Painting the Head in Oil

This is the best book on painting instruction I've come across. The author, John Howard Sanden, paints like one of my favorite painters, John Singer Sargent, and he produces portraits using the alla prima method -- in his words, "I attempt to execute a finished painting from the very first stroke, without traditional intermediate steps as toning, underpainting, glazing, or scumbling. And I try to complete the entire painting in one sitting, if possible."

His approach can be summarized as "observation and selection," and every chapter offers his information-rich advice on how to do that. I have way too many instructional art books that show complex diagrams for anatomical proportions, color theories, and weird compositional schemes. These mean nothing to me, and I suspect the artists who include these in their books don't use their own teaching methods. Not so with Sanden. He's a no-bullshit teacher. He admits that his "direct attack" style results in many failures, but that just means you rub off the paint and start over. Because when you eventually get it right, this method produces awe inspiring work.

It's a mystery to me why this book is out of print! Fortunately, used copies are available, and the price is reasonable. From $42.29 on Amazon