3 comments about Skyshades.

1. This little book is the next best thing to actually having her work. I just wish it had EVERY painting in it.



2. I agree with the previous review. I bought this book years ago at an art gallery in Hawaii. The pictures of Brennan's paintings are clever and intriguing; they make you smile. Though they are only prints, I may mat and frame a few on them one day, if I can bear to tear them out of the book!



3. This collection of paintings by an artist most are not familiar with is wonderful for anyone regardless of art appreciation experience. These are the most whimsical little treasures you will ever see...most reproduced actual size...mere inches! This is one of my top 50 books out of my collection of thousands! CHECK IT OUT!!

1 comments about Monet's Landscapes.

1. Monet's evocative landscapes with their lush and subtle colors, thrilling use of light from various times of the day and the seasons, and varied locations of vantage have rarely been so beautifully presented as in this small but elegant book by Vivian Russell.
   
   Russell has visited many of the sites Monet painted and took photographs not only of the particular subject of his paintings, but also of the surrounding countryside, a fact that adds flavor of place to what must have inspired Monet. Not only does she include the coasts of France and Giverny, Monet's home and famous gardens, but she also traveled to Venice (some of Monet's most ethereal works are from this special haven), Norway, the flower fields of Holland, and the majesty of London.
   
   The photographs are superb and offer interesting information on what Monet decided to edit or to enrich with the impressionist's eye. Russell is a fine writer and her comments and sensitivity to include much information from Monet's letters makes this book not only a perfect coffee table tome, but also a fine adjunct to art students and collectors alike. Highly Recommended! Grady Harp, August 05

5 comments about Paint the Sea in Oils Using Special Effects.

1. This miraculous book is well worth buying just for the spectacular artwork of E. John Robinson, but the lessons are fantastic, and unlike any I've seen in other books on painting the sea. Even someone who doesn't paint in oils could thoroughly enjoy this book for the knowledge John Robinson shares about his meticulous observations of waves and how they move and how the sunlight plays on the water, etc.. It will make you enjoy the ocean a lot more when you're there, with the deeper understanding of it that John Robinson so graciously shares with us.
   
   John Robinson has spent many hours taking videos of ocean waves, then going home to watch them in slow motion to understand their anatomy as an artist would. He will show you about everything you need to know about painting the ocean and it's many moods, along with rock painting as well, of course. Along with teaching how to paint the sea, Robinson has a very gentle way of teaching which is relaxing and often philosophical. This is a fantastic book that you really will want to keep for quite a while. Robinson's paintings are breathtaking. It's amazing how many different ways there are to paint the sea.
   
   I will give a brief outline of the topics taught, as indicated in his contents page:
   Section I: Beginnings
   Chapter I Sketching on site
   outdoor watercolor equipment, at the site, thumbnail
   sketches, stepbystep demonstration in watercolors, outdoor
   oil equipment, stepbystep deomonstration in oils
   Chapter 2: From sketch to painting
   studio equipment and supplies, composition from the sketch,
   step by step demonstration
   Section II Ingredients for Successful Seascapes
   Chapter 3: The Anatomy of Waves
   how waves are created from energy, anatomy of swells,
   ripples on swells, swells with foam, swell t breaker, the
   breaker, translucent water, step by step painting
   translucent water, wave scud,
   Chapter 4: Sunlight, shadows, and atmosphere
   light and shadows: side lightting, front lighting, back
   lighting, down lighting, spot lighting, cloud shadowns,
   bluff shadows
   Atmosphere: moisture in the air, clear weather, cloudy
   weather, foggy weather,
   Reflecting light and atmosphere:
   waves and troughs, wet rocks, ripples on clear water,
   reflections on a foamy surface, the mirror effect, sparkle,
   glare.
   
   Chapter 5: Rocks, headlands,and beaches
   Rocks: rounded rocks, angular rocks, vertical rocks, rocks
   in clear water, rocks underwater, rocks in foamy
   water, overwash, water spills, trickles, color
   exchange, defiant rock, overwhelmed rock
   Headlands: Staging for distance, dark headlands, light
   headlands, the bluff
   Beaches: water's edge, wet sand, beach outlets, driftwood
   
   Chapter 6: Foam and Spray
   whitecaps, lace curtains, the roll, foam over a rock,
   collapsed wave, foreground surf, blanket foam, surface
   ripples, surface contours, holes for direction, patterns on
   the wave, slhouette patterns, patterns over clear water,
   patterns for directions, anatomy of foam holes, spray and
   mist, surf spray, the burst, mist over a rock, overall mist.
   Chapter 7: Color for Seascapes
   the transparent color wheel, alternate color wheel,
   comparing blues, comparing greens, earth colors,
   neutrals, subject colors, wave colros, rock colors,
   skies with cerulean blue, skies with ultramarine blue,
   interplay of warm and cool colros, complementary colors,
   triads, glow
   Chapter 8: Composition for Seascapes
   lines: ouline and implied lines, tranquil lines, opposing
   lines, moving lines, buoyant lines, downward lines,
   direct and indirect lines
   
   values: three values, three areas, spacing areas,
   combining areas and values, light composition,
   middle value composition, dark composition focal
   points: focal point with contrast, focal point
   with color, forcal point with detail.
   
   Section 3: demonstrations
   Chapter 9: Rising tide
   Chapter 10: Quiet moments
   Chapter 11: Passing Storm,
   Chapter 12: evening reflections
   Chapter 13: Moving shoreward.
   Section 4: Gallery
   gallery paintings, conclusion, about the artist.
   
   Even if you don't paint in oils, this book is fascinating and mesmerizing. It will make you see the ocean in a whole new dimension.



2. I really rely on the reviews to make decisions on purchasing a book, so I thought I would return the favor and write one myself. This book is amazing, and definatley a 5 star! It is loaded with wonderful tips, and technique. Easy to understand text and illustrations on wave anatomy, light, shadows, atmosphere, foam and spray, color, composition, values, and much more. E. John is very talented and there are pictures of his finished paintings to show. Do Not be fooled by the title, I mainly paint landscapes but also love seascapes and I have learned alot of things that I can apply to my landscapes like how to really make the sun Glow!, painting rocks under transparent water, and underpainting. Great Tips you can use on any subject. Do yourself a favor, Do Not pass this book up!!
   
   Thank You E.John



3. If you want to learn to paint dynamic seascapes, then this is a must own resource. It is loaded with valuable information by one of the best seascape artists living.



4. A beauitfly designed and inspiring book. If you love the sea, or just like it, and want to paint it to you heart's constent, this book can be a great help. Techniques are revealing and the color repos are exceptional.



5. Got the book today,great condition
   and within a week.Great Service,Thanks

1 comments about British Painting: The Golden Age (World of Art).

1. An excellent source for understanding the pictorial achievements of British artists in in the 18th and 19th centuries. The book covers a vaste array of artists and subjects. For this reader, the most important features deal with the social changes due to the industrial revolution; the transformation of landscape painting from the sublime to naturalistic rural countryside, and the contribution of British painting to modernity using effects of light and colour.

3 comments about Art of Drawing Landscapes (Art of Drawing).

1. I found this book to have quite a bit of information and instruction on drawing landscapes. Well worth the money.



2. Most art instruction books seem to be a demonstration of the writer/artist's skills. This book impressed me by giving instruction on the secrets behind effective rendering, rather than on specific techniques of a given artist. For example, this is the only book I've seen that explains that the shadows of tree branches "approaching" the viewer should be darker than those that stay in the picture plane. It's details like that that set this book apart.
   
   I agree with the other reviewer that there aren't a lot of artworks in the book that are super-inspiring. But the work is pretty consistently good and is usually there to specifically demonstrate a point, rather than show off skills (though this does has its place in instruction books).



3. "Art of Drawing"
   
   This book did not ..."pull me in".
   
   I thought the same press, STERLING did an excellent text on drawing the figure, and I feel more comfortable reviewing figure drawing books. In all fairness, I am less familiar with landscape. Nonetheless, good books will "pull me in" This book's graphics and illustrations, in particular, seemed lackluster. Nothing was very pronounced and the book contained no "signum efficax" (effective sign).
   
   Fortunately, it is not expensive. Maybe it is a good book after all, but it did not impress me. Somebody else could probably judge it better, but I believe that when a text teaches with written words combined with illustrated examples, those illustrations ought to make the instruction immediately clear. Perhaps we should be wary when any book is produced by an organization, rather than having a single author?

No comments about Shahzia Sikander.

2 comments about Peerless Images: Persian Painting and Its Sources.

1. the book give good explanation to every image and it was print in high quality



2. this is the most wonderful story of the Persian painting, including references, both pictorial and textual, to pre-Islamic greater Persia.
   The images are of great quality, listed in contextual order, from everyday life to mythology and literature.
   Printing quality is great and colors are nicely reproduced.
   In sum a must for anyone seeking a concise yet scholarly account of the history of Persian miniature. Chapeau bas to Mr Marshak, the author, and company.

4 comments about Susan Seddon Boulet: The Goddess Paintings.

1. This is a wonderful book of Susan Seddon Boulet about Goddess portraits and her legends . Clearly explained ,and full of paintings . Susan Seddon Boulet is a great artist and each of her painting is a masterpiece . Delightul !



2. This is a wonderful book that is not only visual but informative. I love reading about the origins of Goddess myths. Well written and the reproductions of Susan Seddon Boulet's artwork is incredible. I only wish she was still alive!



3. Susan Boulet's paintings capture the beauty & sprit of over 40 goddesses. Many images are mystical, magical and mysterious, while others have an almost haunting quality. I love the soft earthy colors she uses.

   Each painting is in full color on glossy stock & contained to a single page. In a few cases several portraits are done of a single goddess. Alongside, on a separate page, sidebars tell what each goddess represents & her history.

   Some of my favorites include the Bird Goddess & Bast, an Egyptian goddess with a female face & a cat's body. I also enjoyed the brief history of mythology & information on the artist herself contained in the forward.

   I liked this book so much I bought an extra copy so I could cut out the artwork & use it to decorate my home. The setup is great for this, in most cases pictures are not back to back on the same page.




4. This beautiful collection of paintings by Susan Seddon Boulet consists of 44 depictions of different goddesses from mythology on the right, along with a description of the goddess on left. The goddesses are from all types of mythology, anywhere from Egyptian to medieval to Celtic, but they center around Greek and Roman goddesses. The medium is a combination of pastels, pencil, and ink. Susan Seddon Boulet's use of transparency and color is especially impressive. The paintings are very wispy and dream-like. If you are interested in mythology you will love this book. If you are unfamilliar with mythology, this is a great way to learn.

1 comments about Dutch Seventeenth-Century Genre Painting: Its Stylistic and Thematic Evolution.

1. Franits gives a very thorough and leveled image of Dutch 17th century genre painting. He is careful to represent the various opinions that exist on genre painting and doesn't push his opinions too strongly. The book includes a complete bibliography, in-depth footnotes and a great deal of glossy colour images. This is the best book on genre painting since that of Peter Sutton.

5 comments about The Wilcox Guide to the Best Watercolor Paints (Information to the Artist).

1. It is amazing how different the colors are look and behave. Confused by the labeling PB42 or Hue or ASTM I? Why does the same labelings (i.e. PR108) appear on multiple colors? What do those weird names really represent? It makes for interesting reading - the history, the best, and the worst products. I always wondered why some of my watercolors looked grainy. Not all colors by the best manufacturer rate highly. This book looks like a lifelong effort that will save your experimenting forever to find a good Cadium Red color, a member of one of the 10 major color groupings covered.



2. If you spend hours or days painting a watercolor picture, you are going to want to use the best possible paints. You won't want to see your painting fade, become blotchy, or otherwise deteriorate due to inferior paint. To prevent just that sort of thing, this reference book attempts to educate you on the pigments used in watercolor paints--their lightfastness especially, but also other qualities. Which pigments will fade or become blotchy over time? Which will stay strong and true? This book does its best to exhaustively answer those questions.
   
   This book has been updated several times. It is due for another update, but since there is no telling when or even if such an update will be produced, it is still so valuable that I highly recommend getting it now before you buy any (more) watercolor paints.
   
   Although I am reading it all the way through (because that's the kind of person I am), this is not a book to be read, but rather referred to. Let's say, for example, that you want to replace a red you've been using. You would turn to the description of the red pigments, glance through to find the pigments that have been rated highly lightfast by the ASTM (American Society for Testing and Measurement) and that have the color quality you want, then you would turn to the paint reference section to see what brands offer a red using the chosen pigment(s). Even if you cannot find a brand that suits you (and you should be able to), armed with the information in this book, you can go shopping with confidence, checking the paint tubes to make sure they have the pigment you want and not some pigment that will fade and ruin your painting.
   
   For that alone, this book is valuable.
   
   Allow me to address some of the comments other reviewers have made. One reviewer commented that the Da Vinci paints are student grade. I disagree. I've tried a number of different brands, and Da Vinci's artist-grade paints are wonderful--buttery, smooth, and a pleasure to use. (I also like many of Windsor & Newton's paints.) Yes, Michael Wilcox contracted with Da Vinci to create his own custom line of paints, but, as he states in the latest edition of this book, he did that many years after the initial editions in which he had already praised and recommended many of Da Vincis's paints. And he doesn't hold back in criticizing many of the Da Vinci student-grade paints, nor does he hold back in praising or criticizing any brand of paint.
   
   I believe that Mr. Wilcox has tried to be as objective as possible, and I also do *not* see any inappropriate pushing of his own line of paints. He has a single very low-key page--at the back of the book!--describing the Michael Wilcox School of Color, which lets you be the judge of whether you want to look into it more. I also haven't seen any advertisements of his line of paints in the book yet, and, as I said, I'm reading it cover to cover. (I'm in the reds at the moment, though, so I could be wrong, but if the remaining pages follow the pattern already established, I don't expect to see any such advertisement in the remaining pages.)
   
   Another reviewer said that this book has out-of-date paints (it does) and *doesn't* reflect reformulations (but it does). Had they read the book (though perhaps they had an older edition), they would have found Mr. Wilcox's reasons for including discontinued paints. He states that some people may have those older paints still in their supplies, and so he wanted to present that information for those people. If you are a watercolor artist, you know how long paints last. I have tubes I purchased ten years ago. I know artists who have tubes they purchased even longer ago. How valuable it is to be able to read what is in those paints, and possibly avoid using something that will, in the end, disappoint!
   
   He also provides information on old formulas, with an arrow pointing to a new entry on the reformulated paint. Again, including information on both the old and new formulations is valuable. If you are an artist with the old formulation in your supplies, you will want to know that (A) it is perhaps unsuitable and (B) there is a better replacement available for it. Yes, it is possible that there have been even further reformulations since the last edition, but each edition has been keeping up with the times, and I fully expect that, should Mr. Wilcox produce another edition, it will be as up-to-date as possible.
   
   The one valid criticism of this book is that it could be better organized and better edited. DEFINITELY. There are missing words, grammatical errors, punctuation errors, dead-end sentences, orphan sentences, sentence fragments, and so on pretty much on every page. The organization of the material could also be better, and more information on both his testing methods and on the ASTM standards would be greatly appreciated. Mr. Wilcox should perhaps be told that there are copy editors he can hire on a contract basis to copy-edit his works and improve them vastly. Better yet, a developmental editor, who will be more expensive but also more valuable, could help with the organization and content as well.
   
   An alphabetical index of at least all the colors would be great too. A professional indexer could create such.
   
   These are the reasons I gave this book four stars instead of five are (A) the age of the book, (B) the errors, and (C) the need to better organize and expand the content, especially the information on testing standards and methods.
   
   However, flaws aside, this is an enormous work, enormously valuable, with clearly hundreds if not thousands of hours of work put into it, and the information shows that effort.
   
   It should also be mentioned that, before Michael Wilcox published the first edition of this book, whether you would get good paints from even some of the major manufacturers was a hit-or-miss proposition. Many non-lightfast pigments were used, and poor quality paints were created, even by the giants. When this book hit the scene, it had a great deal of positive influence on the watercolor manufacturers. Many of them dropped or reformulated their more questionable paints. That in itself tells you the value of the information in this book. Of course, the ASTM had a lot to do with it too, but without this book pointing out the lack of clothes on the emperor, I am not sure how much weight the ASTM standards alone would have had.
   
   If you are a watercolor artist, do yourself the favor of adding this book to your reference library.



3. Inaccurate information abounds. Tiresome reading. Little good information. Overly expensive...sorry I bought it.



4. This exhaustive (not to be confused with exhausting) research-based volume should be mandatory reading for all those artists interested in giving their customers their utmost quality of paint on works of art sold. So many paints are not light-fast, or are 'fugitive' (absolutely unreliable), or are packaged by the manufacturer as 'new' colors when they are, in fact, only creative blends of basic colors that any artist can create with colors they likely already have. This book, covering many of the watercolor paint producers in the Western world, exposes these flawed paints, but also gives credit where due to the top-notch pigments and their manufacturers. Details of content, health ratings, color-fastness and quality of brush use are easily understood. Fantastic color swatches (before and after exposure to light) are beside each manufacturer's sample. My only complaint is that this is the only edition available (pub. 1991), as the author said it would be updated periodically, which does not yet appear to have happened. There were only a couple of Quinacridone colors 12 years ago at the time of publication, whereas there are many more now.



5. a poor quality book, badly written and full of mistakes. wilcox is clearly a charlaton, he rants on about other paints being poor quality whilst trying to sell you his own.
   I do not recomend this book to anyone.
   buy it at your peril