subject: Learn And Master Painting Review With Award Winning Instructor Gayle Levee [print this page] According to the publisher of the Learn And Master Painting video course, it is designed to be the most thorough, logical and easy to understand way to learn oil, acrylic and water mixable oil painting no matter your present level of skills or talent. During this course, the student will create several complete paintings from start to finish.
This dvd lesson set is geared for rank beginners with no experience or formal training. More accomplished painters that wish to round out their knowledge base and skills will also benefit.
The author, Gayle Levee, was born into a family of artists and knew from the young age of five years old that she wanted to draw. This award winning artist was formally educated at the University of Denver as well as with the renowned Master Painter, Robert Douglas Hunter. Her art and training under Mr. Hunter is featured in the American Artist Magazine. She has also instructed at the Monteserrat College of Art and the Art Institute of Boston.
Learn And Master Painting comes with 20 video lesson DVDs, a 96 page lesson book, 3 music cds, (to play for inspiration while painting), and a protective storage case. An optional painting supply starter kit containing the exact paints, brushes, palette knife and medium utilized in the lessons is also available. This is offered separate from the dvd course or in a discounted combination set.
A Partial List Of The Lessons:
Getting Ready to Paint, Getting to Know The Paint, Getting to Know Your Brushes, Painting a Believable Object, Brushwork Technique, Beginning a Painting, Adding Color to Your Painting, Finishing a Painting, Introduction to Color Theory, Lights and Darks in Color, Controlling Color Intensity, Color Combinations, Using Color to Create the Mood, Understanding Composition, Perspective, Intro to Humans and Animals, Using Photographic Reference, Planning an Original Painting, Painting an Original Work of Art, Finishing and Varnishing Your Paintings and The Art Community.
The Styles Of Painting Covered
Alla Prima, Impressionism, Chiaroscuro, Realism, Impasto Painting, Scumbling, Wet into Wet, Developing Your Own Style
The Negatives
Under the category of splitting hairs, some shots of mixing paints on the pallet could have been just a bit clearer if an overhead camera had been used. Also, some of the terms on the first dvd were not always immediately defined but eventually defined as the lessons progressed
None of these problems are serious. As the lessons progress, the meaning of most terms become clear through the painting demonstrations.
The Positives
This program is an all video format from start to finish. No little snippits of video or audio. You get the full emersion experience that can only come from watching and hearing each lesson in its entirety from multiple camera angles.
The Instructor, Gayle Levee is not only an accomplished, full time, painter but is also an active and passionate instructor.
This is one of the few complete programs that run the entire gamut of lessons for the rank beginner all the way through advanced concepts in color theory and developing your own style.
The Learn And Master Painting dvds are much more convenient than local lessons because you learn in your own home any time of day or night.
Legacy Learning systems has provided a free online student message board for asking questions of the author, uploading photos of your own artwork for critique and communicating with fellow students from around the world.
The Bottom Line
So often live classes and other video programs only teach a set of tricks for mimicking just one specific painting subject, style and media. For a painting course to be thorough it must first teach the student to understand a complete set of fundamental skills in a logical sequence so that all subjects and styles will be available to the student.
Since learning to paint is so intensely visual, it is often best learned by the use of video that is well produced in terms of clear and understandable details. It is also extremely important that the instructor is both an excellent artist as well as a gifted teacher.
This is one of the very few video courses that has truly done an excellent and consistent job of all of the above. As a result, Learn and Master Painting is by far one of the most thorough, yet, easy to understand painting courses available today.
