No comments about E Pluribus Venom.

4 comments about Color Mixing Recipes.

1. This is an excellent book for painters just starting out, or painters in general.
   Mixing recipes for more than 450 colour combinations. This book is a Must.



2. Very good quality printing, so you can get a good read. It was helpful, but I ended up making my own charts with the current colors that I keep. Who uses Hansa Yellow?



3. I do like spiral-bound books which feature either brushstrokes or in this case, recipes, as the pages lie flat (there is no spine to flatten or pages which keep flipping at a vital stage). The book starts with a general overview of color theory but doesn't get obsessive about it. Then come the recipes which are clear, easy to understand and there is a plastic color mixing grid at the back to help get the proportions accurate. The book deals with Oils but there is a conversion chart for Acryllics included. At 49 pages and with a hardcover, it is compact and easy to carry. I liked the over all format of the book which also includes a small section on Portrait Colors.



4. This book is great for anyone who loves to paint, but struggles with getting just the right tone...just the right shade...even just the right color! While I've noted that a few "recipes" contain errors (it's pretty clear that mixing one part white with four parts cadmium yellow medium will not yield a "pumpkin" orange), I still find the book useful because it allows one to see what combinations and proportions of colors will result in a desired hue, value, or intensity. While Powell acknowledges in the Instructions that paint colors vary somewhat among brands, I have noted one or two colors that are significantly different from the paint I usually buy (Windsor-Newton oils). Even so, I have been quite pleased with the results, and I believe my painting is all the better for using this guide. I certainly recommend it to anyone who has experienced the frustration of having mixed selected colors only to discover that the end result is totally wrong for its intended use!

1 comments about Animal Spirits Knowledge Cards: Paintings by Susan Seddon Boulet.

1. Shaman: The Paintings of Susan Seddon BouletShaman: The Paintings of Susan Seddon Boulet
   The animal's paintings of Susan Seddon Boulet are delightful invitations to encounter these archetipal dimensions inside us. Animals get us in touch with our instinctual dimensions, part of our totality.
   Boulet's visionary art talks to our souls.

5 comments about Centering in Pottery, Poetry, and the Person.

1. I'm way over 13 and it was over 30 years ago that I lost my book- Centering in Pottery, Poetry and the Person. I've been tettering ever since. Years ago this book helped me to focus on constructing my artistic talents.
   Blessings
   Marian Hayes
   Chicago



2. "Have you ever read CENTERING?" a friend asked me. "That book changed my life," she explained, with a knowing smile, "and I'll even loan you my copy." M. C. Richards was a potter, teacher, and poet, and her 1962 book is "a story of transformation" (p. 4). In his Foreward to the 25th Anniversay Edition of M.C.'s "truly subversive book" (p. ix), Matthew Fox writes, "I consider this book one of the great works of American philosophy: it is so cosmological, so feminist (without once using that term), so original, so full of wisdom, so post Cartesian, so nondualistic, so moral, and so fully a part of the mystical tradition of the West that one wonders from what source it arrived in our world . . . This is a prophetic and mystical book. Such books are dangerous. They are the kind dictators burn, churches tend to ignore, and consumer cultures leave on the shelf. For they have the power to awaken, to stir, to disturb, and to transform" (pp. vii-viii).

   After forty years, CENTERING remains as relevant as ever. The good news is that it's still in print. M. C. observes that, in our society, "ordinary education and social training seem to impoverish the capacity for free initiative and artistic imagination. We talk indepedence, but we enact conformity . . . Brains are washed (when they are not clogged), wills are standardized, that is to say immobilized. Someone within cries for help. There must be more to life than all these learned acts, all this highly conditioned consumption. A person wants to do something of his own, to feel his own being alive and unique. He wants out of bondage. He wants in to the promised land" (p. 43).

   Wisdom arrives through a childlike sense of wonder, or through "centering," as M. C. calls it. "Within us lives a merciful being," she observes, "who helps us to our feet however many times we fall" (p. 8). "Wisdom is not the product of mental effort," she tells us. Rather, it is a state of "total being, in which capacities for knowledge and for love, for survival and for death, for imagination, inspiration, intuition, for all the fabulous functioning of this human being who we are, come into a center with their forces, come into an experience of meaning that can voice itself as wise action" (p. 15). She encourages us to "ride our lives like natural beasts, like tempests, like the bounce of a ball or the slightest ambiguous hovering of ash, the drift of scent: let us stick to those currents that can carry us, membering them with our souls. Our world personifies us, we know ourselves by it" (p. 7). "I sense this," she writes; "we must be steady enough in ourselves, to be open and to let the winds of life blow through us, to be our breath, our inspiration; to breathe with them, mobile and soft in the limberness of our bodies, in our agility, our ability, as it were, to dance, and yet to stand upright, to be intact, to be persons" (p. 12). CENTERING is a "sensual, sexual, trusting" book "full of surprises" (p. xv) you'll want to share with your friends.

   G. Merritt




3. I've read this several times since it was first published in the 60's MC Richards has a lot of insight and some very good things to say to teachers.



4. This book is a classic! I came across it in the '70's and now, again, when I am old enough to understand the depth of Mary Caroline Richard's wisdom. She truly knows what life-generating relationships are about. The best news about this book is that it is still in print.



5. Innumerable poets, potters, artists & teachers have been touched by Mary Caroline Richards. Ever attentive to the whole person, Richards shows that a truly liberating creativity arises out of compassion, an attentive stillness of soul, self-acceptance & a delight in creative "accidents." For Richards, the words "teacher" and "student" are interchangeable. She gently reminds us that she is talking about life, no matter what she seems to be saying. Richards is one of the most important teachers grown in America. If you want to know why, read "Centering."

3 comments about By Hand: The Use of Craft in Contemporary Art.

1. I've been eyeballing this book for quite some time and finally added to my collection.
   
   I have a BFA in Crafts and am always on the lookout for books which address craft as a fine art form versus craft as a DIY/hobby. By Hand definitely covers it.



2. This book came as a answer to a Dream. Just what I wanted. An insight into what Textil-Arist are doing. And some of them are Masterpieces. Of course I have my favered pieces, hope you find your's.
   A book I will keep on my coffetable for a long time.



3. this book is a really interesting look into the crafty end of fine art. the photos are lovely and the short essays are fun to read.

5 comments about First Steps in Enameling.

1. this was a very good book for learning enamelling techniques. The book includes good pictures and advices. In Finland we have nothing like that in Finnish language so first we have to learn english and then try to translate all those ways to enamel. There are so many amazing books for jewellery workers in english and this was one of them.



2. It is everything I need to know about enamaling. I found this book to be extremely helpful in buying products to start enameling. Iis has great pictures and explanations. Good projects. I learned alot from this book before I took my first class.
   
   Linda



3. This is a very good starting book to answer questions about what you need to know and have and also do to get started in enamel. This will be a reference book you will keep if you choose to continue in the craft. This book on the craft of enameling. Is up to her other works in the jewelry/metal art fields. It starts out to ground the newbie in the basics. The publisher also chimes in with the standard warnings about materials and equipment. My only warning is if you have no uncommon sense, please take up something else. She covers intro to enameling, equipment and materials and working with enamels. Moving on to seven easy type projects that you can make changes to if they do not suit you. All without loosing any of the instruction. Then moves on to some more techniques. Following up with seven more projects. Ending with a couple of pages of troubleshooting info which a lot of craft books lack. A glossary and the resource guides.
   The pictures are clear, crisp and in color. With only enough work table shown for balance. They are of a size that gives a good visual of the descriptions along with the numbers on both. The gallery pages are dispersed thru the book. With an assortment of Jinks and other artists work. I own it I am planning on keeping it.



4. Great book, has just the amount of instructions to help you get started.



5. I have no experience with enameling at all, but wanted to know how to do it. This book was a great intro. to the process. I haven't tried it yet, but I do feel that I could at least make an attempt, based on the instructions in the book. Many instructive books leave you with too many unanswered questions, which prevents you from actually trying things yourself (especially when dangerous elements are utilized in the process, as in jewelry-making). For someone with some metal-working experience, however, I believe that you could actually get started on your own with this book.

2 comments about Floral Art Structures.

1. This book is a reminder that a container does not look like the items you can buy in a store. We can create containers that look like nothing else available, to bring out of ourselves the imaginative designs that the best of our profession create. This book can take your designs to the next level!



2. Great book for profesional florists amazing techniques and all the variations that can be done with them.
   Thanks.

5 comments about The Watercolors of John Singer Sargent.

1. My copy is an oversize paperback of about 160 pages. Reproductions of paintings inside are typically page-size and out weigh the text content almost ten to one. It is very much a visual document. The reproductions are, if not excellent, at least decent / good. (Nothing can match viewing a Sargent painting in person. The real colors are still subtle yet just magnificent.)
   By chapters, if you will, the book is organized into about ten short ones. Hard to say more precisely. The first is biographical. A few are housekeeping: bibliography and the like. The rest, some nine units are by topic painted, mostly by region, e.g. "in the Mountains" or "Florida". The former unit contains "Mountain Stream", perhaps my most favorite watercolor of all.
   Why did I buy this book? (Actually, two copies?) I think I have all of the images in at least one other book. There are other essays published about Sargent and about his watercolors, some of them quite brilliant. I've seen better reproductions. It is not a "how-to-paint" book and one couldn't learn to paint out of a book anyway. (Although to new watercolorists that idea seems quite tempting. "If only I knew just what exact brushes Sargent used...")
   Two reasons for buying come to mind: because I can afford the reasonable price and because the book simply is there. The book is there and it is another perspective / angle on Sargent and his watercolors. The scholars of Greek drama tell us that there are only ten (or pick your number) plots, yet still we watch television, read new books and attend movies. A thousand times more than ten. Likewise for me, a Sargent enthusiast, one all-definitive book on Sargent would still not suffice. I have to see each viewpoint / perspective myself. Insatiably. I read them all. Carl Little's book is a good one. And I surely know good from bad; I've bought and read many quickie Sargent books with lousy reproductions trotted out just before the holiday season. This in not one of those; this is the real, quality thing. A very nice book with good if very limited text and plenty of decent reproductions. I'm glad I bought it. That is, bought them. :)



2. I was looking for a Sargent book exclusively dedicated to his watercolours. I think the Carl Little book is the best one. The book is very manageable (I prefer the paperback as I use it a lot around the house as well as for reference). The size makes it also very usable, rather than having the large, heavy, coffee table editions which I find difficult to hold. The content is spot on for me; I'm after the images with a little written background to Sargent's life; this is very well presented in Little's book. The quality of the spine lacks a bit, but then again, I make sure I get out as much juice out of this book as possible!



3. This is a book about the watercolours of John Singer Sargent so don't expect to see other than this. It's very well written and illustrated and it coverso all painters life. I also bought a big monographic book about Sargent and this one because I love his watercolours. I do think it's interesting to have if you already have a monographic book about this painters.



4. As a watercolorist, this book is a model of technique, and I am happy to have it to study his composition,his values distribution and his ability to simplify without losing meaning



5. Sargent's inspirations were Velasquez, Hals, Rubens. These were painters who understood the play of light. And they had a worthy apprentice in JSS.He understands that it is light that is the unifier of all his paintings, regardless of theme. JSS painted in watercolour for his own pleasure. (His mother taught him the medium at an early age). His brilliant mastery of both technique, light and sumptious colour are all captured in the reproductions in this book. Like others who have reviewed the book I return to it again and again. Happy pictures by a Mozart of the medium. How could you not buy it?

5 comments about 100 Naked Girls.

1. 100 Girls. I like 100 Years by FFF better. Out of this collage I preferred, or flagged about 6 or less pics. Granted in another's opinion, one may prefer 38. It's just on what you visually prefer. This item will be kept as the book and pics are well put together. Happy Viewing.



2. Interesting piece of work, with Petter Hegre's quality. High quality printing and presentation. The only downside of the product, looks no different from the material from Hegre you can see in the Web for free.



3. Hegre has an eye for a certain kind of beauty in women. Not all women's lives create it, it may be prettiness rather than beauty, and it lasts for only a short part of a life. Still, it's there, and Hegre has captured 100 different kinds of it.
   
   Marketa, the cover model, sets the pattern: they're all young, slender, and very lovely. A few, like Tatiane and Lucy, don't match the European mold - very few, and I would have liked more of the variety they represent. Some, like Luba are very 'posed.' Others, like Olga and Lena or Sveta and Inga, show models in close groups, hinting at physcial affection between them. Natural looks predominate but some - like Lza - offer surprises. The majority, typified by Olga, Andrea, and Dina, convey the fun the woman seems to have in simply being herself.
   
   This book is almost too much, though. The models are sweet, but I wouldn't want to eat only desserts all the time either. There are lots of other ways for a woman to look good - but Hegre has ignored them in favor of just this very conventional one. Well, it's an easy one to enjoy.
   
   This is a lovely collection of very pretty young women. It's not overtly erotic, except maybe once or twice. Instead, it simply celebrates the charm and elegance that's native to these lovely models.
   
   //wiredweird



4. I got the book for my boyfriend and he honestly hasn't even looked at it, just flipped through. I looked at it though and just thought it was cheesy. The girls all look the same and they just aren't very sexy. I was disappointed. Poo



5. Do girls enjoy seeing beautiful naked girls? You bet we do, and few photographers as far as I can see find more beautiful girls or photograph them more beautifully. This is not a book to race through but a book to savour, honest, natural, totally real, Petter Hegre has taken the new nude to new limits of human endeavour. I can't wait to see the next one. Milly Belladulce

5 comments about Seizing the Light: A History of Photography.

1. I'll make it clean cut here; the buyer gave me what I wanted and the item is in great shape. What else could I ask for? Very happy and the delivery was of average speed.



2. Robert Hirsch's survey of the origins and evolution of photography, "Seizing the Light," is a welcome addition to the expanding study of the medium. In clear, insightful, and engaging prose, Hirsch unfolds photography's hit-or-miss birth which was rapidly followed by coherent technological developments almost at the speed of light. Hirsch makes us believe that photography was inevitable; the darling and necessary child of destiny wed to information theory. And Hirsch's treatment of early 20th century Modernist photography and the philosophy behind Pictorialism is excellent.
   
   As a primer for the invention of photography and its chemical underpinnings, "Seizing the Light" is as good as it can be. It falls a little short, however, in its treatment of contemporary photography. The book would have been better served by including a few in-depth surveys of important contemporary photographic projects in order to emphasize the centrality of this discipline in contemporary art history and postmodern theory which is heavily dependent on the nature of images and processes of image-making.



3. Overall a great book on the history of photography. VERY comprehensive overview of the evolution of photography. It ties movements in art and social events into photography trends and developments. It also provides insight into how photographers and artists used the medium to express themselves and how experimentation lead to improvements over the years. My only negative comment would be that some of the earlly forms of cameras were not pictured. There were diagrams of early cameras, but after the first hundred years, there is little to no documentation on how they evolved cosmetically/ functionally. It'd be nice to see an example of the various "groundbreaking" cameras as they were discussed. Otherwise, a great book.



4. For everyone with an interest in photography, either as an artist of the medium, a beginner looking for direction, or a collector who wants informed background to enhance appreciation of fine photographs both from the past and from the present obsession, SEIZING THE LIGHT: A History of Photography is essential reading.
   
   Robert Hirsch knows his subject and in one hefty book manages to share the beginnings of photography some 200 years ago with the evolution of the camera and the discipline of photographing. Well illustrated with both photographs and drawings, Hirsch chronicles the famous and not so famous practitioners of the art in succinct but richly colorful biographical abstracts to accompany examples of each artist. The phases through which this art form has passed makes for fascinating reading even beyond the scope of the title: the use of the camera in documenting the history of our globe at celebration, at war, at discovery, and at the side of the people of the day is a journey well lead by a writer well skilled.
   
   Though this book is now six years old it remains one of the more important textbooks for the art school classroom. But more important it is so richly written that it remains a fascinating survey of life since the camera. From the beginnings of the pinhole box to the present day digital images on the cell phone etc, the invention of the camera has inextricably changed our perception of the world. Learn the how and why of it! Highly recommended. Grady Harp, December 05



5. Seizing the Light: A History of Photography. is a wonderfully broad, contemporary, eclectic and entertaining book. Robert Hirsch has produced the most useful, readable, and practical successor to Beaumont Newhall's classic, The History of Photography, first published in 1937. Seizing the Light is written in a friendly, accessible way -- dense with information, but more hip and lively than other offerings, especially those aimed at college students. Hirsch includes the "canon" of standard western photographic history (represented by Stieglitz, Weston, Adams, White, et. al.) first set forth by Newhall and other researchers, but updates the information with special emphasis on the last five decades of photographic practice, including digital imaging.
   
   Many teachers and interested readers will greatly appreciate Hirsch's conscious effort throughout the book, to include numerous women and photographers from other cultures. (Chapter Two opens with an image of an American Indian, and includes a portrait of an African-American, affording students the realization that marginalized groups actually did appear as subjects before the camera in addition to working behind them.)
   
   Students will also appreciate Hirsch's habit of opening new chapters with a description of cultural and political events occurring during the period under discussion: Chapter Twelve starts with a harrowing description of life for immigrants in New York City in the late Nineteenth Century during the time of Jacob Riis, and Chapter Seventeen has a helpful summary of the ending of the Vietnam War, connecting it smoothly to such diverse influences as Richard Nixon and the BeeGees! There are also wonderful endnotes following each chapter that are absolutely addictive, giving curious readers further information and surprising tidbits of information.
   
   Hirsch's knowledge gained as a Director of CEPA Gallery in Buffalo (a contemporary non-profit Artist's space) provides him with exceptional insight into contemporary photography. This is especially evident in his last Chapter, Eighteen, "Thinking About Photography," which abounds with infrequently seen and challenging images by Arnulf Rainer, Nam June Paik, John Baldessari, Anselm Keifer, Gilbert and George, William Wegman and the Bechers. There is a clear and helpful section on Postmodernism, including the usual suspects: Cindy Sherman, Richard Prince, Barbara Kruger, Sherrie Levine, and Victor Burgin. There are sections on "Gender Issues" with Judith Golden, as well as one on "Fabrications" with Sandy Skoglund, Olivia Parker, Joel Peter Witkin and others. "Altering Time and Space" includes David Hockney, the Starn Twins, and the delicious hand-colored work of Holly Roberts. Other sections include "Investigating the Body" (Andres Serrrano, Robert Mapplethorpe, Nan Goldin, Sally Mann) and "Multiculturalism" (Clarissa Sligh, Carrie Mae Weems, Lorna Simpson, and the Guerilla Girls). Hirsch closes this bulging chapter with a discussion of digital imaging, including images by Pedro Meyer, Nancy Burson and several rising young artists in new media. He concludes with an extensive bibliography of related books and resources, a helpful list of monographs by the major artists presented throughout the text, and a section on sources for artists' books.
   
   Robert Hirsch has produced a most impressive and useful book that readers will find engaging and relevant. The currency and eclectic nature of Hirsch's thought is fascinating and his book serves as a much-needed supplement to existing texts in the history of photography.
   
   (Submitted by Brian Taylor, Professor of Art and Design at San Jose State University, where he has taught the History of Photography for 25 years. Prior to that, he studied with Beaumont Newhall for three years during graduate school at the University of New Mexico.)