In teaching the painting style and methods of admired artist Robert Warren, Dorothy Slikker demonstrates how the best artists emulate their idols throughout the creative process.
As Warren’s style is based upon the vibrancy of color – particularly the use of his signature color, Luminous Orange – it’s no surprise that Slikker begins the instruction process with a detail discussion of that field. She parses the traditional artist’s color wheel into easy to follow applications, and touches on blending, paletting and the applicable qualities of the paint itself.
This color know-how is then put to the test through a series of individual paintings which those following the lessons are directed, via step by step instructions, to replicate. Slikker’s basic instructions are clear and conversational, and are broadly tailored to painters at many levels of experience. Throughout the lessons she also emphasizes the finer points of style and technique, giving students even more tools with which to craft their own art.
Specific points of style and technique are featured as each painting in the instructional series also provides a study in one particular area. A painting of a golfer calls into use specialized lessons in the light-play of silhouette. The first portrait in the sequence introduces the blocking specifics of the human face and how to utilize the specifics for symmetry and format. A painting of a desert tree touches on the abstract as a means of demonstrating vibrancy. A horse running on the beach calls into play the portrayal of motion on any number of planes.
By the end of the sequence of painting lessons anyone who has followed along through the process should find themselves fully skilled in and able to use the Warren method to begin creating originals. Slikker’s colloquial voice certainly facilitates this learning potential, and she teaches with such a humble blush (and brush) of expertise that some may wonder who the Master Artist of the book title really is.
Editorially, author Dorothy Slikker could have paid just a bit more attention to truing up the text’s grammar and syntax. Still, any slight offsets are absorbed into the familiarity of her voice, and do fit well into the instructional lesson format.
~Johnny Masiulewicz for IndieReader