4 comments about The Art Pack.

1. This is the fourth copy I have bought....both of my brothers are artists and I gave them this book for a birthday present - very happy with it. I also got one for myself and one for a friend - this is an excellent book and was in excellent condition every time!



2. I BOUGHT THIS BOOK BECAUSE I HAVE BEEN AN ART LOVER SINCE I WAS A KID. PART OF THE ENJOYMENT OF ART IS HAVING AN INTERPRETATION TO GO ALONG WITH WHAT YOU ARE SEEING. THIS BOOK WILL EXPLAIN WHY EXPERTS VIEW CERTAIN WORKS OF ART AND PROCLAIM THEM "GREAT". IT TEACHES PRINCIPLES OF ART FROM PAST AND PRESENT PERSPECTIVES IN A UNIQUE, 3-DIMENSIONAL WAY. IT ALSO INCLUDES INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES SUCH AS A MOBLILE YOU CAN BUILD AND EVEN CHARACTERS THAT YOU CAN PLACE IN THE PAINTING TO UNDERSTAND CONCEPTS SUCH AS VANISHING POINT AND HORIZON LINE. EVERYONE WHO HAS SEEN MY COPY HAS BECOME ENGROSSED IN IT. EVEN THE PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T KNOW THAT THEY LIKED ART!



3. I am one of the artlessly clueless. This book, and the others in the series, have all been wonderful fun, which is why they are also wonderful learning tools for beginners. Low stress, major payback, and marvelously intelligent all the way through. They won't make you an expert, but you'll have a good time and be better for it, too.



4. A beautifully designed pop-up book that's a MUST for any collector. Very educational and interactive.

5 comments about Fairfield Porter: A Life in Art.

1. I started this book knowing nothing about this important painter and finished it with a great understanding of both the man and his art.



2. Fairfield Porter's paintings have a strange pale quality, and they are flooded with light.His subjects are upper class domestic,and many of them are pale and etherial. He painted his family friends,and their pvt haunts beautifully. Little did most people realize he was a torn person,and probably can be better understood by this reading.I think what amazed me the most about this book was the incredible latent homosexual exsistence that paralled and co-existed within Porter's very homey and simmering homogenous realism.The bio details his social, artistic and private relationships with a younger generation of artists. This book is a portrait of a man at war with his sexuality. His ptngs are beautifully orchestrated, sensual, understated. A must for those that want to know more about Porter's life, and the different sides that lived inside him. A good read!I love artist bios.This is a worthy effort.



3. Justin Spring's biography on Fairfield Porter, A Life In Art, is one of the most difficult and disturbing biographies I've read in some time. It's incredibly thorough, as if no piece of information was left out.

   Most biographies are bound to reveal new information, but the amount here is overwhelming. Other reviews here on Amazon bring out the detail, so there's no point repeating it. If you're only familiar with Porter from an artisitic standpoint the biography of his family life, lifestyle, manners, and politics will be shocking and difficult to bring together.

   While in the middle of reading this book I had to let it go for a few months and read other things then go back to it. Porter's activities in the late 1940's to the mid 1950's were especially difficult to reconcile considering the subject matter of his output.

   It seems the frankness in tone of the biography is totally in tune with Porter's ways of communicating. I suspect if Porter had lived longer then such an autobiography probably would have been as revealing.




4. This book displays great beauty: the paper is beautiful, the writing is flawless and the subject matter (the art work) is cool and elegant. But the artist's life was a difficult & complex equation of contractions: he was born patrician, yet he was a leftist (he attended Socialist demonstrations in a chauffeur driven limousine); he was highly verbal and intellectual, yet he painted the coolest (visually abstract) emotion; he made realist art in an abstract art time; he was married yet he had sex with men; he was surrounded by a loving family, yet he remained remote and distant; he lived in the country, yet he was always running to the city; he was bright and balanced, yet his best (lifelong) friend was mentally deranged; he made the most stable art from the most unstable life; he was slender and active, yet he died early of a surprise heart attack; he was on the verge of greatness (and nearly penniless much of the time), but cared little for fame and less for money. This assortment of profound conflicts make for a great story, and the art works themselves tower above everything in their lofty remove, quiet dignity, and timeless spirit. Find out why that is so (and what it may mean for the history of 20th century art criticism) and read this haunting and very personal book you'll not forget.



5. Justin Spring's Fairfield Porter: A Life In Art provides an excellent literary and intellectual biography, drawing important connections between Porter's social, artistic and personal lives and considering both his art and his position in the art world. Black and white and color photos pepper this in-depth biographical and artistic coverage.

5 comments about Still Looking: Essays on American Art.

1. I love John Updike's essays. His perspicacious critical writing is, more often than not, a joy to explore. However, I have to agree with a previous review, which wonders at the lack of female representation. In a country with giants like Jenny Holzer, Kara Walker, Louise Bourgeois, Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin, and Helen Frankenthaler pushing the bounderies of art; it's impossible to think of this book as anything other than a reflection of Updike's personal preferences. Therefore, don't expect a comprehensive collection of essays about "the best" (whatever that means) American art.



2. In 1989 a collection of John Updike's writings on art appeared under the title JUST LOOKING, providing a refreshingly different viewpoint on the art world: in the last sixteen years he's continued his career as an art critic and has selected eighteen prime articles on American art for this edition. From eccentric artists and unusual American art history influences to portraits of historic figures, Updike's literary and historical review touches upon a range of mediums, artists, and emotional and spiritual influences, making STILL LOOKING: ESSAYS ON AMERICAN ART a vivid, lively consideration.



3. John Updike is a prize-winning novelist, but he was also trained in fine art and has written a number of gallery show reviews, especially for the New York Review of Books. His reviews are always interesting and point out many aspects of the artist's work being shown. "Still Looking: Essays on American Art" is a collection of his reviews and that collection is quite eclectic, covering such artists as Whistler, Copley, Ryder, Eakins, Homer, Hopper, Nadelman, Dove, Hassam, Pollack and Hartley, as well as the photographer Stieglitz and two theme reviews on storms and landscapes in his eighteen chapters. While all of his highlighted artists are male, he has good things to say about Mary Cassatt (p. 118) and he does reproduce two of O'Keeffe's watercolors (p. 142) and one of her oils (p. 143). I think his relative lack of female artists in this volume may have more to do with the shows he reviewed for the various publications than any especially strong male bias.
   
   That said, this book is magnificent! The articles are well done and the art work is reproduced in vibrant color. I found a number of works I had never seen as well as "discovering" several artists that were essentially new to me, and was fascinated by the depth of the art produced by them. If you want to begin to learn about American artists, this collection of reviews is a very good place to start.



4. Updike makes for a keen and amiable exhibition companion in this collection of essays on American art, and there's little I can add to the positive editorial reviews. The illustrations, however, deserve note: they are extraordinarily sharp, despite their size. As one example on p. 50, the lightning bolt in Heade's "Approaching Thunderstorm" (1859) razors down on the left side of the canvas--a detail I have never seen captured in any other book, including those devoted to Heade and containing much larger reproductions of this memorable work. The publisher's technical staff deserve credit and the appreciation of art lovers who, for this reason, will enjoy Updike's guided tours even more.



5. I find it disturbing that John Updike can apparently find no female artist worthy of mention in his book...beyond one artist who is practically unknown. And she is included only because his family owned a piece of artwork created by her. Updike seems very dismissive of even this one female contributor.
   
   He does find room in his book to include a nude photo of the great artist Georgia O'Keefe, but no actual artwork created by O'Keeffe. That should give you a clue what the rest of the book is like.
   
   Disturbing, too, are Updike's dismissive comments about Edward Hopper; he claims that Edward Hopper can't paint faces very well.
   
   So even though I purchased this book, I don't recommend it to others. Give this one a pass.

No comments about André Breton: Surrealism and Painting.

2 comments about First Lessons in Drawing and Painting.

1. This book (formerly published as Still Life Drawing and Painting) is the definitive step-by-step welcome guide to those who are serious about pursuing artistic drawing. In roughly 100 pages, nine carefully crafted sections and over 800 illustrations and diagrams, the author covers the basic and not-so-basic concepts, elements, skills and techniques you need in order to produce realistic still-life drawings of everyday objects. His topics include picture elements, space division, composition, depth, textures, values, light and shadow, etc, all of which are explained in detail for a wide variety of mediums like pencil, watercolor, pastel, chalk, graphic pens, oil and acrylic, etc. As an added bonus, the author introduces us to abstraction in art. He also teaches us how to analyze other artists' work and understand which techniques went into their creation.
   By studying this book as if it were a textbook on a course, doing all the exercises and reviewing each section afterwards, I have steadily improved my craft in just over a month. My drawings no longer look amateurish or sloppy, and they have been constantly rewarded with praise from my friends and family.
   If you are new to drawing, buy this book as your introduction to the craft, you'll reap the rewards of working on solid principles as you get into deeper and more specific kinds of drawing. If you are a seasoned artist, buy it to review what you know and discover new techniques and new mediums. Its masterfully organized content, clearly written instructions and pleasant visual style will make your learning experience most enjoyable, and the invaluable concepts, lessons and techniques will make your art look professional right from start.
   --Reviewed by Maritza Volmar



2. "First Lessons in Drawing and Painting" is a great way to begin your quest of becoming an accomplished artist. This book will help you understand how other famous drawings and paintings were "built", by focusing on the creation of Still Life. Jack goes through many lessons in both drawing and painting, such as how to create space and depth in your drawings, working with values, keys to good composition, light and shadow, basic painting techniques, working with a pen, etc etc... If you have no idea what all of this has to do with good artwork..., then I'd highly suggest starting right here. After you learn the basic formula, Jack take you step by step through a realistic chalk drawing, creating texture, an intro to abstraction, and even teach you floral drawing and painting (you'll learn how to draw realistic roses in here as well).

   I bought this book after I had already purchased Jack's other four excellent books, this was a mistake on my behalf. I became frustrated when I reviewed my drawings as they visually reminded me that I was 'still a beginner'! So, I bought this book. I've only had this book a week and already my lack of experience is becoming harder to trace, it also helped to boost my self-confidence when I re-read Jack's books and re-tried the excercises. Conclusion: I've learned from my mistakes, so you can save yourself unnecessary frustration. This book is a great easy to follow starter book for the aspiring artist, I'd really consider this book trying to take on figure drawing, landscapes, etc... all of Jack's books will help indefinately, but this book makes you both visually, AND mentally prepared for them!

3 comments about David Bellamy's Watercolour Landscape Course: The Bestselling Guide to Successful Landscapes.

1. His books are just excellent, very different from many artist authors. Watching his DVD does help tremendously with the books, although not necessary.



2. I'm not impressed with this book, it's not for beginners, it dose'nt have enough instruction on "how to do" or "how this is achived" hardly anthing on brushes or paints. very dissopointed with this book.



3. This is an excellent book for those who are interested in watercolour landscape painting and would like to learn how to go about it. Everything from paper selection, brushes to choose, paint colours to select for your palette, to several good exercises to try, and many tutorials, are contained in this book. If watercolour is your thing, this is the book you want.

1 comments about Complete Paint-By-Number Set.

1. I bought this really uncertain about what it would contain and was really surprised. It is a paint by number kit, but it goes quite beyond that. There's an approximately 40-page full-color book that talks about different painting techniques and how to create them. The kit also comes with 8 different pictures to paint, I think about 8x12, and there is a second book that gives instructions on how to paint each of the pictures, which are arranged in order of difficulty. I did think the instructions for the pictures were sometimes a little difficult to understand, but overall you do get a sense of how to mix colors, blend paints, use different painting techniques, etc. I wasn't able to immediately do all of the techniques, but I certainly got more out of it than a regular paint by number kit.
   
   The set comes with 8 acrylic paints, a color wheel, a plate with six small pots for mixing colors, three brushes, and a scraping knife (made out of plastic). For some of the projects, they do recommend that you purchase additional tools, mixing agents, etc if you want it to look exactly the same, but at least for the ones I've done, I think you could achieve a good picture if you just do the best you can with the tools you have. I would, however, say that you will have to buy more paint, especially white, to do all of the projects, unless you are great at mixing colors, because most of the original colors are pretty bright and you do need to mix constantly to get the same colors as pictured. The book does state the next few colors that they would recommend an artist have, so that might make it easier. Sometimes, you do have to mix three different colors to get the right color, so for a beginner like me there was some trial and error. I personally, didn't think the color wheel was very helpful, and it was better to just attempt it based upon the written description and then revise as needed.
   
   The pictures include a wooden boat filled with animals for a children's room (looks a bit like Noah's ark, but doesn't actually reference religion), a vase of irises, roosters in a field, a woman with a child at the ocean, a bowl with lemons, a courtyard in Italy, an English cottage, a tree in winter, a field of poppies. They have enough variation to really let you try out different techniques. The pictures are not offensive and, even though I can be picky about my art, I found several pics that I really liked. The pics are a good balance of nothing really modern and nothing too traditional, so your typical pretty but not too saccharine and still interesting pics.
   
   The paints seem fine to me, bright colors, and none of them were dried out, like other paint sets I've considered. The pictures are printed on two types of paper, depending on the texture required, but they are both on thick paper that can absorb the paint and could be framed.
   
   The last of the book talks very briefly about framing recommendations and also provides guidelines for how to expand or shrink the images to accommodate other sizes by showing square grids or utilizing tracing paper. Please note they show more pictures than what they actually provide a paint by number canvas for, so you will have to copy a few of them if you want to do that pic.

4 comments about How to Paint Watercolor Landscapes: From Photograph to Sketch to Your Very Own Masterpiece in 6 Easy Steps.

1. I would say that this book is really not aimed at a flat out beginner. It assumes you are comfortable with the basics of watercolor. The "six steps" thing can lead to some pretty big jumps from one step to another (the author shows each painting from start to finish is six steps). However, the photographs are very nice and the steps DO give you a place to start on some fairly complex pictures. I like the spiral binding, the fact that you can see the photograph and the six steps all at once on two pages, and the large number of pictures. This is much better than most other books like it on the market. Similar books spend more time talking about what makes a good photograph, cropping, etc; this book focuses on the actual painting. I got it from the library and plan to buy my own copy.



2. This book has been taken out of the Library several times since I purchased it for our collection in Jan. My hobby is painting, and I thought the directions and examples were well written and illustrated. A very good book for the beginner to intermediate watercolor enthusiast.



3. Photos are wonderful, the demos really help one to see how to get from your photo to a painting - to see from both the photographer's eye and the painter's eye. For those of you that sometimes get stuck in the detail of the photo and want to loosen up - this is a very helpful demonstration. A wonderful kickstart if you're having a "block" too - you do WANT to paint from these photos! Happy Painting!



4. I really should ask for my money back on this book....it was poorly written, vague in description, the cover is great and appears appealing....this is not worth the price of admission.
   Sorry.!!

5 comments about How to See Color and Paint It.

1. Of the many books in my art instruction collection, I rate this one at No. 1. It has had the greatest influence on me of any lessons or books I've had. If you treat this book as a course in painting you will: 1) learn how to mix absolutely any color with dead-on accuracy, 2) get practical advice on setting up materials and aids (for example, his "spotter" to isolate colors -- simple but indispensible), and 3) become comfortable with the painting knife, which most amateur artists shy away from. Get this book and devote a few months to it. You'll never regret it.
   
   (Note: He shows the use of oil paints. I prefer acrylics, and used them for these lessons without any problems.)



2. Anyone serious about improving the color in their paintings should own this book. The reproductions are clear and lucious. The work is done in palette knife so the color notes are clean. It takes you step by step through several still life settings and excercises and shows how the objects were first divided into shadow and light patterns and then breaks down to the finer nuances of color. It teaches the student how to look closer and see the subtle temperature shifts of color. There are also several reproductions of completed paintings in the back that utilize the approach. Fortunately I bought it while it was still in print and cheap, but, I'd pay $60 for it if I didn't own it already.



3. Arthur Stern, student of the legacy of that almost-lost thread that has passed through Classical art, the Renaissance masters, the Baroque masters, into Chase, Hawthorne, Henri (and his students- Bellows, Hopper, Kent, etc.), the Bay Area artists (etc.), offers up the eye-clearing humility, without BS, that is necessary to see in order to paint what Cezanne called the "ensemble".
   
   Akin to tuning a guitar, the method reveals that the harmony of the few notes ("spots" of value/hue/chroma) must be chorded before you learn how to glue an American flag and a photocopy of the Twin Towers to your 21st Century bombast. THE FUNDAMENTAL basis for painting. A pathway, not to be viewed as a fixed style or dogmatic cul-de-sac, but a route of initiation to Beauty.
   
   Hawthorne/Hensche purists irk me with their holier-than-thou, plein air fascism (and some of their students with how-to books should be, with Thomas Kincaid, whipped), but I DO agree that THIS IS THE DOOR TO THE WAY. Beautiful, simple truth. Reprint Stern's book before the world ends.



4. How sad that this book is out of print. It is a wonderful book that deals with the process of isolating colors. First it starts you with a simple project and then progresses within each study exercise that you do. My gray view finder from class has now seen better days, however, I will always carry one with me and used it even to capture items for my journaling.



5. This book uncovers the mystery of painting. For anyone who wants to grasp the basic concepts of color in a very visual manner. A CLASSIC! If I had found this book sooner, I would not have paid so much for art instruction.

No comments about Oil: Creative Techniques.