Cover of The Painter's Handbook

The Painter's Handbook

Much more than just another guide to artists' materials, The Painter's Handbookis an amazingly useful resource, with information on everything from the canvas up: the canvas itself, plus paper, sizes and grounds, pigments and binders, solvents and thinners, varnishes and preservatives. Dozens of step-by-step recipes for make-it-yourself paints, pastels, varnishes, gessoes, sizes, supports, and equipment take this indispensable guide way beyond the competition. Authoritatively written by Mark David Gottsegen, chair of the federal government's ASTM committee on artist's materials, the revised Painter's Handbookconsiders the enormous changes in the art-materials world since the first edition was published in 1993. New materials, new health issues, new information on outmoded and even harmful supplies and practices mean that every painter needs a copy of The Painter's Handbook.

Audience
adult
Length
medium · 352 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked The Painter's Handbook? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked The Painter's Handbook. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Traditional Oil Painting: Advanced Techniques and Concepts from the Renaissance to the Present Shares art, painting, nonfiction
  2. Pastel Painting Atelier: Essential Lessons in Techniques, Practices, and Materials Shares art, painting
  3. Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting Shares art, painting, nonfiction
  4. The Acrylic Artist's Bible Shares art, painting, nonfiction

“If you want more of the same, start with these.”

  1. Le Corbusier, an analysis of form
  2. Minecraft Drawing Guide 2
  3. The Visual Toolbox: 60 Lessons for Stronger Photographs
  4. Looking East: Portraits by Steve McCurry

“If it was the art that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Fill Your Oil Paintings with Light & Color Fill Your Oil Paintings with Light & Color
  2. Oil Painting Secrets From a Master
  3. Portrait Painting Atelier: Old Master Techniques and Contemporary Applications
  4. Oil Painting Techniques and Materials

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Oil Painting For Dummies
  2. Green Guide for Artists: Nontoxic Recipes, Green Art Ideas, & Resources for the Eco-Conscious Artist
  3. Painting with Pastels: Easy Techniques to Master the Medium
  4. Watercolor Painting For Dummies