Voices of Experience - James Gurney

Newburgh, Winter Afternoon Oil 8.5 x 18”

James Gurney is an internationally known author and illustrator, most notably for his Dinotopia books, about a fictional utopian island where sentient dinosaurs and humans dwell together. The first in the series, Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time, published in 1992, has been translated into 18 languages and has sold over two million copies.

We became familiar with James Gurney, not through his fantasy/science fiction illustration, but through his wonderful art instruction book, Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter, published in 2010. This comprehensive reference begins by exploring light effects and color as used in paintings throughout different periods of history. It then examines the effects of light on form and the properties of color and pigments, color relationships and atmospheric effects.

Throughout the book, Gurney illustrates various light situations and color relationships by using many of h…