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Sometimes you'll be driving down the street and you'll see Mr. Fraser with an easel and paint, and he'll be painting another truly spectacular masterpiece of a painting. He always says "hello" and is a kind person who always likes to talk when you pass by him on the street. The author of the description of the landscapes of Charleston, Angela Mack is a very kind person, and really knows her stuff. She lives in downtown Charleston with her equally wonderful family. Ted Phillips is a truly marvelous person who loves to write. He's the kind of person who is so enjoyable, and almost everyone in town knows and loves him. He lives in Charleston with his wife and two children. I really recommend this book to anyone from my age, 12, and up.

I think that this was one of the best books I've ever read. My favorite part is the biography of West Fraser. The author Phillips is truly a talented author. I recommend this book to anybody who loves art or landscape views

The oil paintings of artist Fraser are unique: they focus on the landmarks, scenery, and life of Charleston and its area. Charleston In My Time blends full-page color reproductions of his paintings with his own reflections on Charleston life and views of his work. Art collections with either an interest in Charleston or regional painting will find this beautiful.

For anyone, child or adult, who has even a passing interest in the arts, "Charlotte in Giverny" is a kind of magical time-machine disguised as a children's book that takes the reader into the world of artists and villagers who had the good fortune to find themselves in Giverny, the revered artist's colony outside of Paris, in the late 1800's. Presented as the diary of a young girl who travels to Giverny from Boston with her parents (her father is a painter) in 1892, "Charlotte in Giverny" is rife with the joy of discovery. Charlotte is heartbroken at first because she has to leave her best friend behind. But then her adventures begin: on board ship, in awe-inspiring Paris, and throughout the year in the beautiful Normandy countryside where Charlotte makes new friends, plants a potager and even attends the wedding of Monsieur Monet's daughter. Reproductions of Impressionist paintings, postcards, photographs and ephemera from the period, as well as charming watercolor and collage illustrations by Melissa Sweet lend the book a quality both authentic and eye-pleasing. A rare and unusual treat, a treasure of a book for all ages to enjoy.

For anyone, child or adult, who has even a passing interest in the arts, "Charlotte in Giverny" is a kind of magical time-machine disguised as a children's book that takes the reader into the world of artists and villagers who had the good fortune to find themselves in Giverny, the revered artist's colony outside of Paris, in the late 1800's. Presented as the diary of a young girl who travels to Giverny from Boston with her parents (her father is a painter) in the 1890's, "Charlotte in Giverny" is rife with the joy of discovery. Charlotte (a girl with a sense of mischief) is heartbroken in the beginning at having to leave her best friend behind, but grows eager to explore her new world. Through her eyes, we make new friends, see new places, learn new things. Her shipboard departure from Boston, her awed introduction to Paris, and the year she lives in the beautiful Normandy countryside, are all richly illustrated. Reproductions of Impressionist paintings, postcards, photographs and ephemera from the period, as well as charming watercolor and collage illustrations by Melissa Sweet give the book a visual quality that's authentic and beautiful. The result is a rare and unusual treat, a treasure of a book for all ages to enjoy.

Charlotte in Giverny is truly magical--its absolutely transporting! One truly gets the sense of what it must have been like to travel to and live in France as an american girl in the 1890's. The wonderful thing about Charlotte as a character is that she has such a strong and inspired voice--and what a sense of adventure! Lush paintings of the period jump off the pages--and the use of old postcards, stationary, and photgraphs lend to a sense of travelling back in time. Melissa Sweet's drawings complement Charlotte's adventures beautifully. Via Charlotte's keen and curious eye-we see not only Monet the master come to life-but the multitude of American painters who made their lives and art in Giverny. It is the mark of a truly gifted writer to breathe life into those who have long since left us-and Joan Knight has done just that. Monet is mysterious, Charlotte's dog Toby mischievous, and Giverny glaringly alive. There is romance, friendship, and adventure on the pages of this book--it is an absolute classic and should not be missed.

Right lets start off by skipping the origin stuff, the early years stuff, and who associated with whom stuff. Claudio Bravo is hands down the best artist there is still living, period. Fluff piece? not when merit is the order of the day. Practically self- taught Bravo paints with obvious skill and attention. He explains his approach, in the text, and within the still lifes, (his are the only ones I thought worth a damn.) and figurative work, whether in oil, pastel, chalk, or pencil, he commands his instinct to persue his vision. Don't like it? Tough, Bravo isn't ashamed, nor repentent about his skill as a realist, quasi- or otherwise. I saw the man's work at Duke in '88 and made my decision there and then to be an artist. I've never looked back, and his book is a confirmation of ideals badly missed in contemporary art, and I wish there were more copies so I could buy one. Now old boy is in the 60's U.S. take notice, this is one true artist not likely to come this way again, dig it. Adam Narcross

It took a long while to finally find this treasure but well worth it. This book really allows one to appreciate this master if only in a book. Mr. Bravo is nothing short of a genius.

This large book contains many excellent color reproductions of Bravo's oils and pastels, and also some beautiful reproductions of pencil, charcoal and sanguine drawings. While the reproductions are tiny compared to the originals, which are very large, the book is a wonderful treasure. I went to see some of the orignals at the gallery that represents Bravo in New York. Now, looking at the book, I am more conscious of the scale difference. But, there are two reproductions -- a portrait, and a still life of a hat, there are presented just slightly smaller than they were actually painted. These are especially interesting. I haven't seen any other same-size reproductions or details in catalogs. The book was published at $95. I looked for a copy for months and paid hundreds, but for me it was well worth it -- especially since I will never be able to afford an original (upper five figures for pastels and six figures for oils).

In 'The Collector of Moments' Mr. Buchholz has written a soft, gentle story of childhood. The main character is an unnamed young boy who is a bit of a loner. He's picked on by his classmates for being overweight and his out-of-style wire rimmed glasses. But, when he plays the violin, his friend Max, who rents out the third floor of the family's home, calls him 'Professor' and always listens and usually sings along with him.

Max is a painter, but a quiet and somewhat mysterious one. He never shows anyone his paintings before they are completely finished, and he later comments that sometimes there are things in his paintings that even HE doesn't see or know about. The boy loves to sit in a red chair in Max's room and simply watch him work, even though he doesn't know what Max is working on until he's finished.

Max makes frequent trips out of town in which his studio is locked up and the boy has to wait for Max's return. When Max returns, he has fantastic stories to tell the boy about the things he's seen, like Canadian Snow Elephants that only appear out of the forest during heavy snowfalls. They are actually larger than African elephants, but are so very rarely seen because of their white coloring and gentle, quiet ways of walking. They boy, who narrates the story, is pretty sure that these stories are just fantastic tales of the imagination, but Max tells them so convincingly that there is a part of the boy that comes to believe in the stories somewhat. When the painter goes on an extended vacation/trip, he leaves all of his paintings out for the boy to look at, as a sort of personal exhibition for one.

Here's where the story becomes odd and wonderful: in each painting there is something odd or unusual is happening, most of which seem to be drawn from Max's story. In one painting, Canadian Snow Elephants with their three young calves pass almost invisibly between two houses where the neighbors carry on their daily business, oblivious to the great white beasts. In another painting, a rail car from a circus floats mysteriously in the air by a bridge in the early evening; a rope ladder is seen hanging from the open front door...

The pictures are neither scary nor even spooky so much as they are simply unusual. I myself could look at them for hours wondering what is going on and what lies just outside the frame of the picture. If anyone has ever enjoyed looking at the paintings of the French surrealist, Renee Magritte and wondering about his floating castles or falling people, then they will certainly enjoy this book.

The text is rather heavy the first half dozen or so pages and there are very few illustrations at first. When we get to the part of the story where the boy looks at Max's paintings, they spread across the whole page, a delight and feast for the eye and a teaser for the mind. But, because of the heaviness of the text, some younger children may not have the stamina to pour through the story to get to the pictures. The story itself is soft and gentle and really rather quiet and almost nostalgic, so it may not appeal to children who are either very young or looking for big, robust stories where things blow up or the world turns inside out.

Still, it's an amazing book with a beautifully rendered and translated story that really isn't just for children. Read it with your child, and I guarantee that you'll be pulling it back off the shelf later to read it by yourself!! An excellent book and highly, highly recommended!!

I chose this book from our local library primarily because I found the title intriguing. I read it to my 6 year old daughter that night and we both loved it. It's a beautiful story and a wonderful way to teach children how each person must find his or her own meaning in great art. I am purchasing several copies - one to keep and others for gifts.

This is my favorite contemporary children's book. The story is touching and the illustrations are magical. The wonderful thing is that this is not merely a children's book, but lovely for all ages. I recommend it for gifts to people that you love - at any age!

Christopher Schink is a terrific teacher and communicator in this lovely, and invaluable instruction book. Complete with many colorful examples and exercises, this world-class painter uses work from many different exceptional painters, along with a few of his own, to show how wonderfully expressive your own work can be by utilizing some of these techniques. He also shows and shares his deep understanding of what happens to color as it's mixed and layered, etc. And at the bottom of it all is the message that painting is about communication of ideas, and not simply a series of techniques! This core message is the most valuable of all.

If you can only buy one water color text book, buy this one. For a change this painter focuses on teaching you more than just tecnical skills. He gives you excellent information on color history, and analysis of other watercolorists work. Deals with problems you may run into and provides great visual examples. Handles subjects like controlling pictoral space, simultaneous contrast, and well as composition and design. This is book to study, not just look at the pictures!

I found this book to be most interesting on the topics of Colour, Tone, etc. Mr Schink goes on to apply the initial principles he outlines at the beginning of his book, to show how different effects and appearances can be created, even from the same basic composition! It was a fascinating read, and provides a good point of reference for me.

This book teaches correct color theory and gives a great deal of useful information. The scientific explanation of cyan, magent, and yellow being the primary colors is very convincing and makes a lot of sense. There's a lot of practical information in this book. I don't know if there are any better color theory books, but at least this book is a good one and not a waste of money like Quiller's book, "Color Choices."

This book says it is color theory made easy. It is and the authors views on the way we view color were surprising and very interesting to me. The explanations are clear and he is not afraid to make definite recommendations. I now have a clear understanding of the potentials in blending colors. This book gave me a lot of confidence going forward. So.........here I go!

As strange as it may sound, the system laid out in this book actually won me top prize at a really nice art show- something I never dreamed possible- BEFORE I EVER READ THIS BOOK!

I had purchased three colors on my way to a free hotel night with my family, and they just HAPPENED to be the three colors Jim says are the true primaries (cyan, magenta, permanent lemon). It was a total coincidence that I chose those three to purchase on my way there with a piece of paper and cheap brush. Those were the only colors I had with me.

I found the principles to be completely true through my experimentation. All of this quite by accident!

I just found this book recently and was shocked to find out why I enjoyed using these primary colors so much and why my paintings suddenly took on new life! Jim even breaks down a few colors by brand to let you know which are closest to pure primaries. There are excellent photos of examples of how to use the colors as well and compliment the "new" primary scheme with the other paint colors as well.

The principles in this book really work! My top prize in the art show can attest to that.

Written in 1911, Kandinsky provides a treatise on the meaning of modern art. It is a very subjective and very compelling view of the direction art should take, avoiding the superficial pitfalls that were all so common. He provides a pithy review of Impressionist art and its role in the modern art movement. He notes the successes and shortcomings of Picasso and Matisse as they pushed the envelope of art but weren't quite sure where they wanted to take it.

There is a long chapter on the meaning and importance of color, eschewing the analytical approach. He takes a more subjective approach, noting how color and music can be viewed in similar terms. He talks about the attempt in classical music to create chromatic scales, but Kandinsky prefers to deal with such connections more abstractly, treating color as he would the sounds of instruments, for instance comparing yellow to the blare of the trumpet.

There is a short biography of Kandinsky which serves as an introduction and a preface by the translator, placing Kandinsky in the pantheon of modern artists. The book is by no means exhaustive. Kandinsky's writings have been collected into a marvelous book edited by Peter Vergo, which offers the width and breadth of this artist's vision. But, if you are looking for the short course, this is the place to go.

If you consider yourself religious, and you also love art, this is a book you need to read. Kandinsky was one of our past masters of art. His works were beautiful essays on music, love, and other spiritual issues. It is not often artists are able to express their feelings verbally, but Kandinsky does an excellent job in this classic. Highly recommended for any library.

The 1910s was surely the most exciting, radical, innovative and genuinely NEW period in the history of all the arts, writing, music, painting, cinema, dance. it was also one of the few periods when creative frenzy was escorted by critical might, and is almost as famous for its artistic collectives, its '-isms', its iconoclasms and its spectacularly aggressive, wipe-the-slate-clean manifestoes as it is for any one artwork produced.

Today, however, there aren't many of these manifstoes that possess more than quaint historical value. Kandinsky's 'Concerning the Spiritual in Art' is one, and probably to our own shame, speaks as loudly to us today as it did to the artist's contemporaries. A cry against all that is bogus or a dead-end in art - the bourgeois-currying; the trend-following; the excessively materialistic, naturalistic or representational; art in which formal invention is not matched by emotional power - the book demands a return to spirituality in art in an age where a godless faith in science has resulted in a soulless culture.

Kandinsky is the artist who said that 'Art was close to religion', and his concept of painting is heavly bound up with his Russian orthodox upbringing (as well as later exposure to theosophy). One does not have to be a card-carrying mystic, however, to recognise the truth of his central argument, that the only art with the power to truly move us is that which is ruthlessly faithful to the artist's inner need, not public taste or contemporary styles.

this belief led Kandinsky towards abstraction: he rejected the idea that a painter should draw what was on the surface, instead of its inherent spirit or harmony (if this led to a cul-de-sac in 20th century art, this is because Kandinsky's mimics lacked his moral drive). This book is fascinating as Kandinsky, still creating recognisably (though distorted) representational works, was struggling towards the abstract geomotry for which he is now famous. It is essential for any lover of Kandinsky's work, and modern art in general, with its revealing analyses of colour and form, their 'psychology', and the various effects they can achieve. it is a portrait of modernism from the inside, and it is goosebumping reading a gifted contemporary passing judgement on Picasso and Matisse, although time has parted company with him in his preference for Maeterlinck and Isadora Duncan.

In his demand for a total art that would unite theatre, music and painting, he looks forward to the great Ballets Russes happenings, most significantly Nijinsky/Stravinsky/Picasso's 'The Rite of spring'. Throughout, he calls for painting to achieve the non-naturalistic liberation of music.

But behind the passion and certainty is an intellectually playful (not always caught by the fusty translation), though deadly earnest artist, who knows that everything he says is provisional and a guide, a record of his own groping, striving, tireless searching.

Greenberg and Jordan's book is a pretty good introduction to the work of one of our modern masters, Chuck Close. Chuck Close is a phenomenal painter, both before the onset of his disease and even more so after. You won't find many books on him, or many that contain his work. Until something a bit more 'adult' or comprehensive comes out, this is a good selection. It discusses his life and work. There is also a brief chapter on what is a portrait. They finish it off with a list of museums that have some of Chuck Close's work. It's a nice intro to a great artist.

Both elementary and high school readers get something from this book. The straightforward prose coveys this artist's powerful talent, humanity and relevance without being sappy. My students like to be read to when they work - its great to see them process and internalize this information as they struggle with these skills and concepts. Clean design and beautiful photos lay it all out simply. If more art history grad students would get to the point this well and this fast, I could coach art history as a sport.

I'm an artist and art teacher, and I recently read this book tomy high school art students as an introduction to gridded portraiture.Don't let the age 9-12 reading level put you off--my high schoolstudents really enjoyed learning about Chuck Close, and were impressedby his work and his life story. In addition to having some greatpictures of Close's work, the book has a lot to say about the artist'sability to develop strategies to deal with his learning disabilities,and his perseverance to continue to work despite an injury that lefthim paralyzed from the neck down. Many of the students could relateto Close's learning differences, and viewed his story as veryinspirational. I like this book so much, in fact, that I'mrecommending it on my website where I have a detailed lesson planbased on teaching kids portraiture via a similar gridded method! END

This book starts with the sewing basics that many of us may not have been interested in learning until we actually had our own place that needed to be decorated. So, if you don't know the first thing about sewing, but would like to learn you may want to purchase this book. I think it has the best sewing instructions of any book that I've ever seen before. Or, if you want to know the proper way to wallpaper, paint or set tiles, the instructions are all here.

The excellent attention given to detail, and the clear pictures makes this one of the very best practical teaching guides on the market today. There are chapters on Curtains, Shades, Bedding, Cushions, Simple Upholstery, Tiling, Table Linen, Lampshades, Painting, Wallpapering, Lighting and Houseplants. The directions are concise and the photographs show all of the projects step-by-step.

This book is so good that I've purchased two to use as gifts.

I borrowed the book from the library and found it to be an excellent reference. The step-by-step directions with pictures give guidance to those who want to complete "do it yourself" home decorating projects. The book covers so much, from basic sewing techniques and terms to making your own lampshades. This is one I want to purchase.

Great resource for home decorators. Shows how to make different styles of curtains, tablecloths, bedspreads, etc., faux finishing painting techniques, wallpapering, staining, etc.

I borrowed it from the library and am now looking to buy it - it's that good.

I've seen Van Gogh's paintings many times in various museums and I find him one of the most fascinating characters in the history of art. Vincent's letters correspondence with his brother Theo are both revealing and transformative. Vincent writes as he painted--with great passion as he tries to communicate his inspirations, insights and frustrations to his dear brother Theo. The result of reading them is that they make you, the reader, see things in a new light.

This three-volume compendium is essentially everything you'd ever want to know about Vincent and then some. Frankly, for me though it was too much. To wade through Vincent's endless letters and replies was more work than pleasure. Though I didn't feel comfortable settling for any of the abridged collections that various biographers have published recently.

The only one of such books that I would recommend is "Stranger on the Earth : A Psychological Biography of Vincent Van Gogh" by Albert J. Lubin, which is a fascinating and, thankfully, shorter insight into Vincent's fascinatingly fragile personality.

This beautiful set of Van Gogh's letters starts with an introduction by his nephew (Theo's son) and a biography of Vincent Van Gogh by his sister-in-law , Theo's widow. It is a special set of books. The boxed set is very beautiful and I have it on display in my living room. I was fortunate enough to have seen the Van Gogh exhibit in Amsterdam ..., (and to have seen the Van Gogh exhibit when it came to the U.S. over 30 years ago. ...). I feel the artist's extraordinary family did so much to bring his art and writing to us, including this lovely book set. I thought the ... price was most reasonable considering what I got, and it made my trip to Holland even more special!

This three volume set is an absolutely invaluable reference for any Van Gogh enthusiast. Van Gogh's letters offer tremendous insights into his life and works. That's why a complete set of the letters is a must--most of the other versions are heavily edited ("butchered" some would say). Dr. Jan Hulsker (one of the world's foremost Van Gogh scholars) once wrote: "[His letters] enable us to know more about Van Gogh's life and mentality than we do of any other artist. The letters form a running commentary on his work, and a human document without parallel."

The Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam is working on an exciting and ambitious project to issue a completely new and revised set of the letters, but until that extraordinary reference is available, this set is the next best thing. Even for those not especially interested in Van Gogh's art, the letters are a striking, and sometimes painful, exploration of a man consumed with doubt, filled with compassion and profoundly troubled.