Realistic Abstracts: Painting abstracts based on what you see

Bought for inspiration. Fits the bill perfectly. Excellent quality photographs of other artist's works. I look and read the contents often. It would make an excellent coffee table book.

Good. Lots to inspire.

Bought this on a whim whilst browsing.... It must be fate, I feel like this is the book I've been waiting for! It clarifies and make sense of the confusion in your head when you know in essence how you want your paintings to look and feel but can't quite pull it all together! Read it in one sitting and now feel inspired. If you're a beginner looking for a book on technique, this is not it, and it's not about realism. This is about composition, using marks and colour to create vibrant impressionistic paintings expressing how you feel about what you see or simply putting paint onto paper and seeing what happens. Liberating!!

Interesting book which I bought after seeing at a friend's house. Doesn't exactly give you step by step instructions, but does explain the theory of how to do them, plus gives lots of insight into colours and how they work together. Lots of nice pictures as examples, and as a crafter, rather than a painter, many of the techniques mentioned are ones I use already. It's a nice book to have, but for a non-painter it's a little confusing at times, though not being restricted by any structured art training myself, it's maybe easier to produce abstracts than for someone who has been trained in more precise techniques.

I have always painted realistic pictures but when I found this volume it really changed my perspective. The work of several well chosen artists is reviewed and appraised very competently by the author. It is a delight to read and the colourful illustrations chosen are a feast for the eyes. This is a truly inspirational book that will intice an artist away from realism, away from the photo references we cling to and into the world of abstractions, seemlessly, and before you know it, you too could be experimenting with colour and form and your imagination.

But scruffy but ok, no worse than expected. Satisfactory.

The front cover, and a few of the illustrations inside, are very interesting and to my eyes fall under the category of "realistic abstracts". However most of the book consists of water colours that look to me more like preparatory sketches than finished pieces. If they were my attempts I wouldn't be happy to show them, much less publish them in a book. To that degree, they didn't inspire me, and inspiration is the stated aim of the book. That said, I can certainly use and develop some ideas from the book and at a cover price of £12.99 even if I take away only one idea it would be worth the money.

Sadly, I can't say very much about the book, as it never turned up if it had I would've been delighted.

Kees Van Aalst's book is an excellent way to get acquainted with realistic abstractism. It has step by step instructions on how to paint R. A. with easy to follow watercolor pictures and a selection of reference paintings from which to choose. It's 160 pages and is a great addition to my art book collection.

Molto bello , interessante tecnica da provare per gli amanti dell'acquarello ! Soprattutto come con alcune macchie di colore si ha la suggestione di intravedere certe forme e paesaggi inventati

I hadn't clued in that it was all about watercolor but still quite useful and I was able to use some information for oil painting. A nice book.

Je suis sans doute une béotienne en matière d'art contemporain (que globalement je ne comprends pas) mais les reproductions de ce livre (magnifiques, des couleurs vibrantes et lumineuses et non pas palichonnes) ainsi que les nombreux conseils sur la manière dont nous exerçons notre oeil m'ont fait découvrir des choses nouvelles et stimulantes. Bien qu'ayant un niveau plus que moyen en aquarelle j'ai eu envie de tester tout de suite certains exemples, notamment la peinture en négatif, ou d'autres modèles (soyons fous! Sur du yupo, tant qu'à y être!!) Et bien j'ai été agréablement surprise par le rêsultat, qui a un peu "décoincé" mon pinceau kolinsky qui a tellement peur de faire un faux pas! Je recommande cet achat.

Excellent little book. Some great inspirational ideas. Well worth it.