Library Journal Review

The books in this North Light series fill an important niche in wildlife painting, but they vary in usefulness. Johnson, a professional artist for a dozen years, proves an excellent teacher. Her firm grasp of structure and anatomy brings to life deer, elk, moose, caribou, sheep, and antelope. Her use only of acrylics may limit the appeal of the book, and it may need to be supplemented by books like Doug Lindstrand's Drawing Big Game: An Artist's Reference Guide to the North's Great Animals (reviewed below) and Rod Lawrence's Painting Wildlife Textures Step by Step (LJ 3/15/97). Lawrence, a professional artist with many prestigious awards to his credit, has become one of the better instructors of wildlife art. His Wildlife Painting Basics: Waterfowl & Wading Birds is a visually sumptuous book that covers body shapes, proportions, and anatomy in detail. Demonstrating in watercolors, acrylics, and oils, Lawrence poses his subjects standing, walking, swimming, feeding, or flying. Good sections on painting plumage and background flora round out the volume. A recommended purchase as an addition to the author's more general Painting Wildlife Textures Step by Step (North Light, 1997). (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.