3 comments about Monet's Passion: Ideas, Inspiration and Insights from the Painter's Gardens.

1. Elizabrth Murrray's books and art work are beautiful and inspiring. I am contributing these volumes to the public school of my grandchildren to accompany thier new school garden. She has a new book of art by children in Equador called Nantu Aujujae but I couldn't find it with your search, I wanted to include it with the other Elizabeth Murray books for the school. I hope you post it soon.



2. An easy read and visual feast, Monet's Passion exposes methods behind the color, texture, layout and scents of his magical gardens. It magnifies one's experience visiting the gardens or his works in galleries, and is a valuable companion to the painter's many works.



3. Beautiful photographs of the gardens at all seasons. Plant lists. The author tells about the history of Giverny and her experiences as a gardener there. It would have been helpful to know which US zones the plants would be hardy in.

1 comments about Skies & Clouds: The Watercolor Techniques Of 23 International Artists.

1. This book offers beautiful examples of skies and clouds rendered in watercolor. It is worth keeping on the coffee-table just to look at and enjoy. In addition, it provides useful instruction, showing some of the techniques used to make some of the paintings. As indicated in the title, the techniques relate almost exclusively to watercolor, though the paintings themselves will inspire painters who use other media. This is a fine book.

3 comments about Anthony Van Dyck.

1. I was really disappointed when I received the book. Most reproductions are washed out and I kept wondering if I would love this Van Dyck's work any more if his paintings look like that. I've seen many originals and their reproductions in this book are too bad for a serious catalog.



2. This book presents a great overview of Van Dyck's work. The reproductions are clear, and the commentary is helpful. Brown also provides insightful commentary regarding the influence of Rubens' work on Van Dyck. Highly recommended.



3. One of the greatest painters of all time is well represented by his greatest paintings in this exhibition and hence - this catalog. Be prepared to be amazed by a painter of prodigious talent.

5 comments about Splash 6: The Magic of Texture (Serial).

1. The cover art alone for Splash 6 is worth the price of the book! Paul W. McCormack's work is phenomenal. I stared forever at the velvet dress he paints. This book is definitely about texture.
   
   This Splash edition has more portrait painting than some of the others and the artists are good!
   
   It also has a fair amount of architectural painting.
   
   This is my favorite Splash for its outstanding paintings.
   
   Rachel Rubin Wolf does a nice job of editing the work for her books.



2. As an established commercial airbrush artist, just beginning to dabble in watercolor fine art I found "Splash 6" very inspiring. It has opened my eyes to the amazing potential of watercolors and I highly recommend this book to fellow artists and lovers of fine art.



3. My first impression of this newest Splash was "Wow!" I was impressed by the sheer gamut of paintings from super-realistic to abstract. I found the abstract selections particularly appealing and useful.

   But at second glance, I was not convinced this would help my painting enough to justify keeping the book. I think I got more out of Jeanne Carbonetti's books (Tao, Zen, Yoga of ...series) and of Watercolor Bold and Free.

   So, if you want a good selection of examples of art focusing on the use of texture, this is a good selection. If you have a wide library of watercolor books already, this may not be anything really that new.




4. I was given this book just two weeks ago, but have already been through it several times. As its title suggests, it does indeed focus on depicting texture in watercolors, but I kept forgetting that as I turned each page and was stunned by the incredible artwork. I liked this book the most because of the diversity of paintings included. It has examples of serious, whimsical, traditional, avant-garde, representational, abstract... You name it! It helped open up my mind as to what watercolor could be.

   The only negative thing I have to say is that I feel a little intimdiated about picking up my brush again. I was telling my watercolor teacher that I know I can never be as good as these artists. She said, "Yeah, when I saw this book, I thought, 'Why bother?'" But she is picking up her brush again as I am, and we have a wealth of new ideas and techniques to try out.

   My nine-year-old niece was even impressed with this book!




5. A recommended picks for discriminating library collections, Rachel Rubin Wolf's Splash 6: Magic Of Texture features almost a hundred modern watercolorists who demonstrate how to enliven a painting with texture. From matching pigments and using light to providing effective contrasts, the works of each artist are presented in full color and serve to emphasize and enhance written advice.

4 comments about All That Is Glorious Around Us: Paintings from the Hudson River School.

1. If you are a fan of the Hudson River school, you will not be disappointed with this book. The illustrations are large and clear, and the overview is precise. However, as noted by a previous reviewer, this is not a very detailed book. It is only a coffee table book after all.



2. Arrived in excellent condition, fabulous book,prompt service, couldn't ask for any better value!



3. This book is a reprint of a 1978 exhibition catalogue of one person's private collection. There is a short (7 page) essay at the beginning which gives an overview of the Hudson River School. The rest of the book consists of illustrations of around 60 paintings, each by a different artist. Most of the artists are obscure, while the well-known painters (Bierstadt, Church, Cole) are not represented by their best works.

   If you want an in-depth study of the Hudson River School with illustrations of its best paintings, this is not the book for you.




4. I was more than pleased when I received this book. I teach American Literature classes at a university. I have been searching for an art book which represents adequate examples of the Hudson River School. I plan to use this book to show students samples of this type of early American art including artist Thomas Cole's paintings in connection with this time period in literature. I feel I could not have ordered a book which could have suited my purposes any better!

3 comments about Fill Your Watercolors With Light and Color.

1. Wow! Where was THIS watercolor book hiding? The techniques Roland Roycraft shares here are seemingly easy; splashing or flowing paint onto paper, masking and more. He also gives some very good hints for composition with clear details. Also value sketches (black and white, showing the density of darks and lights. This is a valuable technique for painters.)

   I may not choose to imitate Roycraft's style, but I sure will be incorporating these techniques into my next paintings. If you want to improve your watercolor, I can't recommend this book and his other book on nature enough. They are just great.




2. This is a good book for seeing what effective use of masking can do for a painting. Mr. Roycraft's use of masking is an integral (if not THE prime) technique for creating the numerous paintings demonstrated in this book. The other technique he uses is pouring the watercolors onto the surface rather than painting most of it with a brush.

   This is not a painting method for anyone not willing or able to know precisely all the places to mask. The sparkling waves of an ocean in one of his paintings must have taken quite some time to mask and most likely needed a detailed pencil sketch beforehand. While the pouring is imprecise the masking is not.

   The book has 1 chapter that gives a step-by-step demonstration of his pouring method. One can tell from some paintings produced that this can be a time-consuming method of producing watercolor paintings if the subject matter is intricate or detailed although the results are breathtaking.

   I would like to see more demonstrations from Mr. Roycraft and perhaps more details about the masking as part of the process. Statements such as "I masked only the light areas before beginning the painting. This is negative painting in reverse and makes a beautiful abstract pattern." show the thought that guides the final results.

   Most of the book shows paintings in a semi-finished state with the final result and some comments on the process and thoughts in creating it. I liked this book very much and would recommend it to any watermedia painter because it helps thinking in terms of positive and negative shapes and light. It also introduces a unique way of painting with watercolors which I suspect would work with fluid acrylics as well.




3. The book amazes me a lot. I particularly like the effect of the pouring. It seems difficult to learn, how to control the color flowing smoothly across the desired area? Is it time-consuming to prepare the masking(questions for Mr. Roland Rycraft) I would like to know some details of the procedure.

No comments about How To Paint: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners Covering Watercolors, Acrylics and Oils.

3 comments about Drawing From The Modern.

1. I purchased book 1 & 2 from Amazon. The illustrations are far too small to be a professionally represented art book from MOMA I've decided to save my money rather than pay out for the 3rd edition. It sounds a good buy from its description but I don't consider this trilogy to be very satisfactory.



2. This is not a good artbook. The images are way too small to be satisfying. This book could have been great, but falls way short of its potential. Don't buy it, you will be disappointed.



3. DRAWING from the MODERN is the first of a three part series published by MOMA as catalogue to accompany the chronologically arranged exhibitions of their drawing collection; in part, celebration of the seventy fifth anniversary of the founding of the Museum.
   
   This first book looks at the late nineteenth century through the beginning of the twentieth. Care and preservation of these drawings dictate that they are displayed infrequently, paper being a delicate medium, subject to fading, discoloration and brittleness. The publication of this series then allows us to have at hand a history of drawings seldom seen, and a visual education demonstrating how problems of that era both evolved and worked themselves out.
   
   The introduction by Jodi Hauptman is broad and well worth reading. Aside from her entertaining "end of art" stories, she addresses artists and process leading to the dissolution of prevalent notions: relationship of "mark" to "ground", took new form; spatial notions of an orderly page, questioned; the element of chance, explored as process; the ego relationship of an artist to work, dissolving. New imagery happened: collage, abstraction, grids, enhanced emotions, metaphors of feeling, the sublime re-imaged. New subjects explored brutalities of war, notions of "city", identity, the spiritual, and the abstract.
   
   As perhaps with all process of art, the uncertainty of change brought forth much that is new. The 139 plates of drawings both demonstrate and give testimony by leading artists of the time to new era in process. Drawing as subject matter is fascinating. To be expected, the book is well printed. Of course, what is book one without book two and three?
   
   Nancy Gutrich

3 comments about Jackson Pollock.

1. This beautiful book with an anthology of Pollock's work; along with the details of his life, was very engrossing. I was unfamiliar with his work; although I do collect some artwork. When I saw and read the book from the coffee table of a friend's home over the holidays; I couldn't wait to order from Amazon.com for my copy. A recent find of Pollock's work was shown on David Letterman. It sold for millions after being locked away in a closet for many years. Beautiful book for a fantastic artist.



2. Before Varnedoe and Karmel's Pollock monograph, which accompanied the MOMA / Tate retrospective a few yeas ago, this was the best available text-and-plates book about Pollock. In terms of its text, this book is still relevant and insightful. Like Elizabeth Frank, Landau does a lot of truly eye-opening comparison work throughout her book. She'll reprint a work by Picasso, say, or a Native American artifact, or a Pollock sketch, and then analyze the influence it exerted on one of Pollock's key canvases.

   And unlike the Varnedoe/Karmel book, this volume reprints these several kinds of works in close proximity, often on the same or a facing page, a useful feature. Landau's remarks about Pollock's sources, outcomes, growth and directions are always at least provocative and often really instructive, particularly in her coverage of the late black paintings. Indeed, Landau's analysis is regularly listed and praised in other authors' bibliographies.

   The drawbacks of the book are its numerous poor reproductions, and plates after all make the primary reason for buying an artist monograph. Many of the plates are excellent and crisp--"Lucifer," "Pasiphae," "Autumn Rhythm," the colorful, playful works following Pollock's marriage. But too many of the plates and fold-outs are muddy, and Pollock's use of silver or aluminum paint is simply beyond this book's ability--as with the gaudy and over-exposed looking gatefold that opens the book. "Blue Poles" and "Stenographic Figure" are among the book's other poor reprints. Until I saw the Varnedoe/Karmel reprint of "One: Number 31, 1950," and then again in "person" at the MOMA, I just flatly didn't understand how Pollock had approached it. It looks "ok" in Landau, but with a lessened resolution that just slightly confuses the webbing throughout.

   Still, I value the book and particularly its text. As for the reproduction quality, I did buy a second copy to cannibalize it; I've posted many laminated pages throughout my classroom. But I got that copy at remaindered prices. At full cost, this is a 3 1/2 or 4 star book. At bargain prices, the book rates 4 or 4 1/2 stars. Varnedoe/Karmel is just visually superior.




3. This intelligent and lavishly illustrated volume, which first appeared in a 1989 hardcover edition, covers Pollock's entire career, his early influences, and the progression of the themes, techniques, and accomplishments of his life as an artist. Ellen Landau's text is enlightening, but the best part of this book is, inevitably, the illustrations themselves, which are an unparalleled feast for the eyes. For those who want to experience and understand Pollock's art (rather than dwell on his personal problems) this is an excellent choice.

2 comments about Henri Rousseau: Jungles in Paris.

1. This book/catalogue is splendid! It was gorgeously created. The care the author and editor put into the making of this book shows on every page. But what makes this book unique is that every painting is shown IN COLOR -- not black and white sections taking up half the book, etc. The paintings are also put on the page in a way that makes you focus on the genius of each and every one. It makes you realize that Rosseau truly was a genius in his time. He was an original, and this book is a great tribute to him and his art -- would enjoying having on both his/her coffee table and as a book to read and treasure!



2. I love looking at the amazing prints in this book by the primitivist Rousseau. Look at the cover of this, this tiger in the grass. Rousseau was a Parisian in the last part of the 1800's who never left Paris (in spite of telling friends he had visited Mexico.) New animals never before seen such as gorillas and tigers and leopards were coming to the Paris zoo. New exotic plants were coming to the huge Parisian greenhouses. People were talking about new and exciting places like Africa, Mexico and South America. There were photographs being shown in galleries depicting these strange places. And there was Rousseau, a lowly government clerk, with his fantastic imagination, seeing in his mind all these strange and wonderful places full of tigers, natives, huge flowers, flocks of pink flamingos, monkeys and all sorts of fantasy landscapes.
   This book says, quoting a friend of Rousseau's, that Rousseau would at times start trembling while he painted and become almost in a sort of ecstatic frenzy as he imagined what these places were like.
   At the time people laughed at his paintings as being like a child's art. People stopped laughing at some point and began gasping in awe.
   I remember seeing his paintings a few years ago at the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C. I could not believe my eyes. I never wanted to stop looking at the very huge, fantastic paintings, with the monkeys peeking from the amazing foliage. I have never seen such a beautiful, incredible, fantasy as these paintings anywhere to this day.
   I can't imagine a better book on Rousseau than this one.