For acclaimed artist John Hammond, a successful painting requires more than just technique: it must evoke both individual sensibility and a strong sense of place, whether it?s the warmth of the sun on a beach or the natural glory of a flower meadow. In this stunningly illustrated guide, he takes readers on a tour of the wonderful possibilities of acrylics on canvas and reveals how to make visual magic happen. Through 100 of his own paintings, Hammond teaches artists how to find striking subjects to portray and to bring beautiful scenes to life through the use of design, color, and composition. At the end of each chapter, he provides a detailed ?picture analysis? of one of his pieces that explains how the techniques he?s described come alive on canvas.