteen: Reacting with Confidence: Overlapping Colors to Create Something New
exercise sixteen: Adlibbing in Art: Improvising with Poured Paint
chapter eight: PERSPECTIVES ON COLOR
exercise seventeen: The Language of Color: Using Contrast to Learn about Color
exercise eighteen: Learning How Colors Work Together: Imitating Two Color Masters
Resources
Acknowledgments
About the Author