Abstract painting is unlike any other kind, and needs a special approach. The subtitle of this primer is "A Guide To Creativity and Free Expression" and aims to get to the root of why you have chosen abstract over figurative painting, and what you want to get out of it.

As someone who enjoys fabric painting I was interested in a book like this, which offers the scope to escape, through decorating my cloth with more abstract designs. This is not a book on fabric painting I hasten to add, but there is no reason why the ideas in here cannot be used in other media. It gets you thinking about what you want to achieve, and starts off by getting the reader to ask themselves various questions, a method that many books on other painting styles might do well to also start with! This is a book about searching for freedom, and encourages the reader to play with styles and techniques, continually asking yourself questions about what your painting represents and means to you. What do other people get out of looking at your work or other abstract paintings? What do certain shapes and forms imply? As with any other style of painting you need to learn something of color theory, also texture, balance, use of space, etc. To facilitate all this there are a number of exercises to try out, and all in all, I found it a stimulating way of working that was likely to come up with some pleasing work. If you are an artist of any level wanting to try out abstract painting this is a good place to start.