Artists use sketchbooks for a myriad of purposes - to capture a moment, to develop an idea, to record a scene... This book advises on how to enjoy keeping a sketchbook and how to make the most of their use. With practical examples throughout, it is a beautiful and valuable guide that will inspire you to pick up a pencil or brush, mark the page and start your own visual diary. Topics covered include looking at different types of sketchbooks - their size, theme and purpose; ideas for drawing and painting in a sketchbook inside, outside or while travelling and advice on professional sketchbooks and scrapbooks.

This beautiful and extensively illustrated catalogue presents in-depth case studies of twenty-four rare and remarkable Late Medieval panel paintings, many from the German-speaking regions of Europe, but also from Spain, France and the Southern Netherlands. These works - often fragments of larger altarpieces designed for liturgical performance and communal or private devotion - can be monumental and dramatic or small and intimate, but all on close examination prove to be rich in meaning - even in cases where the painters remain anonymous, and the precise contexts of their creation have become obscured or fragmented. The collected essays will encompass a broad spectrum of artistic styles, techniques, and interests, including in some instances the works' original frames, and the attendant meanings they give to the imagery housed within. The group will also be augmented by a rare and important small-scale tapestry altarpiece with close links to panel painting. The inclusion of such a piece, one of the many newly resurfaced works to be included in the catalogue, will offer an innovative approach to the scholarship of Medieval paintings, and enrich our understanding of the cross-pollination of ideas between mediums and the role played by painters in tapestry production at the turn of the sixteenth century. The book, a follow-up to Susie Nash's important 2011 catalogue, considers the physical history, original form, condition and technique of the assembled works, using wood analysis and dendrochronology, paint samples, infra-red, x-rays and macro photography to document the materials and methods involved in their making and the alterations and transformations they have undergone with time. This new information is combined with close readings of their imagery and its presentation to explore issues of meaning, creative process, patronal intervention and artistic intention, leading in many cases to new reconstructions, attributions, dates and iconographic readings. The text is extensively illustrated with a series of images of all of the works, along with technical photographs and comparative material.

Sunday Times Art Book of the Year 2018 'If you are interested in modern British art, the book is unputdownable. If you are not, read it.' - Grey Gowrie, Financial Times 'All the good stories, and more, are here ... this is a genuinely encyclopaedic work, unlike anything else I have come across on the topic, informed by a deep love and understanding of modern painting. Everybody interested in the subject should read it.' - Andrew Marr, Sunday Times A masterfully narrated account of painting in London from the Second World War to the 1970s, illustrated throughout with documentary photographs and works of art The development of painting in London from the Second World War to the 1970s is the story of interlinking friendships, shared experiences and artistic concerns among a number of acclaimed artists, including Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach, David Hockney, Bridget Riley, Gillian Ayres, Frank Bowling and Howard Hodgkin. Drawing on extensive first-hand interviews, many previously unpublished, with important witnesses and participants, the art critic Martin Gayford teases out the thread connecting these individual lives, and demonstrates how painting thrived in London against the backdrop of Soho bohemia in the 1940s and 1950s and 'Swinging London' in the 1960s. He shows how, influenced by such different teachers as David Bomberg and William Coldstream, and aware of the work of contemporaries such as Jackson Pollock as well as the traditions of Western art from Piero della Francesca to Picasso and Matisse, the postwar painters were allied in their confidence that this ancient medium, in opposition to photography and other media, could do fresh and marvellous things. They asked the question 'what can painting do?' and explored in their diverse ways, but with equal passion, the possibilities of paint.

The papers in this volume, presented at an ICON Paintings Group conference at the National Portrait Gallery, London, confront some of the problems encountered in the restoration of paintings including: the practical application of materials; reversibility and long-term performance; the properties required of an adhesive and the properties of some of the materials commonly used as consolidants/adhesives.

The Japanese artist Kawanabe Kyosai (1831-1889) was celebrated for his exciting impromptu performances at calligraphy and painting parties. Dynamic, playful and provocative, Kyosai delighted his audience with spontaneous and speedy paintings of demons, skeletons, deities and Buddhist saints. These were often satirical, reflecting a time of political and cultural change in Japan. Among his most charming and inventive works are his brilliant depictions of animals, which humorously play the roles of protagonists of modern life. Kyosai's important place in Japanese art is here explored in depth by Sadamura Koto, a leading authority on the artist, in this catalogue of the exceptionally rich holdings of the Israel Goldman Collection.

Build your watercolor skills with confidence with these 25 beautiful and beginner-friendly new projects on premium watercolor paper!

This easy-to-use watercolor workbook is filled with unique and beautiful flower and nature sketches that are ready for you to watercolor--no drawing skills required! Each page is specially designed with simple step-by-step instructions so you can easily and confidently paint each project and create artwork that matches the quality of the author's example.

Watercolor Workbook features:

• An introduction to fundamental watercolor techniques
• 25 projects on thick, 200 gsm premium watercolor art paper—no color bleed-through!
• Easy-to-follow instructions that can be completed in 30 minutes or less
• Beautiful floral and plant artwork, including: wild roses, poppies, sunflowers, buttercups, dandelions, and more
• Easy-to-follow instructions, including suggested paint and paintbrush materials, so you can start painting today

Artist and author Sarah Simon, a.k.a. @themintgardener, has taught thousands of people how to paint with watercolor. Her first book Modern Watercolor Botanicals provides everything you need to know about the art of watercolor and, now in this new workbook, Simon offers 25 watercolor projects that you can sit down and enjoy painting today!

Mere clothing is transformed into desirable fashion by the way it is represented in imagery. Fashion's Double examines how meanings are projected onto garments through their representation, whether in painting, photography, cinema or online fashion film, conveying identity and status, eliciting fascination and desire. With in-depth case studies including the work of Nick Knight and Helmut Newton, film examples such as The Hunger Games, music video Girl Panic by Duran Duran, and much more, this book analyses the interrelationship between clothing, identity, embodiment, representation and self-representation. Written for students and scholars alike, Fashion's Double will appeal to anyone studying fashion, cultural studies, art theory and history, photography, sociology, and film.

This book explores images of Venice in the written and visual art of the multitalented American writer, painter, lecturer, and engineer Francis Hopkinson Smith (1838-1915). A successful artist and intrepid traveller, F. Hopkinson Smith spent every summer in Venice for almost twenty years: his stays in the Italian city resulted in a large output of watercolours and writings, including his popular travelogue Venice of To-Day (1895), which featured over 200 illustrations by Smith himself. Despite Smith's popularity during his lifetime, his reputation as a writer and painter faded after his death and has occupied only a modest place in the American canon. This is the first scholarly work to examine the life and work of this unique American artist, whose legacy spans two centuries and was grounded in the enduringly popular fin-de-siecle. This book examines Smith's literary and visual perception of Venice while illuminating the life and works of this multifaceted artist, whose works are highly illustrative of the era's mainstream American culture and its perception of foreign spaces.

Joan Eardley (1921-1963) is one of Scotland's most admired artists. During a career that lasted barely fifteen years, she concentrated on two very distinct themes: children in the Townhead area of central Glasgow, and the fishing village of Catterline, just south of Aberdeen, with its leaden skies and wild sea. The contrast between this urban and rural subject matter is self-evident, but the two are not, at heart, so very different. Townhead and Catterline were home to tight-knit communities, living under extreme pressure: Townhead suffered from overcrowding and poverty, and Catterline from depopulation brought about by the declining fishing industry. Eardley was inspired by the humanity she found in both places. These two intertwining strands are the focus of this book, which looks in detail at Eardley's working processes. Her method can be traced from rough sketches and photographs through to pastel drawings and large oil paintings. Identifying many of Eardley's subjects and drawing on unpublished letters, archival records and interviews, the authors provide a new and remarkably detailed account of Eardley's life and art.

Dutch painter Piet Mondrian died in New York City in 1944, but his work and legacy have been far from static since then. From market pressures to personal relationships and scholarly agendas, posthumous factors have repeatedly transformed our understanding of his oeuvre. In "The Afterlife of Piet Mondrian", Nancy J. Troy explores the controversial circumstances under which our conception of the artist's work has been shaped since his death, an account that describes money-driven interventions and personal and professional rivalries in forthright detail. Troy reveals how collectors, curators, scholars, dealers and the painter's heirs all played roles in fashioning Mondrian's legacy, each with a different reason for seeing the artist through a particular lens. She shows that our appreciation of his work is influenced by how it has been conserved, copied, displayed, and publicized, and she looks at the popular appeal of Mondrian's instantly recognizable style in fashion, graphic design, and a vast array of consumer commodities. Ultimately, Troy argues that we miss the evolving significance of Mondrian's work if we examine it without regard for the interplay of canonical art and popular culture. A fascinating investigation into Mondrian's afterlife, this book casts new light on how every artist's legacy is constructed as it circulates through the art world and becomes assimilated into the larger realm of visual experience.

Sold in packs of 6. Gorgeous, foiled, handmade greeting cards, blank inside and shrink-wrapped with a gold envelope. Themed with our art calendars, foiled notebooks and illustrated art books. Our greeting cards are printed on FSC paper and wrapped in biodegradeable cellobag, and are themed with our art calendars, foiled notebooks and illustrated art books. This example features Hokusai's The Great Wave. The most notable period in Hokusai's artistic life was the latter part of his career, beginning in 1830 when he was 70 years old. He began the series of landscapes he is most famous for: 'Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji', which included The Great Wave, off Kanagawa, probably his most iconic image.

Taking its lead from W.H. Hunt's watercolour The Head Gardener, c. 1825, that is part of The Courtauld Gallery's permanent collection, this focused display will be first to investigate Hunt's depiction of rural figures in his work of the 1820s and 1830s. Consisting of twenty drawings borrowed from collections across the United Kingdom, William Henry Hunt: Country People will bring together watercolours depicting country people in their working or living environments, from farmer and gamekeeper to stonebreaker and gleaner. The representation of these country men, women and children, closely observed, raises questions about their status and way of life at a time of rapid agricultural and social change. These profound changes are also reflected in the literature of the period. William Henry Hunt was one of the most admired watercolourists of the 19th century. Better known as `Bird's Nest Hunt' for his intricate still lives of flowers, fruit and birds' eggs, he exhibited prolifically at the Old Water Colour Society. His works were sought after by collectors, notably John Ruskin, a serious champion of his work.' William Henry Hunt: Country People is the latest in a series of books accompanying critically acclaimed Courtauld displays, which showcase aspects of the gallery's outstanding permanent collection.