5 comments about Art Explained (Annotated Guides).

1. This is another fine entry in the "Eyewitness Companions" series. A lot of material is packed into each of the volumes. These publications cover the waterfront, such that the tradeoff is breadth of coverage at the cost of depth. But, whether the subject is beer, cheese, wine, cheese, opera--or art, the end result is a nice reference work.
   
   Here, the focus is art. The author, Robert Cumming, begins by noting the four questions that he is so often asked about are (page10): ""What should I look for. . . . What is going on? What is the story?. . .What is its value?. . .Is it any good?" He goes on to note that (page 11) "I have tried to capture that kind of involvement [that his readers enjoy with art] and to address the four basic questions. . . ." The book begins, appropriately enough, with a discussion of what art is, and other interesting facets of the subject (record prices for artists' work, best art museums, etc.). Then, media and materials of art. This is followed by an historical organization of the history of art, from early art (3,000 BCE to 1300 CE) to contemporary art (1970-present).
   
   Many have seen the art work associated with Tutankhamen's burial; this is one example from the era of early art. Within that larger category are displays of art work from ancient Egypt, the early Aegean world, classical Greece, and so on. Other eras of interest: Gothic and early Renaissance, Baroque era, romantic art, modernism, and contemporary art. Within each of these eras a selected group of artists is singled out, information about them presented, and examples of their work displayed.
   
   Some of my favorite artists are included in this encyclopedia coverage, such as van Eyck and da Vinci (I still remember the thrill I got when I entered the gallery at the Louvre and saw for the first time his Mona Lisa). One of the nice features of this book is represented by the discussion of da Vinci, where Cumming speaks in an understandable way of the artist's life, his techniques, what to look for in his works, and so on. Many other artists are represented, from Brueghel to Rubens to Rembrandt to Delacroix to Courbet to Monet to Rodin to Chagall to Pollock to Kiefer to Lichtenstein to. . . .
   
   All in all, a nice little book to curl up with when you want to just enjoy the fruits of the human artistic imagination.



2. Like all books of this nature, this work is not the beginning nor the end all of all art books. It is though an absolute delight. I paint, granted, I do not paint well, but that is not really all that important. For me the study of art and the participation in art is a way of making my life richer and it causes me to become much more aware of all that is around me; shapes, colors, shades, details and the ability to observe all these things. This work helps greatly in these areas...it simply has made me more aware of just what is in any given painting and given me more of an appreciation for what I am looking at.
   
   Robert Cumming has given us an insightful look at some of the greatest of our paintings and works of art and some of our greatest artist throughout history. Bruegel, El Greco, Caravaggio, Rubens, Rembrandt, Poussin, Steenwyck, Claude, Vermeer, Monet, Hunt, Picasso, Degas and quite a number of other. An example of each artist's work is shown and a detailed description is given along with a short history. Inset notes are abundant and point to items and parts of the painting that the normal observer might well overlook. I know I have been guilty of that time and time again. Techniques such as under painting, symbolism, composition, background details, the angle of a hand, the set of the eyes, color combinations and contrast, imagery, all are addressed and much more.
   
   Now this book is not an advanced text suitable for the advanced student of art or even art history. It is not a guide book to be lugged around to help identify different paintings. It is not all conclusive as there are hundreds of artists, both male and female, who are not addressed. Good grief, that would take several thousand books and a life time of reading and study. What the book is, is a very good overview. It is something to stimulate, to cause you to look at art a bit differently, to be more observant, to motivate you to further study. Only 45 paintings or studies are given here, but I did like the selections the author choose. All of the paintings are in color and as true to the originals as it is possible to get with mere photography.
   
   For an enjoyable and informative read, I cannot see how you can go wrong with this one. Just remember to place the book in its proper prospective, and do not expect to become an instant art expert after reading it. Do expect to learn and do expect to enjoy. I highly recommend this one.



3. Leaves out Rosa Bonheur, Judith Leyster, Helen Frankenthaler completely, only a small space for Cassatt and Morisot.
   
   As Frankenthaler is the creator of Stain painting, and Rosa Bonheur's "The Horse Fair" is in EVERY art history book, it is hard to believe this is an oversight.



4. Very basic book to reference painters. I bought it for use while traveling in Rome and Florence but when it came to packing--this little book is far too heavy. Too heavy to bring out for a day of sightseeing in another country when there is so much else to carry.
   If you're into art history, it's good for a quick reference.



5. "There is something in painting which cannot be explained, and that something is essential. You come to nature with your theories, and nature knocks them all flat." ~Pierre-Auguste Renoir
   
   If I had not been reading this book, I may have never seen the little black cat standing at the end of the bed on the pictures of Olympia by Edouard Manet. The cat is almost invisible, blending in with the background and only visible when you realize those are two little eyes peering out at you.
   
   Each chapter of this compact book on art is color-coded. The chapters include:
   
   Materials and Means
   Early Art (2000 BCE-1300 CE)
   Gothic and Early Renaissance (1300-1500)
   High Renaissance & Mannerism (1500-1600)
   The Baroque Era (1600-1700)
   From Rococo to Neoclassicism (1700-1800)
   Romantic and Academic Art (1800-1900)
   Modernism (1900-1970)
   Contemporary Art (1970-Present)
   
   Key symbols are used throughout to indicate birth and death dates, nationality, countries were the artist was active, principal media in which the artist worked, where to see main collections of an artist's work and record prices achieved at auctions.
   
   Some of the beautiful pages in this book include Claude Monet's Waterlily Pond. Short descriptions of each artist is given and then you can do more research if an artist captures your attention. Perhaps you've always been intrigued by the convex mirror at the back of the Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck. Here we find Latin text on the wall, a bride in green and a stunningly detailed chandelier, shimmering with metallic luster. Isabella and the Pot of Basil by William Holman Hunt is equally magnificent and the painting is filled with symbols that are fun to unveil.
   
   The "Forked Forest Path," a form of installation art has beautiful lighting effects glowing through a forest of natural wood. The interior of Abbey Church in Ottobeuren, Bavaria is stunning!
   
   While looking at The Birth of Venus by William-Adophe Bouguereau, I noticed the same pose had been used in a painting for a book cover of romantic poetry I'd just reviewed. This book will not only inspire you to visit art museums more frequently, it teaches you about how to look at paintings in a deeper way. You may also feel inspired to go find a museum-quality reproduction, like The Kiss by Auguste Rodin.
   
   The marble statues really caught my attention and if you have any interest in mythology, you may find yourself reading this book and then looking online for more information. I would have loved to have found more information on Cupid and Psyche, or even the mention of butterflies and the soul. Five pages could just have been dedicated to Antonio Canova alone, but we must then go buy another book to do more research and truly, I'm not complaining. ;)
   
   "Art is the path to knowledge." ~Leonardo da Vinci
   
   ~The Rebecca Review

5 comments about Fused Glass Handbook.

1. This book was written some time ago, so don't expect to find information on the latest equipment or glass. What you will find, from one of the best teachers out there, is solid information on all type of hot glass work including molds and form making supplies. You get more than just an overview, there are plenty of details and the schedules (and explaination for them) will be invaluable. The book is easy to read, cover to cover, and well layed out with good indexes to find topics as needed. This book should be in everyones library. And if you get a chance, take a class with Mr Reynolds, it will be well worth your time. This book does not cover bead making.



2. I found this book very interesting. I'm new to glass fusing and although it goes into more of the larger type pieces. I found the information quite useful. It contains patterns and step by step instructions on how to do each piece.
   The only drawback I found is that most of the photos are in black and white.



3. Great book with lots of valuable information for the inexperienced glass fuser.
   
   Definitely a good handbook to have.



4. excellent and easy to understand. this book is well written and really helps with learning basic fusing/slumping techniques.



5. A great book with a lot of helpful advice. It's not too technical and easy to understand. I've shared it with my other glass fusing peers and each of us learned something different from it. It's a short book and some of the projects are a little outdated but I did great ideas from seeing them.

5 comments about Come Look with Me: Enjoying Art with Children (Come Look with Me) (Come Look with Me).

1. I used to be afraid of art until I bought this book and shared it with my 5-year-old daughter. I thought fine art was for the sophisticated -- certainly not for a regular person like me.
   
   "Come Look with Me: Enjoying Art with Children" introduces kids to great works of art in a very gentle way. The whole point of beginning to enjoy art is simply to start looking at it. Each two-page spread covers one piece of art. On the left page is the print, nearly filling the page, with information about the artist, name of the piece, date, and where it is located (such as a gallery or private collection). The right-hand page has a few questions the parent can ask the child and discuss together, such as, "What do you think the child is looking at? What makes you think so?" and, "The artist used a lot of different lines in this painting. Find a straight line. ..."
   
   There are no wrong answers. The questions are designed to get the children looking -- really looking -- at the art. Then at the bottom is a brief narrative about the artwork and the artist, explaining what is happening in the picture or how and why the artist created it. Each spread is an art appreciation lesson, without it ever feeling like a lesson. It's even easy for someone like me with no prior art background.
   
   I like that this book starts author Gladys Blizzard's series of books with pictures of children, as it's easy for children to get into paintings of kids their own ages.
   
   Now that I'm not afraid to look at art and take it all in, it's fun to explore it further. My daughter and I are able to talk about artwork we see. We talk about how it was created, what the artist might have been feeling, and we compare it to other art we have seen. I wish I had been exposed to art like this when I was 5 years old!
   
   We started with this book and I have already purchased couple more in the series.
   
   Some things we have done at home to extend the learning from this book: I bought an inexpensive table-top easel and set the book up in our living room, opened to the artwork we studied that week. Every time we walk by we can appreciate it even more and even notice new things. We add the artist's birth-death dates in a timeline we keep for history and geography. Once my daughter wanted to try to recreate one of the paintings, so we sketched it ourselves. One of my favorite moments as a homeschooling mother was when our family had the chance to go to the Art Institute of Chicago and see one of the paintings. We were able to enjoy it and talk about it intelligently. My daughter was not bored at the art gallery as I would have been at her age. She was fascinated, all thanks to "Come Look with Me!"



2. after borrowing it so many times from the library, just decided to go ahead and get it. this is one of sonlight's recommended resources for kindergarten (art appreciation)



3. The artwork is accompanied by questions to get the viewer thinking. It works great with homeschool or for anytime.



4. This is a good book for adults and children. There is a picture on one page and on the next page there is a little bit of information about the picture and some questions to inspire thinking about the picture.

   Examples of questions might be- what are the childrenn in this painting feeling? What makes you think so? What is the father in this painting thinking about?

   This book inspires young children to look at pictures in a different way. It inspires them to put the story to the painting and to explore what the painting is trying to 'say'. Because of this it is a good introduction to art for young children.

   Enjoy.




5. We just started "looking" at Ms Blizzard's book, and it has already opened a whole new world for my children to discover. The format (full page color pictures accompanied by historical reference and discussion questions) is as enjoyable for the children as it is for adults. As a homeschool mother I appreciate the opportunity it provides to take a moment and wonder what the artist may have had in mind when they created their work. I also thank the author for the corresponding list of open ended discussion questions she provides. Take a moment to really look at a picture and let the child interpret it. You may be surprized at how they respond. I know I was. It has become especially popular with my 3 year old who considers the children her friends. We look at it daily and can't wait to add to our collection with another edition of the authors works. A wonderful introduction to art appreciation for all ages. Thank you Ms. Blizzard for a wonderful book! This series is sure to be a hit with all who appreciate art.

5 comments about Paint People in Acrylic with Lee Hammond.

1. I found this book easy to understand with lots of good information. I would recommend this for anyone learning to paint portraits.



2. good book showing basic portraits
   good starting point
   only fault I can find is a big gap in awkward stage to finished product



3. Lee Hammond really does a good job with her books. I have perused many and this is the best I've found so far. I like the individual facial feature tips and the examples she uses. As a sidenote, perhaps if someone wanted to sell a lot of books and make a lot of money they could develop a book like this but with a particular slant regarding caricature/comic illustration using Photoshop.



4. I love Lee's instructional art books...she is so down to earth and her easy to follow suggestions make learning fun. I have been drawing portraits for a few years and people can't believe that I never went to art school, this new book has helped me go on to painting portraits in acrylics. I did a baby's portrait in acrylic for the first time and when I presented it to my client she cried. She said it was so beautiful and lifelike. This was due to Lee Hammond's wonderful insight into the world of acyrlic.



5. Having learned to draw from Lee Hammond's books and enjoying her first acrylic book I was on tenterhooks waiting for the publication of this one! I wasn't disappointed. Ms.Hammond's style is straightforward and enables you to tackle the exercises with confidence in order to build skills. This is an important part of Ms. Hammond's technique - the progression and she makes the process enjoyable. I truly believe anyone can learn to draw and paint via Ms. Hammond's techniques and be encouraged by their steady progress. Buy this book you won't be disappointed!

4 comments about Draw 50 Athletes: The Step-by-Step Way to Draw Wrestlers and Figure Skaters, Baseball and Football Players, and Many More... (Draw 50).

1. The book shows aspiring artists how to draw with ease by following the step by step method in this book. The body is shown in motion performing all sorts of sports. One can learn to draw the body in motion with this book's great examples.



2. This is probably one of the best in the "How to Draw series..." The pictures in this book are very easy to follow and results can be expected. The book seems to have a "thesis" if you will, the goal is to teach the patron how the muscles of the human body are to be drawn, and how they move in different actions and by the end of the book you can expect to be very good at it.
   
   Be sure to do each drawing numerous times, you will see your improvement and get motivated for other drawings.
   
   I recommend this book to everyone; even the most novice of artists can enjoy it.
   
   In My Humble Opinion



3. I liked drawing hockey, basketball, football, karate and fencing the best. It was easy when you followed the diagrams. Now I can draw them better without the book too. I liked learning how to draw all the sports, but I haven't got all of them yet. (Susie - age 8) The book provided good visual step by step drawings to follow, to show how the body parts can be added and changed. There was a lot of variety of sports depicted. It kept her attention for quite awhile! (Her mom)



4. I bought a book called Draw 50 Athletes. First I started with the easy things. Then I started working on harder things. Then I could draw anything. This book is good for kids who like drawing and sports. I think this book is good for kids and I recommned it.

5 comments about Process Color Manual, 24,000 CMYK Combinations for Design, Prepress, and Printing.

1. This is an old book but it is still relevant to anyone who is designing for print. The book has every color combination of the four-color press process, in steps of 5% (i.e. 15% magenta, 75% cyan, 10% black and 25% yellow) in a grid format. You'll be able to accurately pick any color you are looking for.
   
   It doesn't have different paper stock, so that is the only part missing, but it uses the most common bright white coated paper.
   
   A cheap alternative to a Pantone Color book.



2. 20-odd years in the design industry and I have no idea why I haven't had a book like this yet. I've been mentally mixing colors for a long time now, and yet it's a fantastic thing to be able to see what that subtle difference is between 25c+100y and 30c+100y looks like in print. OK, it only approximates based on one press and coated paper, but at the end of the day, it's better than your monitor. So get the book and dispense with a good bit of guesswork. It takes a minute to get used to how to find exactly what you're looking for, but it's there!



3. I owned a previous version of this book at my last job and plan to purchase this for my own use. As others have said, it contains an amazing number of combinations not available in most books. It takes a little bit of flipping through the book to understand how it is laid out, but the concept is very difficult anyway to put down on paper. I think that this book has accomplished making it as simple as it can get while still being very comprehensive.



4. Buy this. Discover what you have been missing on this exceptionally complicated subject.
   Learn how to match the use of color(s) to your project.
   Take your usage of color to a level well beyond your experience with the easy to understand non-techno language.
   Excellent investment.



5. Well, I've been using CorelDraw for a short time, and this book helped me a lot about printing preview colors.

5 comments about Fuse It.

1. If an author does not have a grasp of the English language, including spelling, sentence structure, word usage and grammar, the author should hire a professional proofreader. If said author cannot be bothered to hire a professional proofreader, I cannot be bothered to read the author's book.



2. I enjoyed this "how to" fusing book. There were some interesting projects and the photography was very nice. This book along with her second book (or is this her first...) Introduction to Fused Glass, offers newcomers to this additive art/craft(?) some insight into using fiberboard to make molds. This really opens the door to a great deal of creativity. I also think there that this might be a good purchase for someone with a bit more experience as well. Like I said, some great projects.



3. Good information provided simply. I use this alot as a quick guide to firing schedules. There are many good simple projects that introduce a variety of techniques or applications for fusing.



4. This is good book for theose that are involved in the fusing of stain glass.



5. If you are new or have some experience with fusing glass, this is THE book to start with...maybe stick with! The projects begin with the basics and work up to complex -- and if you are creative you can modify the project to fit your skill level. Based on the other warm glass books (too many to name here), I found this book was the one I grabbed for nearly every aspect of general glass fusing, particularly when using the fiberboard product discussed and used solely in this book. The author describes other tidbits that are not covered in projects, but if you are savvy enough, you can follow her lead in expanding your own projects when doing the ones given in the book (e.g. making pendants, jewelry items). I strongly recommend this book for its clarity, training and inspiration to use your own creativity with warm glass for YOUR design ideas.

5 comments about The Many Faces of Mata Ortiz.

1. I've personaly been to Mata Ortiz and everything the book contains is acurate! Go ahead and buy it, of course there is no substitute to actualy going there but this will give you a great idea of how things are.
   Thanks!



2. We just visited Mata Ortiz, and it is great to be able to connect all the faces and stories with the beautiful objects these humble artists create.



3. "The Many Faces of Mata Ortiz" is a treasure trove of information about the treasures that are the Mata Ortiz people and pottery. It is well laid-out, well written, and well...wonderful!! The only thing that would make my copy better are autographs by Juan Quezada himself and every other potter in the book.
   
   Unfortunately for whatever reason, Juan's son Alvaro is not featured in the book. He is indeed an exceptional artist.
   
   I was able to meet Alvaro and Juan Quezada in Nov 2006 in their family gallery in Mata Ortiz and found them and their entire family to be humble friendly and genuinely thrilled that people love their wonderful creations.
   
   If you have not had the opportunity to visit Mata Ortiz, "The Many Faces of Mata Ortiz" will inspire you to go. If you have, it will make you pine for it and it's people.



4. This is a great book for all that are curious about Mata Ortiz pottery and the people who make it. If you want to start collecting, it's a great book to have for a reference source. All artists mentioned in this book are of high caliber, as good, some even better than the Native American potters of the Southwest. At this time, these wares are also less expensive and affordable to most people. Hopefully they will be a good investment for the future.
   
   Susan Moesch



5. A wonderful collection of photographs combined with dialoge about this remote village in Mexico. It describes the journey to get there, then details the lives of the talented people who live there. The photogtaphy is outstanding. A must for any person collecting or thinking of collecting pottery from this village.

1 comments about Just Us Guys.

1. This book is great if you like homoerotic artwork. It makes a perfect coffee table book! My only complaint is how short the book is.

1 comments about Dogs in the Louvre.

1. Not a big volume, but beautifully produced in solid hardcover with full colour reproductions of the artwork being examined and often detail photos too. This volume looks at a cross section of the art in the famous Louvre to feature dogs. The text is informative and the selection of artwork is interesting and enchanting.
   As a previous author of a historical review of a breed I found the content basically fulfilling, although I just wonder at the rationale in crediting some breeds to some artwork, but that is always a subjective task - I smiled while writing this as it is a bit like judges making the awards in the show ring.
   However, for the breed historian, you could find something of particular interest in the pages of this 197 x 197 mm book, undoubtedly red setter lovers, and European gundog breed enthusiasts will, as will many toy breed devotees.
   As a lover of fine art this book was also a pleasure to investigate.
   It is an excellent gift or seek it out for yourself, the shelf price on this book is also very attractive!