Written by the well-loved artist/illustrator/blogger Mati Rose McDonough, this book's approach to making art is a bit like uncovering a hidden treasure, a treasure that resides within each aspiring artist. Through a myriad of both practical applications and creative exercises, Mati shows artists how to "find their magic"—the place of confidence from which they can access the vision of what they want to share with the world.

    Fortunately, Simple Soldering proves that does not need to be the case. This handy how-to guide is complete in its exploration of the craft of creating soldered metal jewelry, including tools, techniques, and 20 beautiful projects that beginners and enthusiasts can make at home.Author and teacher Kate Richbourg demystifies basic soldering for any home crafter, showing how to create sophisticated, polished, and professional-looking jewelry pieces through simple soldering techniques. First, she instructs how to set up a jewelry workspace that fits the confines of your budget and living space. Detailed step-by-step instructions walk you through the basic tools and materials you need, plus how to use them. A sample chapter gives a host of introductory exercises that teach solid skills, allowing you to test these techniques on a small scale. Finally, you'll discover 20 finished projects that include earrings, pendants, rings, bracelets, and clasps that may also include bead or wire embellishment.Kate also demonstrates how to combine and layer techniques to gorgeous effect. She also examines common mistakes, shows how to correct or adapt them, and gives advice on when it’s time to start over. Most of all, having taught thousands of classes on soldering, Kate has a "you can do it!" attitude that shines through to help even the most reluctant jewelry maker fire up the torch with ease.Paired with an instructional DVD, Kate’s expert teaching skills will help projects come alive, right in your own studio.With Simple Soldering, the art of metal working one-of-a-kind jewelry is now at your fingertips.

    Featuring 15 step-by-step projects for creating clay fairies, gnomes, trolls, and other enchanting figures, this beautiful instructional book shows readershow to create an entire fantasy land.

    But what does it take to create a successful picture book for children? In this publication, Martin Salisbury and Morag Styles introduce us to the world of children's picturebooks, providing a solid background to the industry while exploring the key concepts and practices that have gone into the creation of successful picturebooks.

    The beautiful animals immortalized in Disney 's "Bambi" are also the garden 's biggest pests. Increased hunting regulations have caused the deer population to swell to more than 30 million. At the same time, suburban expansion has led to a loss of natural habitat. The result? Deer are looking for food and finding it in gardens all across the country."50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants" makes keeping deer away as simple as choosing the appropriate plant. Instead of the typical barriers and fencing, expert plantswoman Ruth Rogers Clausen has chosen the 50 most beautiful (and least palatable) annuals, bulbs, ferns, grasses, herbs, perennials, and shrubs. Whether it 's the charming snow crocuses that bloom each spring or the vibrant, long-blooming Texas Sage, these 50 plants provide gardeners a chance to design a deer-proof garden without sacrificing style. Each plant profile includes a deer-resistance scale, tips on growth and care, zone recommendations, and gorgeous color photos showing the plant up close and in the garden setting. Also includes dozens of companion planting ideas. With the helpful and trusted advice in "50 Beautiful Deer-Resistant Plants," gardeners can finally garden without fear of deer.

    The experts at the American Society of Botanical Artists offer step-by-step projects that move from introductory to advanced—so any level of artist can build on acquired skills. Helpful tutorials cover watercolor, graphite, colored pencil, vellum, egg tempera, oils, pen and ink, and printmaking. Filled with more than 900 photographs and stunning examples of finished art by the best contemporary botanical artists, Botanical Art Techniques is the authoritative manual on this exquisite art form.

    Using an entertaining, running narrative format to look at key concerns every illustrator must face today, this book covers finding one's unique style and establishing a balance between art and commerce; tackling issues of authorship and promotion; and more. In-depth perspectives are offered by illustrators, art directors, and art buyers from various industries and professional levels on such issues as quality, price negotiation, and illustrator-client relationships.• Includes an afterword by Milton Glaser, well-known designer/illustrator• From the authors of The Education of an Illustrator (1-58115-075-x)

    For author Flora Bowley, making art and expressing herself creatively have always served as potent forms of personal evolution and holistic healing. Creative Revolution is the reader's key to unlocking the door to their own personal journey while making beautiful art.Creative Revolution is the culmination of Flora's life's work as an artist, offering guidance for others to embrace their authentic selves through paint. She has taught more than sixty workshops since she wrote her first book, Brave Intuitive Painting, and has witnessed miraculous things when people engage with the intuitive painting process. Creative Revolution is the next best thing to taking a course from Flora. Many readers and students can't help but exclaim, "This was about so much more than painting!" After reading Creative Revolution, readers will have a deeper connection to their intuition, increased confidence to make bolder choices, freedom to let go and explore various options, an understanding that everything is transformable, the trust that it will all work out in the end, and a renewed sense that creating can be fun and playful. All of this powerful transformation begins with paint. Flora has been writing and reflecting on these transformational aspects of the creative process for years. Creative Revolution is an insightful and practical guide for realizing the transformational power of fully embracing your creativity.

    Whether you are a professional artist or designer, a student pursuing a creative career, a person of faith, someone who likes walks on the beach, or a dreamer who sits on the front porch contemplating life, this collection of one- and two-page comics will provide insight into the joys and frustrations of creativity, inspiration, and process—no matter your age or creative background.

    Areas updated include the seed houses, compost & gardening resources, and reference book lists, with websites added as appropriate. A section on educational websites for NW gardening was also included. The Guide still includes the detailed monthly gardening calendar, as well as: *Maritime Northwest Climate Zone Map *How to extend the growing season *Completely revised and updated vegetable, herb, and flower variety recommendations *Month-by-month gardening recommendations *Beneficial insect identification *How to beat common plant diseases organically *Getting organic outside the garden *Ideas for gardening with children The Maritime Northwest Garden Guide continues to be the "must have" resource for novice and expert Northwest gardeners alike.

    Learn how to choose and mix colors, and create a multitude of effects using only one set of tubes. Discover how to make your own equipment, set up a "studio" space, and use household materials to save money. Beginners can follow processes stage-by-stage, while more experienced artists can dip in and out for help with specific problems. A unique section on how to develop your art and take it to a wider public is full of professional secrets which can bring you success much more quickly. “Try it” and “Fix it” panels placed throughout the book suggest ways of practicing and developing new skills, and avoiding or correcting common painting errors.

    From constructing coops to rearing chicks, you’ll learn everything you need to know to make sure your chickens stay happy and healthy all year round.Which breed of chicken is right for you? What’s the best coop-bedding material? What sort of feed should you use? Let expert chicken keeper Anne Kuo answer these questions—and many others—in The Beginner’s Guide to Raising Chickens.The Beginner’s Guide to Raising Chickens includes: All cooped up—Create the perfect home for raising chickens using detailed backyard coop designs and construction guides. From chickens to eggs—Find out how to pick the right breed, raise chicks, collect eggs, keep your birds safe from predators, and more. Learn to speak bird—Start talking the talk thanks to an extensive glossary of common chicken-keeping terms. Get your own flock started in no time—The Beginner’s Guide to Raising Chickens shows you how.

    The book has remained continuously in print through many editions and has some more than a quarter of a million copies. It is, as American Artist Magazine calls it, the "artist's bible," an invaluable reference for the painter, sculptor, and printmaker. During the past few years, however, new art movements and new research have led to many changes in the technology of artist's materials. With the assistance of Mayer's window, Bena, and his colleagues, Viking and Steven Sheehan, Director of the Ralph Mayer Center at Yale University, have prepared this latest revision of the book, which is now completely updated and expanded.

    Pithy, provocative, poignant advice on a variety of self-help topics—in four well-chosen words.

    Still, only a few of us have the discipline to make it past the first few entries, and fewer still manage to create diaries whose insight and visual beauty can inspire anyone but their authors. Drawing from Life: The Journal as Art is an exploration of these exceptionsbooks of obsessive wonder filled to their borders with drawings, sketches, watercolors, graphs, charts, lists, collages, portraits, and photographs. Jennifer New takes readers on a spirited tour into the private worlds of journal keepersan architect, a traveler, a film director, an archeologist, a cancer patient, a songwriter, a quiltmaker, a gardener, an artist, a cyclist, and a scientist, to name just a fewillustrating a broad range of journaling styles and techniques that in the end show how each of us can go about documenting our everyday lives. Excerpts from journals by such artists as Maira Kalman, Steven Holl, David Byrne, and Mike Figgis give us a peek at how creative souls observe, reflect, and explore.For those who already keep a journal, Drawing from Life will be an inspiration. For those who have always wanted toor tried and failedit might just be the motivation needed to get past that first week.