I found an Artist’s oil painting book that I can’t put down.

Welcome to my blog and I hope you may gain some new ideas from what I will be bringing you as often as I can. My real interest is on continuing to learn as much as I can on this artsy journey of mine.

For the past six months I have been attempting to teach myself oil painting. I have mostly painted with Gouache, soft pastels, oil pastels and my trusty digital artwork on the iPad, although I have used oils over the years but never consistently to feel a real grasp on them. Will I ever feel that?.

My inspiration has mainly been the artist Haidee Jo Summers who is an amazing contemporary artist from the United Kingdom and the book is titled Vibrant Oils. Her interpretation of the everyday is exactly the things my mind thinks about when composing my artworks and my works will often portray the everyday life of a child or youthful person.

Fortunately I found her book online and purchased it earlier this year. The book is such a wonderful resource as it actually steps you through many processes from early oil painting through to more advanced skill sets. The printed pages are so full of rich hues and easy to follow ways of working. I am drawn to Haidee’s use of grey hues which gives the painting a more classic traditional feel to me. She is obviously great and mixing her particular greys from the primaries.

These attempts with the oil paints are often filled with a level of anxiety as I am so out of my comfortable stage, far different to me working in my Gouache, pastel or digital iPad work.

I think Haidee’s book has already fuelled my knowledge about how to continue working in oils in a more easy to approach way without buckets of pressure in my brain to achieve top results early on. The book suggests it will bring warmth, light and vibrancy into your artwork with this window into oil painting, and I do feel this is accurate so far.

I never can cut up books but the printing of Haidee’s paintings on the book pages are close enough to the real thing and who knows I may be tempted after reading this book many times over the years to cut a favourite page to frame one of her artworks for my walls at home. If you are keen go out and find yourself this book too, its the best read!