Abstract Painting: The Elements of Visual Language

Beautifully illustrated with loads of exciting ideas and projects. Very good value for money

I use this book as a reference for art teaching. It is packed with interesting ideas and beautiful, sensitive images, both in terms of techniques and intuitive, emotional content. It shows abstract painting to be much more than simply pattern and decoration, though these elements are used and discussed, together with tone, mood, composition, colour, form,, line, and collage.

I bought this book as a companion to Rolina Van Vliet's 2009 publication, 'The Art of Abstract Painting', which covers much of the same ground, but with different emphasis and a very different abstract style. I've admired Jane Davies' artwork since I came across her online a couple of years ago. She is generous in sharing her general approach and thought processes as she makes her art, and I looked forward to a book that would tie all this together. She writes extremely well and though I've only read a small part of the text so far, her reasoning and examples seem admirably clear. I should point out that this is not really a beginner's book, but one for artists who are looking for some non-dogmatic guidance about how to assess their work and some suggestions about the ways in which they could develop it.I feel I must outline my reasons for giving only four stars, instead of the five I had thought would be justified. These comments will seem rather lengthy in relation to my others, but I believe them to be important generally. I had expected to be able to dive into this book, but I've been brought up short by the text print quality, which has a low contrast. Over the past decade, many books designed for practical use, but with an emphasis on design, such as art books and cookery books, have been published with the low contrast text which is commonly recommended in website design. This trend has been criticised recently by other designers who are aware of their responsbility with regard to accessibility for readers with common visual impairments. I am one of those readers. I struggle with small details without sufficient contrast, and text counts as 'small details'. I am reading this book much more slowly than my normal reading speed, and I find that my comprehension is slowing down accordingly. I'm sorry to focus particularly on Ms Davies' book for this criticism, but I suppose I've reached personal 'peak faint print'. The book is expensive too, though I cannot fault the colour printing, which is excellent. There are many examples of Ms Davies' artwork to enjoy and learn from.

I use this book as a reference for abstract theory. The gems in this book are all in the text and they are gold nuggets .A fabulous theoretical reference book for painting abstracts

I love Jane Davies work and this book did not disappoint. Beautifully written and illustrated in Jane's clear and forthright style.

Excellent for teaching, reminding, inspiring the use compositional elements of art.

Terrible text printing. I had to buy a magnifying glass to read this at all. Progress is understandably slow. By the way my vision is perfect. there is little point in producing a book that is so illegible however excellent the content. this should be legibly printed with good contrast. How do i know that will never happen? My three stars are in the circumstances generous.

An intriguing look at working with abstracts.

I really appreciate this book - Davies has a clear and insightful point of view on how to build the skills and emotional depth for creating abstract art. Her tips and suggestions are tangible and well thought out, and the illustrations make each page more interesting and the concepts easier to understand. I see reviews complaining about paper quality, etc. This is not a coffee table book. It’s an instructional guide. The format, paper choice & design are well suited for this purpose. An excellent investment and an enjoyable read.

I like that it is easy and fun to read. Definitely not textbook material. It has concepts about the importance of line, shape (opacity, size, stroke of the shapes), patterns, mass, compositions etc. I've learned a lot and I would recommend it for beginners in Abstract art.

La tipografía es bonita pero, para mí, difícil de leer. Por eso volví a comprarlo, esta vez como ibook.El text es muy instructivo, pero queda mucho más claro comprando también los videos en los que la autora Jane Davies muestra cómo lo hace ella en la pràctica.

Kurzes, aber sehr gehaltvolles Buch. Auf den Punkt gebracht und mit einfachen praktischen Übungen zur Entwicklung eines eigenen abstrakten Stils. Elemente, Farbe, Komposition. Alles, was man braucht, um loszulegen. Ich liebe das Buch und auch den YouTube Kanal der Künstlerin kann ich nur empfehlen.Das Buch regt zum selbst Malen an. Wer geführte Schritt-für-Schritt-Anleitungen und genaue Materialangaben oder Angaben zu den verwendeten Farben sucht, der kommt hier nicht auf seine Kosten. Ich entscheide aber lieber selbst, was ich verwende. Deshalb ist das für mich nicht schlimm.

Excellent petit livre. Malheureusement en anglais, mais très intéressant malgré tout.L'auteur a de plus des dizaines (près de 150 à ce jour) de vidéos accessibles sur le net, ce qui est un vrai plus pour mieux comprendre. Même si Jane Davies a un bon débit de paroles ;-) , elle respire une bonne énergie créatrice et cela est véritablement un encouragement à progresser.Un des meilleurs livres sur la manière de procéder dans l'abstrait.A conseiller si vous connaissez un minimum d'anglais.Jane a également édité différents livres en particulier : "collage papers" qui peut donner des idées. Je ne le possède pas personnellement, mais les avis sont très bons. Vous pourrez y trouver de sublimes papiers à découper pour vos techniques mixtes.Ses autres livres : "Adventures in mixed medias", "Collage Journeys" et "Collage with Color".A explorer.Au travail !...