2 comments about Mark Rothko, 1903-1970: Pictures as Drama (Taschen Basic Art).

1. If you do not want to spend a fortune and still read a good introduction to Rothko's work, this is the best choice. It covers the whole career of the artist in a text which is short and easy to read, with surprisingly good illustrations of famous or rarely seen works (many are in private collections, like the one on the cover). This is what you call good value for your money. Do not expect, though, to have a comprehensive analysis on each of the works; I would call this book "Rothko for beginners", which is, in no way, a negative opinion.



2. There are many larger, fatter and even better books on Rothko, but this little volume is pretty solid. At ten bucks, you shouldn't even wait for the second thought: it's a sure thing. It includes a wealth of color reproductions, and frankly their scale is surprisingly generous for a book of modest dimensions. Some are as large as the repros in all but the largest-format Rothko books. Taschen has wisely chosen to devote a full, text-less page to most of the canvases reprinted here, and the photography is fine and sensitive. Good quality photos like these reveal nuances that make the photos effectively "larger".

   The text covers Rothko's life and analyzes his thought, innovations and development through abundant quotations and sound analysis. There's unusually full exploration of his early work, and a good chapter on his symbolist-surrealist myth-paintings (though I miss seing "Slow Swirl by the Edge of the Sea.") The book also includes a few works by other artists where appropriate (as in the reprint of a Matisse painting that Rothko answered with his "Hommage to Matisse"). It's a complete yet efficient book, as are most of the titles in this series.

   My sole important reservation about the book concerns the minimal coverage of the essential "multiform" period of Rothko's work--only three or so examples appear here. That's an important failing, but not enough to dull my overall enthusiasm.

5 comments about Nathan Oliveira (San Jose Museum of Art).

1. I don't think that the overtones of existentialism that resonated over forty years ago hold up today. This is a classy book with the full story from Peter Selz. Peter Selz used to teach art history at the Institiute of Design in 1953 -54. I don't think his interest in expressionism fitted the Moholy Nagy idealogy.The reproductions are ample and good.The late prints interest me more than the painterly figure work. A centralized figure that takes so much importance to his ouvre from those days ,is academic.He is sometimes Giacometti, other times Bacon, his sources don't seem to be resolved. I like his stuff better than Diebenkorn,another academic approach to the figure. My preference is for the Chicago figurative painters. Leon Golub's work still carries power, he saw Iraq prison torture scenes before it happened there.One figure seems easy. Compositions of figures such as Golub carry more weight because there is a message in the interaction of people.His work will hold up not just from a standpoint of subject matter, but form his more original approach to the canvas.For another critique of the San Francisco figure painters see. The Painters Mind: Carl Holty and Romeare Bearden. I am not alone in this judgement. It is a well written ,well illustrated book. Again ,the late prints of Oliviera struck me more than the early work ,as unique work.



2. This book was published for a Nathan Oliveira exhibit at the San Jose (CA) Museum of Art. It portrays the evolution of his painting and many of his most memorable art pieces. This professor emeritus from Stanford University is currently working on a meditation chapel to be built on the campus of that prestigious university.



3. i was disapointed by this book and the presentation of it.



4. plain and simple its a nice book and i like oliveria but i really don't think it was worth the price new- and i have quite a few books on painters.



5. Just the right amount of history and ample full-color depictions of the artist's masterful use of gesture, color and raw expression. This book really showcases Oliveira's amazing versatility and his under-rated virtuosity as a painter. Oliveira's work should be included among the greats of contemporary art--and this book proves it. Wow!

5 comments about No More Wishy-Washy Watercolor.

1. best watercolor book i have purchased. not for the beginner...but great instruction. her paintings just make you want to paint!!!!! i highly recommend this book. i learned so much and cant put it down!



2. If you are teaching high school watercolor classes, I highly recommend Margaret Martin's book NO MORE WISHY-WASHY WATERCOLORS. There are at least 20 ideas for lesson plans within this book. You'll find useful exercises and full demonstrations on 1)Composition, 2)Value, 3)Color, 4)Creativity through Exaggeration and 5)Light. If you're looking for a required text for your students that is bold, bright, and guaranteed to impower a student's control over white paper, this is it!

   I also recommend Nita Engle's book HOW TO MAKE A WATERCOLOR PAINT ITSELF for your advanced students. They will be fascinated and challenged by her many and magical techniques.




3. I haven't finished this terrific book. Martin is a courageous and innovative watercolor painter. I love her style and she has taught me not to be timid. My paintings all looked alike. Now they blaze with color! And it's much more fun. I am still working through it, so many lessons, so many examples. If you have 5 books on watercolor painting this has got to be one of them.



4. The cover of "No More Wishy-Washy Watercolor" says it all, as does the title. Look at those yellow sunflowers. They virtually POP against the purple flowers between them (yellow and purple are color wheel opposites.) That's just one trick to make your watercolor stand out that you will learn in this book.

   If you love watercolor but hate that smear of pale blue, dull green and other types of landscape problems, look in here for solutions. This is a wonderful watercolor book and a real help to anyone, experienced or beginner.




5. I just bought the book and I have been really enjoying it. I have found it exciting and I have been able to learn from the book because it is written so that a beginner can grasp the information. I would recommend the book to anyone wanting to learn more about watercoloring.

5 comments about Janet Fish: Paintings.

1. This book is beautiful, amazing and insightful! The art images fill the pages with color and I could look at them for hours. The imformation at the beginning of the book is insightful and helped me to realize what a major American artist Janet Fish is.



2. A beautiful book! Of all my artist books, I believe this is now my favorite.



3. I have been a fan for awhile and was a bit set back by the price.( But then Amazon helps immensely here!) I treated myself. What a treasure this book is! It also contains 4 foldouts that highlight and exemplify her juicy, painterly reflective style of work. Each page is more awesome than the next. A real winner!



4. A true treasure of a book; the author's text is informative, cogent, and connective; connecting Fish to other artists of her time and before her time. I had not been a true Fish fan before I read this book, because sometimes my (bad) eyes cannot take in all that she can squeeze into one painting. The information gleaned from reading the text and looking at the reproductions being talked about has widened my appreciation of her, and also awakened me more to the influences of the Abstract Expressionists and other non-objective painters of the Fifties by showing me how much their emphasis on design permeates her very realistic work. Once again, I see that design (composition) rules, whether the work is realistic or abstract or totally non-objective.
   
   If you want to take in art history painlessly, want to grow as a painter yourself, read and study and absorb this book.



5. Vincent Katz illustrates his discussion in the development of Fish's style and areas of exploration with colour plates of her work large enough to be seen and enjoyed. Janet Fish works in monumental size and the large page format of this book - while hardly close to the sizes of her canvases - helps the viewer visualize these pieces closer to context. I would have enjoyed more input from the artist in the form of discussion about her techinical approachs to such large surface area, or her colour response toward light. However, I was very satisfied with this particular book and would recommend it, especially to someone with a beginning interest in the work of Janet Fish.

2 comments about Kindred Spirits: Asher B. Durand and the American Landscape.

1. I had been hoping for a comprehensive volume on Durand for years. There are almost always 3 or 4 of his works included in most anthologies of American art of the 19th century and certainly any that focus on the Hudson River School. All acknowledge his importance and I have long admired his majestic forestscapes.
   
   This volume is a comprehensive and historical analysis of his life, art and times. It does disappoint to some degree, due to the inclusion of the numerous portrait paintings of his early career. These are skillful but quite dull in comparison to his landscapes. His brief foray into genre is lackluster as well. This results in a book that really only gains it's raison d' etre at the halfway point. Then it is very enjoyable and gives us what we hoped for; good reproductions of his forest scenes and other landscapes. Like Fredrick Church, he brought a new level of realism and scientific study to the landscape, while still imbuing it with the exalted romanticism that connoted a spiritual essence.
   
   I would have liked more focus on his major works, larger plates or more details and less historical context in this book, but it is still the best existing single source on this important artist.



2. President of the National Academy of Design from 1845 until his death in 1886, Asher Durand had a major influence on American painting in its early, formative years. Durand's influence with his paintings and his writings and work with other can been as second only to Thomas Cole, who was at different times both mentor and competitor to Durand in his long career. Though Cole has the higher reputation, Durand went further in defining the genre of nature painting in this early era, including the Hudson River School, and articulating and exploring its principles, sources, and aims in his writings. A series of nine essays Durand wrote in 1855 for the art journal Crayon: A Journal Devoted to the Graphic Arts, and the Literature Related to Them" are reprinted in the appendix.
   
   One hundred color illustrations of Durand paintings along with more than 80 black-and-white pictures testify to Durand's exceptional touch melding realism and idealism in the nature painting of the first generation of American painters after the United States became an independent nation. "Kindred Spirits," the book's title, is taken from a familiar 1849 Durand painting of the writer William Cullen Bryant and painter Thomas Cole standing on a rock ledge overlooking a valley with a stream running down it. Not only are the two men meant to be seen as kindred spirits representing the brotherly-like love in the new nation, but the two men are meant as well to be seen as kindred spirits with the nature world spreading out around them like an ampitheater. An 1855 painting titled "The First Harvest in the Wilderness" pictures a man working in a field of golden corn or wheat with misty mountains rising around him. In the background is a log cabin with a woman working at something by its doorway. No matter what the subject and scene of a Durand painting, it bathes in an Edenic glow implying being chosen as one of Providence's favorites and boundless promise.
   
   Mostly before he came to the nature painting, Durand did prints, engravings, and drawings too. Forty of these are pictured. "Kindred Spirits" is a full, authoritative study of the life, career, art work, and influence of this leading early-1800's American artist concentrating on his nature paintings.

5 comments about A Baby Blessing.

1. This is an amazing book and I give it to every friend who has a new baby. They always think it is priceless, and in turn start giving to their friends who have new babies.



2. My mother recently gave this book to my daughter for her baptism and read it out loud to all of us at the party following the ceremony. It was so touching that I could not contain my tears and ended up wetting several tissues. The illustrations are beautiful and the sentiment so perfect. I will purchase this book to give to friends who are expecting their first child.



3. I was given this book by a friend after the births of two grandchildren. I loved it so much that I ordered 3 copies to give as gifts for upcoming baptisms and a welcoming gift for a newborn.
   
   The book is gorgeous! It is beautifully written and beautifully illustrated. It makes a perfect gift for any newborn.



4. This book was the perfect touch at the blessing of our twins! It's beautifully written and has wonderful pictures. This is going into the babies library for years to come. I am even buying another copy so that they can both get a copy of it in their hope chests...



5. This book seems to have a good intention, but it sadly misses the mark. A wonderful collection of historical images, mixed with wishful thinking. Verses are articulated as prayers (may, let), which only serve to point out this book's greatest omission: the object of prayer, who is Creator God himself, who graciously fashioned our precious little ones. Without glorifying the Giver of Life, these thoughts and wishes just evaporate into thin air.

5 comments about Stamp in Color: Techniques for Enhancing Your Artwork (Pastimes).

1. I was first introduced to this book when I walked into an IMPRESS store in Seattle and saw all the wonderful card samples that were created by the author of this book.
   
   A person would really have to see the author's cards (in person),in order to fully appreciate his skill and creativity.
   
   This book shows all the techniques that the author uses in making his wonderful cards,---step-by step.
   
   I appreciate the author taking the time to show the reader each step in the process, since, as the previous commentator said, the cards are "simple and yet complex". (There is more to the eye....).
   
   The other thing that I like about this book is that I've been a big fan of the classy rubber stamps created and sold by the "RUBBERMOON" Company, and many of the stamps used in this book are from RUBBERMOON.
   
   Therefore, by purchasing this book, not only will you be introduced to the author's style of coloring and painting, but you will also be introduced to the authors' delicate stamps, and also those sold by RUBBERMOON.
   
   PS: I just checked, and as of today (October 2007) the company called RUBBERMOON is still active and making stamps,--- should you be interested.



2. The author is an artist who works/worked for Impress rubber stamps and his book shows in great detail how to amp up the possibilities of your rubber-stamped artwork. You learn how to layer color, do a color wash, and to generally add dimensional color to rubber stamped and embossed art. There is such thorough coverage of every step and product used that you get the feeling that you could produce identical, beautiful results, too.
   I'm especially pleased with this book because I couldn't find beginner-to-intermediate watercoloring instructions for rubberstamping anywhere else; all of the other books assumed I wanted to paint a Monet on a 3-foot square canvas instead of a stamped 4x6 card.



3. Great examples of making invitations & cards. In addition to the watercolor tips (don't expect a class in watercolors its more of an intro to the idea of using watercolors with stamps) there are also ideas on using your computer to print up words for the invitations etc. Colored pencils are also discussed in the book as well as blending techniques.



4. I have been stamping for awhile and wanted to get into watercolor. I am so glad I found this book! After reading the book (the step by step instructions were easy to follow), I got results that were truly amazing. I did not know how to properly use watercolors until this book! Also, many of the stamps I had on hand were easily substituted for those used in the book. It was a great purchase!!!!



5. I was looking for a book that showed how to add color to stamping and this only pretty much covers watercoloring stamp outlines. I would have preferred to have known that is all it was about. I think in that aspect it does a good job. It is a very narrowly focused book that I paid too much for.

No comments about Francis Alys: Fabiola: An Investigation (Dia Foundation).

5 comments about Days from the Heart of the Home.

1. This is a cute book and has personality in it for journaling.



2. This perpetual calendar without days of the week written on it is a great idea and in true Susan Branch fashion!



3. Susan Branch's wonderful artwork and stories that are throughout this perpetual calendar/journal always brings a smile. She comes from a large family, and shares creative and thoughtful ideas for entertaining, celebrations, and holidays that I find to be an inspiration. The binding allows it to lay flat, the paper used takes ink nicely, and the dated spaces are generous. Even after making good use of this same book for so long, I've never grown tired of it, and look forward to starting a new one each year. With the purchase of this one for 2007, I now have a row on my bookshelf dating to 1997!



4. This is the greatest, most beautiful book, calendar! I am going to be giving one of these to everyone for gifts! This book can brighten your day every time you open it, with the beautiful drawings and sayings. You will not be disapointed.



5. I just discovered Susan Branch's stickers/books/stencils/stamps/etc. I ordered this book for next year, and want to get one for my sister. It's so cute, and there are lots of Susan's drawings and watercolored leaves, flowers, and hearts...I can't wait to start using it. Couldn't find this in the bookstores anymore, so I ordered it from Amazon and got it within 3 days.

5 comments about The Big Book of Decorative Painting: How to Paint If You Don't Know How and How to Improve If You Do.

1. I really like Jackie Shaw. She has loads of info on how to paint and I'll keep my copy.She is an artist that I have books of hers that are 20yrs plus old. You'll like her teaching.



2. As an artist learning something new I was looking for a basic book explaining all terms and projects showing the author to be truly talented. This is all you need for a complete first course.
   There is some disagreement among the various author/artists about the term " float". Other than that they all seem to agree about basic techniques. Beautiful demos and photos.
   Greatest thing: The author takes you through several projects which you can do on any paper or wood for practice, and then divides these into three levels so that you can achieve the degree of finesse you desire. So practical! Take it from there!



3. I have a ceramics business and got tired of plain ol painting and wanted to expand when I found this book. It has taught me so much and my sales are way up! The techniques are explained in precise detail and are easy to follow. It even has practice strokes which I found to be very helpful. There is not a more informative book about painting out there from taking care of your brushes to a beautiful array of advanced technique. This is just a plain wonderful book and I could not say enough good about it!



4. Jackie Shaw does an excellent job of showcasing all that is possible in decorative painting. Her examples of stroke work apply across the board for any kind of painting. But, what makes this book work is the way she breaks down each stroke into its individual parts to show how to form them properly. Along the way she imparts words of encouragment and motivation to get you going!

   She also gives excellent lessons to practice by and keep you stimulated. It is part of the book's progressive learning curve so that as you advance with one part, there is more to learn in the next section as you move from beginner, to intermediate, to advanced.

   I rarely write review of books, but as I pulled out this book once again today to reference, I felt compelled to give Ms. Shaw her props! Thanks Jackie!




5. This book has it all -- clear introductory information (materials, workspace, etc.), wonderful stroke instructions, projects, patterns, finishes, and much more. Another nice thing is that the projects are "rated" as quick and easy (beginner) to intermediate to advanced for each technique.

   There are lots of color illustrations accompanied by clear, well-written text. The author is very encouraging and upbeat in her writing. This book is such an asset that I am ordering a copy to donate to our local library. It's definitely a must-have!