5 comments about The Sumi-E Book.

1. If you are new to Japanese brush art work and want to learn the technique, this is the book to start with!



2. If you're a beginning Sumi-e painter you might want to wait on purchasing this book until you're more comfortable with the basics of brush loading and color gradiation.
   
   This book tends to avoid going into detail about the intricacies of brush loading and the importance of your paper quality and it's absorbency.
   
   If you are a beginner looking for a solid book that explains in alot more detail the four gentlemen and the importance of your brushes quality and methods for loading the brush, buy "Japanese Ink Painting: Beginner's Guide to Sumi-E" (Paperback) by Susan Frame. It's a marvelous book with alot of great examples and step by step instruction as well as some history and excercises you can do to become more comfortable with your brushes.



3. Personally I am also interested in using colour in my sumi-e works, this guide only has black and white. But the images are just beautiful. Hope I reach that level soon!



4. After exactly two lessons in watercolor and an appetite to learn more precise brush strokes I purchased Sumi-E. I immediately was able to make headway using the carefully written examples shown in this lovely book even without purchasing the precise Japanese brushes. I highly recommend it.



5. The Sumi-E Book is an excellent source for beginners who are interested in learning this beatiful Japanese Art form.

5 comments about Painting Weathered Buildings in Pen, Ink & Watercolor (Artist's Photo Reference).

1. Even though I use oil and acrylics I can use a lot of the techniques in this book. A awesome reading.



2. I have started back into drawing since I have retired and have been working in pen and ink and have discovered this book. It is a great aid in my work. I review it all the time and have used it to help me get back into the swing of things. Great book!!!!



3. Excellent book with clear instructions,many illustrations to follow and am looking forward to a trip to the countryside to draw some old buildings.I am sure all art studentts will find this book extremely helpful.



4. I really love this one.It has helped me understand alot about drawing and painting in watercolor.



5. I am a budding watercolorist and this is a great reference book on technique and application. I find inspiration in the illustrations and cannot wait to apply them to my next drawing/painting.
   Full of step-by-step illustrations and explanations. Love it.

3 comments about Plein Air Painting in Oil (Artist's Library Series).

1. I am a beginning plein air painter. As a working adult, I don't have time to take a university extension course ot enroll in local art classes. For the time being, I have to make do with instruction from books, and inspiration from published collections, galleries, art shows and museums. I purchased and read a large number of books - in and out of print - on drawing and painting. There is a great deal of fine material out there, but at the very beginning stage I find Frank Serrano's little book to be the most helpful.
   
   Winston Churchill came to recreational painting as an adult, and in his characteristic fashion described, in another very inspiring little book ("Painting as a Pastime," Odhams, London (1965), the essential challenge (facing the blank canvas, brush in hand), and the essential quality the beginner must find within him- or herself: the audacity to put the first daub of paint on the canvas:
   
   "Having bought the colours, an easel, and a canvas, the next step was to begin. But what a step to take! The palette gleamed with beads of colour; fair and white rose the canvas; the empty brush hung poised, heavy with destiny, irresolute in the air. My hand seemed arrested by a silent veto."
   
   There are numerous "how to get started" books in print that deal with oil painting. What makes Serrano's so valuable is it's simple, direct approach to putting the paint on your brush and then on the canvas. It is a quality of this book, and not a failing, that it does not attempt to cover too much material. Serrano sticks to the basics, and describes them with admirable simplicity and directness. His approach is not so simple as to be condescending, though. As a beginning painter, I feel some of the lack of control that I felt when learning to drive. At first there seem to be so many things to think about: mixing the colors to replicate what you see, considering the overall compositional plan of the canvas, keeping in mind the shadows and the highlights. Just one example of a beginner's challenge is to shade the green of the leaves on a tree so that the sunlit leaves are bright and the leaves in shadow are dark, while maintaining the proper character of the green between lit and shadowed areas. The essential value of Serrano's book is that it focuses on the essentials. Any more detail, and the beginner could go into "information overload."
   
   Getting the level of detail is very important in a book aimed at beginners in any discipline. If the student is so burdened with "do's and don'ts" and details that they become confused, or worse, discouraged, the teacher has failed. Yet, there seems to be a tendency for teachers/writers to want to "strut their stuff," to show how well they have mastered the details of the craft. They forget that beginning is not about details, its about fundamentals, and getting those fundamentals right. That's the foundation the beginner needs to progress. Frank Serrano has not forgotten what it's like to be a beginner. Reading his book, I got the impression that Serrano, accomplished as he has become, has not lost the excitement, the sheer joy, of learning. The basics seem as important to him as the more sophisticated elements of the craft. Indeed, looking at his works in the book, on various websites on the Internet, and in person (I own several of his original paintings), a simplicity and clarity of vision becomes apparent. His paintings seem to be as much about the essentials, the basics, of envisioning and experiencing nature as his book is about the essentials of the craft. I've had the pleasure of speaking with Frank on occasion, and I can honestly say the joy and excitement I sense in his paintings are communicated by him on a personal level.
   
   Another aspect of Serrano's book that I believe is important, is that it is informed by his respect for the traditions of the plein air genre. As noted in his book, Frank was influenced by Sam Hyde Harris, who was at the center of plein air activity in Southern California in the mid 20th century. Harris was part of the art community that settled and painted at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains and along the California coast. Harris explored the effects of atmosphere - early morning haze, for example - in his paintings of Pasadena's Arroyo Seco and Los Angeles's Chavez Ravine (long before Dodger Stadium). These and other sites in California and the Western US are the locales in which Frank finds his own subjects.
   
   If you are interested in starting plein air painting, and want a good guide to the essentials without extraneous detail, I don't think you can do better than to buy Frank Serrano's "Plein Air Painting in Oil." You will be learning from a fine artist in the plein air tradition, who has not lost the enthusiasm for learning and the sense of sheer fun that is - or should be - so important to anyone starting out to learn a new craft.



2. This is by far the best plein air painting book for the money that I've ever purchased! It's packed full of easy-to-understand lessons on every page. Excellent for either the beginner or intermediate-level oil painters out there. Advanced painters probably already know most of this stuff, so should probably turn to Richard Schmid's "Alla Prima." I think the only other plein air painting book that's as good as this one is Kevin MacPherson's.
   
   The author presents step-by-step lessons throughout the book, and de-mystifies a lot of concepts and techniques. I think many people will learn more from this book than from a typical plein air workshop as the writing and photos are well-done, and because Frank has put a lot of effort into clear and concise writing.
   
   My only complaint is that I wish it was much longer!



3. This little gem is one of the FINEST how-to books about oil painting that you will ever read, or come across in your life-time. I strongly suggest that you get this book before it goes out of print-and enjoy it forever.
   
   For a mere price of a fish-and-chips order, you just cannot go wrong. But, the problem with that fish-and-chips order is that once eaten, everything is gone forever. You will have this book for as long as you live to enjoy, and possibly to share, if you were to buy a copy. You simply cannot go wrong there. Can you?
   
   The hidden beauty of this amazing little book is that it is only 64 fantastic pages that you could read again, and again without getting bored. Every single line of the text is full of secrets.
   
   Serrano uses only eight oil paints, and three brushes in order to create those depths, and textures in each painting in the book.
   
   When he describes each painting in the book, it is like you are painting that painting by yourself alone, and Serrano is behind you holding your hand with your brush. For example, how to do trees simply, and rapidly without fiddling endlessly with details; or, skies; or the time of the day; or foggy/misty scenes; or whatever you fancy...
   
   I wish I had this incredible book back during my university days...
   
   There are 12 painting lessons from easy to complex topics; and a wonderful gallery at the end.
   
   Here are the lessons: painting step by step; creating dynamic compositions; simplifying a subject; capturing light & shadow; expressing mood; building texture; finding a good focus; conveying time of day; depicting distance; deciding what to paint; using negative space, and exercising artistic licence.
   
   Here are the chapters: introduction; a word from the author; tools & materials; colour in Plein air painting; painting techniques; painting skies & clouds; painting trees/water/rocks/figures; gallery, and conclusion.
   
   This book has taken my breath away. It may take yours, too!
   
   You have nothing to lose, but an order of those stupid fatting fish-and-chips. Get this book, now; before it is too late-if you know what I mean.
   
   Frank Serrano is a disguised masterpiece painter.
   
   (The above review has been written with the British spelling.)

5 comments about Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy: A Primer in the Social History of Pictorial Style (Oxford Paperbacks).

1. I really can't add more to Robert W. Moore's insightful review. However, I feel a need to counterbalance the ranting reviews posted by others on this page.
   
   In particular, the one-star reviews listed here are simply embarrassing. Clearly, these reviewers do not represent the intended audience for this book. It's not Michael Baxandall's fault that these reviewers were unable or unwilling to engage themselves with the depth, detail, and scope of his book. Ignore them.
   
   Here's a useful litmus test: If you would consider taking an art history course because you think it would be an "easy A," avoid this book. On the other hand, if you hold a genuine interest and enthusiasm for art history in general - and for Renaissance art in particular - this book should be well worth your time.



2. This book is what I would call hard to read, unless of course you already have a masters degree in Florentine art. As a student in an art history class that required this as one of our reads, I can say this book is crap, yes I mean crap. I have read many more well written books covering this subject in an easier to read format. I would defiantly not recommend this overpriced piece of firewood.



3. This is the kind of book that History of Art departments throw at you early on in their courses to instil the right respect and awe for the whole academic ritual. When I first saw this book I was duly impressed and intimidated into thinking this was somehow a classic. In this work Baxandall is the exemplary academic, slowly building up a case from painstaking research and cleverly interpreted trivia. This approach is fine and dandy until you reflect that at the end of it the conclusions Baxandall has laboured so hard to arrive at are perhaps a little banal -- i.e. Renaissance painting was influenced by such contemporary phenomenon as religious practices, dancing, and (oddly) the ability to judge quantities by eye. The reason this book works is that the Renaissance is such an attractive period that Baxandall's painstakingly dull technique receives a charming counterpoint in the endearing trivia of the period. Unfortunately this effect is not replicated in other works by Baxandall that I have looked at. To college students getting a dose of this, I would say, 'Enjoy the period, but think about how relevant this kind of hairsplitting really is.'



4. ... this book was tedious. there are very few books that make me say, "i'd rather be working!"
   you have to have a really high tolerance for italian art, or even art in general. a passing interest simply will not allow for an enjoyable read.
   ...



5. I find it strange that many people find it strange that one might read a book like this one for fun. Twice in one day I had people approach me and ask me for what class I was reading this, as if there are books one reads only in school and books one reads in real life.

   I did read this in real life, and I read it for three reasons: 1) I knew this is a highly regarded book in art criticism, 2) it deals with a period of art history about which I wanted to know more, and 3) it looked like it would be a fun read.

   My primary reaction to the book upon reading it was: how did the author fit such a huge book into so few pages? There are books that cannot be measured by page count. PAINTING AND EXPERIENCE IN FIFTEENTH-CENTURY ITALY contains 153 pages of text, with illustrations taking up around a third of those. Despite that, Baxandall is able to pack an amazing amount of information in a very small number of pages. Yet, as dense as this book is, it never becomes anything less than completely readable. It is a very fast read, and not merely because of the small number of pages. Baxandall's contention is that the visual experience of a Quattrocento person (or what he eventually comes to self-mockingly comes to call "a church-going business man, with a taste for dancing") is not one to which we any longer have conceptual access. He laments that we too often approach these paintings with our own conceptual categories in the forefront, and impose these upon the paintings, instead of judging them and perceiving them, as a contemporary would have. His goal in this slender volume is to attempt to reestablish some sense of the pictorial concepts with which a Quattrocento person approaches a painting. In this I believe he succeeds admirably. While visiting one of my local book superstores, I spent some time glancing through a number of books on Renaissance art, especially Hartt's well-known tome. I found that I was indeed responding differently to the paintings than I had before I read Baxandall. This is a book that capacitates its reader to enjoy a fuller participation in the appreciation of the visual world.

   On a completely nonliterary note, I want to add that this is an extraordinarily attractive book. I am sure that no publisher ever decides to make an ugly, unpleasant book, but Oxford University Press with this one certainly managed to make a gorgeous one. The book is far more attractive than the price of the book would seem to support (good paper, pseudo-signature binding, high-quality four-color cover), which leads me to believe that this must get a great deal of adoption as a college text.

5 comments about Helen Van Wyks Favorite Color Recipes.

1. My wife and I lived in Rockport when Miss Van Wyk was still painting. We have the first version of her color recipes book in its original three ring binder form. Her book offers the beginning painter great suggestions and solutions on many typical color mixing problems. Thanks Helen.



2. I love this book. It's been very helpful for times when I just can't seem to mix the color I'm looking for. I look in this book and it always has good information.
   
   Even though I have a BFA many things that would have been helpful in the real world, just weren't taught. This book fills in a lot of blanks.



3. Helen is a great teacher. I have taken art classes and learned 1/10th of what I learned by reading her book. I am colorblind and people argue with me about it because of my ability to use the right colors. I only wish she was still here so she could produce even more information etc.



4. An excellent book that covered many subjects of painting, and how to use particular colours successfully for that area, I found this very helpful and informative.



5. I have not had enough time to give a very detailed review on this book 'however from what I have read I am very impressed with the clarity in her descriptions on mixing colors and their use.

5 comments about Icon.

1. The ilustrations in this book portray you to another book that perfectly capture the original paints.



2. When people think of fantasy artwork, they might think first of those Conan and Edgar Rice Burroughs paperback covers, or a berserker warrior on horseback, corpses of foes beneath him and dripping weapon above him. People think of Frazetta first, whether or not they know it's him they're thinking of. He's also done recognizable work for Mad magazine, Little Annie Fanny for Playboy, posters for Peter Sellers movies, and lots more.
   
   Frazetta has done plenty of work in ink, especially for a range of comics, but his oil paintings are best known and most heavily represented here. It's easy to see how he became the inspiration for an entire generation of fantasy artists, and probably well into a second generation, too. No one captures the rippling sinews of barbarian warriors like Frazetta does, or beasts, half-men, dungeons, jungles, and every other fantasy-scape that he's rendered. Above all, no one comes close to the lush, rounded figures of his female characters. They can be warriors and wizards in their own right, or eldritch spirits, or even savable maidens. Some, as in "Moon's Rapture" or the standing figure in "Rogue Roman", show a rich and womanly figure at rest, but somehow promising as much raw physical power as any man.
   
   I recommend this collection to anyone passionate about illustration or fantasy art. Any one of his paintings can be an entire course of study for a budding artist. They can also be seen as powerful narratives in imagery, or as a jumping-off point for dreams of far-away worlds and heroic adventures.
   
   -- wiredweird



3. I read Edgar Rice Burroughs novels as a teen and will never forget the impact of the Frazetta covers. His heros, the settings and the creatures were so wild and vivid; plus I think he definitely set my ideals of feminine beauty for life. This collection is a must for anyone who wants a good biography of F.F. along with some great reproductions of his best work.



4. Frazetta is great and this book is swell... however (as one other reviewer also experienced) the cover came off my book after I had it for only one week! I couldn't believe it! To credit of the publisher they did send me a replacement. I think I will buy the sequel now. Too bad it's only available in hardcover, but at least that way the cover is much less likely to fall off. As for the third book, it seems to be completely unavailable except to those who are willing to pay over a hundred dollars for it!



5. Words cannot describe the beauty and passion in Frazetta's work; This book is filled with amazing art, from the original sketches to the final product; Lots of personal photographs and insightful narratives help to make this a satisfying package, but the artwork alone makes this book a must have. From his early career doing comic books and movie posters, to the grand scale of his fantasy art, this is a book that is sure to excite any and all who have a shred of creativity within them. Totally inspiring book!!!

2 comments about How to Read a Modern Painting: Lessons from the Modern Masters.

1. The most entertaining and informative art history book I've ever read. Recommended for those interested in art, history, psychology, even science (looking at questions like 'how do we see?'). For one who already knew and loved visual art, it re-explained the 'modern' era of painting from it's earliest origins. In essentially chronological order, important paintings are "de-constructed", along with the lives of the artists who painted them. Thompson explores the socio-political, philosophical contexts of the times and places where modern art evolved. Also, Thompson reveals the how and why of the techniques and theories (color theory in particular) which drove the modern movement. All this.... and it's really fun. I didn't want it to end!



2. this is a great resource for teachers of art and art history. Thompson digs out some great details that I havent come across elsewhere

No comments about The Big Book of Painting Nature in Watercolor (Practical Art Books).

5 comments about Living Well Is the Best Revenge (Modern Library).

1. As an avid and diehard Fitzgerald fan, I seek out any material that covers him, his circle, or the "Lost Generation" in general.
   Though the book occupies less than two hundred pages, Tomkins does a fine job of making it feel warm and intimate. What's more, you get the privilege of learning about the Fitzgeralds, Hemingway, Cole Porter, Picasso and others. Gerald and Sara Murphy were a class act and lived life for no one but themselves. They seemed wonderfully down to earth and sympathetic to the situations of their friends and family. It seems they did indeed "write the book" on how to live right--The Fitzgeralds were said to have lived poorly on massive amounts of money while Gerald and Sara Murphy lived grandly on far less income; with them, it was not about appearances and pleasing society, but about family and togetherness.
   This wonderful little biography spans the 1910's to the 1960's in a relatively short breath and perhaps my only complaint is that there is not more. I certainly turned the last page wanting for more. If you are interested at all in "The Lost Generation" or the modernist movement, you will adore this book. Theirs was an evanescent time, one worth reading about and dreaming about.



2. This book had the subject matter worthy of a good book and I came away from this book feeling cheated. The author's research was very sketchy about Sara and Gerald Murphy -- I wanted to know so much more. I'm sure there is a better book out there on this interesting couple.



3. This book truly proves that living well is really the best revenge.



4. It's been nearly 30 years since I read this book and I remember it with delight. Sara and Gerald Murphy made living an art form. Sure, it's fun that they knew the famous writers and artist of the age, but it is their love for each other, their children, and their homes that make them the interesting people we would all like to know. Heck, that we would all like to be. Tomkins, too, is an excellent writer who lent much insight and charm to the story.



5. This is one of the most memorable books I've ever read, perfectly capturing the period and perils of that lost generation. Not only is the subject fascinating, but Calvin Tompkins' writing is beautiful and lyrical.

1 comments about The Complete Guide To Painting Water.

1. At last I found a book to help me with my struggle to paint water scenes. I sure need a lot of practice but am now hopeful I can at least make some progress.