As the introduction says, until the camera was invented art was the only way of depicting reality.  After its invention, art was free to go to places no camera could go, depicting images not of reality or even fantasy, but to evoke moods and show our inner world.  It can be a daunting style to attempt for a beginner, so there are books like this one to lend a helping hand.

I like this book.  There is nothing daunting about it at all, being rather on the thin side, and unlike other books on abstract painting it actually has some staged projects to work through.  Some people might say that this goes against what abstract art is all about, but I am not one of them; a beginner needs all the help they can get to understand the anatomy of a subject.  The first project, for example, shows how a study of a pot of geraniums can be reduced to a picture which is all about their vibrant shapes and colors, and then rendered down further and depicted again as a series of bright shapes.  There are ideas to free up the imagination as a painter, and these include using your other senses for stimulation.

Experiment with unusual materials such as kitchen paper to add dimension and a feeling of movement, and have a go at working with different types of paint.  All the paints in here are water-based, so if you get a bit carried away getting cleaned up won’t be too bad!  Of course there is a brief chapter at the front to introduce you to what you need, and even this is less daunting than in many other art primers.  Upon putting the book down I felt thoroughly inspired, and I like the author’s idea that the book is like a High Street that can be returned to when you need something.  If I was buying somebody a book on how to get started in abstract painting I rather think that it might be this one.