3 comments about Sacred Mirrors Cards.

1. Alex Grey's art has interested me for quite some time. Wasn't really sure what I was buying but I figured "What the heck, why not?" If you like the art, and want some explanation behind it, these cards are for you. Each card has a "Poem", per say, on the back of it. It's a tour through the spiritual anatomy. I would recommend these to anyone interested in the chakras, your spirit, or just for curiosity. AND if you are a TOOL fan, check these out. A lot of albums have Alex Grey's art on them. If you like Tool, you've got to love Alex Grey.



2. I thought these cards would be more inspirational and have messages worth pondering. The poetry is second-rate, at best. It is not really poetry at all, but rather ramblings and explanations of what the art is supposed to be. Poetry is supposed to speak to your five senses, not sit flat and hard to read. The art on some cards is exceptional, but on other cards, it looks like the pictures in my anatomy textbook. I'm very disappointed in these cards, and I really feel as if I wasted my money.



3. "The Sacred Mirrors are a journey through our physical, socio-political, and spiritual anatomy." - Alex Grey
   
   Arguably best known for his "X-ray" paintings, transcendental artist Alex Grey melds the anatomically correct with the visionary in the Sacred Mirrors Cards. The twenty-three cards in this boxed set are intended to lead viewers through the process of theosis. That is, we may draw closer to God by contemplating the iconic archetypes portrayed on the cards and by seeing others, the world and ourselves as reflections of the Divine.
   
   Intending to remind us of the pure wonder that can accompany our Earth journey, Grey says, "My life is committed to making artwork that wakes people up to the miracle of Life". From skeleton to viscera, nerves to auric fields, Spirit infuses the "mundane" mechanics of the body as surely as the magnificent emanation of love and community.
   
   At 8 ¼ X 4 ¾ inches, the Sacred Mirrors Cards are quite large, depicting colorful imagery on one side and poetic meditations on the other. For example, on the back of the card depicting the lymphatic system, Grey writes:
   
   "Lymph, holy water of life,
   Bathing every cell
   With nutritional healing plasma.
   Mysterious cleansing cousin
   Of the cardiovascular.
   Nodes that swell when inflamed,
   Pick up the pieces of the circulatory system.
   Take away and destroy invading predators.
   Purify, recycle and regenerate white blood cells,
   Lymphocytes, my defending militia.
   Immunize me.
   Keep me safely healthy and whole,
   My guardians of the realm.
   On a micro-level border patrol
   Thou are the decided of what is and is not me."
   
   Six of the twenty-three cards show nude males and females from Caucasian, Asian, and African ancestry. The poetry is basically the same on all six, except towards the end where Grey offers a comment about the specific image.
   
   My favorite image from the Sacred Mirrors Cards is of Sophia, where all seeing, all knowing eyes bejewel her pink etheric gown. The Earth lies where her heart would be, doubling as the "brain" for a gestating baby. A luminescent halo encircles futuristic glyphs, while her third eye is wide open in a penetrating stare. The only thing that mars this otherwise glorious painting (in my opinion), is the disturbing image of Kali copulating with a reclining male (soon to be dead by her knife?). On the other side is baby suckling at a woman's breast, so I get the point of life and death being on the same continuum but...
   
   The Sacred Mirrors Cards are indeed unusual, and would likely be enjoyed by fans of both Alex Grey and Ken Wilber. However, I find some of the imagery a bit gruesome and Grey's sentiments a bit "top heavy"--an analytical, rational approach to spirituality. This is, of course, a legitimate portrayal and path to Spirit, for All That Is does indeed lie within muscle, bone, and blood--the latter being our very (earthly) life force.
   
   But, alas, contemplating organs and guts aren't my particular cup of tea. And, to be fair, that doesn't comprise *all* of the images in this set of cards. For example, the Spiritual Energy System is an arresting portrayal of the chakra system "sprouting jets of psycho gism". A European-looking Jesus makes an appearance, as does a thousand armed, eleven-headed Buddhist deity.
   
   "Is it just me?" I wondered. I appreciate that the human body is a magnificent machine--a vehicle for spirit to be appreciated--but I didn't feel particularly inspired. So I asked my husband, who enjoys some of Grey's art (especially Oversoul), to give me his impression of the Sacred Mirrors Cards. He expressed the same sentiments that I had felt, so it wasn't "just me" after all. We both agreed, however, that some of the poetry conveyed brilliant insights into the human body and its connection to the Infinite.
   
   So if you love Grey's art and vision--and books like Transfigurations--then you'll likely enjoy this unusual meditative offering.
   
   (To see 6 images from the Sacred Mirrors Cards, visit the Reviews--Decks section at JanetBoyer.com)

1 comments about Winslow Homer: An American Vision.

1. The works of Winslow Homer are already well familiar to any interested in American art: they captured the American Civil War and, later, scenes of early America as a whole, presenting a range of styles and themes - so it's surprising to note this book is the first in-depth critical survey written in the last decade. Here all his major paintings appear along with a number of etchings and woodcuts to compliment a blend of biography and critical art survey. Full-page color prints not only analyze the works; they offer insights into the public's reaction to scenes, settings, and perspectives. A powerful, recommended pick.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch

5 comments about The Wondrous Strange: The Wyeth Tradition.

1. N.C. Wyeth is the top of the heap when it comes to illustrators. A visit to his Brandywine museum reveals his work to be even more stunning in real life. There is not a good retrospective collection of his work--even in the Brandywine bookstore--and I was hoping this book would be one.
   
   I was sorely disappointed.
   
   Having Pyle in the book, and seeing the work of the student compared to his master is really great. It offers important insight into the development of N.C. as an artist.
   
   The inclusion of Andrew can't be too criticized, his work is fantastic. I have been a fan of his for a long time. However, as an illustrator, I was looking more for the other commercial illustrators who worked in the "Wyeth Tradition."
   
   I revile James's work. The fact that any pages of this book were wasted with his paintings made this book repugnant to me.
   
   So, for me, the book doesn't make sense.
   
   Pyle, to N.C., professional illustrators.
   
   N.C. to his son and grandson, we veer of that path. As an illustrator and one who worships at the feet of N.C. Wyeth, I wanted to stay on it. (The argument could be made, and probably has, that all are a descendant artistically of Pyle, and while there is some merit, sure, I say--for the most part--balderdash!!!)
   
   This is not a comprehensive N.C. Wyeth, nor illustrators of his time, book.
   
   BAH!



2. For many years it has been the practice of critics and art aficionados to relegate "popular artists" the likes of Norman Rockwell and the Wyeth clan to the bin of kitsch. Time heals and alters and distance is kind as the current resurgence of appreciation of these and other artists of the land testifies. Norman Rockwell now is considered an important American artist, sensitive to basic issues of what makes America the land of the common man's dream. With this beautifully designed and written tome the same adulation should follow for the Wyeth clan. The authors (Betsy Wyeth among them) had the good idea to show the seeds of the very familiar Wyeth imagery in the work of Howard Pyle, an artist known primarily as an illustrator along the lines of over the edge fantasy adventure books. His pupil N.C. Wyeth took up the torch, primarily emulating Pyle's style but taking it to a new level. His works of isolation, thwarted desire, and simple American traditions are absorbed by his son Andrew Wyeth who won favor among collectors of realist art during the time the country was running after Modernism, Expresionism, Abstraction. And finally Jaime Wyeth, son of Andrew, has been a constant presence with his quasi-surreal take on many of the same subjects as his progenitors. The circle comes round with Pyle and Jaime Wyeth embracing the more perverse subjects - an interesting century wheel turning round and round.

   The color reproductions are generous and well selected. Many of the well know Wyeth images are excluded, but in their place we are treated to images we have never seen. This is a beautiful volume and a tender one, a memento of what our childhood in the 20th Century was like before the madness currently painted hit.




3. The images floor me. If a picture is worth a thousand words.... then this collection speaks incalculable volumes.



4. For the non-art initiated, the book is a feast for the imagination as well as the eyes. I bought the book because I come from the mid-coast of Maine, like the Wyeths. But when I took the time to look at the book on a night we lost power due to a snow storm, I found the views conjured stories up in my mind to match the Wondrously Strange images. I've driven by the Wyeth Center a thousand times, but made a point to visit to see for my self. I'm also fortunate to have a copy signed by Jamie Wyeth, and hope to keep as a treasure for a long time.



5. We saw the exhibit in September and I bought the book as a reminder of the awe and joy I felt looking at the originals. The book lives up to the exhibit. A feast for the eyes, the book captures well the power and talent of Pyle and the Wyeths.

1 comments about The Writings Of Marcel Duchamp (A Da Capo Paperback).

1. I cannot recommend this "as a read". It has value if you have a significant level of interest in this type of art.

3 comments about Anselm Kiefer: Heaven And Earth.

1. Anselm's artwork is amazing. This book tells all about the artist, his artwork, and the storys behind them. It has amazing photos and details.



2. This is a fantastic book. Anselm Keifer is one of my favorite artists of today. His work is so powerful that it is difficult to imagine it translated into a printed form, but this book does a great job of an almost impossible task. Keifer's work must be seen in person to be fully felt, but short of that, this book still manages to impress.



3. The German artist Kiefer's first project titled "The Heavens" ("Die Himmel") sounded the note for the major theme of his work through the following decades. This first was a book-like project with several leaves completed in 1969. Coming after this were sculpture-like, installation-like works (before this form was widely practiced) using the earthy materials of lead, brick, metal, wood, cloth, and often cast-off materials, as used in "found" art, though with not nearly the effect. Born in 1945, Kiefer could never free himself from the oppressiveness of the German psychoses and atrocities of the Nazi years, especially being a Jew. "[Kiefer] does not assume the existence of a paradise, only the ancient need to imagine one." One sees in the artist's dense, bewitching works usually made of assorted materials this primitive longing for paradise impacted by the carnage and horrors of 20th century's crazed politics and warfare on a huge scale. The touches of brightness in many of Kiefer's works are sometimes overwhelmed by bricks and other materials the color of cinders, ashes, an unmistakable reference to the Holocaust and the "scorched earth" warfare waged by the German war machine. It is the natural materials of the art works such as leaves, ground, and cotton spun into clothing, not religious visions of Heaven, which offer any hope of transformative redemption and immortality there may be. As noted in the "Introduction," Kiefer regarded the earth as a "kind of alchemical fragment" still being forged. "In Kiefer's cosmology, the universe is an immense athanor, or alchemical oven, where spirit and matter are in continued process of creation and destruction." The book succeeds estimably as a retrospective on the span of Kiefer's career. Varying perspectives from distant to close-up on the art works enable one to grasp the complex historical, cultural, and mythical thoughts reflected in the composite, multilayered works and also the undying struggle between hope and memory embodied in them.

3 comments about Sponge Painting: Fast and Fun Techniques for Creating Beautiful Art.

1. While this may not be a book designed for the serious artist or for artists who prefer a lot of detail in their images it's a great book for collage artists who want quick, easy, and fun backgrounds for their collage work.
   
   Could more effects using a spong be shown? Of course, but this wasn't written for the serious artist but for the hobby artist. At least that is my opinion of the book.



2. It only offered a very few basics. Those were good but nothing that really was worth buying the book.



3. A fun and interesting book. Easy enough for a beginning painter but different enough from the usual brush and palette knife to spark the more advanced artist to try a new technique.

2 comments about Brushes: A Handbook for Artists and Artisans.

1. As a practicing artist, I am always looking for new ways to make expressive and appealing images. I work mainly in porcelain pottery, decorated with slips and glazes.
   
   I bought this book to learn how to make brushes, brushes which will enable me to create more distinctive images. My needs are somewhat different from what the book provides, but I found enough information to assist me in experimentation with making tools for expression.
   
   The book is more geared toward industrial manufacture, but there is more than enough information and example for the individual to make implements of good quality and function. The difficulty lies in gathering materials and finding a place to work where the cat will not try to supervise...
   
   I recommend this book for all artists who like to make their own tools.



2. There are countless books written on watercolor, acrylics, oil paints and even a few on gouache and casein, but the common thread linking all of the painting media has been overlooked . . . until now. Brushes are the most common of all artist's tools, yet the vast majority of artists are woefully uninformed about how to pick out a good brush and, even what the difference is between the good, the bad and the mediocre brushes.

   In writing this book, Jacques Turner has drawn from long experience in the brush-making business to provide us with a truly useful manual on what goes into the manufacture of a good artist's brush as well as the reasons and uses for the various shapes and hairs that seem to complicate and confuse our choice.

   For me, this book has opened up possibilities that would have been remained closed. My new-found knowledge has certainly proved its worth when buying brushes.

   A quick and easy read, Turner writes for the artist, not the research scholar.

4 comments about Paintings in The National Gallery, London.

1. Context: I'm not an academic or a scholar; I'm a regular guy who likes visiting museums when I travel and I wanted to do a little researach before I left. This book worked well for my daughter and I to determine which parts of the museum deserved the most time (on a short trip) and to get a better understanding of the works. I'm not qualified to evaluate it from an academic perspective, but as a layman it was exactly what we needed.



2. I have numerous large books of this ("Paintings of the")type and this one has delighted me most. The many reproductions in this book are stunning - large, sharp and vivid is the rule rather than the exception. If you own the books on the Louvre, Musee d'Orsay, and Hermitage you'll love this because it outshines them.
   
   Many thanks to the reviewer who mentioned that Bulfinch published this. I just noticed that Bulfinch also publishes Eisler's Masterworks in Berlin which also outshines the books above and is another favorite of mine. It's time to check my wishlist for Bulfinch publications and up their priority.



3. Excellent quality book. The pictures are very well presented and the texts are very precise.



4. Without question, a must-have for any serious art lover. The quality of the text and illustrations are first-rate as is expected from the arguably finest art book publisher of our time. As essential to any library as "Paintings in the Vatican" and "Paintings in the Uffizi and Pitti." Keep them coming, Bulfinch!

5 comments about Art Class: A Complete Guide to Painting.

1. Okay book. If you're a beginner you may like it, but it lacks so much that is essential for the beginner. Being an art teacher, the flow of the book really makes sense. It works you from still life all the way up to portraiture. You do however need to know how to draw prior to purchasing this book and start painting. It does not provide you w/excersises for learning the elements of art (for example: form and how to create it through value, line, space, and being able to give the object spatial sense). Otherwise, it is a good beginner reference book in the sense that it'll give you direction if you're trepadatious.
   
   In the back there is a sort of art equipment index explaining types of materials and suggested ways to use them. There is also a small glossary of terms.
   
   At best though, it's a good reference manual for teachers and I'll tell you why. It has breif explinations on materials, just enough to jog your memory (if you haven't used the material in a while). Has a good chronology for a curriculum if you are teaching a full year or 2 consecutive years of a painting and drawing course.
   
   There is no history included, but it does show different approches for the same purpose. Example, people approach going to canvas in different ways: 1. carefully sketching in water soluble pencil, 2. sketching in charcoal, 3. Using a very light wash, 4. no pre-sketching at all. In other words, it gives you multiple methods to achieve the same end--how you work depends on which you'll chose.
   
   Not a bad buy, not a great one either.
   
   You're better off buying "The New Artist's Manual: The Complete Guide to Painting and Drawing Materials and Techniques" by this author. It is this book and "the artist's color manual: ..." rolled into one.



2. Art Class: A Complete Guide to Painting
   by Simon Jennings
   
   This book is one of those for which you could give more than 5 stars. It is one of the most profusely illustrated books on the subject of painting, and these are color illustrations. Nearly every single page has nearly half a dozen or more of the most vibrant, colorful, and well appointed illustrations that I have ever seen.
   
   So what's the downside of the book? There is no downside. This is 192 pages of the most wonderful instruction on the use of painting that I have ever seen. I discovered this while visiting the art galleries and shops in Taos, New Mexico.
   
   The book shows Simon Jennings to be the "general editor" and Sally Bulgin to be the "Consultant Editor" and several other names are included in advisory roles. I don't understand the identifications concerning "authorship" but certainly this is a book to stand out above and beyond the ordinary instruction on painting and the uses of color.
   
   In my reviews of drawing books, I've always warned people of the use of buzz words and gimmick phrases such as "complete-guide-to" as a marketing gimmick. That's because almost no books live up to the promise. "Art Class: A Complete Guide To Painting" is most certainly an exception to this.
   
   "Art Class" is one of those texts that stands so far above the other books on painting that it eclipses the entire field. It is one of those books that is so visually stunning that it is well worth the trip to a book shope to flip through its pages.
   
   I liked the opening paragraphs on page 14, Chapter One, titled "Where Do I Start" where "Art Class" says:
   
   "This book covers many levels of ability, but this page is amed at the absolute beginner rather than the painter whose interests have been focused and techniques honed through years of dedication and experience."
   
   Absolute Beginners! That's who gets the most benefit of this book. It shows all the materials you need to work in water color, oil, acrylic and what you need to work either indoors or out; but the text is so encyclopedic that you are not surprised to learn that the authors also were advised by technical experts from WINDSOR & NEWTON, which is the company that makes fine art paints. This is the most visually compelling art book I have ever seen.
   
   It's all about what you need to know to start working in color. More surprising still is the author's division of the book into three sections, instead of the typical ten to twelve chapters. Even the glossary is done in a unique manner. The page backgrounds are yellow, rather than white, and the outer edge of the glossary pages are trimmed in a beautiful red. This book is entirely designed by people who understand visual beauty and how to bring to life all things visually presented.
   
   "Art Class" lists the basics as these classifications:
   Color, Paints, Diluents, Mediums, Primers & Grounds, Varnish and size, Brushes, Knives and accessories, Palettes, Canvas, Boarrds and panels, Papers, Painting techniques, Pastels, Drawing Equipment. This book is so unlike everything else I have ever seen that it is one of my genuine treasures on the book shelf. If you get a copy, expect it to become "dog-eared" from constant use.
   
   I haven't been so utterly overwhelmed by an art book since I discovered Jack Hamm!



3. This a great book to get someone started painting or as a refresher course for those already painting. Good ideas for getting over the mental blocks artists sometimes encounter.



4. This is a very complete reference for what seems like all you need to know (and then some) about painting. I am not an experienced painter so I was almost a little intimidated at first with all the information presented here. The issue with me though was not the book (which is well organized) but putting the brush to the canvas...

   It's definitely worth the price, often I'll resell a book that I just wasn't "in to" but this is a great reference that covers so much I know I'll have it for a long time to come (I've only owned it for 3 weeks at this point...)




5. This is a remarkable resource -- comprehensive, well-organized and understandable.

   I am not blessed with artistic talent, though I love art and have always wanted to try painting for pleasure. This book is perfect. It is divided into three sections: Where Do I Start, What Should I Paint, and What are the Basics. It begins at the beginning, discussing the choice of medium and theme; the selection, acquisition and care of supplies; and the choice of subject. It then moves on to technique: how to render a three-dimensional object on paper; how to compose a study; how to paint color, pattern and texture; painting space, depth and distance. These instructions are augmented by lots of pictures. You will see the step-by-step way to paint a tree, a face, a still life, a landscape etc. The final section really covers the basics -- mixing colors, types of paints, brushes, accessories, palette layouts, preparing canvases, paper, correcting mistakes, pencils, inks .... Every page is interesting. I learned so much. A glossary and index complete this wonderful resource.

   The writing is clear and the many photos and illustrations are fabulous. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. If you are interested in teaching art or learning to paint, you cannot go wrong.

No comments about Free Expression in Acrylics.