Brushstrokes: Acrylic
Brushstrokes: Acrylic

Author: Angela Marie Moulton

Publisher: Walter Foster Publishing

Published: 2020-03-03

Total Pages: 131

ISBN-13: 1633228215

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Learn to create effortless works of art using step-by-step painting techniques that require minimal time and only the most basic supplies. Designed for absolute beginners, Brushstrokes: Acrylic uses large brushstrokes and thick, creamy paint to help budding artists create bright, dynamic paintings in practically no time at all. After a quick overview of the basic tools and materials—including surfaces, brushes, and paints—and a brief introduction to choosing and mixing colors, Brushstrokes: Acrylic demonstrates how to use just a few thick brushstrokes to create works of art in a bold, effortless style. From vibrant birds and florals to charming animal portraits and still life, follow along with these step-by-step projects to create quick-and-easy masterpieces—a perfect formula for artists just getting started. Brushstrokes: Acrylic provides a unique introduction to acrylic painting, from choosing the right brushes and paints to creating inspired works of art using easy painting techniques—no experience required.

The Art of Lent
The Art of Lent

Author: Sister Wendy Beckett

Publisher: SPCK

Published: 2017-11-16

Total Pages: 134

ISBN-13: 0281078564

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Join Sister Wendy on a journey through Lent, and discover the timeless wisdom to be found in some of the world’s greatest paintings. Illustrated in full colour with over forty famous and lesser-known masterpieces of Western art, this beautiful book will lead you into a deeply prayerful response to all that these paintings convey to the discerning eye. ‘For those who want to appreciate the spirituality behind some of the world’s greatest works of art, this book will be hugely inspiring – not only during Lent but at any time of the year.’ Dr Janina Ramirez, art historian and broadcaster

The Brushstroke Handbook
The Brushstroke Handbook

Author: Maureen Mcnaughton

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2006-02-15

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 1440321973

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Beautiful brushstrokes step by step! This is the one! The Brushstroke Handbook is your complete reference for mastering more than 50 fabulous strokes. Inside you'll find visual, step-by-step instruction divided into two sections that detail techniques for working with both round and flat brushes in acrylics. Flip through and find the stroke you want, featuring a range of comma strokes, pressure strokes, fan strokes, teardrop strokes, scroll strokes and much more. From the very basics of supplies and techniques to more in-depth guidance for creating unique compositions, this guide offers everything you need to build confidence, have fun and paint successfully--whether you're a beginner or a more experienced decorative painter. This comprehensive guide includes: • Quick-reference photos for finding the right stroke, fast. • Step-by-step stroke instructions that actually build a little painting with every lesson. • Easy-to-follow worksheets for combining strokes to make complete flowers, birds, butterflies, lace, ribbons and more. • 20 fresh and pretty borders painted with round and flat brushes. • Two sections highlighting common mistakes and how to fix them. Plus, this guide offers a bonus section that shows you how to create six gorgeous compositions that feature today's most popular colors and stroke styles. It's all here! The Brushstroke Handbook gives you everything you need to master every stroke and explore a range of decorative painting possibilities. It's the one reference you'll want to have handy for virtually every project.

Bold Strokes
Bold Strokes

Author: Mark Christopher Weber

Publisher: North Light Books

Published: 2009-01-20

Total Pages: 144

ISBN-13: 9781600610677

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Make Your Mark with Confident, Dramatic Strokes Imagine painting with the virtuosity of the masters. With Bold Strokes, you can learn how, step by step. Beloved artist and teacher Mark Christopher Weber takes this seemingly complex manner of painting and breaks it down into simple, manageable steps that you can apply to your own style. He starts with the very basics so you can achieve success no matter what your skill level. Full-color photos and numbered steps illustrate in-depth instruction covering: Tools and Materials: everything you need from brushes to paint, including a section highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of both oils and acrylics Brushwork Basics: learn the mechanics of shaping brushes, loading paint and applying strokes for loose and expressive brushwork The Bold Challenge: use five basic strokes to manipulate thick paint and limit the number of overall strokes for heightened dramatic effect Mark provides many engaging ways to practice these basic strokes and brushwork techniques. Next, he helps you develop your new skills as you apply them to a series of step-by-step demonstrations. You'll deepen your understanding of: Drawing and Measuring: get a quick primer of these essential skills, plus new methods for using them to achieve bold strokes in every composition The Power of Suggestion: learn to identify the primary elements of your subjects so you can reduce every composition to its essential focus and place bold strokes in the most effective places Practice and Perfection: apply what you've learned to a range of compositions in both oils and acrylics, including landscapes, flowers, animals, portraits, figures and more so you can go forward in your own style with new vision and skill Every nuance is revealed in glowing detail. In no time, you'll use Bold Strokes to create a sense of motion, capture dazzling highlights, deliver emotional impact, produce lively color variations, and much more.

The Zigzag Way
The Zigzag Way

Author: Anita Desai

Publisher: HMH

Published: 2014-03-04

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13: 0544356993

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A young American in Mexico discovers his family’s past—and a present-day danger—in this “elegant, exquisite” novel of suspense (Elle). Eric is a newly minted historian just out of graduate school, plagued by self-doubt over both his past choices and his future options. With no clear direction, he follows his lover, Em, when she travels to the Yucatan for her scientific research, but ends up alone in this foreign place. And so he pursues his own private quest, tracing his family’s history to a Mexican ghost town, where, a hundred years earlier, young Cornish miners—among them Eric’s grandparents—toiled to the death. Now, in place of the Cornish workers, the native Huichol Indians suffer the cruelty of the mines. When he inquires into their lives, Eric provokes the ire of their self-appointed savior, Dona Vera. Known as the “Queen of the Sierra,” Dona Vera is the widow of a mining baron who has dedicated her fortune to preserving the Huichol culture. But her formidable presence belies a dubious past. The zigzag paths of these characters converge on the Day of the Dead, bringing together past and present in a moment of powerful epiphany. Haunting and atmospheric, with splashes of exuberant color and darker violence, The Zigzag Way is “a beautifully rendered combination of history, folklore, and modern fiction” (Entertainment Weekly), from a Booker Prize finalist. “Long before Jhumpa Lahiri . . . long before Monica Ali . . . another novelist was offering us exquisitely detailed portraits of bodies in transit [and] classes in the art of sly and sensuous fiction . . . Anita Desai was a global, migrant writer before such a thing was fashionable.” —Time “Almost unbearably suspenseful.” —The Boston Globe “A hypnotic journey.” —San Jose Mercury News

A Cold Heart
A Cold Heart

Author: Jonathan Kellerman

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: 2013-04-30

Total Pages: 434

ISBN-13: 0345540220

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LAPD homicide detective Milo Sturgis summons his friend psychologist-sleuth Alex Delaware to a trendy gallery where a promising young artist has been brutally garroted on the night of her first major showing. The details of the murder scene immediately suggest to Alex not an impulsive crime of passion but the meticulous and taunting modus operandi of a serial killer. “No one does psychological suspense as well as Jonathan Kellerman.”—Detroit Free Press Delaware’s suspicions are borne out when he and Milo find a link between the artist’s death and the murder of a noted blues guitarist. The twisting trail leads from halfway houses to palatial mansions, from a college campus to the last place Alex ever expected: the doorstep of his ex-lover Robin Castagna. As more killings are discovered, unraveling the maddening puzzle assumes a chilling new importance—stopping a vicious psychopath who’s made cold-blooded murder his chosen art form.

And We're Off
And We're Off

Author: Dana Schwartz

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2018-05-08

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13: 0448493829

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A Seventeen Magazine Best Book of the Year “A winsome, hilarious tale about losing the map and finding a better way to a happy ending. I loved it!” —#1 New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Weiner Seventeen-year-old Nora Holmes is an artist, a painter from the moment she could hold a brush. She inherited the skill from her grandfather, Robert, who's always nurtured Nora's talent and encouraged her to follow her passion. Still, Nora is shocked and elated when Robert offers her a gift: an all-expenses-paid summer trip to Europe to immerse herself in the craft and to study history's most famous artists. The only catch? Nora has to create an original piece of artwork at every stop and send it back to her grandfather. It's a no-brainer: Nora is in! Unfortunately, Nora's mother, Alice, is less than thrilled about the trip. She worries about what the future holds for her young, idealistic daughter—and her opinions haven't gone unnoticed. Nora couldn't feel more unsupported by her mother, and in the weeks leading up to the trip, the women are as disconnected as they've ever been. But seconds after saying goodbye to Alice at the airport terminal, Nora hears a voice call out: "Wait! Stop! I'm coming with you!" And . . . they’re off. 13 Little Blue Envelopes meets Gilmore Girls in this fun, funny, and bittersweet summer adventure from Observer writer and the hilarious voice behind @GuyInYourMFA, Dana Schwartz.

The City of Falling Angels
The City of Falling Angels

Author: John Berendt

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2006-09-26

Total Pages: 534

ISBN-13: 1440625034

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A #1 New York Times Bestseller! "Funny, insightful, illuminating . . ." —The Boston Globe Twelve years ago, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil exploded into a monumental success, residing a record-breaking four years on the New York Times bestseller list (longer than any work of fiction or nonfiction had before) and turning John Berendt into a household name. The City of Falling Angels is Berendt's first book since Midnight, and it immediately reminds one what all the fuss was about. Turning to the magic, mystery, and decadence of Venice, Berendt gradually reveals the truth behind a sensational fire that in 1996 destroyed the historic Fenice opera house. Encountering a rich cast of characters, Berendt tells a tale full of atmosphere and surprise as the stories build, one after the other, ultimately coming together to portray a world as finely drawn as a still-life painting.

A Free Frenchman under the Japanese
A Free Frenchman under the Japanese

Author: Robert Colquhoun

Publisher: Troubador Publishing Ltd

Published: 2015-05-28

Total Pages: 232

ISBN-13: 1784622613

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“It’s less painful perhaps to go to prison flanked by two policemen in a police van than to turn oneself in alone, in a hired vehicle going at a gentle trot, on a lovely sunny afternoon. A small piece of paper, covered with a tiny red Japanese stamp, bearing characters I don’t even understand, will make of me a prisoner, as surely as would have done men in helmets and jackboots.” Paul Esmérian’s diary begins with his arrival in the Philippines from French Indochina in the summer of 1941 and sets the scene with an absorbing portrait of pre-war Manila. Just months later, in December, came the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, quickly followed by the invasion of the Philippines. Esmérian is an eloquent witness to the fall of Manila and its subsequent occupation. As early as January 1942, the Japanese set up an internment camp for allied civilians – men, women and children – on the site of the University of Santo Tomás in northern Manila. It came to hold nearly four thousand internees – mostly American, but also British, Empire and allied European. Because France was no longer officially at war with Japan’s Axis partner Germany, French residents of Manila were not immediately interned, and for a year and a half Esmérian was able to live outside the Camp. He has left an engrossing account of life in the harsh setting of occupied Manila during this period. Eventually, however, in June 1943, as a Gaullist he was forced into Santo Tomás. Over the next eighteen months he continued to keep a diary which forms a precious record of life in the Camp. He charts the changes in conditions as the Japanese grip tightened, culminating in the internees’ dramatic liberation in February 1945 by a flying column of the US 1st Cavalry Division. Published in France in 1980, Paul Esmérian’s gripping diary can now be enjoyed by a wider audience in this fine translation by Robert Colquhoun, himself an internee in the same camp.

Tower
Tower

Author: Avan Jesia

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2012-02-01

Total Pages: 375

ISBN-13: 8184757654

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An ancient throne reveals forgotten tales of the bravest and noblest of kings—Vikramaditya When Upa’s father gets kidnapped from the tiny village where he was working, Upa and her mother move to her great-grandmother’s house in a small town, to recover from the shock. There the dejected and worried mother and daughter are befriended by an odd-looking stranger who insists on telling them stories of King Vikramaditya and his long-lost throne. Centuries after Vikramaditya’s death, King Bhoja unearthed his magnificent throne and decided to make it his own. But each time he set foot on it, a statue carved on its side came alive and told him a story of Vikramaditya’s kindness. The statues warned Bhoja that he should sit on the throne only if he could match Vikramaditya in his deeds, and each time Bhoja came away humbled. For whether he was diving to the bottom of the seas to discover fantastic jewels, or deflecting the planet Saturn from its path in order to save his kingdom, or simply trying to help a miserable cow fallen into a ditch, there was never one to match Vikramaditya in courage and generosity. As Upa and her mother listen to these magical stories they begin to see the goodness in the people around them and recognize the relevance of the tales of King Vikramaditya in their lives today. Thought-provoking and always entertaining, Poile Sengupta’s retelling of these ancient stories makes them come alive like never before.