Painting-the

In this book, as well as her other books, Sr. Wendy gives us a glimpse into the soul of a contemplative. I use this book for periods of quiet meditation.

On the right side of the book: works of art you would probably pass in a museum without a second thought

On the left side of the book: parsimonious, at times humorous, always educational and thought provoking interpretations of those works of art .. never exceeding a page of interpretation for a page of the work of art

One is thus hard pressed to differentiate one work of art from another. The gestalt is just gorgeous and a real treasure.

Excellent reproductions, fascinating paintings, excellent scholarship by Mr. Bown. I also highly recommend all his other books on Russian / Soviet art.

This book is a throughly history of the art of painting in Russia and the USSR from the point of view of the Realist school of painting that began to exist in the 2nd. half of the XIXth. century and, after the October 1917 Revolution, vied for supremacy with the Futurist school about the right to represent the socialist political project in form and content. The book examines the supramacy of Socialist Realism in the field of visual arts since Stalin's rise to absolute power until the demise of the USSR.

The book is encyclopaedic in both narrative and visual terms, since it combines an exahaustive historical account with an astounding array of 1st rate reproductions, taken from all corners of the former Soviet Union.The main shortcoming of the book would be only that, since it dwells not only in the history of Socialist Realist painting as such, but also of its ideological politic foundations (superbly examined) the books requires a prospective reader that has not only a general interest in the relationship between Art and Politics, but also an specific interest in both Soviet and Marxist studies. It's, nonethless, this interdisciplinary aspect that makes for much of the work's charm.

This is the 2nd book i got hold after "Hard Curves". Fans of Julie Bell's fantasy art get to keep her prints in a single book. That's luxury! Profusely illustrated and a sure treat for fantasy illustration. Near flawless fantasy art collection in oil captured on prints. Perfect interpretation of human anatomy through her oil painting techniques. Definitely a must for fantasy art collector. One pity is some prints are printing over 2 pages and over time the paperback give way in the saddle and the prints gets torn out. Would have been better if it's a hardbound.

This book combines comments from Julie with a variety of her work from oil paintings to pencil sketches. Especially exciting is seeing some of her trading card art in a larger format. The only problem is the binding. It can be hard to view double page spreads, as part of it is obscured in the binding. This is a great, inexpensive way to get your hands on some of Julie's art.

I look it as this, he is showcasing his talents. His diverse choice of material and textures, was a challenge to himself. He demanded much of himself, and to us he delivers! A fun, exciting joyride, causing you to pause and imagine the life, he so closely brings to you with his paintings. -Kevin

It is 8x10 glossy air brush works of the artist. A good bit of it is women/fantasy women, which is the reason my husband/artist purchased it, but it also includes some of his advertisement art, which is very good. A lot of steel & chrome. It includes his short biography & a behind the scenes of his sketches. Excellant book

The Split of Life contains highly charged works that introduce the reader to the forceful and intensely personal art of Nabil Kanso. His inmost emotions are projected on canvases that reveal images of pathos and tensions full of truth in both the physical and spiritual order of things.Through visions that link poetic and artistic expressions, his works project a vista between the spiritual and material worlds and reveal images in which each viewer can recognize some of the most fundamental resonance of our age and time. In viewing the vast range of the enormous paintings that Nabil Kanso so assiduously produced over the course of a career spanning more than thirty years, the figures would appear to emerge from the canvases to confront the viewers with a compelling view of the world and to respond to the endless variety of chaotic events and wars threatening our planet, splitting nations and people and assaulting the very essence of humanity. The intense expression of the human subject evokes ideas, experiences and visions that serve to animate the spirit and illuminate an important juncture in our time and space. Organized in seven parts embodying the motifs and forces that have shaped the vista of "The Split of Life" interrelated series of paintings from 1974 to 1994, the book offers a spectrum through which to view some of Kanso's most powerful and moving works on America, Vietnam, Lebanon, Hiroshima, Slavery and the Holocaust. The scope and vision of the works are conveyed through superb color reproductions of 76 of his monumental paintings presented in full page, double-page spreads and fold-outs, accompanied by a revealing introduction, documentary photographs, biographical chronology and a bibliography. The sumptuous volume offers for the first time an extensive overview of Kanso's major works and provides direct insight into the soul of his visual universe.

The Split of Life presents a vast expanse of material, both aesthetic and human, encompassing a period from 1974 to 1994 in Nabil Kanso's art. His inmost emotions are projected on cavases whose forms take their inspiration from the endless variety of global chaotic events and wars afflicting humanity. The intense expression fo the human subject evokes ideas, experiences and visions that serve to animate the spirit and illuminate an important inersection of our time and space. Organized in seven parts embodying the interweaving motifs and forces that have shaped the vista of "The Split of Life" interrelated series of paintings, the book carries the art toward issues of global concern. In expressing human suffering and wars engulfing the planet, the field of imagery penetrate the inner essence of a an earthly reality lying beyond its external aspects. The book provides a spectrum through which to view some of Kanso's most powerful and moving paintings on America, Vietnam, Lebanon, Hiroshima, Slavery and the Holocaust. The power and vision of his compelling work are conveyed through superb color reproductions of 76 of his monumental paintings accompanied by a revealing introduction, documentary photographs, biographical chronology and a bibliography. The volume offers for the first time an extensive overview of Kanso's major works and provide direct insight into the soul of his universe. Clothbound, 12 3/4 X 11 1/2, 144pp., 110 illustrations including 76 color plates displayed in full, double-page spreads and fold-outs.

The craft, art and restoration techniques for stained glass are explained in Pere Valldeperez's Stained Glass, a practical, "user friendly" guide which goes beyond competitors which merely display stained glass. Step-by-step photos cover these techniques in depth and detail: art students working in the medium will find this an essential coverage.

THIS IS A GREAT BOOK FOR THE NOVICE CRAFTER. IT HAS MANY PICTURES AND DETAILED INSTRUCTION FOR EACH STEP OF THE GLASS PROCESS. THE AUTHOR IS VERY KNOWLEDGEABLE AND IS ABLE TO TEACH A HAND CRAFT THROUGH THE WRITTEN WORD. IT IS A BARGAIN AT THIS PRICE!

One common thread in all my artistic endeavors has been the idea of transformation. I feel it is a wonderful magic to see something transformed from plain,possibly ugly, into something giving a sense of the beauty of design and color. This author, Lyn Le Grice,a trained designer with highly refined drawing skills, has become an authority in the field of stencilling and its use in interior design. She tells how early in her career she hit on this simple technique of using auto spray paint sprayed through linseed oil soaked manila card stencils to achieve beautiful rooms. In this book, she takes this ramshackle old house in Cornwall, and stencilling walls,floors, furniture, and fabrics, she transforms the place into the most delightful palace. She shows pictures of the Befores and the Afters are astonishing. It seems difficult to believe that just simple stencilling could achieve such a change. The photography of the house is top notch and the book is beautifully printed. It is a delight for decor aficionados like myself to leaf through the book and dream about what we too might do to transform our own rooms.

A true artist and teacher, Le grice inspires and instructs in this supurbly illustrated work. Her original stencils, from simple motifs to full scale murals, and her unusual spray paint method transform a home into a work of art.

This edition is now fully revised and updated. Already half a million copies of this book have been sold worldwide. Now they have included an extra 64 pages of innovative suggestions on how to improve your home with unique decorating discussions.

This book is written in a step-by-step style and is a contemporary and practical guide to beautiful adventures in home decorating.

The contents include:

Soft Furnishings
Basic Sewing techniques
Curtains and Draperies
Shades
Bed Furnishings
Pillows and Cushions
Simple Upholstery
Table Linens
Lampshades
Decorating
Painting
Wallpapering
Tiling
Hard Floors
Carpets and Rugs
Shelving
Lighting
Care & Maintenance

A discussion on the types of fabrics is followed by a pictoral guide to the basic sewing kit. Then you enter the world of hand sewing and machine techniques. It is reminiscent of home economics courses in high school, but they go into slightly more detail.

If you are thinking of putting up curtains, there is a section on hanging systems. While curtains take a bit of work, if you have a sewing machine and a bit of patience, you can create exactly what you imagine. The sewing sections in this book are a real highlight. It seems that most of this book is about sewing!

For the adventurous new decorator, there is a visual list of what you need for a household tool kit. Already I see I should purchase a few more items if I'm going to get any of these projects completed. Yes, I have a wire brush on my "to buy" list now.

Bagging is an interesting technique for painting. Sponging and glazework is also explained in detail. The painting section is less detailed than the sewing section, but
equally useful.

Once you get to the "tiling" section, you have to ask yourself if you really want to attempt this yourself? The flooring and tiling sections look quite advanced and perhaps these sections are more to help you decide on which types of flooring or tile you would prefer to install.

Shelving is not that difficult to install in reality and this section was short, sweet and practical.

If you are up for the challenge or are just looking for more
inspiration, this is your book.

I have read just about every book that our public library carries on home decorating. I never found one book that could address the issues in such detail with visual aids for every step of a project, until I came across "Step-by-step Home decorating book" by Nicholas Barnard. This is the best decorating book that I ever read. My search for the most satisfying decorating book has ended. It makes very good reading. A must for your library.

Mark Doty begins this book by describing a 350 year old Dutch painting "Still Life with Oysters and Lemon" that he has fallen in love with at the Metropolitan Museum. He then meanders to memories of his "Mamaw" from long ago in East Tennessee-- surely only Southerners call grandparents by that name-- to a poem by Cavafy, to buying an old Italianate Victorian House in Vermont with his partner who later died of AIDS. Along the way, Mr. Doty muses on the subject of balance: the desire to be in a relationship and the need to be free, the balance of order versus clutter, of staying rooted in one place and the need to travel-- and the joy of collecting simple, everyday imperfect things picked up in flea markets rather than perfect expensive objects.

There are so many good things to say about this little 70 page gem that one hardly knows where to begin. Too often I read a work of nonfiction and wish it had remained a short magazine article. That is not so with this book. I wanted it to go on and on. Whether or not the author is correct in his analysis of still life painting, he is completely convincing. Of course, his language is always both concise and beautiful and never gets in the way of what he is saying. Near the end of the book Mr. Doty says "What makes a poem a poem, finally, is that it is unparaphrasable. . . I may try to explain it or represent it in other terms, but then some element of its life will always be missing. It is the same with painting." Such a statement perfectly describes this little masterpiece.

Mark Doty has done the impossible. In STILL LIFE WITH OYSTERS AND LEMON he has not only written an extended essay (read epic poem) about his encounter with a simple Dutch Still Life painting, but he has also produced what must become the definitive map for looking, seeing, studying and describing the essence of art in a way that encourages us all to return to the pursuit of beauty. Doty has proved his credentials in art hisory and art technique so that he is able to find the essence of a still life, rhapsodize on the quality of light as captured by an everyday object that makes a centuries old painting seem immediate to our own home, and in doing so reveals his own history of memories, lovers, favorite objects, the passage of time as participants in the transitory moment we call life. So many art critics and art historians have attempted to find this plane of understanding and enlightment with only minimal degrees of success. As a curator and essayist about art I am humbled and in awe. Mark Doty is one of the finest poets in America today and knows his way with words, with phrases that illuminate his stances, with defining emotions inaudible to most of us. But this small book is more than an homage to a particular still life painting (though on that merit alone he wins the competition!). This is a tender, thoughtful journey toward discovering beauty that daily surrounds us, a call to accept the transitory nature in all things and to experience them while we may. No fatalism here, just a door opened to appreciate the cycle of being alive...which just happens to warmly include the aspect of dying as part of that totality. As in Still Life painting: artists have selflessly recreated moments precious to them, frozen them in time to stave off the finite, and in doing so have left us with miraculous images to incorporate into our psyches for perpetuating beauty. This book is a must for art students, for art lovers, and for everyone who yearns to understand the journey of the soul. As Doty informs us, paraphrasing poetry or a painting as focused as a still life is impossible; by nature the essence has been distilled. Writing a review of such a book is near impossible. Gift yourself with a book to which you will return as often as the author has returned to Still Life with Oysers and Lemon!

This is one of my favourite books, although the title is a bit misleading. I saw the word 'techniques' in the title and thought 'hey great - a book that's going to give me some of the techniques of the old dutch masters'. Hmmmm. All I can say is; if you thought that as well, don't get your hopes too high.
This is a great book - beautiful illustrations (although only 17 paintings are covered so it's not an extensive collection of works), clear text and nicely presented. However it strikes me as being written more from the perspective of an art curator or researcher then an artist (like so many art books written these days on the 'greats' of the past). Thus it misses out on a lot of information that would be of interest to the painter and gives very few actual 'how to' details. To me too, the majority of the technical information seems to be stating what can already be seen in the close ups, or revolving around scientific analysis of pigment samples. The dead colouring, whether a portion of the painting was done wet in wet or in layers and what pigments were used, seems to be the only technical information really covered.
However this is still a great book - I totally recommend it. Overall, it has to be the most helpful still life painting book I own to date,(mostly because of the closeups and the quality of the paintings). So I would say, get it if you love old masters still lifes, it's worth it.

This beautiful book is an intensive and visually enchanting examination of nineteen flower and still life masterpieces from museums around the world. This book was written in conjuction with the show presented at the Rijksmuseum, June through September of l999. Art lovers, artists, scholars, conservators and laymen will enjoy this journey back to the seventeenth and eighteen-century workshops of such artistic giants as Jan Brueghel, Jan Davidsz de Heem, Rachel Ruysch, Jan Van Huysum and more. Historical backgrounds of fifteen painters are featured along with technical information on supports (canvas, wood or copper), imprimaturas, under drawings, mediums, and paints. Beautiful color plates, artistic techniques, and scientific knowledge are shared.

Paintings by Jan van Huysum are examined through mmicroscopic analysis, made possible by the Molart Project. Such scientific examination tells us the chemical and physical condition of Huysum's paintings, and the methods he used to paint his beautiful still lifes. Such scientific examinations offers us a great amount of information that can be applied to artistic instruction, preservation or just good reading.