99% of orders dispatched within 24hrs, delivery times may vary.

Please note our warehouse and customer service department will be closed from Monday 29th June until Monday 6th July 2020.

During this time we will not be able to process any orders. To ensure you receive your books before we close please send in your order no later than Thursday 25th June.


Adding item to the basket

× Item added

This item has been added to your basket.

Proceed to checkout
US Flag Australian Flag
Search the site...

Look inside Click here for extra content on Bookmarked Hub
  • Publisher: Search Press
  • Edition: BC Paperback With flaps
  • Publication: 31 March 2024
  • ISBN 13/EAN: 9781800921276
  • Stock: 50+
  • Size: 216x280 mm
  • Illustrations: 300
  • Pages: 160
  • RRP: £15.99
Download jacket image

Painting into the Light

£15.99

How to work atmospheric magic with your oil paints by Jenny Aitken

Add to Basket
Book Description

Reknowned for her techniques for painting light on water, Jenny Aitken delivers perfect guidance to the intermediate artist on how to paint light in plein air and much more.

Learn how to successfully paint scenes that that capture magical effects of light from behind the subject. Good contre-jour painting into the light artworks cause the viewer to squint, with light seeming to glow from the canvas. They can look like a kind of magic, with their hazy light and colour singing out. This book demystifies lighting in oils, and provides a practical guide to the process, showing exactly how to create the illusion.

Inside, you'll find a wealth of information on simplification, tonal control, capturing accurate colour, working both indoors and outdoors, painting landscapes and still life, creating atmospheric depth, and even mastering the illusion of space. Through detailed step-by-step demonstrations and beautifully illustrated techniques, Jenny Aitken reveals how to infuse every painting with vibrant, lifelike light. A section on troubleshooting tricky paintings will show the reader every painting is salvageable, but with an understanding of light and colour, it’s much more likely that they’ll find success the first time round.

Table of Contents

Foreword 6
Introduction 8
How best to capture light 12
Exercise: Tonal seascape28
Where to start 32
The Sparkling Ocean stage-by-stage54
Simplification 72
Portrait stage-by-stage78
Woodland stage-by-stage92
Painting en plein air 100
Sparkle on Water stage-by-stage106
Still Life stage-by-stage114
Atmosphere 122
Exercise: Cold distance126
Mountains stage-by-stage130
Impact 136
Mevagissey Harbour stage-by-stage138
Brush Language 146
Oystercatcher stage-by-stage152
Afterword 158
Index 160

About the Author

About Jenny Aitken

For Jenny Aitken, teaching painting is an absolute passion her main aim is for students to be encouraged, informed and creatively enthused. She began tutoring and demonstrating ten years ago, and now runs online courses and art holidays around the UK and in Italy and France.

Since graduation in Art & Art History from seaside university Aberystwyth, she has exhibited all over the UK and won many awards. She was elected an associate member of the RSMA in 2021, and won the Topbond Marine Award in 2022.

She is currently represented by several galleries, including The Harbour Gallery in Cornwall and Peter Barker Gallery in Rutland. You can also view and purchase daily studies, paintings, prints, calendars and cards from her own online gallery on www.jennyaitken.co.uk

Jenny is a regular contributor to The Artist Magazine, and an online tutor, with a series of 25+ modules on painting in oils and acrylics. She also produces shorter painting videos on YouTube.

Jenny lives in Derbyshire, not far from the beautiful Peak District.

Add to Basket Printer friendly version

Customers who bought Painting into the Light, also bought...

Easy Acrylic Painting

Easy Acrylic Painting

By Jennifer Funnell

Painting People and Places

Painting People and Places

By Adebanji Alade

Easy Oil Painting

Easy Oil Painting

By Estelle Day

Step-by-Step Manga

Step-by-Step Manga

By Gecko Keck

You may also be interested in...

Painting People and Places

By Adebanji Alade

Water-Mixable Oils

By Sarah Wimperis

Easy Oil Painting

By Estelle Day

We use cookies to personalise your experience and to analyse our traffic. Do you want to allow all cookies or view and change settings?