From #1 bestselling author Justin Blaney: I love telling stories. I've been earning a living-though sometimes it's been hard to call it that-from storytelling since I was sixteen years old selling vacuum cleaners door to door. Funnily enough, some of the stories I told back then were more fictional than the novels I write today. Over the years, the mediums I've used have changed, but for me, it's always been about the story. Through blogging and songwriting and photography and speaking and design and sales, I've learned that the power of story is universal. Today, I apply my passion to writing novels and producing films for nonprofits and businesses. Sometimes I'm trying to affect change in the world through fictional characters and magical adventures. Other times, I'm showing the world how my nonprofit and business clients are heroes in the lives of the people they serve. I'm often surprised to find that the real stories are even more magical than the fiction. And that is why I created Fast Wide Open. I realized many of the true stories that have inspired me over the last fifteen years were being held captive on my computer's hard drives. Whenever I see these images, I remember the way I felt when they were taken. I think of the people who allowed me to share for a small time the richness of their lives, the people who live or worship or play or learn in these places, the people who work these machines. This book is not about pictures. It's about the fairytales inside the pictures. These pictures are mere snapshots of real lives, but the snapshots give us a window through which we can dream for a short time that we are inside the fairytale. That we are someone else. And sometimes, every so often, a little bit of that dream rubs off on us, and when we wake, we find we're just a tiny bit changed. I hope these stories inspire you as much as they inspire me. About Fast Wide Open: This collection of photos from Justin Blaney provides a panorama of the inspiration for his anthology of post-modern fairytales, exploring character, architecture, setting, texture and visual storytelling. Praise for Justin Blaney's work: "Justin Blaneycreates a wonderful world of intrigue, mischief, and magic that comes alive through vivid storytelling." - Kari Skinner - "Dark, but amazing." - Silverine - "Unique and rustic and wonderful" - JoJo's Corner - "Waaaay outside the box " - Bless their hearts mom - "Absolutely awesome." - Renee Chaw - "Freaking amazing upside down, side ways and back again" - Hope to Read - "Griping" - Susan Stalker - "Magical, mystical, imaginative and compelling." - L. Stronjny - "Wickedly complex" - Mary Weber - "Appeals to the aesthetic value of everyday mundane things" - Nerdzy - "Justin Blaney has his finger on the pulse of artistic current." - Kat in Kentucky -

An epic visual story of wildlife photography's pioneers and world firsts. From some of the very first pictures of wild lions and tigers on record and the first-ever underwater colour photograph, right up to the spectacular images from the wildest corners of the earth that modern-day technology allows, Into the Wild is an extraordinary collection of over 250 images and 150 years of our efforts to document the natural world. Now, more than ever, these are the photographs and stories that matter. "Gemma Padley takes us on a fascinating journey through 150 years of the wildlife photography that has informed and delighted us. The text tells us not only about the images themselves, but describes how cameras gradually got faster shutter speeds, longer lenses, greater resolution and are now mostly digital. But it is the patience and endurance of the photographer who waits for hours or even days in tropical heat or arctic freeze to capture these special shots: taken at just the right moment in just the right light and from just the right angle. Into the Wild is a must-have coffee table book." Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute & U.N. Messenger of Peace

How can we pack so much big booty into such a tiny and inexpensive package? Sorry, but it's a trade secret we can't divulge, except to say that shoehorns and spandex were involved. The original Big Butt Book featured a great cross section of delectable rears from the 1950s to the present day. Here, since life is such an ironic deal, we decided to pare the original content down to just the biggest and the best, in-your-face phatties to which the great Sir Mix-a-Lot alluded when penning, "My anaconda don't want none, unless you've got buns, hun." Then we added in about 30 new photos, just to be generous. Now in these 150 plus photos you'll see the big and the bountiful, then the bigger and more bountiful, in black and white and in color. The models may be largely anonymous, but their curves are legendary, and now that they're collected in a discrete little package affordable by all in these financially trying times, why hold back? Your badonkadonk is calling.

Portraits are everywhere. One finds them not only in museums and galleries, but also in newspapers and magazines, in the homes of people and in the boardrooms of companies, on stamps and coins, on millions of cell phones and computers. Despite its huge popularity, however, portraiture hasn't received much philosophical attention. While there are countless art historical studies of portraiture, contemporary philosophy has largely remained silent on the subject. This book aims to address that lacuna. It brings together philosophers (and philosophically minded historians) with different areas of expertise to discuss this enduring and continuously fascinating genre. The chapters in this collection are ranged under five broad themes. Part I examines the general nature of portraiture and what makes it distinctive as a genre. Part II looks at some of the subgenres of portraiture, such as double portraiture, and at some special cases, such as sport card portraits and portraits of people not present. How emotions are expressed and evoked by portraits is the central focus of Part III, while Part IV explores the relation between portraiture, fiction, and depiction more generally. Finally, in Part V, some of the ethical issues surrounding portraiture are addressed. The book closes with an epilogue about portraits of philosophers. Portraits and Philosophy tangles with deep questions about the nature and effects of portraiture in ways that will substantially advance the scholarly discussion of the genre. It will be of interest to scholars and students working in philosophy of art, history of art, and the visual arts.

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. An exploration of the role of early medieval religious art in its historical context, focusing on England from the reign of Alfred the Great to the aftermath of the Norman conquest.
Tenth and eleventh century society expressed itself extensively through visual means, and the surviving material provides a rich body of evidence for the religious culture of the time. Combining visual and documentary evidence, The Role of Art in the Late Anglo-Saxon Church sheds new light on a wide range of magnificent art works and their functions, and offers fresh perspectives on the ecclesiastical history and beliefs of late Anglo Saxon England, with important implications for the study of early medieval civilization in general."

This book explores the rich but understudied relationship between English country houses and the portraits they contain. It features essays by well-known scholars such as Alison Yarrington, Gill Perry, Kate Retford, Harriet Guest, Emma Barker and Desmond Shawe-Taylor. Works discussed include grand portraits, intimate pastels and imposing sculptures. Moving between residences as diverse as Stowe, Althorp Park, the Vache, Chatsworth, Knole and Windsor Castle, it unpicks the significance of various spaces - the closet, the gallery, the library - and the ways in which portraiture interacted with those environments. It explores questions around gender, investigating narratives of family and kinship in portraits of women as wives and daughters, but also as mistresses and celebrities. It also interrogates representations of military heroes in order to explore the wider, complex ties between these families, their houses, and imperial conflict. This book will be essential reading for all those interested in eighteenth-century studies, especially for those studying portraiture and country houses. -- .

This book examines Theodore Gericault's images of black men, women and children who suffered slavery's trans-Atlantic passage in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, including his 1819 painting The Raft of the Medusa. The book focuses on Gericault's depiction of black people, his approach towards slavery, and the voices that advanced or denigrated them. By turning to documents, essays and critiques, both before and after Waterloo (1815), and, most importantly, Gericault's own oeuvre, this study explores the fetters of slavery that Gericault challenged-alongside a growing number of abolitionists-overtly or covertly. This book will be of interest to scholars in art history, race and ethnic studies and students of modernism.

Botanical Illustration is an introduction to the marrying of art and science in the aesthetic and accurate portrayal of plant material. This book builds on the work of illustrators of the past, ranging from Elizabeth Blackwell, whose drawings helped to release her husband from debtors' prison, through to the exceptional scientific drawings of Beatrix Potter. It deals with the practical art and the related botany of the subject. Topics covered include an introduction to basic botany; preparation of plant material for drawing; use of pencil, watercolour, coloured pencil and pen and ink; suggested topics for further study and, finally, correcting mistakes and finishing touches.

In The Aesthetics of Qiyun and Genius: Spirit Consonance in Chinese Landscape Painting and Some Kantian Echoes, Xiaoyan Hu provides an interpretation of the notion of qiyun, or spirit consonance, in Chinese painting, and considers why creating a painting-especially a landscape painting-replete with qiyun is regarded as an art of genius, where genius is an innate mental talent. Through a comparison of the role of this innate mental disposition in the aesthetics of qiyun and Kant's account of artistic genius, the book addresses an important feature of the Chinese aesthetic tradition, one that evades the aesthetic universality assumed by a Kantian lens. Drawing on the views of influential sixth to fourteenth-century theorists and art historians and connoisseurs, the first part explains and discusses qiyun and its conceptual development from a notion mainly applied to figure painting to one that also plays an enduring role in the aesthetics of landscape painting. In the light of Kant's account of genius, the second part examines a range of issues regarding the role of the mind in creating a painting replete with qiyun and the impossibility of teaching qiyun. Through this comparison with Kant, Hu demystifies the uniqueness of qiyun aesthetics and also illuminates some limitations in Kant's aesthetics.

The articles republished in this volume are ground-breaking studies that employ a large body of religious figural imagery of Byzantine lead seals ranging from the 6th to the 15th century. A number of the studies present tables, charts and graphs in their analysis of iconographic trends and changing popularity of saintly figures over time. And since many of the seals bear inscriptions that include the names, titles or offices of their owners, information often not given for the patrons of sacred images in other media, these diminutive objects permit an investigation into the social use of sacred imagery through the various sectors of Byzantine culture: the civil, ecclesiastical and military administrations. The religious figural imagery of the lead seals, accompanied by their owners' identifying inscriptions, offers a means of investigating both the broader visual piety of the Byzantine world and the intimate realm of their owners' personal devotions. Other studies in this volume are devoted to rare or previously unknown sacred images that demonstrate the value of the iconography of Byzantine lead seals for Byzantine studies in general. This volume includes studies dedicated to the image of Christ, primarily found on imperial seals, various images of the Virgin, and narrative or Christological scenes. A companion volume presents various articles focusing on sphragistic images of saints and on the religious imagery of Byzantine seals as a means of investigating the personal piety of seal owners, as well as the wider realm of the visual piety and religious devotions of Byzantine culture at all levels. (CS1085)

The Flora Collection contains 50 stunning colour postcards selected from the vast collection of original botanical artworks held at the the Library of the Natural History Museum, London. Stored in a chunky keepsake box with an internal ribbon, this collection represents the fascinating history of plants and flowers through exquisite botanical prints to keep, send or frame. Printed on high quality card, the set showcases many of the best-loved plant families including cacti, daffodils, iris, magnolia, poppies, roses, tulips and waterlilies. Featuring the work of some of the greatest botanical artists and explorers of all time, The Flora Collection is a delightful box set to share or savour.

John James Audubon is arguably America's most widely recognized and collected artist. His Birds of America has been reproduced often, beginning with the double elephant folio printed by Havill in England, followed by a much smaller "Octavo" edition printed in Philadelphia and sold by subscription. After Audubon's death, his family arranged with the New York printer Julius Bien to produce another elephant folio edition, this time by the new chromolithographic process. It too would be sold by subscription, but the venture, begun in 1858, was brought to an abrupt end by the Civil War. Only 150 plates were produced, and the number remaining today is slight; they are among the rarest and most sought after Audubon prints. Bound in cloth with a full cloth slipcase, this beautifully produced book is the first complete reproduction of Bien chromolithographs and will become the centerpiece of any bird lover's library.

The Cambridge Family Chronicle Bible has been designed and produced as a Bible to enjoy for generations. It combines the best typographic design with the highest standards of printing and bookbinding. The majestic text of the King James Bible is presented in a typesetting inspired by the legendary Baskerville Bible, and the words of Scripture are brought to life with 221 engravings by 19th century illustrator Gustave Dore - painstakingly reproduced for this edition from the original printings. Drawing on the glories of the past, but looking to the future too, the Bible incorporates a unique 14-page family chronicle, allowing owners to record up to six generations of family history and tell their family story for years to come. The Bible is printed on paper selected for its strength and durability and two of Dore's impressive illustrations are enlarged on the endpapers to highlight their intricate detail. This cloth-bound Bible has a contemporary look, with dramatic foil blocking showing 'fire and water' detail from one of Dore's woodcuts. The volume is protected by an attractive blue and orange slipcase.

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH, MAIL ON SUNDAY, FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, SPECTATOR THE SUNDAY TIMES ART BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 'A dazzling tour de force' THE TIMES 'Does justice to Freud's pitiless genius as an artist' DAILY MAIL 'You can hear Freud's voice on the page' OBSERVER 'Mesmerising ... the ideal companion to Freud's work' GUARDIAN William Feaver, Lucian Freud's collaborator, curator and close friend, knew the unknowable artist better than most. Over many years, Freud narrated to him the story of his life, 'our novel'. Fame follows Freud at the height of his powers, painting the most iconic works of his career in a constant and dissatisfied pursuit of perfection, just outrunning his gambling debts and tailor's bills. Whether tattooing swallows at the base of Kate Moss's back or exacting a strange and horrible revenge on Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger, Freud's adventures were always perfectly characteristic. An enfant terrible till the end, even as he was commissioned to paint the Queen and attended his own retrospectives, what emerges is an artist wilfully oblivious to the glitter of the world around - and focussed instead on painting first and last.

Describes the nature of birds of prey (where they live, feed, and hunt), why these species are endangered, and what can be done to protect and preserve them.

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2020 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE CHOSEN AS A BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, THE TIMES, SUNDAY TIMES, DAILY TELEGRAPH, MAIL ON SUNDAY, FINANCIAL TIMES, NEW STATESMAN, SPECTATOR THE SUNDAY TIMES ART BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 'Explosively enjoyable, bursting with life and art ... A central figure as wild and beguiling as any character in literature' CRAIG BROWN William Feaver, Lucian Freud's collaborator, curator and close friend, knew the unknowable artist better than most. Over many years, Freud narrated to him the story of his life, 'our novel'. Fame follows Freud at the height of his powers, painting the most iconic works of his career in a constant pursuit of perfection, just outrunning his gambling debts and tailor's bills. Whether tattooing swallows at the base of Kate Moss's back or exacting a strange revenge on Jerry Hall and Mick Jagger, Freud's adventures were always perfectly characteristic. An enfant terrible till the end, even as he was commissioned to paint the Queen, what emerges is an artist wilfully oblivious to the glitter of the world around - and focussed instead on painting first and last. 'A dazzling tour de force' THE TIMES 'A wonderfully vivid chronicle' OBSERVER 'Does justice to Freud's pitiless genius' DAILY MAIL

Mist and fog engender fascination and mystery, enticing with their wispy veils and vapourous moods, and they are the stuff of dreams and visions. 'The mists of time' and 'in a fog' are common expressions that substantiate the long association of mist and fog with the passage of time, the vagaries of memory and feelings of uncertainty. Mist and fog obscure, conceal and when they dissipate, reveal. Vapourous atmosphere in art and life masks evil and can elicit presentiments of death. It also has been used in art to convey the splendours of the spiritual world and the terrors of the supernatural. The metaphorical meanings that have accrued to mist and fog, encouraged by their indeterminate and transitory nature, and the emotions to which they give rise, are variously evident in the work of major artists and their contemporaries. This book focusses on mist and fog from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries in the places they most proliferated. Examples of literature that employ mist and fog as metaphor and in allegory from antiquity to Joseph Conrad serve to amplify many of the paintings discussed.

Holy Monsters, Sacred Grotesques examines the intersection of religion and monstrosity in a variety of different time periods in the hopes of addressing two gaps in scholarship within the field of monster studies. The first part of the volume-running from the medieval to the Early Modern period-focuses upon the view of the monster through non-majority voices and accounts from those who were themselves branded as monsters. Overlapping partially with the Early Modern and proceeding to the present day, the contributions of the second part of the volume attempt to problematize the dichotomy of secular/religious through a close look at the monsters this period has wrought.

Were humans created, or did they evolve? This debate continues to rage between science and religion. In "Creation or Evolution?, " author Michael Ebifegah examines these two worldviews within the framework of science..

He examines the constraints of science as an explanatory framework for the origin of species and compares the contemporary world to a hypothetical world under the influence of evolutionary processes and agency. Additionally, he considers the irrelevance of the earth's age to the creationist/evolutionist controversy. He stresses that knowledge of the intersection between the origin of life and the origin of species is required to establish the latter..

Ebifegah augments the natural selection discussion in light of Fodor and Piattelli-Palmarini's work and addresses science's limitations in deploying similarity/dissimilarity arguments in the debate about creationism versus evolutionism. Finally, he focuses on the lack of historical evidence to justify an evolutionary worldview.

"Creation or Evolution?" discusses how the M-theory and Charles Darwin's paradigm of evolution by natural selection are outside the limits of science. Ebifegah shows that we must look beyond the inadequacy of such theories and address the validity of science as the sole avenue of inquiry.

Waking Up Grey offers readers ways to reconnect with their God-given capacity to create. Join others in an intimate journey of rediscovery. Experience how God has wired many to participate in and enjoy the creative process. Readers include professional artists desiring more fullness, those pondering the question of their creative existence, and everyone in between. Waking Up Grey be read as part of group study or individually.