1 comments about Cai Guo-Qiang: I Want to Believe.

1. The book doesn't do the exhibit justice but the still shots of the video art are worth owning the book as the videos aren't available online.

3 comments about Watercolor Made Simple with Claudia Nice.

1. This book was suggested for me since I am a relatively newcomer to watercolor. The person who suggested it has been a painter and teacher for over 70 years(she is 95 and still teaches a small group). She was right its a great book for people such as myself.



2. Great book, but not simple enough for a total beginner like myself.



3. This a very good book. It covers many aspects of painting in watercolor, including some difficult-to-find tips like mixing convincing shadow colors, working with color triads (3 colors) to create mood, and a list of common colors that are transparent, opaque, staining, or granulating.
   
   There are troubleshooting tips to help the beginner who wants to achieve certain effects but cannot figure out what went wrong.
   
   The book has only 127 pages, but it is fiiled with useful information about techniques like washes, glazing, layering, masking and spatter. There is also some information about the use of unconventional aids like stamping, sponging, alcohol and plastic wrap. Every page is filled with Ms. Nice's realistic yet magical artwork.
   
   Where to use transparent or opaque watercolor, and how to test pigments for transparency would have been some welcome additional information.
   
   Overall, it is a good book to own, especially for the beginner to intermediate levels.

5 comments about Watercolor Journeys: Create Your Own Travel Sketchbook.

1. I've had this book for a couple of years and it is clearly my favorite since I read it over and over again. The author does a lot of ink sketching with watercolor washes, a style that I find I really like. Good tips on materials and methods, but the example paintings are what keeps bringing me back. I recommend this book highly.



2. Watercolour Journeys is packed full of tbe artist's beautiful watercolour sketches and paintings along with dozens of ideas and notes on how to keep a travel journal. I collect artist's journals and this book is one of my favourites. Richard shares himself as he writes and draws. By the end you feel you know him.



3. This book is a gem at conveying the rewards of creating a sketchbook journal. Much of it is made up of sketches of all types with short explanations about the location of the sketch. In a few cases the author explains how he created some of the effects. So it's not instructional as much as it is inspirational. It made me start sketching anew. Most of all the sketches are so good that they serve as some great examples to follows.



4. My merchandise arrived in excellent condition and promptly. I would definitely purchase again from this vendor!



5. I was overjoyed to get this book. I am working on improving sketching skills and painting skills and this book is an inspiration. It is also a lovely book to just pick up and look through.

5 comments about A Painter's Guide to Design and Composition.

1. This is a "must have" for Artists as a fundamental Reference Guide to every facet of painting. Whether you just want your paintings to have that extra something special, or you want to have a bird's eye view on what judges in competitions are looking for, then this book is for you! If you are a beginner or intermediate (and maybe even an experienced artist) you can be assured that you probably will learn something beneficial for the quality of your paintings. There are a variety of artists in this book, with radically different ways of approaching complex painting scenes (and subjects),as well as simple ones, with ease, dexterity and grace. Sylvia



2. This book in written in a way that is easy to look through, find a topic of interest and have it presented with meaningful examples. While perhaps not for an advanced artist I would see where it would be helpful for a weekend painter, beginner or novice or someone getting back into painting. It is easy to understand the concepts and advice in the way it is written.



3. I gave this book a pass as I have better, more substantial book in my art library.



4. What a fantastic resource! We home school and my children and I are all very interested in painting. This book goes through the principles of design and composition in a clear, focused, logical and beautifully illustrated manner. It is an art education in a single volume. I bought copies for each of my children. (It also makes a lovely coffee table piece, for those who just want to look at the gorgeous paintings.) Thank you Margot Schulzke and North Light Books!
   K.Chevrier



5. One can never have too many books on design. In addition to containing timeless design principles, this book is full of beautiful images by well known artists with great demonstrations. I especially liked Richard
   McKinley's demo showing how he builds very translucent layers that achieve a lovely luminosity.

3 comments about Old Master Portrait Drawings: 47 Works (Dover Art Library Series).

1. The book came in very good shape. The portrait drawings are beautiful, just what I was looking for.



2. Nice series of books, these Old Master Portrait Drawings from Dover Art Library. Good material if you want to study portrait drawing. Good reproductions of the drawings. No text, only a short introduction from the publisher and titles with the drawings. The drawings say it all.



3. As an art instructor I found this book to be a great resource for beginning students of portrait drawing. The variety of style and technique shown is excellent. A few of the portraits were less useful. An excellent value for the price.

1 comments about Absorption and Theatricality: Painting and Beholder in the Age of Diderot.

1. I came to this book as someone interested in new media rather than as an art historian, and I found it fascinating. Fried uses Diderot and other eighteen century art critics' writing to understand how the beholder of paintings is positioned. He uses an abundance of paintings (reproduced in good quality black and white) and citations of art criticism to show the ways in which painted characters ignore the beholder, first by being absorbed in quiet activities, and later in self-abandonment. While the beholder is clearly set apart from the represented world in history paintings, Diderot also writes about entering landscape paintings, stepping inside the world.

   I found the book very readable and thought-provoking, and relevant to far more than just eighteenth century French art. Personally I will use it in relation to our current notions of immersion and interactivity.

5 comments about Spraycan Art (Street Graphics / Street Art).

1. i got this book for my husband for his birthday and he was very happy with it



2. This book is one of the best documentations of world wide graffiti in its early years (mid 80's). Essential reading for any aspiring graffiti artist or art enthusiast in general. This book has served as inspiration to many artist alike.



3. I gave this a x-mas gift to my 15 yr old son. He loved it



4. This book was my first graffiti book i purchased in the middle of 90's and I have enjoyed a lot from the first day I got it. It has lots of graffiti photos around the world and if you dig colorful pieces made with old-school-style, this is a book you have to buy!



5. As a public art historian, I recently revisited Spraycan Art. I am told that the sales on this book are approaching 200,000 copies. In 1987 it was the first look at the art form as it traveled out of the NYC subways and around the world and although writers today are more sophisticated with their mastery of the spray can and the imagery they create, the book is still very current in its look at the graffiti world and its place in the Hip Hop scene. It is remarkable to me how Chalfant and Prigoff came to know the key writers of those years, both nationally and internationally. Their contribution to the graf world as professional documentary photographers, authors and resource people has withstood the test of time. It is a must read for current writers, historians or just anyone interested in a unique art form created by youth. Interesting that the book named the art for all time.

5 comments about Painting with Water-Soluble Oils.

1. I have owned this book for quite some time and just recently re-read it. It does a fine job providing an overview of water soluble oils (WSO) and how they differ from regular oils. The write-ups for each include a listing of paints offered by each manufacturer and their light-fastness (i.e., longevity after sustained exposure to light). The information covered is more than enough to help you select one of them to begin painting.
   
   I've used them in the past and am now taking a class where I'm using them and others are using traditional oils. I have to say that cleaning up with soap and water is awesome. I use the Artisan brand and have a couple of the MAX brand too. I'm going to try the other brands to see how they handle.
   
   The write-ups by artists about WSOs, their comparison/contrast with traditional oils and the demonstration "lessons" provide for light reading. The pictures throughout give you a fine overview of what other artists do/did with these paints.
   
   Having said all of this, though, I have to note that this isn't a strict how-to book. You'll need to look elsewhere for that. One person recommended the "Water Soluble Oils" section of a book called "The Oil Painting Book" by Bill Creevy. Another is "No Experience Required! - Water-Soluble Oils" by Mary Deutschman. From the reviews this last book sounds it is more about hands-on technique.
   
   [...]
   
   Overall, I'd say buy this book to help you get a sense about this medium.



2. I thought the book was helpfull in that it explained the chemical basis of water soluable oils and had a fairly thorough overview of the products on the market. I thought that the book leaned too heavily on the history of oil painting and basic information regarding supports, brushes, knives, etc. I would have liked to have seen more examples of the work of artists with the stature of Kevin McPherson and also more discussion of how these artists overcome the differences between water soluable oils and traditional oils.



3. "Painting with Water Soluble Oils" supplied me with what I wanted. A text by a an experienced practitioner in the medium, well-credentialed, successful, and wanting to spread the word (along with spreading the oils!) about this relatively new item. When I started painting, I was not so aware of the TOXCICITY of the paint as I was of my desire to USE the paint in a manner I found at least acceptable. Years later, the latest grimly discouraging news on greenhouse gasses, global warming, and newly-found carcinogens appear in the daily papers----and in the courts. I'm not an alarmist, but I thought "water soluble oils, hmmm, can this possibly work?". Thus, Dye's book told me all of what I needed to know. Of course there are pages on the components of the product, its development, and requisite scientific explanations. The science of safety in the home, the studio, the environment and its impact on our kids made this necessary.
   
   Beyond that, I needed to see just how the stuff behaves on a gessoed surface. Dye has what I'd call a painterly style, almost abstract at times, but it's a loose and defiantly colorlful style, with examples chosen to teach. Hey, I'm sure he wants to sell his works, but he is a teacher by trade when he writes.
   
   Anyway, I am delighted with the comparative safety of the new medium, with the courage I gained to try many techniques, brushes, knives, etc. I also continue to maintain respect for the pigments themselves. Heck, I'm not smearing it around with my fingers. My money was well spent, and I'd recommend this book because the main purpose of the text was to "git 'er DONE." Mission accomplished, IMHO. Buy, shop, paint, enjoy, plus you can inhale during fits of creativity and still run for president.



4. I feel a lot of the book was redundant, too much repetiton was used -- I believe it was to fluff up the page count. I'm new to oil painting all together and was looking for a book that would teach me to paint with this medium - for example, help me understand when I would thin with water, or when with watersoluable linseed oil. I thought that the promised "step by step demonstrations" would do that. Contained in only one chapter of the book, they seem almost an afterthought, and do not go into enough depth.
   
   There is an entire chapter devoted to "what is watersoluable oil color?" There are 20 pages -- which is far too much information -- about the properties of every watersoluable oil paint by color and manufacturer, though there are some useful demos of the various marks different brushes and knives make.
   
   The book contains more than I want or need to know about the processes by which watersoluable oils are created.
   
   By far the lengthiest chapter is the one which showcases 14 different artists who try out this medium and provide some tips, which may be useful. But I believe its primary purpose is as a showcase for the various artists. There are some useful tips here, but much of what is said is repetition from one artist to another - and that gets boring! In some ways I am more confused than ever, having learned that some of the artists shown aren't painting soley with watersoluable oil paint - they are using the oils in combination with watercolor or acrylics or sometimes using all three together!



5. About half this book discusses unique properties of water soluble oil paints, but I learned more from reading the paint manufacturers' brochures as I did from this book. The rest of the book discusses and demonstrates various techniques, but it doesn't cover anything different than what you'd find in standard oil painting text, and there are many better ones of those. Don't bother buying this book.

1 comments about Weekend Furniture Facelifts: 70 Great Ways to Update Your Furnishings (Hamlyn Home & Crafts).

1. What a great little book; good photos and information. If you need a few good ideas this is well worth the money.

No comments about Making Faces: Drawing Expressions For Comics And Cartoons.