Provides down-to-earth, lighthearted instructions for developing basic painting design skills, sharing step-by-step demonstrations and game-like tips while placing an emphasis on watercolor techniques.
A liberating approach to interpreting modern and contemporary art, focusing on twenty major artworks from around the world and representing a diversity of styles, mediums, and artists. With modern art’s proclivity for self-expression, originality, and the abstract, great works can often seem indecipherable. This book provides the tools to help interpret the seemingly bizarre and often intimidating aspects of modern and contemporary art by exploring twenty works in terms of seven key perspectives: history, biography, aesthetics, experience, theory, criticism, and the market. Author, artist, and art historian Simon Morley shows how twenty well-known but little-understood works of art can serve as useful gateways not only for understanding each other, but also for appreciating works by the same artists and the wider world of art in general. Morley points to visual and theoretical dimensions of art that are not immediately obvious, reconstructing the perspectives of artists and the context within which works were made. Seven Keys to Modern Art is a liberating approach, offering a highly practical and universally applicable method of art interpretation and appreciation.
Push your watercolor painting to the next level by mastering the use of color, light, and shadows. Go beyond trying to copy what you see by designing with shapes, shadows, and highlights. Deepen the expressive nature of your paintings as you capture the subject's luminosity. Master painter William B. Lawrence offers hands-on techniques and insights for intermediate to advanced artists. Light and color take the viewer on a journey. Properly harnessed, they can convey emotion, create a mood, or tell a story. Whether your work is realistic, expressive, or abstract, the options are unlimited. Lawrence explores pattern, hue, contrast, and texture in this treasured classic. Using a combination of theory, demonstration, and practical suggestions this new arsenal of tools, will help you grow as an artist. Other techniques covered include: How to design with light and shadow The use of overlapping patterns How light can express movement Learning to use light and dark to add drama and intensity to your work Discover how to guide the viewer's eye through floodlights, spotlights, and other advanced light-manipulation techniques. Painting Light and Shadow in Watercolor will help you create radiant watercolor paintings and give you greater painting pleasure as you develop new skills which bring your imagination to life.
15-Minute Watercolor Masterpieces, Anna’s first book, is one of our strongest selling titles. She made watercolor approachable, fun and easier than ever—and now she’s doing the same with the latest painting trend, gouache. A marriage between acrylics and watercolor, gouache is the next big thing in the art world—it’s easier to control than watercolor and allows for richer pigments and easy fixes, making it a great option for beginners. Anna shows you just how magical gouache can be—and each of her 50 projects can be completed in just five easy-to-follow steps. Divided into chapters on beautiful landscapes, colorful flowers and plants, cute animals and more, readers will have a big variety of projects to choose from. And each step is accompanied by an image, making it even easier for readers to follow along. Anna is the founder of DearAnnArt, an online art community with hundreds of thousands of followers.
A unique system for jump-starting artistic creativity, encouraging experimentation and growth, and increasing sales for artists of all levels, from novices to professionals. Have you landed in a frustrating rut? Are you having trouble selling paintings in galleries, getting bogged down by projects you can’t seem to finish or abandon, or finding excuses to avoid working in the studio? Author Carol Marine knows exactly how you feel—she herself suffered from painter’s block, until she discovered “daily painting.” The idea is simple: do art (usually small) often (how often is up to you), and if you’d like, post and sell it online. Soon you’ll find that your block dissolves and you’re painting work you love—and more of it than you ever thought possible! With her encouraging tone and useful exercises, Marine teaches you to: -Master composition and value -Become confident in any medium including oil painting, acrylic painting, watercolors, and other media -Choose subjects wisely -Stay fresh and loose -Photograph, post, and sell your art online -Become connected to the growing movement of daily painters around the world
A fly-on-the-wall account of the smart and strange subcultures that make, trade, curate, collect, and hype contemporary art. The art market has been booming. Museum attendance is surging. More people than ever call themselves artists. Contemporary art has become a mass entertainment, a luxury good, a job description, and, for some, a kind of alternative religion. In a series of beautifully paced narratives, Sarah Thornton investigates the drama of a Christie's auction, the workings in Takashi Murakami's studios, the elite at the Basel Art Fair, the eccentricities of Artforum magazine, the competition behind an important art prize, life in a notorious art-school seminar, and the wonderland of the Venice Biennale. She reveals the new dynamics of creativity, taste, status, money, and the search for meaning in life. A judicious and juicy account of the institutions that have the power to shape art history, based on hundreds of interviews with high-profile players, Thornton's entertaining ethnography will change the way you look at contemporary culture.
The whys and hows of the various aspects of landscape painting: angles and consequent values, perspective, painting of trees, more. 34 black-and-white reproductions of paintings by Carlson. 58 explanatory diagrams.
In this book, readers will discover an array of special, easy-to-follow tips and techniques for wielding colors and values in a variety of mediums with confidence. They'll begin by learning to master the application of tonal values--the foundation of lights and darks upon which colors depend. Next they'll find clear, concise guidelines for imbuing their work with color--everything from hue, intensity and shadow to color temperature and "broken colors." Finally, they'll learn how to use value and color together to create evocative moods and stunning special effects, such as time of day, the seasons, weather, fog, mist and clouds. Step-by-step demonstrations make learning easy and fun, no matter what the artist's skill level!Rachel Rubin Wolf is a freelance writer, editor and artist. She is the author of more than 20 books including the Acrylic Painter's Book of Styles and Techniques, the Best of Flower Painting and Art from the Parks. She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Living in an age of constant gratification, economic influx and fragile egos, happiness has become increasingly elusive, yet it remains the Holy Grail, we search for all our lives. The purpose of this book is to suggest a cure for the ordinary day to day unhappiness which most people suffer from in today's world due to no obvious reasons. Since the goal of every human being on this Earth is to attain Happiness, it is hoped that after reading the book thoroughly and analysing as well as grasping the seven most important and practical steps suggested by the author, such as: Change is constant - Live in the present Live free from Attachment Good Health - You can stall ageing Be Content which will lead to Happiness Love and Cheer up to be contented in your day-to-day life Always think Positively and have Happy thoughts Laughter/Humour is God's gift to Happiness, one can successfully tackle one's problems in life and achieve one's ultimate goal, i.e., to Remain Happy and Cheerful!