A super, no nonsense guide, Haidee-Jo deals with all aspects of starting out with plein air painting. The book is beautifully and liberally illustrated. The whole process, from choosing the correct equipment and paints to finding inspiration and coping with every weather condition is covered with practical advice. Exercises and examples are used throughout, based on the artists own experience and work. She even discusses the main barrier that may prevent some people engaging in plein air painting, i.e. painting in public and there is a chapter dealing with options for works which for whatever reason haven't made the grade.
It is a comprehensive work filled with a wealth of knowledge and information and the artists' obvious love and enthusiasm for her subject, a must for anyone wishing to take their first steps outside.
-- Anne Chalkley * Amazon Customer Review *
I've looked forward to the release of this book by my favourite plein air artist Haidee-Jo Summers and it certainly doesn't disappoint. There is lots of inspiration for anyone wanting to give plein air painting a try. I know I have wanted to paint en plein air but being an amateur have not had the confidence. Haidee-Jo's book certainly encourages me to give it a go.
Her book provides lots of helpful and practical advice and tips on how to go about this, from what equipment you may need and how to transport this, colour palettes and colour mixing, how to compose a painting and how to simplify subjects, how to deal with changeable weather. There are demonstrations to show her painting process from quick sketches to doing tonal washes leading to final paintings. And she provides exercises for you to try to gain more confidence such as doing timed paintings against the clock in small panels to help you learn to paint faster, and painting from memory to develop your short term visual memory, all helpful for painting outside in order to get the essential details down before your subject changes!
Even though this is not a hardback book it has a sturdy glossy cover and the pages are of good quality with a plentiful number of good quality photos of Haidee-Jo's beautiful paintings to drool over and envy! She truly is the expert and advocate for plein air painting, not just of landscapes but of the everyday subjects that a lot of people would overlook, as Haidee-Jo has the knack of finding the light and shadows that bring out their beauty and creating a stunning painting. I can't recommend this book highly enough.
-- Julie Geelan * Amazon Customer Review *
I should first of all say that I am not an oil painter. I paint mostly in watercolour and sometimes in gouache or casein paint. However I just love this book. It is packed full with information and her beautiful paintings, and I cannot wait to 'get out there' after looking at this. It is really inspiring and packed with practical advice too. Well done Haidee-Jo, this is a winner for sure!
* Customer Review *
This book is full of very useful information. Beautifully illustrated to inspire the artist to get out and give plein air a go. I am an experienced painter but found lots of very useful advice within the pages.
* Customer Review *
Everything you need to know to help you start plein air painting. Suitable for all. Haidee-Jo offers practical advice given in her easy to read style. She has condensed her years of experience into this fabulous book and given us a chance to join her on this amazing adventure. Just brilliant!
-- Charlotte Davies * Amazon Customer Review *
As a regular plein air painter I found the finishing Pearls of wisdom very relatable and written with kind humour! This book appeals across the experience range, with essential information for beginners to reinforcement for the more experienced; a visual treat clearly written with examples and exercises.
-- Steven James Dunster * Amazon Customer Review *
Time spent in Haidee-Jo's company is always time well spent. She is adept at voicing her thought processes and showing how the creative endeavour develops in the face of changing circumstance, light and the way the work itself progresses. This is not, therefore, a straightforward book of instruction, but rather a tour round the process of painting outdoors and dealing with both the practical and theoretical considerations it raises. A quick flick through the pages reveals a wealth of visual material - just about every one of the 176 pages is packed with illustrations. These cover all of the subjects you'd expect as well as a variety of compositions, light and weather conditions. As well as demonstrations, there are plenty of discussions of aesthetics, colour, recession and ways to set up.
This should delight any oil painter and is one of the most complete and absorbing books on the subject.
-- Henry Malt * The Artist *
Award-winning artist and editorial consultant to The Artist magazine, Haidee-Jo Summers describes herself as hooked on plein-air painting and here she shows us why. Haidee-Jo's work is fresh and full of vibrancy. With a deceptively easy sweep of her brush, she can bring her canvas to life and her work will energise you to have a go yourself. There's plenty of clear step-by-step demonstrations to work through with Haidee-Jo at your side offering paractical advice to overcome challenges that painting outdoors in the elements can throw at you. Above all, it is the sense of well-being that painting outside can bring to you that she is so keen to share and her love of plein-air painting will surely be contagious.
* Leisure Painter *
Time spent with Haidee-Jo is always time well spent and feels more like a relaxed conversation with an old friend than any kind of tutorial process. If you've watched any of her DVDs, you'll know that she spends time discussing not just ways of applying paint, but of reacting to scenes and conditions, explaining the way the creative process works perhaps better than anyone else.
A book is a very different beast, of course, and needs to be more prescriptive than discursive. The written word doesn't um and ah, doesn't wave its arms about to make a point eloquently and doesn't get distracted by a sudden gust of wind. At least, it shouldn't, though we can all think of books that wander infuriatingly off the topic. No, I won't be mentioning any names.
For all that, what we have here is an enjoyable ramble through the ways of oil painting. And that's not a sentence I've ever written in forty years. Rambling is normally associated with watercolour; oils are a much more serious business. Aren't they? You see, that's the thing, Haidee-Jo is a painter who happens to work in oils, not a (serious voice) Painter In Oils. The medium is very much not the message, merely (is that the right word?) the messenger, a way of communicating form, colour, composition and emotion.
There, I've said it, I've used the E word, because that's really what this book is about. The subtitle (they're always instructive) is a practical and inspirational guide to painting outdoors. What you'll get here is advice about the practicalities of working the field - equipment, preparation, adaptation - as well as how to recognise a subject and construct a scene, whether it's landscapes, trees, flowers, buildings, water or even people. There's consideration of light, weather, seeing, interpreting, remembering (because scenes change before your very eyes) and, of course, getting the all-important paint on the also-important canvas.
This is an enjoyable book that can't but inspire you to get outside. You probably can't take Haidee-Jo with you, so you'll just have to imagine her.
-- Henry Malt * Artbookreview.net *
This is a fascinating and thorough guide to working outdoors that feels much more like an adventure with an old friend than a course of instruction. Chapters include working with changing light, allowing for weather and even working around people. On top of this, there's plenty of advice on practice, from colour and brushwork to composition, planning, both on the ground and on the canvas, and finishing off in the studio.
* SAA Catalogue *
