5 comments about Painting Flowers on Rocks.

1. I found some rocks near our cottage in the woods, and VOILA, beautiful flowers are now growing where they never could before. I am not an artist by any means, but after following the easy, detailed, step by step instructions, I had masterpieces! AMAZING book with AMAZING results. Thank you Lin for sharing your knowledge and bringing out the creative part of me I didn't know I had!



2. Follow the simple step by step directions for a beautiful "rock garden."



3. Whether you are simply curious about rock painting, or have a desire to paint flowers on rocks, this book is for you. It is well written by a world class rock artist and teacher and in addition to offering know-how, it is an encouraging book that shows the way to get involved in this fascinating and not too expensive art form.



4. This book was as I expected it to be.. the demonstrations were clear and instructons easy.. I ordered it because of an episode on the Carol Duvall show in which the author painted a beautiful bouquet on a simple smooth rock ..I have ordered other books of the same nature from Amazon before and have been equally satisfied.



5. It was such a pleasure to receive Lin's book about painting flowers on rocks. I have several of her other books which has brought us lots of hours of fun and fantasy. We appreciate her talents and her sharing her ideas with others like us. Her flower painted rocks are perfect for places like cemeteries that don't allow fresh flowers. It helps bring beauty to our loved ones graves without the work and worry of live plantings. The rocks require "no watering!" Thanks Lin for all your creative ideas.

5 comments about Finding Your Visual Voice: A Painter's Guide to Developing an Artistic Style.

1. I am truly enjoying this book. It has helped me reflect on my artwork, as well as validate my subject preferences and style. In addition, the artist interviews and works featured are inspirational. It is a great addition to any artist's library.



2. I received this beautiful book as a gift and have found it to be a wonderful companion in my studio. First of all it is packed with delicious colored photographs and painting reproductions on high quality paper. The concealed spiral binding makes it extra user friendly when lying on my drawing table but easy to retrieve from the book shelves (where it rarely stays). I found the interviews with artists to be insightful, perceptive and fun. I have enjoyed picking it up so many times and spending a couple minutes reading a gem that gives me the inspiration I need to move forward with my own work.
   Thanks Dakota for a terrificly thought provoking book that distills and honors the creative process.



3. This book is an easy-to-follow guide to sort out your own style of creative expression. I'm not a painter, but I have started dabbling in mosaic. I'm convinced that this book can help anyone interested in forming and developing their unique style in any visual art medium.
   
   The book is spiral-bound which means it can lay flat on the table while you refer to it. I love this feature. The chapters flow logically from recognizing your inspiration and suitable subject matter, to more technical topics like lines, composition, and process. The information is presented simply, with many examples to illustrate each point. Contemporary painters offer their advice through carefully guided interviews throughout the book. The most clever aspect of the book is the chance to review and reflect on each topic through end-of-the-chapter questions. Finally, exercises help you to apply what you have discovered about yourself and your art. Finding Your Visual Voice is a process of developing self awareness and you are gently guided through that process with this excellent book.



4. At first glance this book gave me the impression that it really was going to be a visual delight. The format of the pictures and interviews were a creative way to feel as if I were there with each artist Ms Mitchell interviewed. I am just beginning to experiment with the idea of artistic painting. This book has a variety of methods and formats to chose from if I want to experiment in various areas. As a teacher, I like the exercises at the end of each chapter. This book could be used for art classes as well as just for information about painting.



5. This book has been an inspiration to myself and several of my artist friends. It really helps you focus on your individual style and helps you find techniques that are best suited you personally. The layout is exceptional, and I loved the workbook style which allows you to experiment and use the various information provided by the guest artists.
   I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in painting, no matter what level they are. What artist, or person for that matter, wouldn't benefit from learning to find and listen to their "inner voice"?

5 comments about Dynamic Light and Shade (Practical Art Books).

1. This book has a lot of black and white drawings of Hogarth and others demonstrating different types of light; middle ground, background, foreground lighting as well as directional lighting. It is illustrated with sphere heads as well and gives you a good foundation to jump from in your own work. I am advanced in lighting already so I was a bit disappointed in the simplicity here but if you need to learn this at a basic level then there is none better! Again, it takes practiced participation in exercises to understand the lighting changes and work to learn it well--as in anything. If you are willing to learn, there are no better 'how to' books. This one is at a beginner level but still useful if you are learning directional and ground light. It was too elementary for an artist already familiar with lighting, though.



2. This book is killer.... it starts by talking about silhouettes.... then adding 1 highlight... then more and more form definition...
   
   Everything from directional light, to moonlight, to sculptural light.
   
   Great for anyone looking to add detail to their line work.



3. A very nice book, with a lot of important notes about the subject, but the images look like comics to much.



4. This book will not significantly improve your understanding of how light affects and creates shadows on form. However, I don't believe any book can do that. You can learn to draw a realistic face from your imagination, but the variations of how light will affect forms are infinite. Most artists who get good at "faking" it rely on a good understanding of form and perspective, backed by countless hours spent observing and drawing things under various lighting situations. They basically are always relying on observation, be it direct, photographic, or remembered. Try to think of an artist who could create truly convincing, consistent lighting for a scene from their head. I can't think of any. I guess my point is, let's not be too hard on old Burney, he was just trying to make a buck:)
   
   If this book has a practical application, it's probably as a collection of creative ways to light your subjects to achieve particular dramatic affects. Fun to flip through, but just not all that useful.



5. This book is good to illustrate the phenomena of light in a composition. It discusses the different kinds of light and their effect on the environment of the picture. Worth getting to use as reference material.

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 Charles Reids Watercolor Secrets.

1. This book, Charles Reid, author, entitled "Watercolor Secrets" was picked by an instructor at Washburn University for a class on watercolor. I am taking the class and find the book weak on instructions, but good in presenting the
   variety of work this artist has done. It certainly could be written in a more instructional style.



2. Charles Reid is a wonderful artist. I enjoyed reading the book but it falls short as an instruction manual as it is very difficult to understand from the text and illustrations how Charles actually achieves his very loose wet in wet effects.



3. This book is not intented to deliver technical help. It's a book full of tips
   & tricks about general aspect of Mr. Reid approach to painting, with
   differents conditions and subject. It's a great bed time reading.



4. The title of this book is rather misleading. I had thought I was going to get some real expert tips on watercolor painting but instead this book is just a reprinting of the artist's watercolor "NOTEBOOKS" with VERY little in the way of useable and tangible tips about painting in watercolor. The book is slender, sparsely laid-out and over-priced at that. It struck me as just an excuse for a book with a cleverly disguised title to market and sell it (everyone wants the "secrets", right?) . Save your money!



5. Put 'Watercolor painting techniques' into Amazon Advance Search and you'll come up with well over a thousand titles. I'm sure most of these are worthy books but I'll stick with anything by Charles Reid. I have five of his books and 'Watercolor Secrets' together with Painting Flowers in Watercolour are probably the ones I look through most often.
   
   All of the books, of course, show what a stunning artist he is though I much prefer his watercolor work rather than oils. It's his studied casualness that I love, colors define shapes, they merge into each other, large areas are just left blank and look unfinished yet the overall effect is controlled precision. His work is totally convincing and rather unique.
   
   The five chapters in this book throw up lots of interesting techniques for the established painter*. I particularly liked the Demonstration pages in each of the five chapters. Each shows a step-by-step series of paintings from the original drawing to the finish with comprehensive captions to each picture. There's something for everyone in the book: figures, landscape and seascapes, flowers, buildings and more.
   
   Another reason I like this book is because it's so good to look at. Visually it is based on a landscape sketchbook and nicely each spread has part of a used sketchbook printed in the spine. The layout and typography are first class (a tip of the hat to Wendy Dunning) and how refreshing to find a publisher that is prepared to go that little bit extra for the reader.
   
   If you like Charles Reid get this book for some excellent examples of his work and positive thoughts on watercolor techniques.
   
   *Just starting out? Have a look at Reid's Painting What You Want to See (Practical Art Books) which has some very basic instructions, especially on drawing.
   
   
   ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

5 comments about Watercolor for the Serious Beginner: Basic Lessons in Becoming a Good Painter (Serious Beginner).

1. I liked this book because it gives you lots of ideas to think about as you grow and learn to watercolor paint. However, I didn't feel it was a must-have for my collection. The pictures are beautiful and the ideas are good to remember but if you're really enthusiastic about painting, I think you'll be doing all these things she speaks about anyway. I guess it's a good book to have if you need a reminder once in a while.



2. Watercolor for the Serious Beginner: Basic Lessons in Becoming a Good Painter (Serious Beginner)
   this is a fantastic book. The information is clear and concise, and the lessons move one along at a good pace. I should mention that the title of this book is a key to understanding it. This book is for the SERIOUS watercolorist. If one wants to really become serious about their water color studies. This is an excellent place to begin.



3. This is a good book to learn a variety of techniques in watercolor painting. This was for my teenage daughter who enjoys watercolor painting, so she can expand her level of techniques. She sat for hours going through the book to learn and study what it had to teach her.



4. Was a welcomed Book in my collection and is extremely helpful in applying new techniques in a new student of watercolor.



5. This makes me want to take my supplies and park myself somewhere beautiful to sketch and paint.

2 comments about Can You Find It?: Search and Discover More Than 150 Details in 19 Works of Art.

1. this book is very interesting to my son and is encouraging a new interest in art. this is the first time he has sat poring over works of art!



2. There are 19 paintings from the collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that list things to look for in the painting. This is a neat way to incorporate art with your child while playing. My kids love the "I Spy" books and this is no different. There is a wide range of artwork from ancient Egyptian up to modern day. I only wish the book were longer with more paintings included.

5 comments about John Singer Sargent: Figures and Landscapes, 1874-1882; Complete Paintings: Volume IV (John Singer Sargent).

1. Sargent excelled in all media and this book, the third in a series, clearly shows why he was the best of late 19th century American artists. Many of his paintings have become icons of American art, and here they are shown in the context of his life and artistic development. The color reproductions are superb and the book offers many hours of repeat perusal.



2. These books are the epitome of scholarly research into Sargent's work, made even better by the researchers inclusion of intimate personal and professional details. This presents a great background to viewing the well printed illustrations. One should not just purchase one of these volumes, indeed the experience palls UNLESS all three are not bought . One cannot praise this sort of in depth research and the resulting publications highly enough. The only quibble is one of size, given that Sargent revelled in life-size compositions, it is a a pity that pure economics forbid the printing of larger volumes- I mourn the death of the "elephant folios" so derided by librarians.



3. A wonderful collection of amazing images. This book will be looked at for many, many years.



4. The best book on a painter I have been able to buy for quite a while. As with the other three volumes so far published of Sargent's catalogue raisonne, this is absolutley stunning. Paintings are all in colour unless they have been lost, and the figures and landscapes are breathtaking. The text is anecdotal and interesting, with contemporary correspondence and criticism. This is what a catalogue raisonne should be, and never is - something exhaustively illustrated and investigated, rather than an artist's lifetime crammed into one volume with highlights followed by black and white "postage stamps" at the back (as long as the artist is worth it - and Sargent is worth it). A great tome on a great artist, and unbelievably good value. Go out and treat yourself.



5. The color reproductions are awesome. This books is a collection of Sargent's less known work which is refreshing. Some oils are not as polished as the more well known work which helps to show his technique in early stages---a plus to serious professionals and students. To me, this book provided a wealth of visual clues to understanding his thought process and technical principles. The writing, however, is the typical stuff used to fill most coffee table books. No insight whatsoever into Sargent's painting principles, tonal procedures or color palette. The author obviously knows little in that regard but there is so much information out there the text could have been more illuminating. Buy it for the reproduction quality and awesome collection of works. Worth every penny in that regard.

5 comments about Luminous Landscapes: Quilted Visions in Paint and Thread.

1. Luminous Landscapes: Quilted Visions in Paint and Thread A beautiful book with helpful techniques.



2. Luminous Landscapes exceded all my expectations. I was fortunate to attend Gloria's workshop in 2004 in Durban, South Africa and enjoyed every minute. It is wonderful to have the book now to refresh my mind, to give more inspiration and to learn new techniques. The book is very good worth for money and very well and clearly illustrated. Instructions are easy to follow. I can highly recommend it to fellow-quilters.



3. Just as the title describes, this book is filled with luminous, georgous quilts and every secret you need to know on how to make your own. Gloria has given detailed instructions and methods on how to create every aspect of landscapes, backgrounds, forgrounds, sky, oceans, animals along with details on how to combine fabrics, apply paint and she has even included patterns. This book is easy to understand and recommended for beginners or advanced quilters wanting to take their creative abilities to a new level.



4. I like this book because it shows me lots of different ways to make designs on fabrics. I can use them in my own designs. Don`t have to make copys of others designs.



5. 
   
   This book is one of the best I've seen. There are some well written and well-organised sections dealing with the principles of composition, colour and stitching techniques. Gloria usually starts her landscapes with a painted background, so she gives a short well-illustrated section on fabric painting. Most of that stuff is available elsewhere, but it is assembled and illustrated particularly well.
   The second half of the book contains details of her construction methods. One of those is using freezer paper on the right side of the fabric for appliqued shapes. The second - her signature style - is pieced sections on point, blended into the applique design. She gives clear diagrams
   and inspiring examples of this technique. She then gives some examples of how to achieve different effects for trees, water and reflections. There is a gallery of student work, and two fully illustrated projects with paper patterns included at the back.
   In my view this is excellent value, a perfect blend of practical tips and inspiration.

5 comments about How to Master Airbrush Painting Techniques (Motorbooks Workshop).

1. I've been looking for an informative,complete and properly illustrated book that doesn't make the attempt to go over the heads of any novice, like me, and yet, covers all the neat little tricks that a good teacher of any skill and art combined, can put into a comprehensive book. I never lost interest at all. My attention span is a good way of telling me when a book that I'm reading is worth it's mud at all! I like this author,Ms. JoAnn Bortles puts it all out there in a way that makes it easy to apply to my own techniques as I go through each lesson. I like this book. I think it's the Bomb!! And I would recommend it as a fine gift for a friend or a personal purchase any time.



2. just got my wife a used air brush. she thinks this book will help her get started on several projects she has planned. she is used to oil painting, and says this looks like fun.
   thanks!



3. This would have to be the best book I've read about custom painting and airbrushing on cars/bikes. The book is great for the beginner (like me) who wants to know about airbrushes, suitable paints, and the techniques to start creating a custom paint job.



4. Very comprehensive. I felt the author was having a personal casual discussion with me about what I wanted to learn instead of just documenting technical information and techniques. Teaching painting techniques in writing must be a tough task, but I think the author did a good job.



5. I'll start off by saying I keep picking up this book over and over. The Troubleshooting chapter is so detailed. It covers nearly every problem I have ever had with an airbrush. I have other airbrush books and none of them have this much "fix it" info. That one chapter has saved me so much time and stress.
   The rest of the book is great also. One of the learning chapters has a really fun exercise that was so easy but gave me really cool results.
   The book is very easy to follow and the examples in the book can be applied to almost any airbrush project. She uses a common sense approach that takes away the complications that come up when I'm trying to learn a new technique.
   And unlike my other airbrush books, it has lots of photos. The example chapters have many photos that cover each little step.
   It also tells how to get great ideas to airbrush.
   And I really appricated the way she also tells how to deal with how to not get discouraged when things go wrong. How to deal with the stress that comes from trying to be be artistic.
   I have another of JoAnn's books and while I enjoyed that one, I like this one better.
   It is also a large book with nearly 200 pages. I feel this book was a great buy.