Artist 
Writer Books
Here are some of the books in my art library and my comments.
Books About Artists
| Title | Comments | Amazon UK |
Amazon US |
| California Impressionism, by William H. Gerdts and Will South | |||
| Complete Woodblock Prints of Yoshida Hiroshi | |||
| Desert Dreams: The Art and Life of Maynard Dixon, by Donald Hagert | Somewhat expensive, and not a lot of great paintings, but has some excellent compositions for anyone who wants to make a serious study of composition. Dixon was a master at composition and space division. | ||
| Guy Rose American Impressionist, by Will South | |||
| Joaquin Sorolla: Vida y Obra, by Blanca Pons-Sorolla | This is the current best book of paintings by Sorolla and the only major book published since 1953 - expensive but a must buy for anyone serious about learning about color. Lots of great color photographs of paintings, landscape, figures, plein air sketches. | ||
| Monet and the Mediterranean, by Joachim Pissarro | |||
| Paintings of Franz A. Bischoff, by Jean Stern | |||
| Plein Air Painters of California - The Southland, by Ruth Lilly Westphal | |||
| Plein Air Painters of California - The North, by Ruth Lilly Westphal | |||
| Sergei Bongart, by Mary N. Balcomb | An important book about a very influential artist and teacher of contemporary artists. Useful for anyone interested in the history of colorist painting in the US. Some good paintings (but not a lot). |
How To Books
These are the best How To books on my bookshelf. Please note that a lot of them may be out-of-print, but they are worth getting a cheap second-hand copy if you can find one.
| Title | Comments | Amazon UK |
Amazon US |
| 60 Minutes to Better Painting, by Craig Nelson | The big idea here is learn to paint quick studies to improve your brushwork and develop confidence. It's a good lesson. Even better, take a workshop from him. I did. | ||
| Alla Prima: Everything I Know About Painting, by Richard Schmidt | The most interesting part of this book is Schmid's discussion on edges. I incorporated a lot of the information I learned from Schmidt on edges (as well as from my other teachers, David Leffel and Jove Wang) in the Brushwork Building Block. | ||
| Anatomy for the Artists, by Sarah Simblett | A fairly good anatomy book | ||
| Art of Landscape Painting, by Paul Strisik | Strisik has some interesting ideas on composition, and shows how he changes a scene when he paints but retains the essence of the place. The photos of the actual scene and the painting are interesting. | ||
| Artistic Anatomy of Trees, by Rex Vicat Cole (Advanced) | A great resource for those of you who paint a lot of trees or botanical artists. I incorporated a lot of the knowledge I learned from Cole in the Observation Building Block. | ||
| Artist's Complete Guide to Figure Drawing, by Anthony Ryder | A fairly good figure drawing book. | ||
| Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting, by John Carlson | A classic book on landscape painting. I tried to incorporate all the key ideas in this book in various Building Blocks of the Virtual Art Academy® program. | ||
| Composing Your Paintings, by Bernard Dunstan | Probably my favorite book on composition, mainly because Dunstan is a painter I admire greatly. One of the very few painters who can paint well and verbalize how they do it. Dunstan gave me a lot of ideas on composition. | ||
| Composition of Outdoor Painting, by Edgar Payne | |||
| Composition: Understanding Line, Notan and Color, by Arthur Wesley Dow | |||
| Creative Color, by Faber Birren | |||
| Fill Your Oil Paintings With Light & Color, by Kevin Macpherson | |||
| Hawthorne on Painting, by Hawthorne | |||
| Keys to Drawing, by Bert Dobson | |||
| Natural Way to Draw, by Nicolaides | |||
| Making Color Sing, by Jeanne Dobie | |||
| New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards | |||
| New Munsell Student Color Set , by Jim Long, Joy Turner Luke | |||
| Notan: Dark-light Principle of Design, by Dorr Bothwell | |||
| Oil Painting : The Workshop Experience, by Ted Goerschner | |||
| Painting Oils, by Louise de More | |||
| Perspective Drawing Handbook, by Joseph D'Amelio | Advanced with mathematical background | ||
| Perspective for Artists, by Rex Vicat Cole | Advanced with mathematical background | ||
| Perspective without Pain, by Phil Metzger | For the absolute beginner | ||
| Plein Air Painting in Watercolor, by Scott Burdick | |||
| Pictorial Composition and the Critical Judgment of Pictures; A Handbook for Students and Lovers of Art, by Henry Rankin Poore | |||
| Problem Solving for Oil Painters, by Gregg Kreutz | |||
| Proven Strategy for Creating Great Art, by Dan McCaw | |||
| Student's Guide to Painting, by Jack Faragasso | |||
| Vilppu Drawing Manual, by Glenn Vilppu | |||
| Virtual Pose, by Mario Henri Chakkour | |||
| Virtual Pose: Children and Teens, by Mario Henri Chakkour |
Magazines
| Title | Comments | Amazon US |
Other |
| American Art Collector | |||
| American Art Review | A good review of historical American artists and their work. Usually some nice artwork by good historic artists. | ||
| International Artist Magazine | One of the better "how to" magazines |