5 comments about The Art of Encaustic Painting: Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax.

1. If you want information as an artist intending to try encaustic painting
   then this is a good book--it covers everything to get started painting with
   encaustic. Also some information on the ancient Fayum encaustic portraits,
   Jasper Johns use of encaustic (an interview with him) and examples of the encaustic
   work of certain other contemporary artists using encaustic techniques and some
   using other wax techniques not strictly encasutic



2. I am new this this medium. When I ordered this book I could not put it down. I read it in one night. It is packed with a lot of information. I keep refering back it.



3. I found this to be a clear and well presented book overall, enough so I found I didn't want to start this technique until I did some major re-arrangement of my studio space. Given that I haven't tried working through the tutorials, so really can't comment about them.
   
   Some seem annoyed at the art and artists presented - get over it. Art is about process, not product, learn about and experience what others have done then do your own thing. If you live somewhere with good art museums then seek out work by others that is in the genre that suits your tastes.
   
   I'll keep this book as reference when I do start my experiments with wax - so far it's the best I've seen in print.



4. WOW! This is a book that must be the encaustic paint maker's bible.
   Joanne Mattera has produced a book of reference for those artists wanting to explore the ancient art of encaustic painting. Her use of easy to relate reference material like the formulae of encaustic medium to the day to day collection of tools used to produced the art work, makes a newbie to this technique feel secure.
   She covers the important issues of studio safety to the equipment. The questions and answers found on the working reference pages are very helpful and guide the reader towards the subject matter covered chapter by chapter.
   She shares encaustic paintings from a huge range of contributing artists and this allows the reader to see the wide range of applications that encaustic painting adds to the visual arts. Joanne's vast painting experience shows through as she shares both her experiments along the encaustic journey to her leaving the door open for the new artist to "try new things for themselves."
   For the artist trying encaustic painting for the very first time to the experienced encaustic painter, this book offers information for all.



5. I bought this book when I started painting with encaustic. It is FABULOUS. I look forward to her next book.

5 comments about Watercolor Artist's Guide to Exceptional Color.

1. Ditto the above reviews.
   Jan Hart has painted and written an excellent book on color. I would say one of the top 2 or 3 I have found during 30 plus years of painting and study, and I have read and studied a lot of them. Constant insightful tips of using color, constant color circles painted with sets of pigments, very specific as to the colors used. Many, many color examples and paintings further clarify the well-written text. Frequently there are 3 or more color illustrations on a single page, all of them with Jan's crystal clean and clear, beautiful watercolors (except there are some included paintings by other artists). Every serious watercolorist should own, read, and study this book. It is much more valuable that its selling price.



2. She exhibits an enthusiasm to try different color combinations than you might not have tried before. Very important to have someone who has as much experience as she has to encourage you to experiment. Nicely done.



3. Jan Hart has written articles for Daniel Smith Paints, most on her "amazing mixes"--unusual blends of watercolor that give luminous results in mainly landscapes. If you enjoyed seeing her articles and work (which really glows with subtle and startling color) then this book has a lot more of her way of mixing paints.
   
   Though landscape and botanicals seem to be her major love, the book also has animals, buildings, seascapes, skies and other subjects. She shows them in variations. There is no attempt to reproduce reality exactly--instead, Hart shows how to mix colors to get a result that dazzles the eye like fluttering leaves and bluish shadows on a bright, sunlit day.
   
   There is a section at the end on Daniel Smith Primatek colors. These are natural pigments made of ground stones and earths. They are sometimes less colorful and bright than synthetic paints, but Hart shows how to use their unusual granulating properties along with more traditional watercolor pigments to gain some eyecatching mixes.
   
   This book is a good tutorial for those who want to break away from the standard three to eight color palette and try for something different.



4. Numerous color palettes shown; many excellent and various art examples by professional watercolorists in a wide variety of color schemes. Everything printed in full color. Terrific book for a beginner and yet extremely helpful for advanced watercolor artists. The book is divided up into sections, for example, "Light, Shade and Shadow","Wet In Wet","Backgrounds", "Clouds and Skies", "Portraits" "Flowers", "Paper" and "What's New". Also a lot of information on how to do certain techniques. I own at least 50 or so watercolor books and most of the ones about color have not measured up to this wonderful book.



5. Jan Hart's book, The Watercolor Artist's Guide to Exceptional Color, is such an attractive and useful book. Beginners, as well as experienced painters, will be excited to have it in their hands. Ms. Hart gives much practical information for the beginning watercolorist as well as for those who have been painting for some time.
   
   But like all instruction books, it has its good points and its not-so-good points. Its strong points far outweigh its weaker points. While I recommend it very enthusiastically,
   I would not use the superlatives that other reviewers have used ~ calling it the "bible"of watercolor, or "fabulous", or saying there's no need to read anything else! Such extremes and generalities always make me a little suspicious. They do not help me at all. The kind of reviews that I do find helpful are those that tell me WHY the reviewer feels the way he or she does. A review is also helpful if it tells, even in a general way, what I can expect to find in a book. That's what I propose to do here.
   
   After a brief, general introduction, there's a section explaining the composition of paints, what they are made of. The author gives a fine explanation of the technical data on watercolor labels. She groups colors in general categories of the primaries: reds, yellows, blues; the secondaries: oranges, greens, purples; and a stand-alone group, the magentas. The practical application of this material is shown in three close-up demonstration paintings. This is followed by a brief treatment of basic mixing, again with practical suggestions for exercises that will enable the reader to learn from his or her own experience. Then color theory is approached through examination of the color wheel.
   
   After this introductory material, the book is organized in three large sections. The publisher has not made it possible to look inside this book on line. So I will list for you here the topics covered in each section. They are enticing.
   Section 1, Pigment Properties
   Pigment properties gallery, Transparent non staining paints, Permanent staining pigments, Sedimentary and opaque paints, Granulation, Wet-into-wet pigment actions, Underpainting, Glazing
   Section 2, Pigment Aesthetics
   Pigment aesthetics gallery, Comparing color schemes, Primary palette, Six-color palette, Analogous color palette, Complementary palette, Split-complement palette, Tetradic color scheme, Tertiary colors, The Velazquez palette, High and low color key, Color value, Color temperature, Neutrals
   Section 3, Choosing Pigments for Painting
   Choosing and using a color scheme in a painting, Light, shade and shadow, Backgrounds, Skies and clouds, Waterscapes, Buildings, Flowers and plants, Animals, Landscapes and trees, Portraits and figures.
   
   The book closes with a brief but practical treatment of the different types of paints, brushes, papers and other equipment. Then the author gives an engaging account of new developments. Finally, there's an excellent Index and a page of credits, 128 pages in all.
   
   The following are among the book's many strong points:
   1) It has a very clear and logical layout with beautifully inviting color on every page.
   2) Each topic within the three large sections of the book has a small list called, "Some things to consider." I find such key observations and suggestions so helpful. They focus on the more important points that have been treated in the topic at hand. And they often clarify something that I did not readily grasp in the text.
   3) One of the most valuable features of Ms. Hart's book is that it reproduces not only her own works, but also those of many other artists. This provides the reader with a broad perspective of many possible styles and approaches to the watercolor medium. It's a delight just to page through the book and study the richness of the varied possible ways of painting in watercolor.
   4) There are many step-by-step demonstrations. Most of these are made up of a photograph followed by three stages of the painting ~ first, a broad wash or two with a few structural details only hinted at; second, greater definition worked into or over the original wash; and third, the finished painting with final details. This system of demonstration shows so well how photographs serve best as mere references, rather than as critically demanding models.
   5) The book deals with just about any kind of subject matter you can imagine: landscapes in varied seasons and weather conditions, climates and terrain; animals; florals and plant life; urban and rural buildings; cityscapes; seascapes and other natural forms of water; skyscapes; still lifes; portraits and figures.
   6) The author's free use of color demonstrates so well that it is not necessary to paint a subject strictly in its natural hues.
   For example, one demo shows the same cat in the same pose painted in nine different color schemes (one for each of the cat's nine lives?). Each is convincing. Each has its own "feel" or mood.
   
   There are occasional small errors in the text. But the intended meaning is usually clarified by context. For example, on page 8, sample spots of two colors are given with the caption, "Inorganic pigments, cobalt blue and cobalt violet". In the text just to the right of these samples, they are referred to as "organic": "Synthetic organics include cobalt blue, cobalt violet..." (italic emphasis mine).
   
   I was a little disappointed in the glossary given on page 7 under the heading "Key Terminology". It lists thirty-five terms, but defines only eight of them at this site. For definitions of the remaining twenty-seven terms, the reader is referred to later pages. It would have been more convenient if a single page had been devoted to all these definitions. That way, when the reader encounters an unknown term later in the text, he or she would have only one place to go for a definition ~ as in most books that use a glossary. Moreover, I like to take the time to study a glossary like this one and become familiar with all the key terms before moving on into the text.
   
   In the upper right corner of page 14, there are two diagrams illustrating the subtractive and additive color mixing systems. Their center dots are misplaced. As the text explains, mixing the three light primaries in the additive system results in white, not black shown by the diagram. Mixing the three pigment primaries in the subtractive system results in black (or gray), not white shown by the diagram. This same type of illustration is given at the bottom left corner of p. 49. There the centers are correctly given, white as the result of mixing light primaries, black as the result of mixing pigment primaries.
   
   On page 15, the author shows the reader what she considers a basic palette of twelve colors. If you do not already have the colors of her wheel, you can refer to the corresponding twelve groups at the bottom of the page and substitute any color from them. None of the earth colors are treated here.
   They are saved for a later section.
   
   There are eighty-five colors listed on p. 15, so there's a good chance you already have some that you can substitute for those given in the author's color wheel; you don't have to go out and buy a new tube in order to have a workable palette with precisely the colors Ms. Hart uses in her wheel. For example, if you already have hansa yellow, it will do in place of the azo yello on her wheel. If you already have cobalt green, you can substitute it for phthalo turquoise.
   Notice that each one of the twelve lists is headed by the color given in the author's color wheel. (One of the colors is duplicated in the blue-violet list # 7 under two different spellings, indanthrone blue and indanthrine blue. On page 71, it goes by another spelling: indanthrene blue.)
   
   I studied this list rather carefully so I could watch for the way the colors are used in the rest of the book. As I continued into into the book and first noticed a couple of colors that I did not remember from the lists on p. 15,
   I started keeping track. After tabulating all the colors in the book, I found that there are ninety-six new colors that had not been mentioned in the lists on p. 15. The advantage of this is that the readers can see the nearly infinite possibilities of all those colors without having to test them all for themselves. Think of the cost it saves you! There are about 160 colors represented in the entire book. If you bought one of each at the bargain price of $10. each, you'd spend $1,600 !
   
   Ms. Hart's pages on "Landscapes and trees", pp. 106--109,
   are superbly practical for people who have trouble mixing convincing greens for summer foliage and the warmer colors for fall foliage. It's one of the best treatments I've found in all my watercolor library of more than a hundred books.
   
   The author's closing pages on Daniel Smith's relatively new Prima-Tek colors are exciting. When I first saw the ads for
   these colors, I felt that they were probably mere novelties.
   But Ms. Hart shows just how effective and beautiful they can be. Most of them are wonderfully granulating. (If you're not sure whether you like that quality, I recommend studying the work of Robert Lovett in his book, "The Art of Designing Watercolors", published by International Artist in 2002. Granulation seems to be a favored feature of his paintings. To my eye, they are exquisitely beautiful.) I'm tempted to say that Hart's several pages on landscapes and trees, and on the Prima-Tek colors, are alone worth the price of the book. But instead, I'll just say that the price of the book is very well worth everything it has to offer. Don't miss it!
   Chris Uehlein

5 comments about The Watercolorists Essential Notebook.

1. -I last painted with watercolors when they were in paintbox form -40 years ago in high school art.This book has been a valuable tool in getting me up to speed on present day brushes,paints and techniques.I
   am very pleased with the results I have been able to achieve in
   just a few months time.This book is a definite buy for newbies or as a
   refresher.



2. Let's just say calling me an amateur would be an understatement. I bought this book in high hopes of entering the world of watercolor. It hit the nail right on the head.
   
   The text is informative and precise without being overwhelming. Enough different information and very comprehensive. Although perhaps lacking in the texture/details department. Overall the best of the 3 other books I bought. This one may be the best beginner to intermediate book out there!
   
   The only drawback was the fact it doesn't say in the description that it is for tube watercolors, as I want to use pans...but still I think most techniques will work either way.



3. As a fairly new watercolorist, I have purchased many, many books on the subject in an attempt to gain skills, learn techniques, expand my thinking, etc., etc. Some of those books have been helpful, but usually only a page or two of a 60-page book was exactly what I was looking for. In other words, I was disappointed! Long introduction to say that THIS watercolor book exceeded all my expectations! I am oh so happy with it; I will probably use information on every page of this one. The techniques and skills introduced are interesting and fairly easy to execute; the author provides abundant details all along the way. The book has answered so many of my questions about producing sparkling water, distant trees, various types of skies, clouds, fog, using color schemes effectively, and the technique of "fading out" (which I love). And much, much, much more. It is well worth every penny and then some.



4. I like this book because it not only provides you with lots of knowledge but also encourages you to go away from conventional suggestions and create your own style. Its flow is very nice. Its material has been organized properly and I not only gained knowledge but also enjoyed reading it.



5. This is THE book that every beginning to intermediate watercolorist must have. I have been studying watercolor for several months, and I learned more from this book than I did in all of my classes combined. The author has a lovely sense of humor, making for a fun read while sharing so many of the tips and tricks he learned from decades of painting and teaching. There are detailed pictures demonstrating his techniques, as well as tips on how to choose paints, paper, and brushes. If you can only afford one book this month, it should be this one! And after you have read this one, check out his other book: "The Watercolorist's Essential Notebook: Landscapes". Yet another fantastic book by this gifted artist and instructor!

5 comments about 1001 Paintings You Must See Before You Die.

1. What an amazing compilation of some of the world's most beautiful works of art through the ages! As a museum geek, I've seen many beautiful paintings in my life and have been very fortunate to have traveled in Europe and was exposed to major art museums in countries than my own. This book has "filled in the blanks" if you will, and has opened my eyes to more modern art, as well as the old masters. I am now studying art history and plan on broadening my horizons by visiting many more museums and galleries throughout the world. I bought a copy for my mom and my girlfriend, and they love it too.



2. I am enjoying this book. I wish the paintings were of a larger scale, stil you can see the pictures well enough for recognition. There are many best parts but I enjoy the alpahbetical index that I am using to highlight my more appreciated works. I enjoy the explanation of the artist and style beneath the paintings. Each painting is pictured in this book in color. Great buy!



3. I bought this book based on the reviews here, I thought the book was pretty good.
   
   My main problem was with the size of the images. Someone here said most images are one to a page, or two to a page... and that the smallest images are an inch by an inch.
   
   I'd expected all the images to be a lot bigger. Many of the images, maybe even 25% - 50% weren't much bigger than an inch by an inch. This is a real problem if you are looking at the book as an artist and want to see how the brushstrokes were made a little bit etc. at least on some of them. But the images were too small for this, and no detail views were shown (except a very smalll number at the start of each section).
   
   I found it really hard to look at all the small images and take in the painting properly too. Many were just too small for me.
   
   I'd rather have had less white space and 30% bigger images, this could easily have been done without sacrificing much text or design quality. (The cover art was awful too!)
   
   I also bought '1000 Masterpieces of European Painting: From 1300 to 1850' at the same time and this book was so much better at having larger images and showing details than this book (despite the book being far SMALLER and having far less pages than this one too!). It had a nicer feel too, the arrangement of the images and text was far less uniform than in this book and therefore much more interesting. It did have less white space but was actually far more elegant despite this.
   
   The selection of images seemed very good though (despite the bad graphic design of the book) and it was well-made. It weights an absolute TON but then it would!



4. An enormous, beautifully compiled collection of artwork whose title I couldn't agree with more. Filled with easily digested insights into some of the greatest artwork in history, this almost 1000-page book is great for people only mildly interested in art or for serious art-core types.
   The pictures are lovely and there's just enough text to get you interested in someone new (or old) at every turn.



5. Did I get a bum copy of the book? Or is it a joke that the book contains 1,000 paintings to see instead of 1,001? The Kiss by Francesco Hayez is listed and pictured twice in my copy - but with different dates. The Kiss on pg. 429 is dated 1859. The Kiss on pg. 475 is dated 1881. Also, I've seen quite a few typos and wordos so far, and I'm half-way through. The book is cute, informative, but needs an editor ASAP before the next edition. Or let us in on the "joke" if that's what this is.

5 comments about The New Acrylics: Complete Guide to the New Generation of Acrylic Paints.

1. This book is a top-pro product. Its pictures inside are well enough to be a piece of art. Very useful, helpful, and instructive.



2. I LOVE THIS BOOK! I've already used many of the new techniques and loved the results. Some of the products needed for the techniques in this book can be hard to come by in stores, so I'm having to order online. It is a very new approach to acrylics that open up a new world! I think this is a must have. It also teaches you things about new products that are really great that I cant wait to use. It is worth every penny. And the book isn't one of those art books that is dry and or thinks you are stupid. It covers what you need to know quickly and with interesting information. It has many many many pictures. Covers techniques, new materials, and much more. again get this book!



3. This is an easy to follow guide to acrylic paints, mediums and techniques. It cleared up so much confusion I had about mediums, gels, pastes, glazes and finishes. And it's beautifully illustrated with great color photos that I found to be extremely inspirational. I can't wait to get started practicing some of these techniques in my paintings and mixed media pieces.



4. This is comprehensive - and beautiful to look at. The best acrylics book I have found. I also have "Acrylic Revolution", (also fabulous). But this book has the edge in as much as it is not focused on a particular brand of acrylics. That said I would recommend owning both!



5. I borrowed this book at library thinking it would tell me how to mix my acrylic colors, how to do underpainting, etc. However it is totally a technical book on how acrylic paints are made and such, not useful to a person wanting to just learn to paint pictures! I also tried the book "Acrylic Revolution" which was interesting if I wanted dozens of different ways to use acrylics other than painting a picture--returned that book. Still looking, am open to suggestions.

5 comments about Everybody Was So Young: Gerald and Sara Murphy: A Lost Generation Love Story.

1. I recently discovered this book so will try not to repeat the favorable reviews of others. I have visited most of the locations in this book and will try to search out the Murphy's history the next time I go. They lived magical lives in a period of tremendous artistic creativity. The 1920s in Paris were a unique period for American literature. That the Murphys were at the center of it makes this book required reading for anyone who wants to study the period. I have been in Sylvia's Beach's Shakespeare and Company, still there on the left bank, but the magic is gone. What must it have been like to be part of this generation of expatriates ? Read the book and find out. It is terrific.



2. The world of the rich-and-famous is ever fascinating. Here we're given entree into the Murphy world. If this is your favorite genre, you'll like this. However, I became satiated very early on too much richness, too many names, too many details. I found it over written, over talky. Everyone is charming (one way or another) and I can see why celeb advocates would adore this. Not I.



3. I had to go out and buy this book after seeing "Making It New: The Art and Style of Sara and Gerald Murphy" at the Williams College Museum of Art in Williamstown, MA. The book is terrific, but if you're interested in this period, its writers and artists than track down this exhibit. It's a wonderful and extraordinary show about the Murphys and those they were friends with. Paintings, theater pieces, diary entries, letters, amazing photographs, home movies and more illustrate that the Murphys were really an essential part of the 1920s and 1930s. An argument can be made that they were the center that everything spun out from. It is absolutely sensational.



4. Zelda Fitzgerald died on March 10, 2005. Hers was a terrible death --- she was a patient at the Highland Mental Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina, and the building caught fire, and because the patients were locked in, Zelda and eight others died. She was 48.
   
   Her life had, effectively, ended years earlier, when she had the first of her breakdowns and was diagnosed as a schizophrenic. Or had it ended earlier than that? Perhaps with the death of her estranged husband, the once glamorous, then ruined F. Scott Fitzgerald, in 1940. Or maybe even earlier, on the Riviera, in 1924, when she had a dalliance with a French aviator that so enraged that her husband she tried to kill herself a few months later. Or even earlier, when Scott started appropriating her personality and her ideas for the characters in his novels.
   
   Yes, but for a few years there, they had it all, didn't they? They were the Golden Couple, the personification of the '20s: young, beautiful, gifted. But not smart about fame, although, back then, almost no one understood how the flame of media draws you in, consumes you for the amusement of an uncaring public, and leaves you with ashes in your mouth and regret in your heart.
   
   No, wait. Some people did grasp that. The Murphys did. And, as Amanda Vaill tells their story, they are considerably more interesting than their friends, the drunk and disorderly Fitzgeralds.
   
   And can we talk about turning life into art?
   
   Late each morning in the summer of 1922, Gerald went outside his home in Antibes and created something never seen before --- a beach! --- by raking the seaweed and stones. For this, he is said to have invented the idea of the Riviera as a summer destination.
   
   Moments later, Sara would join him and, on a blanket, read or write. She wore a white linen dress or bathing suit. And, always, a long strand of pearls, which she looped around her back so she wouldn't mar her tan (and, she said, because the sun was good for them). For this, she became a style-setter and muse.
   
   Gerald and Sara together were not two but one. They were "The Murphys," a young and rich American couple who used their youth and money to establish themselves at the center of a cultural elite in which everybody was young, talented, acclaimed. Cole Porter, Stravinsky, Picasso (who was in love with Sara), Cocteau --- though they were stars on their own, they orbited the Murphys. "There was a shine to life wherever they were," Archibald MacLeish said. "It was as though custom and habit had been wiped away and the thing itself was, for an instant, seen. Don't ask me how."
   
   Then F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway showed up.
   
   If you've read Tender Is the Night, you know that Fitzgerald took the Murphys as models for the Divers. Whatever its merits, the novel reduced the Murphys to "Beautiful People." In fact, Gerald was an accomplished painter, an American Leger. He and Sara were experts on African-American spiritual music. They financed theatrical productions and helped worthy friends (Hemingway, for just one).
   
   And they were far from untouched by the troubles of ordinary mortals.
   
   First their young son Patrick came down with tuberculosis. Then, suddenly, their younger son died of meningitis. "Fancy. There's no other word for it," John Dos Passos said. "They could have thought & thought for a million years and they wouldn't have been able to think of one like that." And then, "fancy" again, a few years later, when Patrick died, and the Murphys had to carry on for their one remaining child.
   
   It gets, if possible, more intense. Gerald returned to America to run his family business, a posh New York leather store named Mark Cross. He sent money to the faltering Fitzgerald. He had some deep poetic attachments with young men. And then he died. Dorothy Parker sent his widow this telegram: "Dearest Sara Dearest Sara." The widow staged a funeral that was described as "courage disguised as taste." But that was his life. And hers.
   
   It's easy to read a book like this for the anecdotes about the mighty. But Fitzgerald comes across here as an eternal college boy and a bit of a fool, Hemingway as cold and manipulative. In contrast, the Murphys seem like explorers of the rarest kind --- blessed with money, they set out to find beauty and harmony. That they also found tragedy only makes their story more fascinating.
   
   College kids majoring in Gender Studies can find much in the life of Zelda Fitzgerald to ponder. I'm not knocking that --- there are lessons galore in that roller coaster of a life. But when you're further along the road, the Fitzgeralds start to be, at bottom, a lot of noise --- spoiled children breaking things.
   
   The Murphys, in contrast, look more substantial, more worthy of a sustained view. The Murphys, for all their money and privilege, seem real. These days, I don't want to read about the Fitzgeralds; I want to read Fitzgerald. But the Murphys --- they're well worth 500 pages.



5. This delightful story is like watching a wonderful old movie from the 30's-40's! And I learned a thing or two about history!!! I'll be urging my book group to read this.

4 comments about Botanical Illustration Course: With the Eden Project.

1. This book emphasizes how to produce botanical paintings, and it really succeeds there, with a profusion of color illustrations and explanations of color handling. There are also about 20 pages on pencil drawing.
   One thing I do object to is the total absence of pen and ink techniques. This book is described as the best and most complete course in botanical illustration ever produced, and yet this cannot be true without pen and ink techniques. The vast majority of botanical illustration - as opposed to botanical art - is published as black and white. (I am a published botanical illustrator, all of the publishers I worked with wanted ink illustrations, not pencil). If someone is hoping to use this book to help start their career, it is lacking. But if you are looking to start painting botanicals as I am, it is great.



2. Everything the first 2 reviewers stated is so very, very true. The only comments I can add are superlatives to what has already been written.Garden Eden : Masterpieces of Botanical Book Illustration



3. This book is a wonderous compilation of educational guidelines on producing artwork and properly representing the beauty and complexity of plants using pencil and watercolor media. It also could pass as a coffee table book as the images are incredible. I was immediately struck at the techniques covered as every art book should - recommendation on watercolor/paper/pencils to use, other tools needed, shading & highlighting, importance of representing the tiniest details, color development (e.g. how to make the right green - I loved that part), depth and so much more. In many ways I was reminded of my university art classes I took many years ago, but this book covers so much more than I garnered through formal education. Those that purchase the book for learning how to bring plants to life on paper or canvas should follow the educational component of the book from the beginning to the end in order to gain the most on how to illustrate plants. By following this method, each artist will definitely get what this book offers - and makes one wish they could take part of the art classes taught at the Eden Project in Cornwall, UK. I definitely wish I could do so!



4. This is an in depth clear book about the process of botanical illustration. Well written and great pictures. Recommend highly!

5 comments about Painting People: Figure Painting Today.

1. Wonderful diversity of portraits. Discovered many new artists I wasn't aware of and want to learn more about. One of the best art books I've purchased.



2. Excellent book for professors who teach figure drawing and figure painting. Great resource of contemporary artists who work in figurative portraiture.



3. I am always interested in artists whose work includes the human figure. I bought this book without seeing the contents, but figured that with a John Currin on the cover it had to be good. It did include a good range of artists, but I was disappointed to see some of the images. It seemed like the author selected PG versions of the paintings or at least the more PG work by many of the artists.



4. Very current (mostly) and well presented.
   
   Favorites; Eric Fischl, Lucian Freud, Chuck Close, John Currin,Barnaby Furnas
   
   Steven Gefrom



5. Geez, a couple of the other reviewers are complaining the cover of this art book is misleading. Didn't somebody teach them in grade school you cannot judge a book by its cover?
   
   John Currin is only one of at least a dozen artists featured in this book. So there is a lot of different kinds of painting featured here, so if you only like classical portriature or very realistic painting, you are in the wrong place! This is for lovers of contemporary art, including some of the current greats, ie Cecily Brown, Yan Pei-Ming, etcetera and so on.
   
   While not exactly an exhaustive or investigative feature on contemporary figurative painting, it does hit up a lot of the big names right now and the reproductions are very nice. Each artists gets two or three pages. I would have prefered more. But this modestly sized book is very pretty and fun to flip through and make comparisions.

5 comments about Problem Solving for Oil Painters: Recognizing What's Gone Wrong and How to Make It Right.

1. This book suits more for the serious beginners or intermediate painters 'cause you have to be familiar with the basic concepts. It offers a way to verify the quality of your paintings point by point.
   My point of view is that you have to read it entirely before you can point on the problem. The topics are easy to reach after you know what you're searching for.
   Sometimes I would like to have more examples or explanations on some points.
   Simple but effective if you're not a complete beginner...



2. An excellent clearly written informative book. Will be much referred to and treasured for many years. Thankyou Mr. Kreutz



3. I wanted a comprehensive book on oil colors this is more about the basics then anything else.



4. ok for beginners and those who paint in an impressionistic style. could focus a bit more on materials. some good basic tips.



5. I'm a professional in the business and make my living as an artist. This book is a wonderful reference and is always close by on the shelf. The work in it is excellent and the principles are straight forward as well as solving lots of the problems artists and painters encounter. Love it and recommneded it many times over.

5 comments about Traditional Oil Painting: Advanced Techniques and Concepts from the Renaissance to the Present.

1. I can't say enough good things about this book. It goes into great detail about so many important things. This book should be in every artists library.



2. My impression is based on looking at the pictures on the author's web site. They are wooden and uninspired. He is technically adept in some respects, but altogether is work is not better than that of many art school students. Technique does not make a picture speak. Why even bother with the book?



3. This is not a "how-to" book; it is an excellent reference book to keep within reach when you are working. The older books are so obscure, so difficult to try to understand (I am thinking of the Doerner book in particular) and based on speculation about the techniques and materials used by the masters of the past. Mr. Elliott has kept abreast of discoveries by conservators in the major museums using the most up to date, sophisticated technology; as well as the continuous testing of other experts in various fields (Paint manufacturers) and the ASTM. That is why he can warn about using zinc white; how and when to use the umbers; how to organize your pigments and use them according to their innate characteristics; the safe support to use for your painting; why some paintings from the '70s are falling off the canvas, etc. Again, it is an invaluable reference tool. I think other reviewers have been thinking of it more in terms of a how-to book, rather than as nuts-and-bolts information to bring to your own artwork.



4. The book is quite well written with several excellent tips for advanced oil painters and superb illustrations. The author is modest and knowledgeable, sharing insights about the mysteries of painting as well as several practical solutions to composition questions and palette references.



5. I, have been wanting to purchase Virgil Elliott's Traditional Oil Painting for some time... and I must say,,,it is one of the finest teaching books that I have ever read..Starting to paint later on in my life,,,words cannot express how glad I am that I bought it...It is helping me sooo very much,,,What a Master teacher he is...I highly recomend it to anyone even to those who have been painting for many many years...
   Betty Jane Covington