Composing Your Paintings

Composing Your Paintings by Dunstan, Bernard. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780289709030.

From a review by jacksim: I love this little book. I agree that the illustrations are smallish and less colourful than many one finds in glossier tomes, but the information within the pages of this book is priceless. I learned more about composition from this man than I had learned in 5 years at art school and many, many books since. His analysis of a Turner image opened my eyes, and left me reeling to think I had been taught nothing over all those years, about this subject. I think the book is a little gem and would recommend it highly. As a tutor of many years standing now I will say this however. Learning to paint is a slow process, and learning about composition and good design an important part of the process. You may be ready for some of the information; you may not - you cannot rush the learning process, and sometimes, what you learn is impossible to put into practice ...until suddenly one day the penny drops. One thing is for sure...every word written by this superb painter is worthwhile listening to, he is, after all, a Royal Academician, and that accolade is not given to Sunday painters!