In Creative Watercolor and Mixed Media, popular watercolor artist, instructor, and author Ana Victoria Calderon shares her simple step-by-step techniques for painting exciting and colorful motifs by combining watercolor with a variety of other user-friendly materials. Start with the essentials-paint, paper, and brushes-then learn about the featured mediums for mixing, including masking fluid, gold leaf, bleach, salt, and alcohol Take a step-by-step look at fundamental watercolor techniques Learn to paint a variety of striking organic motifs and surface effects, including stirring skies and clouds, sparkling galaxies, flowing oceans, and dazzling crystals Find great project ideas for stylish gifts and stationery Whether you're new to the medium or are looking to add new techniques to your watercolor practice, go grab a brush, paints, and some easy-to-use materials and take a beautiful creative journey with watercolor! Perfect for all skill levels, the books in the Art for Modern Makers series take a fun, practical approach to learning about and working with paints and other art mediums to create beautiful DIY projects and crafts.

Still Life is an accessible instruction course for complete beginners to learn how to draw and paint contemporary still-life subjects. Following a concise guide to the tools, materials and basic techniques that every beginner needs to know (including line, tone, colour, composition and perspective), there are ten tutorials showing how to draw and paint a variety of still life subjects using beginner-friendly materials, including pencil, charcoal, coloured pencils, pen and ink, watercolour paints and watercolour pencils. Each tutorial has a list of the materials and tools required, step-by-step photographs of the work, informative text and tips and strategies for getting the best results. By working through the tutorials, you will gradually develop your skills and build confidence until you feel equipped to attempt any still life. In addition to the tutorials, you'll find three 'focus on' feature spreads. These pages offer more in-depth/advanced techniques appropriate to the projects.

Bridget Riley, one of the leading abstract painters of her generation, holds a unique position in contemporary art. She has developed and extended the range of her interests ever since her first success in the 1960s, creating a body of work which is both consistent and highly varied. This volume, now fully revised and updated, reveals the mind behind this remarkable aachievement, drawing together the most important texts and interviews of the last fifty years. Riley's writings show a passionate engagement with her subjects and a great insight paired with a freshness of approach and an exceptional clarity of expression. Quite apart from providing a key to understanding her own work, this book is a fascinating document reflecting the issues and problems facing an artist in the 21st century.

Filling notebook after notebook with sketches, inventions, and theories, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) not only stands as one of the most exceptional draftsmen of art history, but also as a mastermind and innovator who anticipated some of the greatest discoveries of human progress, sometimes centuries before their material realization. From the smallest arteries in the human heart to the far-flung constellations of the universe, Leonardo saw nature and science as being unequivocally connected. His points of inquiry and invention spanned philosophy, anatomy, geology, and mathematics, from the laws of optics, gravitation, heat, and light to the building of a flying machine. In his painting, Leonardo steered art out of the Middle Ages with works such as The Last Supper and the world-famous La Gioconda or Mona Lisa depicting not only physical appearances, but a compelling psychological intrigue and depth which continues to draw crowds of mesmerized visitors to masterpieces in Paris, Milan, Washington, London, and Rome. This book brings together some of Leonardo's most outstanding work to introduce a figure of infinite curiosity, feverish imagination, and sublime artistic ability, often described as having "not enough worlds for to conquer, and not enough lives for to live" (Alan Woods). About the series Born back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the best-selling art book collection ever published. Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Art series features: a detailed chronological summary of the life and oeuvre of the artist, covering his or her cultural and historical importance a concise biography approximately 100 illustrations with explanatory captions

Bestselling artist and writer Hazel Soan delivers a concise and approachable guide to portrait painting, with simple exercises and step-by-step demonstrations.Whether you are using watercolour, oils or acrylic, Learn to Paint Portraits Quickly explains the key elements of catching a likeness in portrait painting in a mixture of mediums. The book is filled with easy-to-follow instructions and step-by-step exercises that can be digested in a short period of time, and written in an accessible way for all artists to learn about portraiture.The key elements of portraiture covered in this concise book include: *Finding the likeness *Creating form - the light and shade *The facial features *Painting the hair *Skin tone and colouring *The body, clothing and backgroundIllustrated with Hazel's magnificent, colourful paintings, and with practical advice and demonstrations throughout, this book is the perfect tool to help beginners master portrait painting - quickly.

This book undertakes a critical reappraisal of Minimalism through an examination of three key painters: Robert Mangold, David Novros, and Jo Baer. By establishing their substantive engagements with Minimalist discourse, as well as their often overlooked artistic exchanges with their sculptor peers, it demonstrates that painting crucially informed the movement's development, serving not only as an object of critique but also as a crucible for its most central tenets. It also poses broader disciplinary implications as it historicizes and challenges Minimalism's "death of painting" critiques that have been so influential to theories of modernism and postmodernism in the visual arts.

Renowned botanical artist and professional gardener, Carolyn Jenkins combines her love of art and gardening to create stunning compositions (often very different from traditional botanical painting) with vibrant colours that leap from the page.The first part of this book - Botanical: Grow - explores time well-spent in the garden and covers much of the traditional details of botanical painting, from observation to capturing light, colour and texture. The second part - Contemporary: Paint - explores how Carolyn works with photography, using the computer to help with crop and composition, achieving maximum impact and creating luminous paintings that shine from the page. Her stunning illustrations are full of vibrant colour, and her larger-than-life artworks have gained an enthusiastic following on Instagram.This practical guide contains all the techniques and practice you need to create beautiful botanical art, plus step-by-step photography, crop, composition and photoshop demonstrations, to bring luminous colours, textures and impact to your own work.

This book is an exploration of how art-specifically paintings in the European manner-can be mobilized to make knowledge claims about the past. No type of human-made tangible thing makes more complex and bewildering demands in this respect than paintings. Ivan Gaskell argues that the search for pictorial meaning in paintings yields limited results and should be replaced by attempts to define the point of such things, which is cumulative and ever subject to change. He shows that while it is not possible to define what art is-other than being an open kind-it is possible to define what a painting is, as a species of drawing, regardless of whether that painting is an artwork or not at any given time. The book demonstrates that things can be artworks on some occasions but not necessarily on others, though it is easier for a thing to acquire artwork status than to lose it. That is, the movement of a thing into and out of the artworld is not symmetrical. All such considerations are properly matters not of ontology-what is and what is not an artwork-but of use; that is, how a thing might or might not function as an artwork under any given circumstances. These considerations necessarily affect the approach to paintings that at any given time might be able to function as an artwork or might not be able to function as such. Only by taking these factors into account can anyone make viable knowledge about the past. This lively discussion ranges over innumerable examples of paintings, from Rembrandt to Rothko, as well as plenty of far less familiar material from contemporary Catholic devotional works to the Chinese avant garde. Its aim is to enhance philosophical acuity in respect of the analysis of paintings, and to increase their amenability to philosophically satisfying historical use. Paintings and the Past is a must-read for all advanced students and scholars concerned with philosophy of art, aesthetics, historical method, and art history.

A FLAME TREE NOTEBOOK. Beautiful and luxurious the journals combine high-quality production with magnificent art. Perfect as a gift, and an essential personal choice for writers, notetakers, travellers, students, poets and diarists. Features a wide range of well-known and modern artists, with new artworks published throughout the year. BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED. The highly crafted covers are printed on foil paper, embossed then foil stamped, complemented by the luxury binding and rose red end-papers. The covers are created by our artists and designers who spend many hours transforming original artwork into gorgeous 3d masterpieces that feel good in the hand, and look wonderful on a desk or table. PRACTICAL, EASY TO USE. Flame Tree Notebooks come with practical features too: a pocket at the back for scraps and receipts; two ribbon markers to help keep track of more than just a to-do list; robust ivory text paper, printed with lines; and when you need to collect other notes or scraps of paper the magnetic side flap keeps everything neat and tidy. THE ARTIST. The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew has a gallery dedicated to the paintings of the remarkable Victorian artist Marianne North, who had a great eye for botanical detail. THE FINAL WORD. As William Morris said, "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

A Beginner's Guide to Chinese Brush Painting teaches this ancient art form in an easy-to-understand way--no prior experience necessary! As one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world, Chinese brush painting has been used for thousands of years to create images that harness the imagination, and capture the inner spirit of a subject--be it an animal, landscape or tree. All you need for this simple, but beautiful, art form is black watercolor paint, white paper, a brush and some creativity! An introduction tells you about the history of brush painting, and also gives tips for holding your brush, achieving different shades and collecting your materials. After that, the book takes you step-by-step through more than 35 hands-on activities--including basic strokes, putting them together to create an object or scene, the importance of leaving open space and even writing some Chinese calligraphy. With the help of this book, artists of all ages can learn to paint: Bamboo stalks, branches and leaf clusters A knotted pine tree and its delicate needles A snail with a spiral shell and little body peeking out from underneath A waterfall gliding down the side of a mountain And much more! You'll find that this activity will help you learn to center your mind and thoughts, and your masterpieces will be inspiring decorations or great gifts for friends and family. Get started learning this "soft martial art!"

Learn simple step-by-step techniques for drawing and embellishing the exciting, inspiring, and beautiful motifs of sacred geometry. In Creative Drawing: Symbols and Sacred Geometry, artist, instructor, and author Ana Victoria Calderon takes you on an inner voyage of creative discovery. Learn how sacred geometry has been practiced and celebrated by cultures all over the world and influenced artists throughout history, including Leonardo da Vinci Start with the essentials-compass drawing with graphite pencils on paper-then explore the featured mediums for embellishing, including colored pencils, watercolor, inks, and other easy-to-use mediums Take a step-by-step look at fundamental drawing techniques for a variety of universal motifs, starting with the simple circle and building to more complex motifs, including the Yin Yang symbol, the Tree of Life, the Torus, and the Vortex Learn to paint a variety of stunning effects and find great project ideas for creating amazing images The study and creation of sacred geometry inspires the imagination and provokes reflection. So grab your pencils and take a beautiful creative journey with drawing! Perfect for creative beginners, the books in the Art for Modern Makers series take a fun, practical approach to learning about and working with paints and other art mediums to create beautiful DIY projects and crafts.

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.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) was one of the last great artists in the ukiyo-e tradition. Literally meaning "pictures of the floating world," ukiyo-e was a particular genre of art that flourished between the 17th and 19th centuries and came to characterize the Western world's visual idea of Japan. In many ways images of hedonism, ukiyo-e scenes often represented the bright lights and attractions of Edo (modern-day Tokyo): beautiful women, actors and wrestlers, city life, and spectacular landscapes. Though he captured a variety of subjects, Hiroshige was most famous for landscapes, with a final masterpiece series known as "One Hundred Famous Views of Edo" (1856-1858), which depicted various scenes of the city through the seasons, from bustling shopping streets to splendid cherry orchards. This reprint is made from one of the finest complete original sets of woodblock prints belonging to the Ota Memorial Museum of Art in Tokyo. It pairs each of the 120 illustrations with a description, allowing readers to immerse themselves in these beautiful, vibrant vistas that became paradigms of Japonisme and inspired Impressionist, Post-Impressionist and Art Nouveau artists alike, from Vincent van Gogh to James McNeill Whistler. About the series Bibliotheca Universalis - Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe!

Painting flowers has a long and rich tradition in China, having evolved out of the classic bird-and-flower style to become its own distinct genre of painting. Tracing its history and evolution through centuries of artistic endeavor this amazingly researched book leaves no stone unturned. With chapters following the sequence of the four seasons, it brings to life the historical relevance of the most popular flowers by season as well as the most famous painters and their representative works, providing context and perspective on the development of this unique style. The book concludes with 80 exquisite flower paintings, masterworks of time and place selected as among the most beautiful and culturally important paintings of ancient China.

The first major illustrated study of this unique medieval art form for almost half a century, surveying the images and iconography that made the medieval church a riot of colour. Highly Commended in the Best Archaeological Book category of the 2008 British Archaeological Awards. Wall paintings are a unique art form, complementing, and yet distinctly separate from, other religious imageryin churches. Unlike carvings, or stained glass windows, their support was the structure itself, with the artist's "canvas" the very stone and plaster of the church. They were also monumental, often larger than life-size images forpublic audiences. Notwithstanding their dissimilarity from other religious art, wall paintings were also an integral part of church interiors, enhancing devotional imagery and inspiring faith and commitment in their own right, and providing an artistic setting for the church's sacred rituals and public ceremonies. This book brings together, often for the first time, many of the very best surviving examples of medieval church wall paintings. Using newtechnologies and many previously untried techniques, it allows us to visualize these images as the artists originally intended. The plates are accompanied by an authoritative and scholarly text, bringing the imagery and iconography of the medieval church vividly to life. ROGER ROSEWELL was educated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University. A former journalist, he is a Director of a private European art foundation and the news editor of the online stained glass magazine, VIDIMUS.

The spiritually inspired pictures of Agnes Pelton (1881-1961) have their roots in the desert of California, a place where the artist settled in 1932 and where she lived until her death. She wrote of her highly symbolic paintings that her pictures were "like little windows", which opened up a view into the interior, her "message of light to the world". In the 1920s Agnes Pelton started to explore abstract painting, because this offered her the possibility of translating esoteric topics into pictures as well as interpreting earth and light in a spiritual way. Like her fellow-artist Georgia O'Keeffe, Pelton deliberately turned her back on the art scene of the East Coast. She was celebrated for her abstract compositions: "... it is simply an oasis of beauty for the eye", was how American Art News eulogised her work. After her death Pelton's work disappeared from the public focus for a long time; today her important artistic contribution to American modernism is acknowledged once more.

Dana combines beautiful art, the relaxing nature of watercolour and step-by-step guidance so readers can learn to make her incredible artwork. This book will feature 50 whimsical, forest-themed projects - like a feather, fox, butterfly, wild flower, bumblebee or an owl. Like an art teacher in a studio, Dana walks the reader through each step of creating the paintings. Each project features a new technique to master that readers can integrate into their own pieces. This book will be printed on high-quality watercolour paper so that new techniques can be tested in the tutorial sections and the watercolours will blend effortlessly on every page. With perforated pages, readers will be able to hang their completed masterpiece on the wall. Dana has 118K followers on Instagram, 65K on YouTube and 16K on Facebook. This book will have 50 projects.

This book offers microhistories related to the transnational circulations of impressionism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The contributors rethink the role of "French" impressionism in shaping these iterations by placing France within its global and imperialist context and arguing that impressionisms might be framed through the mobility studies' concept of "constellations of mobility." Artists engaging with impressionism in France, as in other global contexts, relied on, responded to, appropriated, and resisted elements of form and content based on fluid and interconnected political realities and market structures. Written by scholars and curators, the chapters demand reconsideration of impressionism as a historical construct and the meanings assigned to that term. This project frames future discussion in art history, cultural studies, and global studies on the politics of appropriating impressionism.

Drawing on recent research by established and emerging scholars of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century art, this volume reconsiders the art and architecture produced after 1563 across the conventional geographic borders. Rather than considering this period a degraded afterword to Renaissance classicism or an inchoate proto-Baroque, the book seeks to understand the art on its own terms. By considering artists such as Federico Barocci and Stefano Maderno in Italy, Hendrick Goltzius in the Netherlands, Antoine Caron in France, Francisco Ribalta in Spain, and Bartolomeo Bitti in Peru, the contributors highlight lesser known "reforms" of art from outside the conventional centers. As the first text to cover this formative period from an international perspective, this volume casts new light on the aftermath of the Renaissance and the beginnings of "Baroque."

Bold Exciting Powerful A new level of artistic expression! Every artist strives to achieve the kind of painting that commands attention from across the room and delights the eye up close. In this book, artist and workshop teacher Patti Mollica walks you through surprisingly simple and efficient strategies for achieving that kind of powerful composition, whatever your subject. Complete with timed exercises and start-to-finish painting demonstrations, this book is for any artist who feels overwhelmed by where to start or daunted by the urge to paint everything in sight. Patti Mollica's mindful approach will lead you to better, bolder results, as well as greater confidence and joy in the process. So load your palette with ample paint, grab some fat brushes and get ready to paint fast, paint loose, paint bold. Start with a strong, simple value statement Get expressive with color Be brave with your brushwork 5 technique exercises 5 start-to-finish painting demonstrations Paint fearlessly!

Learn how to combine delicate watercolor illustrations with expressive hand lettering to create beautiful art and gifts. Self-taught artist Tanja Poeltl shares the tips, tricks and know-how she's learned on her creative journey so that you can fast-track your skills. Discover the materials you'll need in terms of watercolor paints, brushes, paper and pens, then get started with Tanja's exercises to learn the basic techniques of hand lettering and watercolor painting. In the Hand Lettering Know-How section you will start with some warm up exercises and practice letters, before learning faux calligraphy, bounce lettering, joining letters and more. In the Watercolor Know-How section you will learn how to handle the brush, and gain color knowledge as well as an understanding of tonal values, transparency and opacity, and learn how to create your own unique color palette. 20 amazing step-by-step painting and lettering projects then help you put your skills in action with ideas for a myriad of different applications. Create a moodboard, inspirational cards, seasonal gift boxes, a botanical table runner, a plant journal, floral greetings cards, fruity jar labels, posters, hoop art, party stationery, a birth poster, milestone cards, a height chart, recipe cards, an illustrated ABC, box frames, 3D flowers, and more - all beautifully illustrated in a modern yet timeless style. These inspiring projects are so varied and interesting, and will undoubtedly spark ideas for all sorts of other ways you can use watercolor and hand lettering together to create beautiful yet easy art. Even if you are a total beginner, this book will kickstart your creative journey with watercolor and hand lettering, showing you the techniques and giving you fun projects to try them out on. This accessible guide to easy watercolour and hand lettering techniques will teach you everything you need to make art that makes you happy! Self-taught and full of enthusiasm for experimentation artist Tanja Poeltl is your teacher and guide. She's taught thousands of beginners to find their creative voice through her workshops and classes, and can't wait to help you on your journey into the wonderful world of watercolor and hand lettering.

Following the success of The Anomie Review of Contemporary British Painting in 2018, a second volume has been created to showcase more than sixty solo exhibitions that have defined contemporary painting in Britain since the first volume. This new, larger anthology presents the work of sixty artists born or living in Britain through documentation and discussion of solo exhibitions of their work in museums and galleries around Britain and internationally. Featuring artists at different stages of their careers, from senior figures exhibiting at major museums to emerging artists staging some of their first commercial gallery exhibitions, The Anomie Review of Contemporary British Painting 2 offers an overview of recent activity in the medium of painting in Britain. Artists and venues featured in this new volume include Hurvin Anderson at Rat Hole Gallery, Tokyo; Lisa Brice at Stephen Friedman Gallery, London; Gareth Cadwallader at Josh Lilley, London; Denzil Forrester at Nottingham Contemporary; Sophie von Hellermann at Pilar Corrias, London; Matthew Krishanu at Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham; Joy Labinjo at BALTIC, Gateshead; France-Lise McGurn at Simon Lee, London; Benjamin Senior at BolteLang, Zurich; Anj Smith at MOSTYN, Llandudno; Tim Stoner at Modern Art, London; and Phoebe Unwin at Towner Eastbourne. The anthology, which features cover artwork by Jade Fadojutimi from her spring 2019 solo exhibition at PEER, London, has been compiled and written by London-based editor and writer Matt Price, who in addition to editing more than fifty monographs, catalogues and books including Phaidon's international anthologies of painting and drawing Vitamin P2 and D2, has written for magazines such as Art Monthly, Art Quarterly, ArtReview, Flash Art, Frieze and Modern Painters. Endorsements for the first volume of The Anomie Review of Contemporary British Painting: "This insightful, richly illustrated anthology is a celebration of an artistic medium that is not only surviving but positively thriving. In discussing the work of [...] diverse painters, author Matt Price proves a passionate and engaging artworld guide to British painting today." - Helen Sumpter, Editor, Art Quarterly, ART FUND "It is hard to believe that nobody has thought to publish an anthology of this sort before, so valuable is it to current and future curators, artists and scholars, as well as audiences interested in the medium. A highly enjoyable read." - Charlotte Keenan McDonald, Curator of British Art, Walker Art Gallery / National Museums Liverpool.

This publication accompanied a 2018 exhibition by the British painter and printmaker Christopher Le Brun. The body of work explored here develops his long-standing interest in the 'double' - conceptual and embodied duality. The arresting diptychs and single paintings provide a direct continuation of his series of prints Composer (2017), which explores the musical form of distinct yet related movements and the essentially layered structure of both painting and music. Working directly on the woodcut proofs, these new oil paintings extend Le Brun's lifelong preoccupation with colour - in his words, 'experiencing rather than seeing a property of the world we delight in for itself' - and represent radical experiments in the juxtaposition of colour, tone, transparency and form. The book features an essay by exhibition curator Anna Dempster exploring dualities across a number of disciplines.

An illustrated exploration of the artist, Rembrandt van Rijn, his life and context, with a gallery of 300 of his finest works. This is a fascinating biography that explores his early years, his personal life and the historical context of the early 17th century. It analyzes his creative progress and the artistic influences that led him to develop his work from the grand Baroque to a less exuberant style.