2 comments about In Contemporary Rhythm: The Art of Ernest L. Blumenschein.

1. This is a very comprehensive & thorough review of Blumenschein's work.
   Although it is not a "Catologue Raisone" , it is probably as close as you are going to get. It covers much information besides his Southwest period, which is very interesting. If you like Blumenschein's work, this is a must have.



2. Illustrated with vintage black-and-white photographs as well as copious full-color artwork, In Contemporary Rhythm: The Art of Ernest L. Blumenschein collects the work of one of the founders of the Taos Society of Artists, Ernest L. Blumenschein (1874-1960). In Contemporary Rhythm not only showcases Blumenschein's critically acclaimed work, but also contemplates the history and inspiration behind his creations in the exhaustively in-depth text. A welcome addition to public library as well as private artbook collections.

4 comments about The Book of Exodus.

1. I first read a review of this coffee table book in New York Times and went on line to purchase it from Rizzoli. It was selling for list price of 40 plus dollars. I have purchased two from Amazon and given as gifts. The recipients were very pleased. It is a beautiful book depicting the story of Exodus, soft pastels for illustrations. Would highly recommend it for those interested in the old testament and this compelling rendition.



2. THIS IS AN ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL BOOK AT A BARGAIN PRICE. THIS BOOK MAKES A WONDERFUL COFFEE TABLE BOOK OR A FANTASTIC GIFT. THE ARTWORK IS WONDERFUL AND I WOULD RECOMMEND IT TO ANYONE!



3. This is an amazing book. It far exceeded my expectations. I purchased it for the 6 year old daughter of a friend. The little girl is just beginning to read Hebrew. I know she will love the paintings and will eventually be able to read the text in both languages.



4. We all know the story of Exodus. Now to see it interperted in these amazing skys gives new meaning to each chapter.The caligraphy in both english and hebrew superimpsed on the sky is amazing. This is truly a work of love and art by the creator of this book. We have bought several copies and given them as gifts to friends and associates.Everyone who has seen this book at our home wants their own copy

1 comments about Kevin Kutz's Lincoln Highway.

1. Kevin is an artist with an eye for the basic and a genius with the brush. This book captures the essence of the beauty of Alleghany living. A gem in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Kevin is a modern day Van Gogh.

2 comments about Jasper Johns: A Retrospective.

1. here is a fabulous book on the american painter Jasper Johns.
   As usual, the museum of modern art offers us a big book (more than 400 pages), with beautiful pictures of his work and a great look at his artistic evolution.
   So, if there's a book about Jasper Johns to buy, this is the good one!
   very complete and great page setting.



2. Did you miss the Johns retrospective at NY MOMA? This book captures the essence of an American Michaelangelo. Subjective? You bet! If you have even the slightest interest in modern art your library is not complete without this retrospective. The many color and b&w photographs are superb, and it is accompanied by a solid chronology of Mr. Johns's life. Emphasis is on original works, but includes a good selection of more important lithographs (I recommend the prints Catalog Raisonne by ULAE if you want a complete reference work in this area). A tour de force by Varnedoe and his editing team!

No comments about Donna Dewberry's Essential One-Stroke Painting Reference.

No comments about Red Desert: History of a Place.

1 comments about Great Expectations: John Singer Sargent Painting Children.

1. The book of children's paintings by Sargent is sold in many book stores. An excellent book, its list price is $60. Amazon lists it at nearly 50% less. Thus, the sale was not so much for a superior product, as for a far cheaper price.

5 comments about Adobe Photoshop and the Art of Photography: A Comprehensive Introduction.

1. Photoshop CS3 is a very "deep" application, and I think that this book can be an excellent resource for virtually any CS3 user (especially those who classify themselves as intermediate users of Photoshop). The author does not assume that you have already read a user manual or other book. He covers in detail many of the tools in detail that are frequently used to color correct, mask and composite images, and do many other common tasks. "Hints" and "Notes" can be found throughout the book in small green boxes, and I found them very helpful. For example, in Chapter 10, the author explains in a Hint box how to apply sharpening settings from one image to a batch of images in Bridge.
   
   Weinrebe supports his lessons with good screen shots throughout the book. Just a small selection of the tools that he covers very well (in a step-by-step fashion) are the Healing Brush, Lens Correction tool, History Brush, the Bridge and Camera Raw (including a suggested Bridge/Camera Raw Workflow), tinting with a color layer, batch renaming, converting to DNG, creating contact sheets, creating panoramas with Photomerge, and actions.
   
   One of the most interesting parts of the book are the artist interviews. These Q&A sessions with such luminaries as John Paul Caponigro, R. Mac Holbert, Pedro Meyer, Graham Nash, Maggie Taylor and Joyce Tenneson generally run from about 4-7 pages and include fantastic imagery and insight about the artists' background, their art, what motivates them, and how they approach and use various technologies. I believe that this series of essays could easily be a very strong coffee table book on their own. They are a really special.
   
   I also like the Chapter Reviews questions and Exercises at the end of each chapter, which can definitely help people to learn more about the Photoshop techniques that were covered in the chapter. Having all the exercise files on a CD in the book is also a nice feature. Also, it really helps that Weinrebe is a professional photographer who has been preparing files for clients for years. His work really shines throughout the book.



2. As a long time film photographer making the move to digital this book was a life saver. The step by step approach took the mystery out of photoshop.
   The language was clear and the examples relevant.



3. The development of pigments by chemists changed the art of painting in the Renaissance. The development of film sensitivity changed the art of movie making in the 20th century. How will Photoshop and other image processing software change the art of photography?
   
   This book provides instruction in the use of Photoshop, in an unorthodox manner. Most Photoshop books are organized along workflow lines, although a few work their way through each of the Photoshop tools and menus in order. Weinrebe follow his own order, dealing with light and shadow, curves, black and white processing, color tools and so forth before dealing with the tools used when first bringing images into Photoshop. Often a chapter introduces important techniques not related to the main one, as in the author's discussion of the use of the history brush in the chapter on curves. The author recognizes his approach is unusual, and suggests that readers go through the chapters in the order the reader needs.
   
   The chapters include practical exercises that use images provided on an included CD.
   
   The book recognizes the version 4.1 update to Adobe Bridge which is a component of Photoshop CS3, although I expect that the update was made available at too late a date for the author to do much exploration of its potential. (There has been a 4.2 update, but the changes seem to have improved code, without adding tools.) How else can one explain the author's dismissal of the new sharpening facility that allows for input sharpening, which is different from output sharpening?
   
   Besides the instruction on using Photoshop, each chapter concludes with an interview with a famous photographer. Most of these photographers seem to specialize in montage, that is, the creation of pictures by combining images.
   
   My biggest question was what happened to "the Art of Photography" mentioned in the title? Nothing in the material on technique goes further than to describe what controls and sliders create what effects on an image. No advice is presented in how to use Photoshop to create a picture that is more "artful" (whatever that means). The interviews are interesting but they don't include any information on how the artists used Photoshop to make their pictures more artful. I suspect that even Rafael received some instruction from his teachers on how to use the new pigments beyond how to apply them to canvas. Certainly, a few books on Photoshop have covered this terrain. I particularly found Rob Sheppard's "Outdoor Photographer Landscape and Nature Photography with Photoshop CS2" to be useful.
   
   I also have some small complaints about the book. The text always appeared to be one or two pages behind the related illustrations, leading to a lot of page flipping. Some instructional areas seemed to scant the tools being discussed. For example, the chapter on Adobe Bridge mentions how customizable Bridge is, but neglected to provide any details in how to do this.
   
   Still, a photographer looking for an introduction to Photoshop will be able to get started with this book. On the other hand, those looking for a more detailed introduction might want to look at a favorite of mine, "Photoshop Artistry: For Photographers Using Photoshop CS2 and Beyond" by Barry Haynes. It doesn't cover all the changes made to Photoshop in its later versions, but it will provide an understanding of the software that may even include a little bit about injecting the artful into one's images.



4. the book is well worth the cost: it is well organized and presents all of the capabilities of Photoshop in a pseudo-textbook fashion that are easily understood. At the end of each of the 12 chapters, the author presents a review: questions that the reader should be able to answer and exercises covering the CS3 capabilities that had been explained in that specific chapter. Also, the author includes interviews with 12 noted creative photographers such as Maggie Taylor and Lois Greenfield.



5. Photoshop is incredibly feature-rich software, and frequently perceived as overwhelming. Weinrebe breaks it down into easily understandable bits while still providing useful tips for very experienced users.
   
   And the interviews with renowned photographers add a unique element, opening - at least a little a bit - a window on their varying perspectives and workflows.
   
   Well done. This book is a valuable addition to every photographer's reference library.

1 comments about Weekend Furniture Facelifts: 70 Great Ways to Update Your Furnishings (Hamlyn Home & Crafts).

1. What a great little book; good photos and information. If you need a few good ideas this is well worth the money.

5 comments about Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg.

1. BARRY WILLIAMS DOES A REALLY GOOD JOB TELLING WHAT IT WAS LIKE BEING ON THE BRADY BUNCH, ONE OF THE BETTER KNOWN FAMILY SITCOMS FROM THE 70'S. THE SHOW WAS CORNY, GOODY 2 SHOES AND UNREALISTIC. BUT STILL HAD A NICE HOMEY AND WHOLESOME TOUCH TO IT. I DID WATCH THE SHOW OFF AND ON, BUT MOSTLY TO SEE HOW HOT MAUREEN MCCORMICK AND EVE PLUMB LOOKED. BARRY WILLIAMS REALLY BRINGS BACK SOME GREAT MEMORIES AS HE TELLS US SOME GREAT STORIES THAT WENT ON ON CAMERA AND OFF CAMERA. THE MOST INTERESTING WERE, HIS DATE WITH FLO HENDERSON, INFATUATION WITH MO MCCORMCICK AND THE CONSTANT COMPLAINING AND ARGUMENTS CONCERNING ROBERT REED AND THE SHOWS WRITERS AND PRODUCERS. IF YOU WERE A FAN OF THE BRADY BUNCH THIS IS MUST READ.



2. This is my second time reading this book and I enjoyed it very much both times. The only downfall to this book was that I really felt that the book did not need the complete list of the all of the brady episodes. The first time I read this book, it was the first edition and did not have the extra chapters, and this one does, so I really liked that. Barry did a great job writing this book. I felt that his stories were very interesting and fun. Each story pretty much had its own chapter. The last thing that I liked about the boook was all of the pictures. Over all the book was far out and groovy!



3. I grew up with the Bradys. I preferred the cooler Partridge Family, but I watched the Brady Bunch almost daily after school when it was in syndication. That said, I haven't spent my days thinking about them and never had a crush on any of the kids, but I liked them. And, after reading about this book, I came upon a used copy which I immediately bought.
   
   Surprisingly, this was a fun read. To be honest, Greg was my least-favorite Brady (sorry, Barry-- I like you best now, though!). But, this book shows that the kids that played the Bradys were definitely multi-layered and fun-- even if their alter egos gave no indication of this.
   
   The writing is sometimes laugh-out-loud funny. When I opened the book, I first noticed the episode guide. I wasn't interested in this at all, and thought I'd just read the memoir part and neglect this guide. However, the entire thing was just so well-written and funny that I wound up reading the episode guide, too. Besides summaries of each show, Barry adds his own recollections and thoughts-- often they're hysterical.
   
   Interestingly, although I knew about Robert Reed's displeasure with the show, I didn't realize the lengths he went to to change the show. Included in the book are several multi-page memos Reed wrote to either Sherwood Schwartz and/or the Paramount heads pleading the case for rewrites. Although I'm a fan of Robert Reed's and understand why he went to these lengths, the memos are incredibly analytical and somewhat humorous in their detail. Sometimes Reed would submit the memos in an attempt to get entire shows changed. There was one memo, though-- about three pages typed, that he submitted with the hope of changing a three minute "tag" scene (the end scene after the last commercial and before the credits).
   
   It is obvious that Barry Williams has a lot of fondness for all of the cast and crew and for his years on the Brady Bunch. Even when airing dirty laundry, it's really not that dirty. That is, he does kiss and tell when it comes to little make out sessions with Maureen McCormick, but this is a book that his own kids could read without any alarm. This is a book that nobody who was involved with the show would be angry about. For instance, there's no mention of Reed's sexuality here. Barry shares the sweetness of the show with mild, yet healthy, cynicism. He does talk about Reed's and the Schwartz's ongoing exasperation, Florence Henderson's flirtatious side, and the kids' crushes with eachother and others. But this is really a trip down memory lane that he's sharing with us, rather than a big huge laundry airing.
   
   Added: Some reviewers are calling this an autobiography. It is definitely NOT an autobiography-- as a matter of fact he only mentions his wife once when telling us the Brady cast attended his wedding. This is definitely more of a memoir-- a story of a man reminiscing about good times with people he loved and wanting to share those good times with those who want to hear about it.



4. The fact that there were some laughs in this book and it was interesting and well-written has to be balanced against the reality that tell-alls like this damage the nice fantasy that The Brady Bunch has been for thirty-some years. I don't mean to put Barry Williams down but I sort of wish I'd never read this book with its unhappy revelations and...too much information.



5. I really enjoyed listening to the audio version of Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg by Barry Williams. It reminded me of how much I enjoyed watching the show while growing up. It was nice to hear that the kids were a "normal" group of kids in an abnormal situation-- which is possibly how they avoided many of the problems of other child stars, and also nice to hear that even though there were squabbles, the kids pretty much got along together and that they still think of each other as family. This is a very enjoyable book!