Patron Saints: Collecting Stanley Spencer is a revealing new exhibition at the renowned Stanley Spencer Gallery in Cookham - Spencer's spiritual home and major source of inspiration. The exhibition draws together a spectacular collection of loans, including The Centurion's Servant (Tate); Love on the Moor (Fitzwilliam); John Donne Arriving in Heaven, (Fitzwilliam) and one work not seen in the public domain in over 50 years. The exhibition and catalogue examine the often complex relationships between Spencer and his patrons and what drove them to collect his work. Spencer was a single-minded genius, but the influence of his patrons on his painting is far greater than has hitherto been realised. At the turn of the century, collecting art was no longer the preserve of the aristocracy and the upper classes, but Spencer's art appealed to a broad spectrum of art lovers, fellow artists, businessmen and politicians. Many of his patrons lived in Cookham, where he lived and found artistic inspiration, and many of his paintings were influenced by his spiritual feelings for that place. His idiosyncratic and deeply personal approach gave him a wide and enduring appeal, and he was patronised by some of the most important cultural figures and taste-makers of that time. Curator Amanda Bradley comments, "Behind Stanley Spencer, one of the greatest Modern British artists, were a group of individuals who enabled his very existence - both artistically and emotionally. They were not wildly rich, but they were powerful, cultivated, intellectual and artistic. Some bought on spec, others were true patrons, giving him the freedom to fulfil his artistic genius. Most fostered long-lived relationships with the artist, influencing his life and work more than has hitherto been realised. These were the patron saints." Patron Saints: Collecting Stanley Spencer explores the emergence of Spencer as an artistic personality, looking at those who helped him and why he - and his popularity - was a product of the zeitgeist (first half of the twentieth century) characterised by social and economic anxiety.

At the start of the March 2020 lockdown, Ian Beck would walk his greyhound Gracie through the early morning streets of Isleworth in west London, revelling in the light and the silence that the restrictions had brought. The familiar became charged with new meaning, inspiring Ian to paint the scenes around him for their own sake, something that he hadn't done since his student days in the sixties. Suburban streets, trees, fences, shrubs and overgrown alleyways - all are transformed in the quiet intensity of Ian's lockdown paintings. He painted interiors too: the moon shining through a bedroom window, objects on mantelpieces, the eeriness of back gardens at dusk. As the year progressed, the crisp light of spring gave way to the haze of summer and the gloom of autumn fogs. The Light in Suburbia collects sixty of Ian's paintings from this period: a remarkable record of his year spent trying to capture the beauty of the unprepossessing everyday.

The Landscape Painter's Workbook is the definitive hands-on guide to the time-honored techniques and essential elements of landscape painting. Written by celebrated landscape artist, instructor, and author Mitchell Albala, this richly informative and beautifully illustrated volume leads you step by step through his approach to the genre, from establishing a composition using basic shapes to applying time-tested color strategies, with all-new lessons, practical exercises, and special topics, including: The Complete Color Strategy. What are the three aspects of color contrast that guide a painting's strategy? Notan. Explore this special type of compositional study, which identifies the underlying shapes and patterns of a composition. Picture Formats. How does the picture format-horizontal, vertical, or square-affect the composition? What are the pros and cons of each? Color Grouping. A full chapter details this special practice, which helps maintain harmony by organizing colors into a limited number of groups. Composition. An in-depth review of variation, movement, and active negative space, with illustrations that diagram the action in each example. Workshop Exercises. Instead of demonstrations that show how the author paints, The Landscape Painter's Workbook includes 10 skill-building workshop exercises to help you work through essential lessons on your own. With examples of work by 45 contemporary landscape painters-more than 80 paintings in all- in oil, acrylic, pastel, and watercolor, the lessons are suitable for all mediums. Each painting is thoroughly analyzed in terms of shape, composition, or color, with supporting diagrams, thumbnails, and photographs. The Landscape Painter's Workbook inspires and informs all artists, from aspiring to accomplished, on how to successfully portray the majesty and subtlety of the natural world. The For Artists series expertly guides and instructs artists at all skill levels who want to develop their classical drawing and painting skills and create realistic and representational art.

Keep the page in your book with this gorgeous pack of 10 foiled bookmarks, printed on both sides, with a silky ribbon and featuring artwork by Vincent van Gogh. Vincent Van Gogh composed this painting while he was in the Saint-Remy mental asylum, near Arles. The bold use of impasto and the beauty of the towering trees have made this one of his most recognisable works. There are various other versions of the painting, one of which features a closer view of the cypresses painted vertically, as well as a replica of this version that Van Gogh painted for his mother and sister.

Keep the page in your book with this gorgeous pack of 10 foiled bookmarks, printed on both sides, with a silky ribbon and featuring artwork by Vincent van Gogh. Van Gogh painted a series of pictures depicting sunflowers, having first been inspired by the yellow flowers in Paris when he saw them growing in the gardens of Montmartre. Sunflowers were symbolic of life and hope to the artist, and could also be associated with his concept of the sun - glowing, yellow and hopeful.

Keep the page in your book with this gorgeous pack of 10 foiled bookmarks, printed on both sides, with a silky ribbon and featuring artwork by Wilhelm List. Austrian painter Wilhelm List was born in Vienna in 1864. He studied there as well as in Munich and Paris, learning from artists such as Christian Griepenkerl (1839-1912)and William Bouguereau (1825-1903). List co-founded the Vienna Secession with renowned artist Gustav Klimt (1862-1918), exhibiting at the very first Viennese Secession in March 1897. The Secessionists strove to break free of the constraints of the late nineteenth century academic art establishment. List's artwork was a mixture of portraits, landscapes and genre paintings, often with mythological subjects. Magnolia is among List's most well-known works. Its intricate depiction of a beautiful tree in bloom, with a background of still waters has a spiritual quality that evokes a sense of peace.

Keep the page in your book with this gorgeous pack of 10 foiled bookmarks, printed on both sides, with a silky ribbon and featuring artwork by Gustav Klimt. The Kiss is a prime example of Klimt's 'Golden Phase', in which he began to feature especially sumptuous ornamentation on a regular basis in his paintings. The couple in this artwork represent the mystical union of spiritual and erotic love, and the connection of life and the universe.

Master watercolour techniques with this indispensable artist's manual.

Whether you are just starting with watercolour painting or you’re looking to push yourself and try new ideas, Artist's Watercolour Techniques is for you. Learn how to work with a variety of water-based media and discover a range of subject matter from landscapes and urban scenes to botanical paintings and portraits with detailed advice for all levels.

Fully illustrated, step-by-step workshops from professional artists guide you through more than 90 watercolour techniques, including creating a wash, alla prima, glazing, and working in monochrome. All techniques are accompanied by inspiring exercises and projects to try at home to help you develop your skills, discover your style, and grow as an artist.

Whatever your level of expertise, this all-encompassing guide will teach you everything you need to take your art to the next level.

Explores the development of the Pre-Raphaelite movement in the mid 19th century; and works which figure amongst the most lasting and generally propular in British art. Renowned writer and art critic Edward Lucie-Smith contributes a study of the individual artists, their interconnection and previously unpublished material of their intricate links with the social establishment of the time. James Cahill has a special interest in the movement, having studied Dante Gabriel Rosetti and Holman Hunt. He reviews the major exhibition of 150 works at Tate Britain launched in September 2012. 'I think what I want to do is to follow a trail that leads, through many twists and turns, from the religious revival of the early 19th century to Blue Period Picasso, then to Surrealism. It may take in the Children of the Raj and the discovery of Japan along the way. It leads from rather rigid moralism, to conscious immoralism, and then at last to Freud/Dali.' Edward Lucie-Smith 05/2012