Edgar Payne: The Scenic Journey

Edgar Payne is a great inspirational painter, creating amazing compositions (he wrote a book containing many thumbnail compositions). I enjoy his paintings of the American west (mountains and seascapes). But a fantastic and unexpected treasure in the book as presented by Scott Shields, were the photographs and paintings by Payne in northern France of boats I have lived in France for a year, observed much of the country, and examined many paintings, but in my opinion, no harbour or channel image matches the ability of Payne. Payne's ability to capture boats navigating the water is as skillful as Monet's paintings of train stations and locomotives. In Shield's book, he presents photographs and how Payne translates these images into paintings. I found this fascinating to examine. Before Payne, J.M.W.Tunrer was considered a master of boats and waves. And am sure there are many more that I am not aware of, because of my limited and amateur knowledge. But having sketched boats in Angers, France, boats along the Loire River, and along the coast near St. Malo, I can appreciate the challenge of composition and the difficulty of capturing waves and boats in motion. One time in China, along the Li River in Guangxi Province, I started to draw a bamboo boat, as I drew, the owner walked on board, started the motor, and drove away. I finished the sketch as best as I could. Another day, I took a bamboo boat down the Li River, drawing other boats and riverscapes as I went. These were fantastic instructional experiences. It is clear to see that wherever Edgar Payne travelled he could find opportunities to learn, explore, and express. In art school, much of the time drawing in the studio is spent upon gesture and motion. Payne's ability to depict boats on water may be due partially to his ability to capture the gesture of objects in motion, illustrated by his American west paintings of riders and pack horses and seascapes of ocean waves. Painting horses and riders is not easy, as beginners often find that their living subjects seem more like stone and statues and their compositions simplistic. At sea moving boats, or on hills with moving animals, they are often not exactly in the same perspective, and it is easy to present them in a way where even the public can sense something is not correct about the image. However, Edgar Payne seems to handle this easily. With water in France, he conveys the waves without getting obsessed with the intricate details concerning the reflections and waves in the water (as he did along the American west coast). So while the book features much of Payne's images of the American west, his studies, photographs, and paintings in northern France, are exceptional. I enjoyed Scott Shields' presentation concerning the breadth of Payne's efforts. I encourage enthusiasts to sketch and paint at zoos and along lakes and rivers, making interesting compositions and capturing the gesture of movement. The goal is not always to be successful at creating a masterpiece, but rather to observe, learn, and try. Edgar Payne sets the inspiration and example. I believe that studying Edgar Payne through Scott Shields' book can be very instructive. If one is a linear thinker, Payne's work may still be a mystery. But if one is intuitive and can connect the dots, Payne's work presents the possibilities. This book is much more than a coffee table book filled with pages of great paintings. This book is about how to see, what to feature, and how to express the subject. This book is a treasure. I found the book to be much more helpful than many books about how to draw and paint. I now show this book to anyone interested in painting and drawing who will tolerate listening to me and enduring my long explanations.

I wish all artwork books were put together this well. Huge, clear pictures. Beautiful spot on colors. And well written. Kudos to the authors.

Absolutely beautiful book. Very high quality prints, full page images, all very comprehensive. Gives some background on the artist, but isn’t a textbook about it.The only problem is the price. Hard to justify to my kids that their birthday parties are gonna be in the alley behind the house instead of at Casa Bonita because daddy had to have an art book that cost this much.

If you admire plain air painting you will not be disappointed with this book of Edgar Payne paintings.He has to be one of the greatest plein air painters in this country or in the world.I could say more about Edgar Payne but you could not stay up that late!You must get this book to appreciate this man’s technique of painting.Get the book you be glad you did.

I bought this book because I am studying how to improve my landscape and seascape paintings. I am thrilled with this book. This will be one of my treasured art books. I have not read it yet but the color images of Paynes work is beautifully documented with clear beautiful photos of his work through out. The pages are printed on high quality paper and the size of the paintings fill up the page. No tiny photos of the paintings here. It is an awesome book and I would highly recommend it. Money well spent!

Actually four books bound together as one oversized book.

This book is published by Pomegranate in Portland, Oregon and is the second art book I own from that company. This book contains a lot of large full color pictures of Payne's work and is excellent to study if you are a landscape painter. A huge number of Payne's paintings are shown in this book. There is a painting on just about every page. Some art books are a little skimpy on the photos, but not this one.

The book has good amount of illustrations that are full page and the print quality is amazing

Piękna książka .Wiele obrazów wprowadzających czytelnika w inny świat.Piękny świat.

It gives you a glimpse of the life of the famous painter, who showed through his paintings the beauty of the remote mountain places in California. Excellent illustratoins allowing to study his painting style.. Recommend buying, if you are an artists, or love landscapes

A huge, lavishly illustrated hardback monograph on this respected Californian plein-air painter.Known for his remarkable panoramic paintings of his native America, this book also covers his sojourns in Europe and his beautiful paintings of French fishing boats (which were my introduction to his work through a magazine article).The quality of the colour reproductions (over 100 large plates) is excellent and there are many black and white photographs of his subjects supporting the work; paintings and drawings from his extensive career are included – this is a very impressive volume.A very influential artist and educator, Payne`s instructional book on landscape composition is still in print (though difficult to find at reasonable cost).A fine reference and introduction on the artist.

Gorgeously illustrated, coffee table sized book! This book covers so many of Edgar Payne's works over his entire career. The illustrations are in luscious colour and are very inspiring if you are an artist or enjoy his work. I am so happy with this book!

Gostei demais da qualidade do papel, com impressão excelente.Não há nada que reclamar.Indico a todos que querem ver as pinceladas do Mestre Edgar Payne de perto.