Painting the Impressionist Landscape: Lessons in Interpreting Light and Color Paperback – January 6, 2009

Wonderful book, good value, great condition and arrived fast.

I hate writing negative reviews and I'm pretty sure people hate to read them, but Griffel's book is a proverbial "tale of two cities". On one hand she includes an abundance of atmospheric palette knife paintings and on the other hand her text deals with subjective issues and questionable exercises more appropriately found in a basic painting book. There is little, if any, connection between the examples and her text. Potential customers are likely to purchase the book based upon the paintings thinking there will be at least a modicum of technique or demonstration as to how they were done; they will be disappointed.To be fair the actual title of the book after the colon is "Lessons in Interpreting Light and Color", and the book does talk about light and color. However, a lesson is supposed to teach something and there are precious few conclusions offered up by the author. She relies primarily on block studies which are simply value/temperature exercises that have no special relevance to the impressionist landscape any more than they might have to still life or portraiture. Block studies are a traditional teaching tool employed by the academic art community going back to the 19th century. Additionally, the author uses an extended palette which, in my opinion, is an anathema to the Impressionists' approach. There's not much meat here and what there is has very little to do with landscape painting. If you want to acquire the book for examples of a particular style, then it might be worth the expense and does provide useful models to emulate in your own work. But, if you want a treatise on how and why she painted the way she did, it just isn't here. At one time Ms. Griffel was affiliated with the Cape Cod School of Art* and perhaps (and this is a big perhaps) one could have enrolled to learn her technique.I can recommend five contemporary books in lieu of this one that, while not specific to impressionism, can teach you more about landscape painting in a few hours than this one could in a lifetime. I would suggest "Landscape Painting" by Mitchell Abala, "Oil Painting for the Serious Beginner" by Steve Allrich, "Landscape" by Richard McDaniel, "Landscape Painting Inside and Out" by Kevin Macpherson, or "The Painterly Approach" by Bob Rohm. All have an instructional orientation, provide numerous demos, and advocate a basic palette. While they are in many ways different, they're compatible and leave the reader with a strong sense of the fundamentals in approaching a landscape project. In a word they're complimentary rather than contradictory and, in my opinion, each represents a significant step up from the material contained in this book.* The Cape Cod School of Art had a long and rich history as an art colony and teaching academy going back to 1899 when it was founded by Charles Hawthorne. Upon his death in 1930 a student, Henry Hensche, acquired the site, re-named it "The Cape School of Art in Provincetown", and operated it as an art training center until 1987 when he sold the buildings to Lois Griffel who subsequently re-opened the center under it's original name. However, the facilities soon fell into disrepair and Griffel sold the structures and closed the center in 1993. Interested groups have tried to reestablish the school over the years, but have thus far failed. There was some hope that a former student group was being formed and planned on offering some type of curriculum in 2011, but I can find no record of that plan succeeding. It's my understanding that Griffel had no involvement with the school after 1993 and currently conducts workshops at various locations.

Book speaks for itself. Very informative. Delivery was very quick.

The title, "Painting the Impressionist Landscape: Lessons in Interpreting Light and Color", is an accurate description, but the book is even more than this. It provides a mini-course in clearly seeing color, translating this information into paint, beginning or "blocking in" the basic colors of a scene, building upon those initial color decisions, and creating a finished study or painting. There is logic to the process that, once explained in Lois Griffel's clear, detailed writing, can be used by any painter, whether they consider themselves an impressionist or they work in any other style of painting. Even abstract painters can learn from this book because the underlying abstract qualities found in a landscape are clearly illustrated in the descriptions and paintings-in-progress that are presented.The information provided in the block studies and the landscape painting sections of the book will be helpful to the beginner or advanced artist. By working on block studies, then proceeding to landscape paintings, a method for breaking down the complexity of a scene to its basic components is shown. The many examples of paintings by a variety of artists (including many by the author) support the written descriptions and reinforce the concepts being presented. While the Cape Cod School of Art is no longer in Provincetown, MA, a search of the web turned up Lois Griffel's website, which you might want to check out. It is still possible to take a workshop with her, something I look forward to doing in the near future.

First I bought the book and after reading it went online to see where I could take a workshop from the author.I got very lucky that one was scheduled about an hour away so I could commute (well I had to wait a year for it). Others in the class flew and drove many miles to spend a week with Lois Griffel learning the basics so that we could all become better painters. I won't go into exact details (take the course/buy the book) but it was a fascinating step-by-step process.One of the great advantages is that she painted along side us, first starting the painting, giving us the beginning, then we spent the morning working in fantastically beautiful locations. It is a great privilege to watch a nationally known painter paint a landscape from start to finish, what a learning curve.My workshop was in Sarasota FL sponsored by [...]. We painted at the Ringling Estate gardens and Crosley Powell mansion. Trees, vintage buildings, Sarasota Bay, perfect weather, what more could we ask for.(Saw a famous actress stroll through too).Monet is my favorite artist (Griffels also) and she teaches how to paint in that style, in a way that is learnable.My classmates were some of the nicest people ever, many highly talented and well-trained. I am not but felt just as welcome.If you can't afford a workshop BUY THE BOOK. Plus she has a new one coming out soon (summer 2010).

I really struggled through this book. I found it confusing. While I find the approach fascinating, I think I would struggle to implement it in practice. I would find it had to extrapolate a method or logic from her extremely dense detailed examples where she discusses each colour choice step by step. Felt intrigued but rather bewildered and frustrated after reading it, although I did start to see colour differently, so maybe that's a first step. Don't expect a clear instruction manual...but worth a read.

I have both of Kevin Mcpherson's books which I can strongly recommend but this one I am not so sure.Lois Griffel's paintings are very colourful and some are really beautiful,but I doubt a beginner would find it easy to follow.Lois uses around 20 colours which is a large number to have on your palette especially for the beginner.I think this book is more about "seeing" than actual technique.

This book is amazing! No it won't magically make you into a good impressionist landscape painter, but it will clearly explain the techniques with quite a few tutorials to follow along with or be applied to your own project. Most how to books are bs. This one is gold.

In fairness, I have to say that I am not attracted to impressionism. If impressionist painting is about depicting light and color in shapes, then why are most of the paintings in this book so drab in color and some are simplistic to the point they look like a child poked the paint on the canvas? I did not find this book inspirational at all but I am forcing myself to read it for my painting course. Technically, there is some good material. I find the writing style reminds me of the term papers written at university. My advice, check inside this book before you buy it!

Livro lindíssimo , ainda mais para que gosta do movimento impressionista e que foi seguido nos Estado Unidos; muitíssimo importante para quem ama pintar. Uma grande aventura !