Gelli Plate Printing: Mixed-Media Monoprinting Without a Press


Joan Bess - 2014
    Simply apply paint with a soft rubber brayer, make your marks and pull your print. It's that simple! Wipe the plate down with a spritz of water and a paper towel, and you're ready to go again.In this premier guide, artist Joan Bess--inventor of the concept for the Gelli plate--unleashes the fun through more than 60 step-by-step techniques. Create intriguing patterns using tools like sponges, textured rollers and homemade combs. Learn how to incorporate stencils and rubber stamps. Experiment with metallic paint, dimensional paint and gel medium. Become a texture-hunter, creating a wide world of effects using embossed papers, natural objects, rubber bands, lace, corrugated cardboard, metal tape, die cut letters...anything goes!Even beginners can enjoy immediate gratification--just grab a textured surface, smoosh it into your painted Gelli plate, and you'll have a stack of amazing prints in no time. For experienced printmakers, the inspirations in these pages will push you to experiment, adapt, combine and layer. It's easy, fun and totally addicting!Printmaking just got easier!- Expert tips from the creator of the Gelli plate - 60+ awesome step-by-step techniques - Ideas for incorporating stamps and stencils, using ghost prints, salvaging uninspired prints, and more - 26-page gallery shows the many wonderful ways artists are incorporating Gelli printing into their work

The Wind Masters: The Lives of North American Birds of Prey


Pete Dunne - 1995
    Birds of prey have an aura that few other creatures have. In the acclaimed Hawks in Flight, Pete Dunne showed what birds of prey look like. In The Wind Masters, he shows what it is like to be a bird of prey. He takes us inside the lives and minds of all thirty-four species of diurnal raptors found in North America -- hawks, falcons, eagles, vultures, the osprey, and the harrier -- and shows us how each bird sees the world, hunts its prey, finds and courts its mate, rears its young, grows up, grows old, and dies. Vividly written, and beautifully illustrated by David Sibley, The Wind Masters is a brilliant work of narrative natural history in the tradition of Peter Matthiessen's The Wind Birds and Barry Lopez's Of Wolves and Men.

Encaustic Art: The Complete Guide to Creating Fine Art with Wax


Lissa Rankin - 2010
    Today, museums are staging exhibitions of encaustic art, workshops in the technique are thriving, and art collectors and dealers are assimilating encaustic art into their collections and galleries. The word encaustic is taken from the Greek and means “to burn in.” In the encaustic process, pigmented wax is applied and then fused to a surface with heat. The result is a broad range of surface effects and a luminous translucency that is unique to the encaustic medium. Encaustic Art is a complete resource for artists who wish to learn to create fine art with wax. It features step-by-step techniques with easy-to-understand instructions and detailed illustrations, stunning examples of encaustic works of art (including sculpture), along with practical advice and thoughtful aesthetic observations from more than 60 professional artists working in the encaustic medium.

Painting Portraits and Figures in Watercolor


Mary Whyte - 2011
    Going beyond the practical application of techniques, Whyte helps new artists capture not just the model's physical likeness, but their unique personality and spirit. Richly illustrated, the book features Mary Whyte's vibrant empathetic watercolors and works by such masters of watercolor as Mary Cassatt, Thomas Eakins, Winslow Homer, John Singer Sargent, and Georgia O'Keeffe.

Oil Painting Secrets From a Master


Linda Cateura - 1984
    This is such a book. For more than two years, Linda Cateura has pursued teacher / artist David A. Leffel, notebook in hand, as he critiqued the work of students. Linda Cateura's succinct notes capture his insights, philosophy, painting hints, and general comments.Leffel's classic, painterly, twentieth-century old master style, much in the manner of Rembrandt or Chardin, affords ample illustration of the ideas expressed - through his many paintings, details, demonstrations, and diagrams, almost all in color.No matter what your level of ability, there is something here to apply to your own work, ideas that will cause you to rething your own ways of painting, hints to save you effort, or solutions to persistent painting problems.

Handbuilt Pottery Techniques Revealed: The Secrets of Handbuilding Shown in Unique Cutaway Photography


Jacqui Atkin - 2012
    The author instructs in coil, slab, mold, and pinch techniques to produce pots, bowls, vases, tiles, and other decorative pieces. She also advises on acquiring basic tools, mixing and preparing clay, and using coloring agents. Newcomers to pottery crafting will especially appreciate her tips for making projects easier to accomplish, such as use of a hairdryer at regular intervals for drying out too-wet clay, and easy methods for keeping clay soft and pliable. Step-by-step color photos with detailed captions guide handcrafters through each project from start to finish. Many photos are of the cutaway type to show correct hand positions for controlling the clay, both inside and outside the form. Here's the book that takes the mystery out of handbuilding in clay, demonstrating each step in the pottery-making process. More than 400 color photos.

How to Keep a Naturalist's Notebook


Susan Leigh Tomlinson - 2009
    Pages from actual field notebooks clearly illustrate what works and why. Hints and advice for outdoorspeople with even limited artistic skills. For nature-lovers, birders, and students of wildlife and biology, keeping a field notebook is essential to accurately recording outdoor observations. This unique guide offers instruction on how to do it--what to look for, what information should be recorded and how to organize it, basic drawing skills using line and color, and incorporating maps and charts, as well as advice on equipment to take in the field and using conventional field guides. A colorful book that will teach and inspire.

Art Journal Freedom: How to Journal Creatively with Color & Composition


Dina Wakley - 2013
    But how can you effectively and artistically capture those eye-catching compositions in your art journal?It's true, art journaling has no \rules\" and is a safe place for free expression of your one-of-a-kind life. But knowledge is power and knowing the \"rules\" of color and composition gives you the freedom to use and break them willfully to create the effects you want. Dina shares these principles in a fun and approachable way with dozens upon dozens of unique journal pages to show you just some of the many possibilities.Inside You Will Find: Lessons and tips about composition and color including dominance and repetition, symmetry, contrast and the power of black and white.10 step-by-step technique demonstrations.Dozens of color and design tips and page challenges."

Birds of Florida Field Guide


Stan Tekiela - 2001
    There's no need to look through dozens of photos of birds that don't live in Florida. This book features 140 species of Florida birds, organized by color for ease of use. Do you see a yellow bird and don't know what it is? Go to the yellow section to find out. Fact-filled information, a compare feature, range maps and detailed photographs help to ensure that you positively identify the birds that you see.

Geninne's Art: Birds in Watercolor, Collage, and Ink: A field guide to art techniques and observing in the wild


Geninne D. Zlatkis - 2018
    Brimming with inspiring examples of the artist’s work, this beautiful book takes you inside Geninne’s studio for an in-depth look at how she creates. You will discover, step by step, how this devoted artist spends time photographing nature, selecting her materials, and developing her personal imagery. Explore:How her studio is set up, how she works, and what materials and tools she usesHow she captures nature with both a camera and phone for referenceHer artistic process through the step-by-step creation of 5 watercolor paintings, 5 collages, and 5 ink drawings, with notes on each medium and techniqueAs a special bonus, the book includes 32 pages of collage papers, painted and selected by Geninne, for you to use as you explore and develop your own artistic voice. Vibrant, detailed, and richly imaginative, Geninne’s interpretation of the birds she has observed so closely will inspire you to use the natural world as fodder for your paintings, drawings, and collages.

How to Keep a Sketchbook Journal


Claudia Nice - 2001
    It is a personal, private place where you have unlimited freedom to express yourself, experiment, discover, dream and document your world. The possibilities are endless.In How to Keep a Sketchbook Journal, Claudia Nice shows you samples from her own journals and provides you with advice and encouragement for keeping your own. She reviews types of journals, from theme and garden journals to travel journals and fantasy sketchbooks, as well as the basic techniques for using pencils, pens, brushes, inks and watercolors to capture your thoughts and impressions.Exactly what goes in your journal is up to you. Sketch quickly to capture a thought or image before it vanishes. Draw or paint with care, to render an idea or vision as realistically as possible. Write about what you see. The choice is yours--and the memories you'll preserve will last a lifetime.

The Tao of Watercolor: A Revolutionary Approach to the Practice of Painting


Jeanne Carbonetti - 1998
    100 color illustrations.

One Zentangle A Day: A 6-Week Course in Creative Drawing for Relaxation, Inspiration, and Fun


Beckah Krahula - 2012
    This step-by-step book is divided into six chapters, each with seven daily exercises.  The Zentangle method was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas as a way to practice focus and meditation through drawing by using repetitive lines, marks, circles, and shapes. Each mark is called a "tangle," and you combine various tangles into patterns to create "tiles," or small square drawings. Each of the six chapters explores a different aspect of Zentangle:Basics and EnhancementsTangles and Value PatternsGeometric and Organic PatternsUnderstanding and Using ColorDefining and Using StyleCreating the Rest of Your Zentangle JourneyEach exercise includes new tangles to draw in sketchbooks or on Tiepolo (an Italian-made paper), teaches daily tile design, offers tips on related art principles, and contains an inspirational "ZIA" (Zentangle Inspired Art) project on a tile that incorporates patterns, art principals, and new techniques.   Drawing Zentangles is a relaxing and replenishing diversion that can be enjoyed by people of all ages and skill levels. In addition to its soothing benefits, a Zentangle practice can also help with self-image, phobias, addictions, pain management, conflict resolution, and coping with grief. Step away from the daily hustle and untangle with a Zentangle.

Mixed Media Mosaics: Techniques & Projects Using Polymer Clay Tiles Beads & Other Embellishments: Techniques and Projects Using Polymer Clay Tiles, Beads and Other Embellishments


Laurie Mika - 2007
    This book contains techniques for creating the tiles such as painting and glazing, stamping, and, embedding items like beads and buttons.

The Watercolor Artist's Bible


Marylin Scott - 2005
    The stylish design of this book, along with the interior photographs, illustrations and diagrams, make the learning process simple and fun for beginning painters and provides useful tips for more advanced artists.This book is divided into three sections. In the first section, you will find practical advice on choosing the necessary tools and equiopment as well as hints on mixing colorsâ?¬â?one of the trickier skills to master until you have learned some of the basic properties of color. Next, the techniques used in watercolor painting are explained in detail, from the most basic like laying washes and reserving highlights to some of the more unusual and exciting methods like wax-resist or spattering paint.Tutorials and more than 100 step-by-step sequences demonstrate how to paint a wide range of subjects, including landscapes, buildings, people and still life. Over 180,000 copies sold worldwide.