2 comments about Techniques of the Observer: On Vision and Modernity in the 19th Century (October Books).

1. HUGE thumbs up. Crary historicizes technological vision and illuminates an underrepresented point: things we're taught to think of as objective, such as cameras and vision, are in fact quite subjective and historical. They're ideas first, which means social/cultural ideas, from design to usage. Gradually these cultural ideas plus economic and technological possibility fuse into 'things'. The social aspects get invisibly embedded into these 'things' through myths of objectivity and modern people's desire to be taken care of by machines. When cultural values become things we are conditioned not to see the subjective part. Why? Our primary way of thinking is still the way of the Enlightenment -- from the 18th century -- which loves measuring and equating and separates 'myth' from 'science'. [Which is which? as Roger Waters asks, Do you think you can tell?] Western high culture privileges thinking and seeing over affect and body, imagining they are separate and valuing one over the other. Really it's just an excuse for laziness and cultural arrogance.
   
   Read this book along with Eric Michaels' _Bad Aboriginal Art_ and Adorno and Horkheimer's _Dialectic of Enlightenment_ to begin to see glimpses of Western cultural values and narratives embedded in today's supposedly 'objective' media such as photography, video, TV, vision, etc. Do the work and eventually technology will be a mirror of your own social/historical context.



2. Crary presents some interesting views on the perception of art. I found that it took a while for his ideas to formulate - the writing tends to be a bit wordy. I would recommend the book with reservations - really only for the serious academic reader. Not a casual bedside book.

2 comments about Painting Fabulous Flowers with Donna Dewberry.

1. Absolutely WOW!! Makes several of her other books look mundane. She has many that I was interested in learning to paint. Excelllent



2. This is an excellent book for beginners and experienced decorative painters. Donna Dewberry always has clear instructions and wonderful ideas.

2 comments about Martín Ramírez: The Last Works.

1. Beautifully illustrated and well written, this catalog (accompanying the Musuem of American Folk Art's second retrospective of the work of outsider artist Martin Ramirez) is a nice addition to an American Folk Art library. Highly recommended.



2. Martin Ramirez spent most of his adult life in a mental hospital in California. His drawings, all done in the hospital, are widely known. This book is an impressive selection of his last works, recently discovered, which are now being shown in musuems and galleries for the first time. The drawings are exhilirating. What is remarkable is Ramirez's ability to go back to the same motifs, and with rhythmic lines, like a great musician, interpret or renew them as an ancient and primitive music. His world of trains, theatrical stagings, and humble animals are timeless. They reflect a sense of his long ago passage from his humble birthplace in Mexico. It is a lesson in how great art can emerge from the most unlikely circumstances.

3 comments about Drawing Birds with Colored Pencils.

1. This book is exactly what I was looking for to learn how to draw birds with colored pencils, prompting me to write my first review here on Amazon. The book starts out with all the details about the supplies recommended, and then a very thorough general information section including pencil drawing basics, a very interesting section on the drawing process and creating the sketch, and an extremely valuable section on color theory basics covering color composition and value. Also covered in this section are bird shapes and anatomy, and the drawing details including the eyes, beaks, feet and feathers. There is a wonderful selection of birds to chose from, including cardinals, robins (my favorite is the fledgling pair), goldfinch, hummingbirds, bluebirds, chickadee, and many more, with the instructions for every one spread over several full pages each, and each with full-sized illustrations in step-by-step format, layer by layer. Alongside every illustration are very thoroughly written instructions to walk you through the details every step of the way, starting with the supply list and illustrated color palette for each project. I really appreciate the written instructions because they cover every detail and are very easy to follow. There is also a chapter on combining colored pencils with other media such as watercolor, inks, and graphite. I'm extremely happy with this book, and highly recommend it to all who love birds and want to learn how to draw them with colored pencils. I also love the colored pencil drawing of the author's cat at the beginning of the book, and hope she is working on a drawing cats with colored pencils book.



2. 
   new condition and very helpful, book includes a color theroy section that is a must read.



3. I got this book because I love pencil drawing and I love birds. Birds are known to be difficult to draw, especially capturing their postures and gestures. Some of the drawings in this book are not good at all. In addition, the drawings don't look realistic or lifelike. They are dull and very flat, mostly because the author only uses 1 or 2 light layers of pencil. Colored pencil needs many, many layers to make the paintings glow, with careful gradations of color and blending, and these just don't have that. Overall, this book just doesn't do it for me. Maybe if you are a total beginner in drawing (birds), you might find it useful, but after reading through this book once, I have put it on my bookshelf and will most probably never touch it again.
   
   Having said that, it is an attractive book - birds are so beautiful and delicate it is impossible to have a bad book about them!

5 comments about Dulac's Fairy Tale Illustrations in Full Color.

1. So beautiful, Edmund Dulac a superb master of his art, all children should have the pleasure of these stories and illustrations



2. Unfortunately, the poor quality of the reproductions made this a disappointing purchase. I also bought Dulac's Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tale Cards by the same publisher, and they were beautiful.



3. I got this for me, as a collector of fairy tales and fairy tale art, but it is a good book for our bedtime storyhour. When my kids were not familiar with certain fairy tales (The Nightingale and The Wind's Tale) they made up stories to go with the pictures. So this was a good activity for them to be creative and use their growing imaginations. As much as I like this, I don't think of it as truly collectible because it is soft cover book.



4. I had never heard of Dulac before and ordered his book along with the Rackham collection. I actually was blown away by Dulac's work and am really amazed that after studying in art and exploring classic illustration, I had never come across this guy. I have heard of Rackham and seen his work, but I enjoy Dulac even more...his rich color and beautiful compositions are inspiring.



5. this book is very interesting , I like the drawings very much, Dulac is a very amazing artist.

4 comments about No Experience Required - Colored & Watercolor Pencil (No Experience Required).

1. I've spent a lot of money on books to teach myself painting. I believed many grand promises made by these books and have found myself more disappointed than successful. Not the case with this one. This book was so easy to understand, I was thrilled to find success at my early attempts. Techniques were explained clearly and the demonstrations were also easy to understand. Highly recommended.



2. The way Gary Greene explains how to use colored and water color pencils makes it very easy to follow the steps. He clearly
   shows what results to get in an easy to follow manner. Great for beginners as well as more advantaged users of these mediums.
   I highly recommend this book.
   
   Constance Hingert



3. This book does a very good job of showing how to use colored pencils and watersoluble pencils both indepently and together. I used it to use watersolubles for large areas and the colored pencils for detail and it helped quite a bit.



4. I have always wanted to learn how to use colored pencils. This book covers the basic techniques of both colored and watercolor pencils and how to combine them. The author does not assume anything and explains basic techniques you can try along with step by step directions for several drawings. I found this book an excellent way to get started.

5 comments about How to Paint Like the Old Masters: Watson-Guptill 25th Anniversary Edition.

1. Sheppard does a relatively decent job in terms of explaining how to use light and shade in a figure drawing. His paintings show this well but often lack a vibrancy of color that many artists favor. His work would be referred to as "tonal paintings."
   However, his recipes for painting mediums and his recommendations for pigments have fallen into disuse.
   For example, it is no longer acceptable to use maroger medium as it causes paintings to darken. In addition, the conscientious artist will avoid toxic pigments such as mercury sulphide.
   In my own research on the techniques of the old masters, it is pretty much the consensus that most paintings were created with simply linseed or walnut oil and pigment ground in a coarse fashion, perhaps, to a less fine consistency than tube colors of today.



2. I consider myself a successful painter. I've sold paintings, I've had exhibits, and more importantly, I love to paint... but I am self-taught and even with all the information online, this book still provided excellent detailed descriptions into the full process of the masters. From which brushes to use to how to mix paints and thinners. This book was very helpful for me in trying to fine tune effects I want to achieve in a painting. For instance, if I'm doing a portrait and want it to be a little Rembrandt with a hint of Titian (whatever that means to me at the time) this book gives me the tools to accomplish this.



3. The book first goes into an in-depth discussion of the various mediums, varnishes, and colors used by Titian, Rubens, Durer, Veronese, Hals and Rembrandt. The author advises us to use Lead white, and to also make our own mediums using a messy boiling method. Several "examples" follow to fill out the book, where he does several paintings, in phases, to suggest perhaps how the old masters painted. It is a unique book, because there is a dearth of books out there on what techniques and materials the old masters really used. And Shepherd is a decent draftsman, as witnessed by his several excellent figure drawing books. However, I only recommend buying or borrowing this book if you are completely clueless on the topics of grisailles, glazes, lead white, and how blues and grays can be used in underpainting to bring out realistic flesh tones later when lighter
   glazes or scumbles are applied. It is an introductory book only.
   
   The big problem is that there is virtually nothing really written down by the old masters on what their techniques really were, other than anecdotal evidence. So the author is really guessing, and certainly says nothing about how these artists set up their compositions, or their use of models. Shepherd talks only about the mixtures and drying times. Watteau was said to have worked very quickly, finishing a painting in a day-- with a very dirty palette with lots of turps dripping all over--yet his paintings are gorgeous. Rubens, besides having assistants, apparently had some original ideas on how to paint "transparent" shadows, which gives his work a special glow. Titian said that he used "20 to 30" glazes (it's important to realize that the famous Venetian colorists always painted grisailles first). Certainly, the color mixtures that Shepherd employs should be taken with a grain of salt, because a sense of color is an intuitive, naturally-developed thing, and so it is only useful to know that they MAY have used madder and ocher to get a sort of flesh tone-we don't KNOW that they did.
   
   The part about boiling mediums is too labor-intensive, expensive to order, and impractical to experiment with, and worse, there is no evidence that boiling your own mediums, mixing your own paint, or esp. using white lead will make your paintings "glow" like the old masters!
   I used Titanium white and it is fine--Lead white is chalky and hard to mix without lots of medium, too much of which can make your work too wet
   or sticky. It is also poisonous, and can seep into your skin. It's covering power and mixability is in no way superior to Titanium white, in my view (but better than other whites). Shepherd does, however, mention Maroger medium (Neo Megilp is the modern alternative), which is a sort of varnish-smelling "jelly" which allows a certain mixture and buildup of effects very attractive to certain artists who want their work to look like Rembrandt's. But Velazquez worked very thinly, using no such jelly at all, if you see his work close up (The Technique of Genius book).
   
   In general, I give this book a low rating, because it is less helpful than simply LOOKING at close-ups of old master works. By looking at the surface of great paintings, you can discover many tricks, see how loose, crafty and bold they were, and then go back to your studio and try to keep that in mind when you paint. I certainly do not recommend seriously following Shepherd's step-by-step methods! which I think could actually be discouraging and harm your art, being so dogmatic and narrow. But as a book to simply peruse and familiarize yourself with perhaps how some of these old masters painted, it is fine.



4. I bought this book based on the reviews here and I wasn't disappointed.
   
   What was really good about the book was that the images shown are of a reasonable size. In many books the images are too small to really see the painting technique clearly. Each painting is also shown in quite a few stages of completion so you can really clearly understand the painting process being demonstrated. The descriptions given of each technique were also very clear and well written.
   
   What I most disliked about the book was that many of the paintings in the book were done in the 1970s and so looked quite dated.
   
   This is a great book, but I wouldn't recommend it for beginners - you need to know the basics of painting and colour mixing etc. first.
   
   It doesn't give the final word on painting like the masters, I'm still interested in reading more about it, but this book was a great starting point and well worth buying.



5. This is the only book I've every come across that completely demonstrates the techniques of several masters. The graphics are amazing and I like the fact that there are several sequential illustrations for each painting. Wonderful 'how to' book on painting like the masters.

No comments about Publication Design Workbook.

5 comments about The Practice and Science of Drawing.

1. Do not order the hardback version of this book. It does not contain the illustrations referenced in the book. The paperback has all the illustrations and it makes a big difference. I had to return the hardback and get the paperback version. The paperback version I would rate 4 stars because it teaches sound techniques to drawing.



2. The text of this work makes references to various illustrations/plates which have apparently slipped the attention of the publisher. This book is MISSING the corresponding pictures. Do not by this half-baked version from Indy Publishing. You can pick up the complete version printed by Dover for a fraction of the price. (paperback)



3. This book hails from an era where people took their time and savored a more thorough approach to their craft, much unlike our present day rushed instant gratification mentality. It will take a good deal of patience to stick with this book, but it will prove a most invaluable tool to any artist, whether an absolute beginner like myself or a more advanced student. It's important to learn how to use your vision and what to look for before trying to duplicate something on a sketch pad. This is the correct approach since it's important to understand the theory behind what you are doing before actually attempting to do it. Excellent book



4. This book presents much of the essential information the student requires to learn how to see and draw accurately. Such a delight to read that since I bought my first copy in the early 80's I have reread it many times, so many that I've had to purchase a second copy.



5. This book was very inspirational to me. He talks about learning how to really "see" what you draw, and had great examples from paintings and drawings of the past, explaining rhythm, balance, unity of line, etc.
   
   At times the language was a little archaic and wordy, but I liked how he emphasized key points over and over again.
   
   This book would be good for artists (it was on the recommended reading list for my art school), but also for people who just enjoy looking at art.

1 comments about How to Draw Dogs (How to Draw (Dover)).

1. I found this book quite easy to follow. Even though I bought this for my daughter I too enjoyed trying to draw the Labradors. It also provides children with background information on the dog that they are drawing.