5 comments about The Collins Big Book of Art: From Cave Art to Pop Art.

1. I am a professional artist and teacher. The Collins Big Book of Art offers a view of various periods, styles, genres, and trends in a way I have not found in any other reference book. Its terrific and useful.



2. This book was not what I thought it would be. I thought it would be a nice coffee table book - that it would be cool to pick up and flip through - but it reads more like a college textbook, and if I could, I would sell this book back to the college bookstore.



3. Much repetition and too little of artists neither western nor white...or male for that matter. Though the sections are a lovely idea the same art is used in each. A not terribly risky venture, this.



4. This volume takes you through the history of art in a way that embraces the reader like none other. There is order here in the way the material is presented. It is very logical and helps explain quite a bit of what has gone on since the first artistic expressions were created. You can feel your way through history and find a clear development of artistic techniques and styles. There is a definite reason behind these and it is explained with great feeling. There is quite a bit of psychology about the subject matter of what is on the canvas. Why does an artist or group of artists choose to capture something in a particular way? This is a quite a book.



5. This is a great book for anyone who wants to know a little (or a lot!) more about art. It has numerous illustrations, a timeline, and also goes into themes and how certain art movements have depicted a specific feature (eyes, for example). You can open the book to any page to get a quick glimpse and learn some fun facts, or you can read it from the beginning. The Collins Big Book of Art is beautiful and the best general book about art I've seen. I received it as a gift, and I'm going to be buying it for others this Christmas.

5 comments about Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Watercolor.

1. Kinda new to painting. Im a web designer and went to painting to "enhance" my art side. I worked with oils, but wanted to learn about watercolours. This book is a great one to pick up.
   
   Just put paper on the carpet first...........



2. This book gives a broad overview of watercolor techniques, from loose and washy, to photorealism, including glazing, spattering, color theory, and masking. It's a good way to see all the variety found in watercolor today. I only wish it could have gone into more depth on some of the more unusual techniques.



3. I am new to water color and have many questions ,and this book answers them and gives more information that is very useful



4. If you can only purchase one book on watercolor this is the one. It is very comprehensive covering every aspect of watercolor painting from materials needed to showing all the various painting techniques.



5. This book gives good detail and excellent examples to allow various styles to emerge. Very organized and easy to read. It covers so many different aspects that I, as a newbie, have found it a must-have out of the many books that I have purchased to help me learn. This really is one of the very best of the many that have been written out there. You'll not be frustrated or feel left lacking for knowledge.

5 comments about Area.

1. You can't go wrong with a Phaidon publication. The book is a very in-depth look at design world-wide. It has tons of examples of great design. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.



2. There is so much inspiration in this book. It's a graet resource for any designer. It will get your little design wheels spinning with fresh ideas every time you open it. There is so much in here and such a broad range of styles and subject matter. Some incredible artists.



3. There is something amazing in the way consumerism has birthed its own brand of art. In the 1880's, when Coca-Cola pushed their first few dollars across the table and asked for a slogan, I wonder if anyone ever dreamed what their industries would become and how much they would owe to this type of expression? I wonder if the idea that Frank L. Balm had about The Storefront Window, saying it was more than a place to keep a store's useless stuff, went beyond the United States becoming the frontrunner in glass consumption and into a field all its own? I ask because the field of Marketing Psychology intrigues me and, accordingly, the things we've birthed to sell items also intrigues me. Maybe "intrigue" isn't even the right world - maybe I should say that they captivate me, forcing me to search high and low for the best lightbulbs burning in the brightest phosphorescent starlight so to influence the migratory patterns of items that are pushed forth by a culmination of thought and a well-oiled pen.
   That is what is so beautiful about Area; it breathes what we are, what we consume, and how this meshes with the very fabric of how we conceive pitch and pitches, ticking and timeless, making up the very definition of art that is more than pictures generated "for art's sake." Looking here, it really reflects how the world has become vibrant and how pictures have shaped the world.
   Locked inside this book is more than a few pictures - its a blueprint of an overlooked history that America wears all over its geography.
   
   When I look at the field of graphic design, I am always tantalized by the creations that come from it, wanting to pour myself into page after page and see the "next big idea." It is somewhat like listening to the heartbeat of millions of people thumping in unison; if it clicks it happens to click, and you know what started the motion. Area proves that, too, showing you how far we've moved past the simple pixel lay-outs and into the realm of technological highs and really ingenious methods of salesmanship, making so many things seem desirable. In Marketing Psychology it is called tapping into the "ideal self" and making people buy a dream that the "actual self" doesn't seem to be able to supply.
   The idea seems easy enough to understand, too, and sometimes people laugh at the power wielded by the pen and call the "needing" lemmings. Here, in this book, I find a lot of laughter falling short of its mark and even the bigger birds of prey noticing things they adore and why they learned to adore it.
   
   When I first bought this book I thought it would simply feed my tastes and purse my lips with the hum of more curiosity, but lately I've noticed how much influence the book has. It has thousands of pictures, quite literally, and sometimes I catch my friends standing with their eyes glued to an item and that blank stare of "something remembering something" coming out as they slow move through the pages. Its as if Ford's comments on the heart of the new type of manufacturing, "machinery is the new messiah," have found application in ways he never intended.
   If you want to see how great that can become, how powerful advertising can become, then you should look at this book and see what I mean. Currently the one I own has been in my clutches for well over a year, and I still have around one hundred pages tabbed just so I can look back over them and marvel at the creativity that thrives in make-believe places orbiting some very real horizons.
   
   Even if you know nothing about art, you know what beauty is and this book comes highly recommended in that department.



4. This book is full of new and refreshing design from around the world. It helps to educate someone like me who, while getting a Graphic Design education, is getting a more traditional rundown of the field and less of a modern-day acknowledgment. "Area" addresses the artists' perspectives and shows a wide variety of visual styles and formats, and will have something extremely interesting for everyone. A great book for any designer's collection. Worth every penny.



5. Inspiration should come from all over the world. And this book gives you that.

2 comments about Painting and Sculpture in Europe, 1880-1940 : 6th Edition.

1. Initially written in 1966, this survey of 19th and 20th century modern art is defintely showing its age. Despite five revisions between 1971 and 1993, most of the references to critical scholarship date from the 1950s and 1960s. I do not imagine this book will be revised again. The author maintains a rather tradition and connoisseur-bound view of the periods under consideration that sometimes lacks engagement and vibrancy. It is as if the revolution in art criticism during the 60s/70s/80s never happened.
   
   I don't know the reason for why the period 1880 to 1940 was chosen as the years bracketing this survey, but the result of choosing the 1880 date is that two of the major figures in French Modernism (Courbet and Manet) are conspicuously absent. The author has also chosen to focus on individual artists, sometimes at the expense of more fully covering art movements and social context within which they emerged.
   
   Images are decently chosen, though small and primarily black and white. Focus of the text is on established European artists with barely a mention of artists in North America.
   
   Readers might consider the following Open University texts covering similar ground to Hamilton but in a more engaging manner:
   
   Modernity and Modernism : French Painting in the Nineteenth Century, by Francis Frascina, et al.
   Primitivism, Cubism, Abstraction : The Early Twentieth Century, by Gill Perry, et al.
   Realism, Rationalism, Surrealism : Art Between the Wars, by David Batchelor, et al.



2. If one reads this book in hopes of getting a fairly complete overview of art of the early Twentieth Century, they will not be disappointed. However, if one is looking for something more in depth, with various examples of an artists oevure, then perhaps they should keep looking. One of this book's greatest virtues as an overview is that it does not assume a great deal of knowledge of art on the part of the reader and is relatively engaging. However, images are few and far between and not always of the best quality, which I find to be an integral part of an art historical publication.

5 comments about Authentic American Indian Beadwork and How to Do It: With 50 Charts for Bead Weaving and 21 Full-Size Patterns for Applique.

1. Very nice. Displays full size patterns for beading. It had designs that
   I wasn't familiar with. Good Find for beginner to immediate beaders.



2. This book is loaded with patterns. They are laid out very well and easy to follow. It is not a technique book. One improvement would be that small pictures of the finished products would have helped with choosing patterns.



3. I haven't started bead weaving yet, but I love the ideas & designs that this book has.



4. As a person who pieces quilts and does beadwork, I usually see an actual quilt or a piece of beadwork OR a color photograph of an item. After viewing an actual item or a photo and appreciating the colors and the pattern, I then decide if I want to make it. While this book has 50 charts for bead weaving and 21 patterns for applique, there are only four pages of photographs showing a total of about 26 items. I was dissappointed that there wasn't a color photo for every design in the book. People want to see what a finished product will look life before taking the time and effort to make it.



5. This is a great book to use for applique designs. I craft and bead cradleboards and the designs really helped towards my ideas. The designs vary in region which also helps. The designs are large, simple to use and she even numbers them for the specific colors to use if you choose. I am very satifsfied with Stanley-Miller's book.

3 comments about The Second Anti-Coloring Book: Creative Activites for Ages 6 and Up (Anti-Coloring Book).

1. These coloring books are really fun - outside the box. My son was 4.5 when we started one. I made comments on each page to remember what everything that he drew meant and also included his comments. Its neat to look back and see how his interests and mind is changing. I highly recommend this series.



2. This is a wonderful book for teachers. I like to use this book with my students because it lets them be creative and stretch their imagination.
   I would recommend this book to any teacher who teaches grades K-6th.



3. I just love all of the books in this series by Susan Striker (with Edward Kimmel on a few of them). In college I learned about how coloring books are actually somewhat damaging to a child's creativity. When you give a child a coloring book, you aren't asking him to think or create - just kill time. But when you just give him inspiration in the form of these books, you're telling him that his imagination is important, and that you have faith in his abilities to draw and create.
   
   Completing these pages doesn't only take imagination, either. Problem-solving skills are employed as children answer the questions posed on each page through their illustrations.
   
   To children, none of this matters of course. For anyone who has ever laid down a blank piece of paper and wondered what they should draw, this is a welcome source of interesting ideas.
   
   As a mother, I have used these books several times, and every time I get them out and let my kids look through them, they immediately become excited by the many possibilities and always find it difficult to narrow down which ones they will do. Furthermore, there is such a range of topics that any child is just about guaranteed to find something of interest. On one page, the creator is challenged to "Award Yourself a medal for what you know you do best", then on another page he or she is asked to "Construct a city on another planet" or illustrate, "What is your idea of Paradise?". All of these prompts also include some background to help get creative juices flowing.
   
   I should also note that many of the prompts in the book can also easily lend themselves to be used as creative writing prompts. I highly recommend this or any book in this series to any teacher or parent.

5 comments about Big Art, Small Canvas: Paint Easier, Faster and Better with Small Oils.

1. This book was just OK for me. I was expecting more detail and refinement in the paintings which I strive for in my work. The small paintings make a nice price point when you are doing various sizes.



2. I found this book to be very inspirational. I wish I had thought of it!



3. This book is not only instructional, but a complete course in painting miniatures -- and fills a vast void in that area. The author not only provides excellent reasons for painting on a small canvas, but gives practical advice on setting up space and equipment, preparing the panel (canvas), and staging & lighting the props for a still life. She goes on to review elements of color theory, and presents her favorite complementary palettes. She discusses methods of 'seeing' in order to get the underlying drawing right, and outlines the most important elements of design: composition, perspective, balance, focal point, and texture. Additionally, several methods of creating depth in a painting are covered. Thereafter, Washor presents a series of step-by-step still-life and landscape demonstrations, each of which illustrates yet other enigmatic features of art. She even discusses framing! This book is packed with practical, useful, and instructive advice, and is filled with gorgeous, painterly examples of the author's work to inspire us. What a find!



4. Overall, the book was good. I liked the intro and the chapter on equipment. I would have liked more step by step pictures to show the development of the painting. Also, some better descriptions of painting techniques would have been helpful. The book does inspire me to experiment on my own but it doesn't give enough insight to avoid common mistakes.



5. Disregard the size of the paintings if you like, and just look at the gorgeous colors and brushwork!!!!! So sensuous. The author is very generous with her information. Her color palette is unusual, and the color schemes she uses are really, really lovely. This is one of the top oil painting books around. I highly recommend it.

No comments about Design Manual, A (4th Edition).

No comments about From Greenwich Village to Taos: Primitivism and Place at Mabel Dodge Luhan's (Cultureamerica).

5 comments about Complete Guide to Watercolor Painting.

1. This book was recommended by Tony Couch in his book, "Keys to Successful Painting". I find the material in Whitney's book to be the basis for Tony's book. They are both devoted to the principles of design, and the elements of design. Whitney's book has a more in depth approach and gives reasons why things work and some don't. I have read the book and find the information useful. A must read for those who want to beter understand the elements and principles of what makes a good painting eye catching and memorable.



2. Complete Guide to Watercolor Painting by Edgar A. Whitney is not a coffee table book, not "eye candy;" but the quick readability of the black and white reproductions of Whitney's watercolors shows that he knows what he's talking about when it comes to design and the importance of a good value pattern. This is a book for the serious student of watercolor painting who is willing to take instruction and work at his/her craft, and it is, in fact, an excellent instruction manual for any painter, as the design principles are universal.
   
   After studying dozens of art books over the years and taking university art classes and workshops from nationally known artists, this book is what finally helped me "get it" when it came to putting together an effective watercolor painting. The black and white reproductions do not detract from the soundness of the instruction. It may be helpful to have other books on color theory, various techniques, etc., but these are only peripherals to the sound design basics taught in this book.
   
   If you want a book that is similar to this older model in its instruction on design but with all pictures in color, Tony Couch's more recent Keys to Successful Painting, might suit you well. But note that Tony Couch, along with a long list of other well-known watercolorists, were disciples of Edgar A. Whitney.



3. This book is a great foundational book for anyone looking to know the fundamentals of watercolor. ALthough some of the book is in black and white, the principles are still very well described. If you can learn this book, you will be well on your way. It also goes over somewhat how to paint loosely. Well done.



4. This reissue of a classic is essential to the landscape artist concerned about composition and design. The text and principles are clearly outlined but for visual people it lacks examples in most instances. The black and white copies of paintings are difficult to analyze. It needs updating with color pictures that are examples of the rules of composition that the author puts forth.



5. I was disappointed that 90% of the examples by Whitney were in BLACK and WHITE. It would have been far more helpful had the pictures been in color.