This is the true story of a robin who lives in my garden among fences, hedges, shrubs, trees, stacks of pots and bricks and the vine on my balcony. Lickel Bird or LB, responded to human company and showed remarkable trust and attachment. During my daily contact with him I watched him perform many tasks. These observational snapshots have given me a window into his world and allowed me to share some of his busy life in all its ups and downs. He watched me in my garden long before he trusted me enough to see I was on the side of small birds and that I would be there for him in his hour of need and what he needed most in his life was food.

The elegant pen-strokes and visual harmony of Chinese writing, known as hanzi, have long been admired in the west. Classical Chinese calligraphy is a popular and valuable art form, and with the increasing economic and cultural power of China, its writing is becoming more widely appreciated and understood. In particular, the deep layers of history and symbolism which exist behind even the most everyday character have a strong appeal to those seeking understanding from an alternative philosophy. Chinese Characters: The Art of Hanzi features the most interesting of the three to four thousand characters are needed to write modern Chinese. Characters expressing concepts such as love, peace, respect and happiness are reproduced in a large format, enabling the reader to trace, scan or photocopy them for transfer to any other medium. Alongside the character is an accessible and inspiring explanation of how the character developed, what the particular strokes symbolize, and its various different meanings.

Caroline Fairchild has never met a mystic, never known the Magic, never matched wits with a dark queen and never ever ridden bareback on a unicorn. All she knows is that her life has taken a turn for the worst since her step mother banished her to the wood shed. But all that is about to change when she meets Ali, a mysterious girl of the garden who shares with her its secrets.Guided by a mystic and helped by the magic Caroline along with Uni, a mystical friend brought to life through the wonder of dreams, must struggle to find their way through the the forest of shadows. On the path they must confront their own fear and doubt; for it will be the only way they will be able to find and rescue Ali, the tiny miss who in fact has a secret of her own...perhaps the best kept secret of all

This reference book studies the script, art, and culture of the early Arabic Kufic calligraphy. It presents around hundred historical stone inscriptions, coins, and manuscripts from early-Islamic Persia. In their book, the primary author, S.M.V. Mousavi Jazayeri, a well-known Iranian calligrapher and early Kufic expert, and his fellow co-authors read and analyze with meticulous detail the calligraphy, script, and art work of thirty-seven Kufic gravestone inscriptions, mainly from the Yazd providence of Iran. The carefully-selected inscriptional sample in this book illustrates the remarkable power and versatility of this early script, and the extent of the global role played by it in shaping societies and cultures of a vast area extending from China to Spai

Contents Include: WRITING AND ILLUMINATING: The Development of Writing - Acquiring a Formal Hand, Tools, Methods, Models, Practice - Manuscript Books - Versal Letters and Coloured Capitals - Black and Red - Laying and Burnishing Gold - The Use of Gold and Colours in Initial Letters and Simple Illumination - A Theory of Illumination - The Development of Illumination - "Design in Illumination" - LETTERING: Good Lettering - Some Methods of Construction and Arrangement - The Roman Alphabet and its Derivatives - Special Subjects - Inscriptions in Stone - Notes on the Collotype Plates - The Collotype Plates

Lettering is a new trend which, in just few months, has collected a wide number of fans around the globe. It is the art of creating wonderful and elegant handmade writings to personalize cards, placeholders, agendas or notes. This manual will guide enthusiasts in the discovery of the ideal techniques, tools and alphabets for creative lettering, and will teach them, step by step, to create their own creative lettering. After the first volume published by White Star, "The art of hand lettering", a new complete volume to develop a personal alphabet as well as mastering a range of fonts perfect for different occasions. Lot of pages to exercise and useful tips for the perfect tools.

Shu pu, completed in 687, and Xu shu pu, written in 1208, are outstanding among early treatises on calligraphy. Chang Ch'ung-ho and Hans H. Frankel introduce and provide translations and annotations for these important texts. The book also includes a facsimile and a transcription of the original Shu pu and a transcription of Xu shu pu (the original is not extant), together with a glossary of calligraphic terms, an appendix of persons mentioned, and a full bibliography. Because the concepts of calligraphy developed in tandem with theories on painting and literature, treatises on these three arts use similar ideas, terms, and images. The treatises in this volume will therefore be of interest to students in all these fields.