Painting-the

This book will get anyone thinking about what qualifies as "art". Have you ever gone to a modern art museum or picked up a modern art magazine and wondered "how can anyone call that art?" Well this book will get you thinking about questions like that. Using scientific polling methods 2 Russian immigrants canvased the U.S. to find out what the average American considers art.

The results are exactly the kind of works most working modern artists or their patrons would be dismayed over. Get this book. It is a fascinating and entertaining read. One interesting note from the book - the editor of The Nation said that when they published the results of this poll it drew an avalanche of reader mail. It generated the largest reader response of anything they'd published in the history of that magazine to date. Several newspapers interviewed owners of prominant NYC art galleries as well as some prominant artists. All of them were horified by the results of this poll. One commentator sniffed the poll just proves Americans are boors when it comes to art - prefering only the safest, most banal subjects. What is interesting is that the book shows the results of this poll were duplicated in many other countries around the globe. Countries as diverse as Kenya and Iceland showed their own polls duplicated the preferences of the average American - i.e. a liking for landscapes with peaceful blue skies.

The book reproduces in full the entire questionaire used by the polling company along with an interview with Momar and Kelamid. The two Russians also gained notoriety by creating pictures of each countries most-preferred and least-preferred paintings. Each painting had the canvas divied up to match the percentages shown in the poll that respondents wanted (or didn't want in the case of the 'Least Preferred' paintings). Thus if the poll showed 65% preferred landscapes with a blue sky then 65% of the painting surface had a blue sky.

Interviews as well as commentary on the nature of art and what this might mean also fill the book. There is even a chapter by one of my favorite modern-day philosophers - Arthur C. Danto (I have several of his books). He asks the question "Can It Be The 'Most Wanted Painting' Even if Nobody Wants It?"

The results in this book lead to many questions. Not the least of these is 'what is art?' and 'what does this say about human nature?'. One article from the Jan/Feb 2002 issue of American Spectator illustrates this problem very well. It seems a few months ago a very famous photographer was holding a one-man exhibit at a London gallery. He is quite famous for the nauseating and offensive subject matter of his work. That night he gathered together the cigarrette butts, empty paper cups, and other assorted trash from the opening-night party and "artfully" arranged it in a pile in a corner and took a picture of it. The pile was promptly announced by a London art-critic to be worth at least 5K (in pounds). Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell the janitor that night that the pile was art, not trash. So you can guess the ending of this story.

I recount this to make a point. That is, this book will shed some light on why so many people have trouble - even the U.S. Supreme Court - on saying exactly what Art is. Get this book. It is fun and fascinating look into not only the tastes in art around the world but also a window into the science of polls and polling.

This is one of the coolest art books I've seen, Komar and Melamid are geniuses! The whole idea art designed to please isn't that new but the idea using polls and statistics is. By using a random survey from several countries ( THe USA France China KenYa Russia Ukraine ect) they create each countries most and least wanted painting and take you through a wonderful romp discussing what art and expression and stuff are really all about. I gave this sucker out as X-mas presents! I can't reccommend it highly enough. Buy everything by Komar and Melamid...even their souls.... look that up on the web.

It's hard to express how fantastic this book really is in a review. Komar and Melamid's paintings, which threatened, for a time, to turn the art world on its ear, are supreme farces on what statistics can tell us. Obviously the principle is consiously flawed. The artist's interpretation of the statistical data is largely abstracted, but the paintings themselves are superb and outragiously funny takes on national culture. The question of the book is "What do people want in their art?" It isn't likely that you'll find a more interesting, fascinating, and entertaining answer than "Painting by Numbers."

Enid's book is very inspiring and her technique is not difficult to learn. With practice you can paint beautifully blended flowers in no time, with one stroke of the brush. It is all in how you load the brush and she shows how to do this step by step. This is one book for those who don't want to buy a lot of brushes or paints. The end result is astonishing...I can whip up a floral bouquet in no time with Enid's technique and her explicit instructions. If you have a hard time with float-shading...this book is for you!!

Enid's style of painting takes practice, but speaking as someone who prefers immediate gratification, the improvement in my overall technique was well worth the effort. I refer back to the book to refresh my memory for specific details and for design ideas over and over. It's one of my favorite references.

This is an excellent book for those just starting out as decorative painters and challenging enough for the most experienced artist. The step-by-step drawings and detailed descriptions of stroke-work and paint combinations makes this book a wonderful resource guide. Truly a garden of painted delights!

I have had this book for over a year now. I am constantly going back to it for insperation. The book is a how to do book.. Arleta takes you through each step to creat many paintings with excelent results... her book is written in a style that is easy to read and follow. There are lots of photographs to help you understand what to do..I think that a beginner that has never painted a thing. could pick up this book and be painting beautifull paintings right away.. I recomend this book to anyone loving lace, flowers...and watercolour. Arleta shows you how to paint and have fun all at the same time..I loved her book so much, that I signed up for one of her 4 day classes in October 2000/ I am very excited about meeting this lady in person and being able to study under her... have fun painting... you can do it,with this book.....Jane

Arleta Pech's book is one of the best books on painting lush florals I have ever seen. This book is so good I later bought one of her video tapes to actually watch her creating a floral in her beautiful style. However, as long as you have this book you don't need a video. The book has everything you need to start painting in this beautiful style.

The first chapter gives information on materials, paints and surfaces. It also discusses looking for inspiration, developing the composition, creating paintings with a theme, creating a center of interest, detail drawing & use of a projector along with correcting the distortions that projection methods introduce.

The next chapter gets to the nuts and bolts of how she achieves her unique look. She discusses color theory particularly as it relates to glazing with watercolor. There are step-by-step photos showing her graded glaze technique and building form with it as well as her paint and pull technique. She shows the difference these techniques produce compared to wet-in-wet and provides some practice exercises with petals an iris and a bow. She also shows use of an airbrush which she uses mainly just to touch up & soften the center of a flower and occasionally to soften a background further.

The book has many step-by-step demonstrations of full paintings using her 2 favorite techniques as well as demonstrations of painting interesting backgrounds. There are many smaller demonstrations of just an individual flower. Interestingly, outline drawings are provided so you can trace the flower and practice painting it. She also uses lines pointing to particular areas of the outline drawing to remind you of certain areas to pay attention to.

Even though this is mainly a book about floral painting she provides demonstrations of painting china and lace since these items are often also featured in her floral still-lifes. One of the chapters shows step-by-step demonstrations of full scale paintings and a list beside each finished painting of problems that can crop up and their solutions. The final chapter is a gallery.

I have practiced painting some of the mini-demonstrations provided in the book and have been delighted with the results. Anyone wanting to paint better florals will benefit from this book.

This book is filled with Arleta Pech's gorgeous paintings! She gives valuable demonstrations and tips on all aspects of painting flowers. You'll want to grab your brushes and begin!

Thank you Jacqueline Penney for making my introduction to watercolor painting fun, informative and very helpful.
The book, Painting Greeting Cards in Watercolor, was a step by step introduction to watercolor painting through the practice of greeting card design. The lessons were fun, quick and very easy to follow, making the student beg to beging the next lesson. After every lesson I felt like I really learned something and was proud of my accomplishment. I'll be honest, as a first time watercolorist I would have given up if this book wasn't easy, fun and easy to understand. Luckily it was a superb introduction and I am very happy.
Thank you again.

I really enjoy using this book for inspiration and practice. I don't use her ideas for greeting cards, but for small paintings. Most of the paintings can be finished rather quickly. The topics are appealing and I have sold a number of them. I like her 3-in-1 compositions, dividing the paper with masking tape and having related subjects treated differently within each block. It is a practical and user-friendly book, well worth the purchase.

I have painted all the pictures in Jacqueline's book. Her detailed instructions make copying her art miniatures easy. Her instructions apply not only to miniatures but also larger sized pictures. I have used several of her designs for greeting cards.

This is one of the best, most thorough books on Portrait Painting. I especially benefited from the information on color mixing for the various skin tones, which I have seen in other books, but his is more in-depth. I won't let my book go!

this book gives you step by step instruction and teaches the basics as well as advanced ways to get portraits the way they should be. it includes the artist's palette and pictures of demostrations. he explains the colors of his palette as well as showing you how to make it with a chart for future reference. The darks, shadows , and light, the way in which he uses it to get the true illusion of 3 dimensional picture. i recommend this book to all artist alike.

Whether a beginner or experienced oil painter, this is a must-have book for your art techniques library. Sanden begins with general oil painting information about materials and equipment. He reviews his color palette in detail, discussing warms and cools, earth colors, and mixing your own flesh tints. He covers the basics of drawing the head and then talks about value, light, halftone, and shadow. Sanden's in depth color review includes hue, value and intensity, color mixing recipes and charts which you can make on canvas paper to keep for future reference. He shows you how to set up your palette, and gives clear and concise step-by-step painting instructions. After a review of general painting procedures, he paints (with examples) the head, including the mouth, teeth, chin, ears, forehead, hair, eyes, eyeglasses, and nose. Explanations are very clear and easy to follow. Lastly, he tells you how to capture the essence of your sitter. There are several color examples of his work throughout the book, as well as, black and white ones. He also discusses dark flesh tones, sitters attire, and the background. He encourages the painter to reduce the portrait into five parts: the light side of the face, the dark side of the face, the hair, the costume, and the background; to simplify. I use this book with my oil painting classes.

One of the last things I wanted to learn in painting watercolor was painting portraits because quite honestly, I didn't care for it mainly because I didn't know how. But after reading this book, I no longer feel apprehensive about painting portraits. Jan Kunz's book is a terrific instructional guide on how to start, as well as what colors to use and where to use them. The book even includes some step-by-step samples based on real-life models Ms. Kunz has used that you can start off first as a guide.

For beginners, this is a very good book to use to get started.

This is the one portrait book I would recommend for artists at ANY level of expertise and for all media., but especially for watercolor artists.

Jan Kunz has written a thoughtful, well-organized, presentation on how to paint watercolor portraits. Her realistic style of painting still manages to be expressive due to her emphasis on careful planning of how the image will be painted beforehand, allowing the artist's brush to put in correct values and hues with freedom and control at the same time. It's where I look whenever I get in trouble painting a portrait.

I do not have an extensive art background. Without becoming arcane, the author gives sufficient knowledge and support TO GET YOU GOING. This is the right book for someone who wants to try watercolor but lacks the art background and/or the creative support one would get from an instructor.

This book is great for reference as well as a gift to anyone wanting to explore watercolor! We are given examples and methods as well as how to shop for your supplies. I am giving this to my mom for Mother's Day. I highly recommend this book for anyone at any level.

A great book for the person who wants to try a new medium, or begin painting for the first time. Cathy Johnson's step by step instructional demos and great sense of humor make you want to get in there and just do it. The instructions are VERY clear and easy to understand--she never assumes you know what any given painting term means.

I am a high school graphic arts teacher, and am always looking for resources to help bring the most accurate and up-to-date information to my students. This book was an incredible find!! It contains very basic yet crucial foundational information regarding the creation of digital artwork. It features a chapter on building a studio, which includes everything you need to know about your computer and peripherals. It also includes several chapters of ideas on everything from preparing scanned images to understanding computer color theory to creating interesting effects in your images to explaining all the different file formats available. This book is a gem - I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a user-friendly resource that explains the process of creating digital images in terms that just about anyone can understand.

Painting With Pixels serves not only as an excellent resource for computer graphic design but, provides a practical and user friendly layout as well. The book helps the reader create stunning imagery in a variety of contemporary styles by following very simple straight forward steps. Glen Wilkins utilizes today's most cutting edge technology in the industry including, illustrator, corel draw and photoshop to name a few.
If you find yourself addicted to the manipulation of visual imagery, Painting With Pixels is a great source for new ideas and techniques as well as hours of fun!
Graphic Artist- Kensington, MD

I picked Glen's book at the public library and simply loved it. It is a great book that showcases different techniques. I also liked the fact it does not restrict itself to the high end software, but also shows examples using Dabbler (the best value for the money). It is a good book both as a first time reading and a reference book. :-)

If you've been to Paris at all, you'll recall some of the street corners and landmarks in this sketchbook. But if you haven't been there, these elegant and intimate illustrations done by Moireau will trigger your fantasy about the wonderful city. There is a plethora of competent guide/travel books about Paris with lots of pictures and photographs, but none capture the whimsy of the place like this book does. Mary Kelly's narrative asides complement the illustrations unobtrusively. Once again, Moireau's poetic portraits of the various areas of the city are a marvel to behold; I could really see the love this artist had for the city. The book also has a nice flow to it, so as you move through the book to the end, you feel as though you've taken a nice, slow walk through the Parisian streets. A lovely book.

I love three things: Watercolors, books and Paris. Author Mary Kelly and Fabrice Moireau teamed up to make the most delicious book on Paris that I have seen yet. Yes, I exclaimed "Ooo-la-la" when I opened this to a random page, but forgive me for the cliche. This book is magnificient in every way.

I first travelled to Paris in 1976, then a number of times thereafter, lately last May 2001. Each time, I strive to capture the essence of this wonderful city, and aside from a few character sketches, I don't have much success. This book is everything I wanted to take back from Paris in addition to some wonderful memories.

The format is a longer-than-wide book with excellent paper. The text is accompanied by good-sized watercolors and pencilled notes. It looks as if you are holding the actual sketchbook. The colors are very true; I do watercolors myself and I can tell you that the pages look as if the washes were just laid down. The look is fresh and really, it is stunning.

If you love France, Paris, art, watercolors, travel, you will love this book. I treasure it.

For anyone who has been to Paris and love the city this book is for you. The watercolured sketches are staggeringly beautiful and the text is a bonus. The texture of the book itself of heavy, faux-canvas paper has a wonderful feel and look.For what you get the price is very reasonable

When Jenny is assigned to write a stroy for school on anything she wants, she doesn't know what to do. Jenny likes to draw, and writing has never been easy for her. When Jenny comes home from school, and her mom tells her Patches is missing, Jenny draws pictures of Patches, and they hung then up all over town. When Jenny is in her room, she draws things that might have happened to Patches. Three days later and still no Patches, and Jenny still has no story.
On Saturday morning Patches is found, but Jenny still has no story. Jenny's mom goes in her room that night while Jenny is cuddling with Patches. Jenny tell her mom she still has no story. Jenny's mom looks on the wall and see's all the pictures she tells Jenny that can be her story all she has to do is add words. So Jenny does and she does a very good job. I would recommend this book for children ages 4-9.

This is the perfect book for a teacher to use in the classroom. It helps children understand that when they have to write something, they don't always have to write then draw a picture to go with it, they might do better drawing first then putting words to it later!! The story is realistic and very fun to read with great illustrations!!!!!!!

Steven Kroll's Patches Lost And Found is an engaging picturebook with a unique illustration style - the art is drawn in such a way as if to resemble expert paper collages. Iconic characters and brilliant colors make the images practically leap off the page, adding the perfect mood to the tender story of a young girl's search for her lost pet guinea pig.