The Tips & Techniques series provides an excellent variety of extensively illustrated demonstrations frequently focussing on quite a narrow subject area. The advantage of this is that you can pick exactly what you want without having to wade through the author's obsession with something in which you have no interest , at the same time giving yourself a deep immersion in a single topic. There's a good variety of subject matter here and Wendy offers tips covering all the main landscape elements as well as techniques for recession, colour and perspective. Overall, it's excellent value for money and something you should find yourself coming back to again and again for both advice and inspiration.-Artbookreview.net Landscapes must surely be the most popular of all subjects for artists to paint. If you choose to depict them in acrylics, you have picked a medium that combines the properties of oils and watercolors in a unique way. Here is a book full of advice on how to get the best out of your paints and your pictures. Quite a lot of the advice in here will apply to anybody who has decided to take up any kind of painting with any kind of paints, which is as it should be. Not too much space is given up to listing materials, and not too many are considered to be necessary. Ms Jelbert then takes a few brief chapters to discourse on working from photographs, keeping a sketchbook, composition etc and then it is on with how to work with acrylics. She shows what the paint looks like when used in a variety of different ways, such as oil, watercolor and using additives and how to apply the paint. There are several projects in here laid out in the invariable Search Press manner, showing how to build up your picture a little at a time in a series of staged photographs which is such a foolproof way of learning in my opinion. These show a range of different landscapes and locations, from a field of sunflowers to Lake Garda, a mountainscape in Colorado to a Cornish beach. In each project you will learn a variety of different techniques for painting in acrylics, getting to grips with the nature of the beast. It is a fun way to learn, and this is a good book for anybody who is perhaps not a total beginner (this word is not mentioned in the title, take note) but has done a bit of painting and wants to learn how to use acrylics.-Myshelf.com Wendy enjoys experimenting with various ways of using mixed media and texturing materials, often producing interesting and original effects. In this new book she begins by suggesting to her readers what materials to buy and urging them to make good use of the all-important sketchbook. Like all experienced teachers, she recommends her students paint en plein air whenever possible, but also offers good advice on the use of photographs - for information rather than precise imitation. Painting skies, conveying the effects of light, composition, tone value and basic acrylic techniques are all well covered and there is also sound advice on painting foregrounds and backgrounds convincingly. There are six useful step-by-step demonstrations, each containing 40 or more stages, so her readers may see precisely how she gradually builds up and develops her subjects. The text throughout is helpful, but the real beauty of the book lies in the numerous rich and colourful illustrations of Wendy's paintings.-Leisure Painter

Wendy Jelbert is a teacher and professional artist who works in pastels, oils, acrylics, inks and watercolours. She enjoys experimenting with different ways of using mixed media and texture and her sometimes unconventional methods often produce surprising and original results.Wendy lives in Andover, Hampshire.

Introduction6 Materials8 Using sketchbooks12 Using photographs14 looking at landscape shapes16 Tones18 composition20 Basic techniques22 Foregrounds and distances28 skies32 Variations on a theme34 Coastal scene36 Sunflowers46 Golden Woodland56 Cows by rive