5 comments about Vanishing Act.

1. Although it's aimed at adults, Vanishing Act is the best children's book I've ever seen. Kids treat it like a puzzle as they pick out the animal from its background. It gives us a chance to explain to them about life on earth when they are totally engaged. The photography is beautiful, too.
   
   Art Wolfe has turned wildlife photography upside down. Instead of isolating animals in their environment, he has shown them as part of the ecosystem in the most striking way.
   
   Amazing and highly recommended.



2. Bought this for a Christmas and everyone wanted to look through it before I gave it away. It is great fun for all ages!!!



3. I purchased this book as a gift for my elderly grandma. Both she and the rest of my family enjoy looking through the beautiful photos to spot the camouflaged animals.



4. This is such an amazing and wonderful book of photos taken by Art Wolfe. "Vanishing Act" refers to the natural camouflage of living beings as they blend into their environment, as a means of self-preservation.
   
   Honestly, I have had to look at some of the pictures 3 or 4 times before I could locate the animal, insect, bird, etc. that was lurking there. There is a "cheat sheet" in the back of the book, but I am determined to locate these creatures without resorting to outside help.
   
   It is so amazing that I could look at a large picture 3 or 4 times and not see what I was looking at; however, once you see it clearly you can't understand how you could have missed it in the first place. Isn't nature grand? I have two of Art Wolfe's works hanging on my walls and they are the first things commented on by any visitor to my home.
   
   Buy this book!



5. A mezmerizing coffee table book. It's almost a puzzle to find the incredible creatures in the photos that have natural camouflage. Large format views with lots of detail. A nature lover's must-have.

3 comments about The Portable Magritte (Portables).

1. Magritte, straight up - his pictures and almost nothing else.
   
   It's an incredibly rich experience, and even better for its strict chronological order. I'm fascinated to see themes appear, endure, fade away, and recur. What are those silvery balls with the black bands? Why tubas? That nearly Impressionist phase in the mid 1940s was a remarkable depature, but one that didn't last.
   
   Best of all, the time series lets me see his skills develop. I like his later figures much better than the earlier ones, for one thing. His landscapes and textures gained in subtlety, too. Most of all, he continued to develop his language of image throughout his life - "The Blank Signature" (Le Blanc-seign) expresses ambiguities that he seemed to have worked decades to achieve.
   
   Except for a brief time-line at the end, there is no commentary. I like that, at least I like it better than un-helpful commentary. Hughes consciously leaves me and Magritte alone with each other. That's fine by me - Magritte spoke through his pictures, and I might not have appreciated the interruption.
   
   The book is beautifully printed, but somewhat small. Given this book's quality of color, wealth of images, and modest cost, I can accept that. It's a great introduction to this Surrealist master, a book I keep coming back to.
   
   //wiredweird



2. You know how Time Life comes out with those informercials selling CD collections - claiming that if you tried to buy all the different albums for the songs that they have all in one set, you would spend hundreds of dollars?

   Well, it's kind of the same deal with art books. I will wait YEARS if necessary to buy the right book of XYZ artist - and my search ended with the Portable Magritte. It is not a particularly LARGE book, but if you are looking for a favorite work, you are more likely to find it here than in other books!




3. Good book.. All pictures of all Magritte's works. good coffee table book.

5 comments about Life with Picasso.

1. (.....please take note that due to legal constraints, there was no public tie made between this book and the movie "Surviving Picasso" starring Anthony Hopkins and Julianne Moore - I just wanted to give you all a little footnote here, because that movie *is* this book, virtually scene by scene, and almost word for word....and they did a fantastic job.)
   
   This is a beautifully articulate book. I have read it four times. If you have interest in the mentality of Pablo Picasso, this book is one of a handful which you should take the time out to consume. It goes without saying that being written by an ex-lover there is some bias involved.
   
   I'm not so much a fan of the man's work, but I have always been fascinated with his psyche.
   
   Francoise Gilot is a very dynamic and insightful person and her work is as interesting to appreciate as her writing.



2. It is refreshing and empowering to see the words with which Picasso descirbes his arts and his talents, and the talents of his contemporaries. If you have artistic intutions, but, you can't really put a word to what you mean sometimes, it might be very helpful to read this book.
   
   For he is thoughtful. And he is egotistical.
   
   And, being both, he has quite a precise verbalization of the intellectual and analytical techniques he uses to make himself so successful. He paints be emotion, to be sure, but, when he steps back and evaluates his own work he is an accurate, and precise, and viscious critic. His own ability to express what his work lacks - and then address that identified issue - is inspiring and educational to artists and to scientists alike.
   
   In the later years (the book is chronological), Francoise will spend more time talking about the children and her emotional relationship to Picasso. In this, there is less value to 'take away.'
   
   But in the beginning two-third of this nonfiction narrative - with its intimate and intelligent insight into Pablo, Matisse, and Rembrandt (as well as those artists whom Picasso does not like) - is a treasure and I have gone to it many times to research half-remembered bytes of information.
   
   To be human, too, it is a wonderful depiction of an unsual love and courtship.



3. Francoise Gilot is a legend as an artist and a feminist (my term...not hers). This book opens up a world about Picasso and Gilot's time together in a way that is almost impossible to put down.



4. I read this book with a certain guilt as if prying into the intimate world of others I had no business looking into. But the fascination with the life of the great artist, and the whole subject of creativity kept me reading on even when I felt a bit disgusted in doing so.
   I don't think it is my prudery that led to these feelings. The Picasso of this work is an egomaniac, a moral monster, who shows absolutely no consideration whatever for those closest to him. The people who have helped him in the past do not count for him. The people who are involved with him in the present are manipulated by him for his own purposes. He is tremendously ambitious, greedy financially, stingy, sexually driven and demanding without necessarily being interested in the feelings of the woman he is with . Gilot is no innocent, and her relation with Picasso comes not only one feels out of her own ambition as an artist but her desire to be next to the big- deal the big- name the great genius of art. It is instructive how she cans the two aunts who raise her when the great Pablo demands exclusive attention. This is not to deny her genuine love for him or his passion for her, though no doubt this was never particularly exclusive. Picasso was a great user, user of materials and situations for his art, and user of people for his life. His work has a cruelty his life shares. And it seems to me that that cruelty means his work in the deepest sense does not reach the highest level, the level where Rembrandt and Michangelo and Raphael are. And this because the great draughtsman is not a great reader of the human soul . He is rather a twenty- second technical man a supreme master of means who knows how to put the machine in himself to use to cut up and recombine the world for his purposes. Gilot goes too as do all the previous wives and mistresses, the agents and friends. And Pablo takes and takes to the end .
   Gilot is a tough character and in a way her presentation of herself as one who stands up to him at points gives the work a certain dramatic power. But in the end the feeling is that the greatest art cannot come of or dwell in the kind of sordidness of spirit which Picasso so often displayed. And thus the reading of this work gave me the sense that generations hence though they may admire the work of Picasso will not be inspired by and love it as we do with the work of the very greatest artists.



5. Not being very well educated in art, the book helped me better understand some of what Picasso was trying to portray in his artwork. It is an easy book to get through once you get into it, the way it is written it can be long and tedious at times but the information Francoise Gilot gives is quite sincere and in depth. The book will give you a better incite to Picasso's twisted and passionate life, leaving you with a newfound knowledge and idea about Picasso.

1 comments about The Landscape Painter's Essential Handbook: How to Paint 50 Beautiful Landscapes in Watercolor.

1. This book is helpful. He lists the colors used, but leaves out a lot of steps. The way he does the "final steps" would have helped me.

1 comments about Acrylic: Landscapes with TV Artist Jerry Yarnell (HT263).

1. I did not find a lot of useful information in this book. I own all of the rest of Jerry Yarnell's books so perhaps I am spoiled!

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.

4 comments about Noa Noa: The Tahitian Journal (Fine Art Series).

1. Very readable translation. This is not the best edition if you want good reproductions of drawings. But in terms of getting a good text for a good price it's great.
   
   I'm not really going to review the book itself as I assume most people who are here know that this was Gauguin's attempt to put together a what he hoped would be a best selling travelogue that would promote his art. He was hoping to cash in on the success of Pierre Loti's best seller the Marriage of Loti which was set in exotic Tahiti. It never made any money, but this is mostly because of it's idiosyncratic style. But for anyone interested in Gauguin's Tahitian experience it's great. Also check out his intimate journals which came out posthumously and cover also his life before Tahiti.



2. Typically considered a journal or memoir, Gauguin's book is in fact an early type of experimental multimedia novel. Thematically, Gauguin burlesques Pierre Loti's "Marriage of Loti", while structurally he interleaves narrative with his own highly-inventive Post-impressionist woodcarvings. It's a fine book: Gauguin could have been a great novelist, if he weren't already busy.



3. Though you may quarrel with Guaguin tactics or motivations, his art stands alone--brilliant, moving, subtle. It is always intriquing to hear the voice of a master painter and "Noa, Noa," affords that opportunity.



4. Contemplations visual, intellectual and spiritual. In 1891, French painter Paul Gauguin fled to the island of Tahiti - "a sixty-three days' voyage, sixty-three days of feverish expactancy;" begun as an unofficial visit regarding the imminent death of the island's king Pomare -- and resulting in a profoundly moving sea-change (spirit, observation, happiness). The Tahitian theology, natural history, and especially the progress of his relationships - a gift. This is a good book to read BEFORE embarking on your "desert island" voyage, but beware! Hard to top once you're there on some other island. An exceptional journal, with a graceful translation (it seems) by O. F. Theis from the French. Rated 9 (needs more color plates of paintings! but a lovely, portable paper edition) Other recommended travel/discovery books: Off the Map: Bicycling Across Siberia, by Mark Jenkins. 1993 HarperPerennial pb. Letters from Iceland, by W. H. Auden & Louis MacNeice. 1990 Paragon House pb. Why Come To Slaka? by Malcolm Bradbury. 1991 Penguin Books pb. Travels With Lizbeth (writing/homelessness), by Lars Eighner. The Starship & the Canoe (Freeman Dyson & son George) Bird of Jove (falconry), by David Bruce. 1994 Texas A&M pb. The Earthsea Trilogy, by Ursula K. Le Guin Ishi (anthropology/Native American history), by Theodora Kroeber

1 comments about Painting Heartwarming Holidays: 4 Seasons of Painting with Jamie Mills-Price.

1. Bought as a gift for a friend, she loved it-it was sooooooo nice, I really wanted to keep it for myself.

4 comments about Dome.

1. A great artbook and a fine addition to any collection of erotica. Luis Royo knows his way around the figure and definitely knows how to use it.



2. Very,very sexy erotic art. I just wish my wife would dress like that. But then I am a sucker for anything erotic.



3. This was a x-mass gift and she loved it.It arrived very fast so I didn't have to woory about not gettting it before x-xmass



4. First, I hate when I watch a book here at full price & finally decide to go ahead and buy it,then it drops to 32% off as this one has when I recieve it, read it, & it's time to rate or review it. *sighs* On with my review . . . This thin book briefly chronicles Royo's commission to paint a gentleman's modern Russian castle's dome with 45 life-size nude women. (Think Michaelangelo's Sistine Chapel on a much smaller---though still large--scale with Royo's sapphoric/lesbian sex-themed erotic Prohibited series' content.) The only males are three cloaked & hooded voyeurs in one panel, one of whom is definately Royo and the others may be his son, who helped his father all those months to execute this arduous project, and the owner of the dome. The text is brief but sufficient to basically explain major stages of the project. The photographs consist of his studio pre-work; his dome transfers; his dome paintings-in-progress; pieces of his final works; then the dome itself. I would have liked to have seen each panel have its own picture in the end and read more details about the execution of such a long & complicated project. This book is obviously not like his others due to the content, but it is a nice book about a wonderful project for a great artist of our time.

3 comments about Painter's Quick Reference - Cats & Dogs (Painter's Quick Reference).

1. This book was an impulse buy, since I am doing some painting from my animal photographs.
   
   When it arrived I was very pleased to see that it is very worthwhile - there are many examples of different breeds of dogs and cats, with several different styles of painting, from oils and acrylic to watercolors.
   
   The sketches are nicely done, with lots of detail about both technique and general composition as well as examples of eyes, fur, etc. Definitely worth the money and a keeper.



2. A well illustrated book that does not disappoint on any level.
   Believe me, the book is worth buying. I paint pet portraits
   often and most books had the been there done that feeling.
   This one is much better than anything I had.
   NormaJean



3. I ordered one Cats & Dogs, received one but have been charged to my
   Master Card for two. I have been unable to e-mail you regarding this
   error as the e-mails have not been accepted. Please reimburse me
   $28.47.
   
   
   O.J.Harrison