It's an ancient art, dating as far back as Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, and today is enjoying a revival. Here is the first comprehensive guide available on mastering this beautiful yet demanding medium. In The Art of Encaustic Painting, readers will learn surefire ways to achieve vibrant color and create surfaces that look as light as a wash or as densely textured as impasto. They will see how to produce effects from abstract to figurative to minimal. Finally, they will discover dozens of clear, step-by-step directions detailing how to use these various encaustic techniques in their own art. This remarkable reference also includes 200 attractive full-color photographs of the author's own work, as well as stunning examples by such premier encaustic artists as Jasper Johns, Arthur Dove, and Nancy Graves.

    This beautifully illustrated guide will not only enhance your understanding of how to bring out the best in every woman, but also sharpen your photography skills in order to capture her successfully. Whether shooting with a pro model, plain-Jane, curvy gal, or soccer mom, Christa gets to know her subject intimately in order to help her look and feel beautiful, sexy, and confident. Christa shares her personal tips and techniques throughout the entire process, creating an amazing experience that produces photographs packed with emotion. She covers every step in creating a successful boudoir shoot, including how to prepare a subject who has never posed before, coaching sensual movement, beautiful lighting setups with minimal equipment, how to flatter every figure, and more. With "Before and After" profiles and "Do and Don't" scenarios throughout, essential lists, practical tips for male photographers, metadata for every shot, as well as post-processing techniques in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, this book offers clear and inspiring instruction. The Art of Boudoir Photography is about transformation. It's about cultivating sex appeal and enthusiastic positivity. It's that jolt of confidence and bolt of sexual prowess to tease out of your subject. It's for each woman to recognize her individual beauty, provide an opportunity for her to break through her comfort zone, honor her body, and celebrate femininity. For photographers with varying levels of experience, this book is for you-to appreciate and embrace boudoir photography, enhance your understanding of what it is, what it can do for women, and most importantly, how to have fun with it!

    So when a strange woman turns up with promises of a new life in Liverpool, she is thrilled.Warm-hearted and kind, Phyl is everything she wants in a stepmother. But then Lizzie falls in love with the one man who should have been out of bounds. Should she follow her heart and risk losing it all? From the author of A Sister’s Duty and Lily’s War (Note: previously published as Going Home to Liverpool)

    After living the double life for over five years she decides to quit the business. Unfortunately, her epiphany may have come too late when she finds herself in a compromising situation. Suddenly the lavish lifestyle didn’t look as glamourous as it once did. She reflects on her life while death may only be a few feet away.

    His mission was to retrieve an important package and get it to a secret military base in northern California. He was hundreds of miles inside alien held territory with no heavy weapons, no support, no Intel on the aliens, and no way to report the mission was a bust. Between him and the secret base stood the Sierra Nevada Mountain, four hundred miles of treacherous road and an unknown number of world destroying aliens. Any transport was immidiately attacked and destroyed, so the only way to get there was to walk. To even think about taking these women on a four hundred mile yomp was crazy at best, and completely insane knowing winter would catch them before they reached their goal. But ever the perennial sheepdog he didn't have a choice. It was either leave them to their fate, or take them with him. The only way to do that was to teach them. Not only survive, but to turn these inexperienced civilians into a snarling, battle hardened 'Wolf Pack', willing and able to take down the assorted bad guys and aliens that stood in their path. In the SAS, he'd done some crazy thing, and if there was a kindly God who looked after little children, fools and village idiots, John ‘Wolfman’ Decker hoped he was paying special attention right about now, because he was the biggest village idiot of them all.Cover Artist: Jesus Condi

    Life has always been hard, and now she and her little brother Billy are left homeless and alone. But Grace must put her grief and fear aside, and think practically. Accepting a job as companion to the wealthy, lonely Mrs Spencer means that she and Billy have a roof over their heads, but just as Grace starts to find her feet disaster strikes again. Things look desperate, and when she is offered marriage and the good life for herself and Billy, Grace is tempted. But is her suitor to be trusted? Or is she, in her search for safety for her little family, flying too close to the sun?

    However, Her Dirty Little Secrets 2 will be released on May 1st! *** Pierce is young, beautiful, intelligent and seemingly perfect. A promising young medical student with a passion for helping others, she's trying desperately to forget the abuse of her past by selflessly serving others. Her life is going as planned until she meets Gabe, a handsome street-smart businessman who sweeps her off her feet. In the midst of their love affair, the pair soon learn that blood is thicker than water, lust is a weapon more deadly than any bullet, jealousy is a potent poison and money is truly the root of all evil. They each hold secrets of their own that could ruin their relationship and change their lives forever. As friends become foes, the past comes back for a second chance and secrets are revealed, can their love pass the test when skeletons start to come out of the closet?

    Big trouble. And she was going to clean it off if it was the last thing she'd do... which it was looking like it very well might be. Daisy had a simple rule for space travel. Don't blow up. So far she'd been managing to abide by that, but something was very much not right. With the powerful AI supercomputer guiding the craft beginning to show some disconcerting quirks of its own, and its unsettling cyborg assistant nosing into her affairs, Daisy’s unease was rapidly growing, as was her bigotry toward artificially intelligent beings. Add to the mix a crew of mechanically-enhanced humans, any one of whom she suspected might not be what they seemed, and Daisy found herself with a sense of pending dread tickling the periphery of her mind. Something was very much not right––she could feel it in her bones. The tricky part now was going to be overcoming her biases and figuring out what the threat was, before it could manifest from a mere sinking feeling in her gut into a potentially deadly reality. Only things were far different and far worse than she could ever have imagined, forcing her to repeatedly adjust and overcome a reality that turned out to be far from what it had originally seemed. The complete series set of all five of the Clockwork Chimera books: 1. Daisy's Run 2. Pushing Daisy 3. Daisy's Gambit 4. Chasing Daisy 5. Daisy's War A space opera adventure featuring damaged spaceships, rogue artificial intelligence, homicidal cyborgs, mechanically-enhanced humans, genetic engineering, nanotech, and, of course, bloodthirsty aliens.

    Rachel was no different. She juggled her many roles and responsibilities well and rewarded herself with wine at the end of each day; after all, she deserved it. But, gradually her wine intake began to increase each night and soon it had gone from being a little treat to an absolute necessity. As wine invaded more and more areas of her life, it became harder to cope. In turn it meant she drank more wine, firmly believing it was the cure, never considering for a moment that it could be the problem. Eventually, when wine was dictating everything she did and did not do, Rachel realised that something had to change. However, as soon as she attempted to restrict or moderate her drinking, she seemed to want it even more. Her best intentions fell quickly by the way side after the first bottle was opened and the first drink took control, compelling her to have more. Drinking would continue until there was none left or Rachel 'fell asleep'. The following day consisted of a hangover, depression, overeating, remorse, worry, despair and self-hatred, until the time came around when the next bottle could be opened and these awful feelings could be blotted out. This pattern of trying and failing to control her wine drinking brought Rachel to acknowledge that it was not possible to do so, and she decided that she had to remove alcohol from her life forever. Despite being sick and tired of the drinking-hangover-drinking cycle of failure, giving up was not easy and it was only after a few more failed attempts that Rachel managed to do so. This book details her life in that first year of going alcohol-free. It describes in detail how her everyday pursuits became challenging and changing. Her outlook on the whole point of life turned on its axis when alcohol was removed, leaving her with a whole different sense of self and being. The changes that occurred were astounding and beyond anything she believed could be possible. She thought that removing alcohol from her life was all about giving up; she had never considered what she might gain.

     A collection of SEVEN full-length romances with HEAs and no cliffhangers, plus exclusive bonus chapters, featuring the couples from all seven stories that are included in the box set. BABY FOR MY BROTHER'S FRIEND It was supposed to be a one-night stand. Until I missed a period, and then two... Yeah. I’m pregnant. With a stranger’s baby. KNOCKED UP My prim-and-proper assistant has a dirty, dirty mind. I found her steamy writing on my computer. Now all I can think about is re-enacting the “good parts” of her story. But I don't sh*t where I eat. She's off-limits. Until I realize I need a baby — and she’d be the perfect surrogate. AGAIN My dad said the boy was trouble, and I didn't listen. Now, years after Aiden broke my heart, he suddenly reappears — everywhere. He shows up in the strangest places. I can't seem to escape him. Worse still, I don't want to. Even if I still hate what the boy did. I’m afraid I’m falling all over again for the man he's become. ROYAL BEAST Life’s not a fairy tale, and princes don't fall for bookish virgins like me. MY BROTHER'S FRIEND, THE DOM I started out with good intentions, I swear. I promised my best friend I’d protect his sister from a dark secret. Then I see her — all grown up, gorgeous, and completely off-limits. I try to stay away... until I find out just how bad she's been. Screw protection. What she really needs is punishment. MOUNTAIN MAN'S BABY PLAN Seven years ago, the mountain man broke my heart. I've managed to stay away from him... until now. MY BROTHER'S BEST FRIEND I’ve loved him my whole life. He’s only ever seen me as a crybaby. His friend's little sister. Now he’s back after 8 years away, and he doesn’t recognize me. The look in his eyes says I'm finally old enough for the ride of my life. I can't tell him who I am now… can I?

    It shows watercolour painters of all levels how to loosen up their paintings and maintain spontaneity by painting simple watercolour studies in no more than 10 minutes.Written by popular artist Hazel Soan, the book is arranged in three parts: the first section explains all about the equipment you will need; the second section covers techniques and shows what can be achieved with watercolour in a short time span; the third section looks at various subjects that are ideal for painting quickly.All the essential techniques are covered, focusing particularly on maximizing brushstrokes and exploring colours, and there is useful advice on deciding what to include and what to leave out. With helpful chapters on painting a wide range of subjects – people, landscapes, seascapes, buildings, gardens, flowers and still life – this little guide is ideal for quick reference when working in the studio or out in the field.

    Short on every resource but the intelligence of their personnel, Exploration Command goes where no human has gone before, discovering new worlds, species and civilizations, pushing the boundaries of knowledge, and always on the lookout for new discoveries that could help the Empire in its struggle against the invader. In this volume are three novelettes about Exploration Command, the scientific part of the Fleet. In Retribution, a Command team finds a devastated alien civilization being aided by missionaries from the Empire. Or are they? In Timeless, an ancient derelict is found in a place where no ship should be. Does it hide the secrets to a technology the Empire has sought for over a thousand years? And in They Don't Care, alien species are being wiped out by a renegade race. Can a single two ship team stop them, or will more species go into the long night? For those readers of Exodus: Empires at War, these stories fill in some of the background of the Empire and add to the series. For newcomers, they are a great introduction to the series.

    This transparently personal book is virtually a culinary autobiography of the septuagenarian chef. In 100 recipes and dozens of captivating stories, Pépin retraces his 59-year professional cooking career, his discoveries, his disappointments, and his reflections on friends and fine cuisine. This elegant illustrated cookbook would make a fine gift or an equally welcome self-indulgence.

    The stylish design of this book, along with the interior photographs, illustrations and diagrams, make the learning process simple and fun for beginners, and provides useful tips for more advanced readers.With its great flexibility, acrylic paint can mimic the appearance of oils, tempera, and watercolors in unique ways, each method pictured in a separate step-by-step demonstration. The author also examines the use of acrylics with airbrush, sculptural, and printing techniques-even three-dimensional relief painting and collagraphy printing methods are included-and how several of these different creative processes can be integrated successfully in one composition with ink, pencil, charcoal, and pastel. Inspiring examples of representational and abstract subjects are depicted throughout, and a complete survey of all the latest acrylic materials covers the best paint brands, painting mediums, supports, varnishes, brushes, knives, and palettes.This book contains instructions on painting many different subjects, like landscapes, trees, mountains, buildings, still lifes, and portraits. It makes an ideal gift for someone practiced in the arts of acrylic painting, and newcomers to the art form.

    Among the cast is Clemency, an old acquaintance of Libby Sarjeant and Fran Wolfe. She is making her return to the professional stage, encouraged by her mother Dame Amanda Knight, whom Libby and Fran met on a previous adventure.But when one objectionable member of the cast is found dead, Dame Amanda and heavyweight of the English Stage, Sir Andrew McColl, call in Libby, Fran and their friends to prevent the wrong person being charged with murder and the Nethergate pantomime from turning into a disastrous melodrama.