Take a fresh look at the world through the lens of a self-confessed nature-obsessed artist. Asuka Hishiki possesses not only a sense of profound awe and wonder at the intricacies of the natural world, but also the talent to communicate it through her paintings. Recalling the Wunderkammer (literally, 'wonder rooms') of 16th and 17th century European collectors, Asuka Hishiki's Botaniphoria: A Cabinet of Botanical Curiosities encompasses subjects as diverse as rotting vegetables, endangered species, mundane weeds and backyard insects - all treasures to her and transformed into objects of intense and fragile beauty through her skill with watercolour. Her work is held in prestigious collections such as The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, California, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Hunt Institute for Botanical Documentation, Pennsylvania. One of the first people to appreciate her work said about it, 'your work is not to hang upon a wall in a bright living room, but to put in a drawer in the study. Then, alone in the middle of the night, to take out and ponder upon.' In the best traditions of Wunderkammer, this book is an artfully arranged collection intended to be pondered upon. From the interactions of the objects within the paintings, to the quirky choice of subjects and the realism with which they are portrayed, they will bear revisiting again and again. As Asuka admits, painting is her language. She is an extremely adept communicator in it.

This beautiful book reveals the astonishing flexibility and creative possibilities of the linocut printmaking technique. Written by a leading and innovative linocut printmaker, it focuses on the reduction printing technique and gives detailed, practical help to choosing and using tools and materials, plus generous creative advice on designing specifically for linocut. With over 300 lavish illustrations, it is sure to inspire every aspiring and experienced printmaker to pick up their blade and start cutting. Divided into three parts, this book introduces the reader to the infinite possibilities of working with traditional artist's lino. Explains the tools and materials you'll need, as well as vital techniques such as sharpening your tools and installing a printing press. There is instruction on how to draft a design and transfer it to lino, ready for cutting and printing. Finally, there are step-by-step sequences to ten different prints, broken down into layers and showing the build-up of colours.

Wire wrapping is a quick and easy technique that will take your jewelry making to the next level. A little wire, a few simple tools, and some brightly colored beads are all you need to start creating your own intriguing fashion statements. By adding new wires to basic links, you can alter simple links into complex and fascinating focal designs. Wire-Wrapped Jewelry for Beginners teaches 30 expert wire wrapping methods, such as forming bent-wire links, working a wrapping pattern, wrapping sequential layers, embellishing decorative loops, adding coil elements, and much more. This complete beginner's guide to wire wrapped jewelry includes 8 easy step-by-step projects for making stunning necklaces, pendants, brooches, hair pins, and earrings.

This book of humorous, philosophical, allegorical and nature-loving poetry with its beautiful original illustrations came about through a son's love for his mother. The poems in this book should paint meaningful pictures in your mind. As you read them I hope you are prompted to think deeply and explore their resonance for you, but also to laugh out loud.

The art market today is like a Monopoly game. There is an underworld of art secrets unknown to the public and many art experts around the world. This art collection was hidden away by the famous artist Picasso and his wife Jacqueline Picasso to keep them away from the hands of his illegitimate children, who today are in charge of the authentication certificates for the artist Picasso's artwork. This art collection is unique and has never been seen by anyone in the art world. Now, in this book, I am giving you the chance to see these unseen artworks, along with some amazing oil paintings by some of the other top artists in the world. Most of our Picasso paintings have been authenticated by Picasso himself or his wife Jacqueline. Some authentication was done in the artist's Barcelona museum, opened in Spain in 1963; others were authenticated on 18 February 1980 and 20 April 1982 by Jacqueline, with the help of Jon Miro and others. This is the story of one painting that will change history and show the facts, and what is known about Picasso's artwork, to the art world. This is a one-of-a-kind art discovery that will be registered in history as one of the biggest art discoveries made by one person. It will prove that this artwork, along with more than a hundred oil paintings and other artworks, was part of the private collection of Picasso himself and his wife Jacqueline. Their discovery will change history, revealing many unknown art secrets and never-seen-before oil paintings and artworks of the 19th century by Picasso and some of his favourite artists and best friends, like Georges Braque, Joan Miro, Fernand Leger, Piet Mondrian, Georges Rouault, Wifredo Lam, Henri Matisse, Ambroise Vollard, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, and many more. This book will also reveal the secrets behind the Musee d'Orsay labels, stamps and red wax seals. This is not just a book; it is also an art catalogue of the never-seen-before artworks by some of the top artists in the world.

Provincial towns in Britain grew in size and importance in the eighteenth century. Ports such as Glasgow and Liverpool greatly expanded, while industrial centres such as Birmingham and Manchester flourished. Market towns outside London developed as commercial centres or as destinations offering spa treatments as in Bath, horse racing in Newmarket or naval services in Portsmouth. Containing over 100 images of towns in England, Wales and Scotland, this book draws on the extensive Gough collection in the Bodleian Library. Contemporary prints and drawings provide a powerful visual record of the development of the town in this period, and finely drawn prospects and maps - made with greater accuracy than ever before - reveal their early development. This book also includes perceptive observations from the journals and letters of collector Richard Gough (1735-1809), who travelled throughout the country on the cusp of the industrial age.