Discovering Oil Painting

From dust jacket notes: "The basics of painting in oils are presented in a clear, detailed text, richly illustrated with thirty-two pages of full color illustrations and step-by-step demonstrations, seventy-five line drawings, sketches, and diagrams, and fifty-seven black and white reproductions. The entire process of oil painting is covered, from stretching your canvas and setting up your equipment to applying the final coat of varnish. The first part of the book deals with materials and equipment, taking care of your equipment, and how to stretch a canvas. The second part discusses the five elements of oil painting: subject - what kinds make a good painting, learning to see, selection; composition - center of interest, symmetry and asymmetry, the triangle, mood, the use of color in composition; form - the cube, cylinder, and sphere forms, eye level, vanishing point, horizon, buildings, interiors; value - high and low values, monochrome, light and shadow, reflections; and color - hue, value, intensity, warm and cool, primary, secondary, and complementary colors, how to mix colors, the minor and major palette, flat and 'broken' colors, contrast, colors in nature, and a list of the basic recommended colors. The third part deals with the techniques of direct, or alla prima, painting, the slow method, glazing, palette knife painting, and varnishing. These techniques are then applied to still lifes and flower painting, landscapes, seascapes, figures, and portraits, each of which is demonstrated by illuminating full color step-by-step examples...."