Hello, my name is Lisa V. and I have been painting for over 30 years and loved every minute of it. Well most of the time. First, I would like to apologize for any imperfections you may find with any of my books. I am only trying to give new artists some step-by-step lessons to make painting easier. Especially for those who have every struggled with perspective. However, to be totally honest with you, when I started painting, I sucked. I sucked so bad that absolutely nothing I tried seemed to help. I hated the fact that painting was a total struggle for me. Even after a few years of study it seemed like the perspective was total off and no matter what I tried; it just didn't click. Even though I devoured every book at the library, I didn't seem to get any better. I was that sucky. Luckily, I loved painting so much, I couldn't imagine ever quitting. So, I painted away for years and settling for sucky art. Then one day a school teacher asked me to come teach art at the school where my kids went. I didn't want to do it at first, because I had no idea how to teach art. Reluctantly, I accepted and struggled through the first few classes trying to teach all the standard systems of painting with little luck. It was as if the whole class had a big off switch when it came to perspective. That's when I discovered a much easier and faster way to teach art. The kids loved it because it was fun, easy to fix and they got amazing results. That one Friday morning class turned into over 10 years of weekly lessons and actually those kids taught me more than I probably taught them. They showed me what people will and won't do while learning how to paint with enjoyment. Remember, painting is supposed to be fun. They helped me to realize that the design, no matter what it was, had to be a simple and moveable. Simple because new painters have no interest in hard, and movable because everybody is a unique person and has their own way of expressing themselves. The best part about those Friday morning lessons was that I learned how to do perspective without math. Yep, you heard me right, no math, no lines of horizon, no vanishing point or even a grid system in sight. In order to have a good layout the design needs to start off easy and then build on itself. Like the alphabet or math, they start off simple, and then build. I don't want to get too techy here because this system is learned by doing. You just sit down, follow the step-by-step process and paint. I can assure you, that you'll learn more by doing than by reading. Once you learn the system you will eventually be able to create your own paintings or whatever you can dream up because you will know how to start, fix and blend.I'm not going to lie to you, if your new to painting, then you're probably not going be a master after the first try. However, you won't be struggling with perspective. If you are already a great painter, please don't buy this book, it's not for you. It will actually upset you at how easy it is to create layout. If you are a perfectionist, please don't buy this book, it's not for you. This book will not make you a photo real painter it is more of an impressionistic style. All my books separate the layout from the mixing so you focus on one thing at a time. This is really important because you don't want to worry about the layout while you're trying to learn how to blend paint.In addition, I grant you all permission to paint, share and teach these lessons. But mostly, thank you, for reading this and understanding that I wanted to take the struggle out of painting. I hate to say, but I spent too many frustrating years trying to learn something I just wanted to enjoy. If there was anything I would have wished for when learning painting, it would have been these easy to follow designs. I hope you can find pleasure and relaxation in the wonderful world of painting and that this book can make that happen.Thank you all for giving it a try, Lisa V.
About the Author: Lisa V Maus has been painting her whole life with much struggle in the beginning years. It would have been great to take some art classes in college but that just didn't happen for her. What did happen was that she started teaching school kids who taught her with their total honesty. They showed her that they had no interest in learning perspective but still wanted their paintings to look great. They also taught her that if the layout wasn't easy, fast and fun they lost interest quickly. But mostly they taught her that painting was fun, if it was working out. With all of that in mind Lisa came up with a series of art designs that were easy to follow, fun to add or subtract to and mostly how to blend wonderful colors right in front of their eyes. That was over 25 years ago and Lisa is still teaching people today how to play with paint, have it turn out and mostly have fun.