The story of art unfolds in its full historical, social, religious, economic, and cultural context, deepening students' understanding of art, architecture, painting, and sculpture. This Concise version features color photographs, a stunning design, and the most current research and scholarship. What's more, the ancillary package that accompanies GARDNER'S ART THROUGH THE AGES: A CONCISE HISTORY features a wealth of tools to enhance your students' experience in the course. With each new copy of the book, students receive a copy of the ArtStudy CD-ROM-an interactive electronic study aid that fully integrates with the text and includes hundreds of high-quality digital images, plus maps, quizzes, and more.

    Packed with art and advice from Marc Taro Holmes, artist and co-founder of Urbansketchers.org, this self-directed workshop shows you how to draw inspiration from real life and bring that same excitement into your sketchbook. Inside you'll fi nd everything you need to tackle subjects ranging from still lifes and architecture to people and busy street scenes.15 step-by-step demonstrations cover techniques for creating expressive drawings using pencil, pen and ink, and watercolor.Expert tips for achieving a balance of accuracy, spontaneity and speed.Practical advice for working in the field, choosing subjects, coping with onlookers, capturing people in motion and more.Daily exercises and creative prompts for everything from improving essential skills to diverse approaches, such as montages, storytelling portraits and one-page graphic novels.Whether you are a habitual doodler or a seasoned artist, The Urban Sketcher will have you out in the world sketching from the very first page. By completing drawings on the spot, in one session, you achieve a fresh impression of not just what you see, but also what it feels like to be there . . . visual life stories as only you can experience them.

    When used effectively, line and mark-making convey texture, tone, form, movement, and mood. With Drawn to Stitch by your side, learn creative uses of line in embroidery and textile art.Artist and teacher Gwen Hedley shares a series of exercises designed to explore line’s potential as well as develop your creativity. Drawn to Stitch also covers line and mark-making tools, materials, and processes, including printing and mixed-media techniques. Gwen explores stitch, explaining how to interpret different line qualities from crisp and sharp to soft and diffused and from raised and overlaid to recessed and inlaid.Full of inspiring ideas, Drawn to Stitch is illustrated with stunning examples of stitched-textile work from leading artists.

    Both practicing and beginning artists will learn to develop drawing skills, overcome creative blocks, and enter the meditative state in order to find creative connections and confidence. Featuring full-color examples from professional artists, three different drawing methods, and exercises tested and developed in the author's own drawing class, this is an invaluable tool for artists, writers, musicians, and all who wish to access their creative strengths and live inspired, authentic lives.

    With fundamental skills for beginners that progress to more sophisticated designs, this book covers techniques such as basic wirework, texturizing, silver fusing, adding patina, and traditional finishes.Included are over 30 projects for making custom wire findings, each accompanied by step-by-step photographs and directions to ensure success.

    Originally a paper/collage-based art form, ATCs have caught on with crafters working in a range of mediums and are now just as popular among fabric and mixed-media artists. ATCs are mini art works, the size of a playing card, often created as limited editions. The back of each card contains the artist's name and contact information. The idea behind the cards is to make them and then give, trade, or share them with others. This collection inspires with 1,000 original cards in a beautiful pageant of color, composition, and creative use of materials. The book also includes a special section devoted to explaining what ATCs are, how to get started, and includes some exciting technique information. Curated by Patricia Bolton, founder and editor-in-chief of two of the most exciting creative magazines on the newsstands, the book meets the Quarry Books mission of offering artistic and challenging new ideas to traditional paper artists, scrapbookers, mixed-media artists, and quilters by merging paper, fabric, and surface embellishment through experimentation and discovery.

    Envision handmade books to hold your writings, poems, photos, and keepsakes. More than 170 photos to inspire, and hundreds of illustrations to guide readers through the basics of an almost infinite variety of imaginative styles.

    The Complete Guide to Altered Imagery is the only book currently on the market that provides fascinating tips and creative ideas solely focused on this new form of art. An in-depth discussion manipulation techniques is supplied, making this an essential handbook for all artists and crafters looking for creative ways to alter and enhance various types of imagery in new and traditional ways, and then to integrate this altered art into their work.

    The author follows the trail of the early plant explorers and shows how the exotic specimens they brought home with them were depicted in botanical illustrations, anthologies, and decorative designs.The main part of the book examines the structure of plants, with visually stunning chapters on roots and stems, shoots and leaves, buds and flowers, and seeds and fruit, mosses and lichens, and trees. As in Anatomy for the Artist, beautiful, specially commissioned photographs complement Sarah's drawings, illustrating how an understanding of botany really helps you to draw plants. Drawing classes provide a wealth of practical advice on how to draw, and pages from Sarah's sketchbooks show how she records her favorite plants throughout the seasons. Inspirational master classes in each chapter focus on how other artists, from 17th century masters to contemporary botanical illustrators, have portrayed plants.This lavishly illustrated book will not only be the definitive guide for those wishing to master the art of drawing plants, but a sumptuous gift book for all those passionate about plants and how they are portrayed in art.

    In this book, they offer instruction and inspiration that focuses on polymer clay as a learning tool that readers can use to explore their own color instincts and preferences and develop their own palettes.Each chapter investigates a specific color principle, with the discussion supported by a related exercise, a “studio tool” assignment or demonstration, a polymer clay jewelry project, and a profile of a prominent polymer clay artist. Sample topics include:•The Complexity of Color•Three Properties of Color•Choosing Your Palette•Mixing Colors That Flow•Matching Colors with Precision•Games Colors Play•Orchestrating Color Combinations•Color Composition: Placement and Proportion•Playful Patterns•Tantalizing Textures

    By the time you finish this book, you'll have all the skills you need to achieve a striking likeness in a drawn portrait. Artist and life drawing expert Jake Spicer takes you through a series of carefully crafted tutorials, from how to put together a basic portrait sketch to developing your portraits and then taking your drawings further. From understanding and constructing the head and shaping the hair, to checking the relationships of the features and achieving a lifelike expression, every aspect of the portrait process is examined, along with advice on which materials to use and how to find a model.

    Written by J. Jason Horejs, owner of Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ, Starving to Successful will give you pragmatic advice and concrete, actionable steps you can begin implementing immediately to become more successful in marketing your work to galleries.Gain insight into what a gallery owner is thinking as he or she reviews your portfolio. Understand why the most common approaches artists make to galleries are largely ineffective. Learn what most artists fail to do in preparing their work for sale.Starving to Successful will change the way you look at the artist/gallery relationship, and will set your art career on a new path.About the AuthorArt flows through Xanadu Gallery owner J. Jason Horejs veins. Second generation in the art business, (Horejs father is a nationally recognized oil painter John Horejs) Horejs life has always been filled with art. Though not interested in pursuing a life as an artist, Horejs fell in love with the business side of art at an early age. At age 12, the future gallery owner was employed by his father building custom canvas stretchers.In 1991, at the age of 17, Horejs began working for Legacy Gallery in Scottsdale, AZ, where he learned the gallery business from the ground up. Horejs handled logistics, shipping and installation, eventually working into a sales position at the western art gallery. Horejs worked in the gallery s Scottsdale and Jackson Hole, WY, locations.In 2001, Jason and his wife, Carrie, opened Xanadu Gallery in Scottsdale. In spite of opening on September 11th into a completely changed art world, Horejs built the gallery into a successful venture, showing dozens of artists and selling to collectors from around the world, including major municipal and private collections.In 2008, Horejs developed a series of art marketing workshops designed to help artists better understand the gallery business and better prepare themselves to approach galleries. This series of workshops has helped hundreds of artists get organized to show and sell their work through galleries."I discovered," says Horejs, "there was very little information out there for the aspiring professional artist regarding the business side of art, especially in terms of the crucial relationship between the artists and the fine art gallery. Even artists who have graduated with master s degrees leave school having never heard a word about how to approach galleries."Horejs observes that artists approaching his gallery are making many of the same mistakes, not because their work isn t gallery-ready, but simply because they don t have a clear idea of how to proceed. Horejs designed his workshops working closely with his parents and other artists who have learned the ropes of working with galleries by trial and error. The clear-headed advice the gallery owner gives is designed to give the artists concrete steps they can take to prepare their work, research galleries and approach galleries for representation.

    Inside you'll find guidelines for rendering accurate skin tones in a variety of media, including watercolor, oil and pastel.You'll begin with a review of the five essential painting elements (drawing, value, color, composition and edges), then learn how light and color influence the appearance of skin tones. Artist Chris Saper provides the advice and examples that make every lesson and technique easy to understand--immediately improving the quality of your work. You'll discover how to:Paint the four major skin color groups (Caucasian, African American, Asian and Hispanic)Refine these colors into dozens of possible variations within each groupSelect your palette and mix hues for clean, beautiful colorsDetermine the color and temperature of light that falls on your subjectPaint direct and indirect sunlight, artificial light and highlights of lightMaster the four elements that determine color in shadowUse photographic references when you can't paint directly from lifeYou'll also find seven step-by-step demonstrations and an appendix of sample color charts for each major skin type under a range of lighting variations. It's all you need to bring your portraits to life!

    It offers a mix of techniques and theory, while making an argument for the long-term value of studying perception-based drawing.

    Immersing you in the natural world, this book seeks to inspire creativity by connecting you to your organic roots.In addition to offering a wide variety of suggestions for using nature as supplies for art, this book also introduces the concepts of awareness and perception that are foundational to the creative process. Readers will refine drawing skills, as well as increase their appreciation for the visual arts and the natural landscape.Some of the projects and skills covered include the following:Making paper and wild inkWorking with soapstone, clay, wood, and rawhidePrintmaking and stencilingNatural pigments and dyesCamouflage and body paintingNature journalingLearn to find satisfaction in the natural process of transformation.