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.

Grab your practice book, paint brushes, and discover the beautiful art of watercolor - no experience required! The ultimate beginner's guide, Watercolor Success in Four Steps will teach you how to perfectly paint 150 objects, from fruits and flowers to animals, household items, and more! Understand the basics of watercolor with tried-and-true techniques and create beautiful watercolor paintings in just four simple steps. Each project offers a sample selection of colors to get you started, followed by approachable, step-by-step painting instructions to complete each design. Once you've accomplished each project, you'll be equipped with all the skills and techniques you need to design and create your own watercolor works of art!

Elisabetta Sirani of Bologna (1638-1665) was one of the most innovative and prolific artists of the Bolognese School. Not only a painter, she was also a printmaker and a teacher. Based on extensive archival documentation and primary sources — including inventories, sale catalogues and her work diary — Elisabetta Sirani provides an overview of the life, work, critical fortune and legacy of this successful Baroque artist. Placing her within the context of the post-Tridentine society that both inhibited and supported her, Modesti examines Sirani's influence on many of the artists studying at Bologna's school for professional women artists, as well as her significance in the professionalisation of women’s artistic practice in the seventeenth century. Beautifully illustrated throughout, Elisabetta Sirani focuses on women’s agency. More specifically, it explores Sirani’s identity as both a woman and an artist, including her professional ambition, self-fashioning and literary construction as Bologna’s pre-eminent cultural heroine.

Deborah Solomon's biography sets Jackson Pollock in his time and portrays him as a shy, often withdrawn person, full of insecurities and self-doubts, and frequently unable to express himself about his art or its meaning. Solomon interviewed two hundred people who knew Pollock and his work and she has drawn extensively on Pollock's own writings and other personal papers. She examines the artist's relationships with his family; his wife and fellow artist Lee Krasner; art patron Peggy Guggenheim; the painters Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, and many more.

Airfix has been commercially producing plastic kits since 1952 and its models have been made by successive generations of young boys and men alike. In the 1960s, a talented graphic artist called Roy Cross was commissioned to paint some of the box art for Airfix, and for a ten-year-period he provided many of the glorious paintings seen on the boxes, setting new standards for realism and accuracy. Many are still being used today, a full four decades later. Inside the pages of this book are some of Roy's best artworks, shown here in full format and in superb detail, with many reproduced here in book form for the very first time. As well as his vintage box art, Roy has included many sketches and alternative versions of his Airfix box art. After Roy left Airfix in 1974, the company went through a turbulent time. The present owners are Hornby, who have ambitious plans for Airfix and the other brands it acquired including Scalextric and Corgi. The decade that Roy Cross worked for Airfix, though, could be classed as their vintage era, with some of their finest models being produced then in their millions, ready for eager youngsters to build up into detailed miniature models of their favorite aircraft, ships and locomotives.

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 biodegradable cellobag, and are themed with our art calendars, foiled notebooks and illustrated art books. This example features Monet's Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies. 'All of a sudden,' Monet would one day recall, 'I had the revelation of the enchantment of my pond. I took up my palette...' And the rest is art-history. Again and again - well over 200 times, and often working on an enormous scale - Claude Monet would return to water lilies as his subject.

Diana Armfield RA Hon RWS NEAC has a highly personal attachment to subject and a subtly distinctive affinity with the rhythms of form and tone. These qualities make her an important, influential figure in modern British art - and a very popular one. Flower paintings have brought her wide acclaim, but this book - created to mark her 100th birthday - also richly represents Diana's feeling for landscape and place. Including an inspiring number of more recent works, it brings her fascinating artistic and life story up to date. 'I think I was born making things', Diana comments to Andrew Lambirth, whose absorbing interview with her forms the narrative thread of Diana Armfi eld: A Lyrical Eye. Diana's was a creative childhood steeped in experiments with drawing, pottery and embroidery, played out against the backdrop of a picture-fi lled house, a lovely garden and an artistic family. She studied at Bournemouth, Slade and Central art schools, starting out as a talented textile designer - a legacy that lent her a unique approach to the geometry, cadences and colour qualities of a painting. After organising cultural activities for workers and troops in World War II, Diana became one half of a successful partnership designing textiles and wallpaper, whose work featured in the Festival of Britain in 1951. The 1960s brought a turn to painting and from 1966 Diana has been a regular exhibitor at the prestigious Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. She has continued to paint and draw throughout her life and, as this book clearly demonstrates, always thinks afresh about each subject she tackles in order to respond to it with a close, warm sincerity. Diana Armfi eld: A Lyrical Eye charts Diana's personal and artistic journey with over 200 beautiful reproductions of her work, tracing favourite subjects and events - from a Welsh landscape to an informal fl ower display or the much-loved location of a painting trip in Italy or France. Andrew Lambirth's interview also explores the unique bond with her husband, painter Bernard Dunstan, who died in 2017, looking at how two leading artists interwove their personal and creative lives over a marriage of almost 70 years. As well as this interview, Andrew has contributed an essay on Diana's work to the book. Diana's standing and popularity have led to regular exhibitions, especially at prominent London gallery Browse& Darby. Her work is held in private and public collections worldwide, from London's V&Ato the Yale Center for British Art.

Turner's work is famous throughout the world. He transformed British landscape painting from a minor art to a highly respected one with huge power and range.. This beautifully illustrated guide looks at the man and his influences, and takes a route though Europe and Britain as his artistic life flowers and matures. Look out for more Pitkin Guides on the very best of British art, history, heritage and travel.

A unique portrait of one of the creative geniuses of the 20th century, by the distinguished critic David Sylvester. Controversial in both life and art, Francis Bacon was one of the most important painters of the 20th century. His monumental, unsettling images have an extraordinary power to disturb, shock and haunt the spectator, 'to unlock the valves of feeling and therefore return the onlooker to life more violently'. Drawing on his personal knowledge of Bacon's inspirations, intentions and working methods, David Sylvester surveys the development of the work from 1933 to the early 1990s, and discusses critically a number of its crucial aspects. He also reproduces previously unpublished extracts from his celebrated conversations with Bacon in which the artist speaks about himself, modern painters and the art of the past. Finally, Sylvester gives a brief account of Bacon's life, correcting certain errors that elsewhere have been presented as facts. Divided into the sections 'Review', 'Reflections', 'Fragments of Talk' and 'Biographical Note', Looking Back at Francis Bacon is a unique portrait of one of the creative geniuses of our age by a writer of comparable distinction.

Met die bundel beeldgedigte stel Marlene van Niekerk op ’n oorspronklike en toeganklike manier die minder bekende Nederlandse skilder Jan Mankes (1889-1920) bekend. Sy lewer daarmee nogeens ’n bewys van die vernuwende aard van haar werk. Die bundel bevat ’n dosyn of wat skilderye, in kleur afgedruk, telkens vergesel van ’n beeldgedig in Afrikaans met die Nederlandse vertaling daarvan op die volgende bladsy. Beskryf as “’n poetiese kragtoer”.

Mary Fedden (1915-2012) is one of Britain's most popular artists. The focus of this acclaimed book, newly available in paperback in celebration of her life's achievement, is the artist's creative process in various different media - oil, gouache, pencil and collage.While Fedden is often considered almost exclusively a still-life painter, still life was far from being her only preoccupation, as this book shows. Fantasy and imagination always also played a strong part, as is particularly evident in her small gouaches. A quietly surreal, enigmatic streak runs through much of her work.Fedden's collages are a witty and affectionate homage to the work of her husband, Julian Trevelyan. They lived, worked and travelled together from 1949 to 1988. The book re-emphasises her debt to him, but also her independence, even during their early life together when he stimulated her move into Modernism. In an engaging text, which draws on numerous conversations with the artist during her final years, Christopher Andreae considers why Fedden has always had such a popular following, looks at the English quality of her work, and talks about the commercialisation of her art and her attitudes to the art market. Fedden is shown to be an original, serious and prolific artist, a draftsman of unusual sensitivity and prowess, and a colourist of power and subtlety.Profusely illustrated with works from private and public collections, this is a book for Mary Fedden's existing devotees as well as newcomers to her work.

Bouleau's classic illustrated work examines the essential reliance of European painting tradition on the golden mean and other geometrical patterns. From antiquity to the present, expert painters-including abstract modern masters such as Paul Klee and Jackson Pollock-have conveyed harmony through the mathematics of spatial division, ultimately giving geometry a crucial role as the foundation upon which these classics were built. For over half a century, "The Painter's Secret Geometry" has been a seminal work for students of art history and composition. Now this popular, rich analysis is back in print for today's artists and historians.

Originally a film by British avant-garde filmmaker Nichola Bruce, The Romance of Bricks is a portrait of the artist Liz Finch: a British painter, performer and poet. From her life-changing accident and rural solitude to the mad social whirl of 80s London anarchic performances and up to the present day, The Romance of Bricks sews together archival film over many years to produce an intriguing glimpse into the private world of the artist. Featuring commentary from Jools Holland, Christine Binnie, Jennifer Binnie, John Finch, Brian Clarke, Aubrey Fabing, Richard Strange, Nicola Bateman Bowery, Francesco Brusatin and Martin Harrison alongside an intimate dialogue with the artist herself.

This title leads readers through a series of watercolour technique exercises designed to provide basic grounding in the skills needed for paintings flowers in watercolours. Projects include painting: a single flower, a close-up outdoors, wild flowers in the landscape and more.

Sketchbook Secrets takes the reader into the heart of Moira Huntly's art, showing how she captures images and occasions in her sketchbook, and how she then takes those ideas through to finished paintings. This is a unique opportunity to see the progression of a painting, from field sketch to finished artwork. Throughout the book Moira provides useful insights and tips, showing how artists can make the most creative use of sketches and sketchbooks. Many of the sketches were made on location all over the world; Moira demonstrates the essentials of field sketching and shows how she develops an idea from these sketches. The book is also peppered with delightful anecdotes as Moira tells the stories behind the sketches. Sketchbook Secrets is a book to look at and learn from, and its beautiful pictures will bring readers back time and time again.

The walls of medieval churches were brightly painted with religious imagery and colourful patterns, and although often shadows of their former selves, these paintings are among the most enigmatic art to survive the Middle Ages. This beautifully illustrated book is an ideal introduction to this fascinating subject. It tells the stories behind the paintings and explains their purpose, the subjects they showed, how they were made and by whom, and what happened to these works of art during and after the enormous upheavals of the Reformation. It also compares and contrasts religious and domestic wall paintings and explores modern approaches to their conservation and care. A comprehensive gazetteer provides an invaluable guide to where the best British examples can be seen. Roger Rosewell is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and a leading expert on medieval wall paintings. He is also the Features Editor of Vidimus, the online magazine about medieval stained glass and a professional lecturer and photographer. Educated at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University, he has also written Stained Glass and The Medieval Monastery for Shire.