Nature in the arts Books

Book SynopsisFeaturing step-by-step instructions, this guide can help everyone from a complete novice to an expert artist experimenting with a new medium. Acclaimed artist and teacher Claudia Nice shows you how to combine pen and ink with watercolor to create stunning nature illustrations.You’ll feel like you’re working alongside the author as she guides you through her trademark techniques in a clear, friendly voice. Nice focuses on first establishing a strong command of small details like soil, leaves, wildflowers and birds, before moving on to strategies for capturing a variety of panoramic settings, including quiet forest scenes, coral reefs, prairies, deserts, ponds and mountains. By the time you finish this book, you will have learned to paint six varied ecosystems, combining smaller elements into full-scale projects, leaving you prepared to capture the joy and beauty of any natural landscape you might encounter.

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Book SynopsisBreathtaking Watercolor Seascapes for the Beginner Painter From ocean sunsets and enchanting woodland lakes to snow-speckled rivers and quiet villages reflected in a serene sea, this outstanding collection of paintings from Kolbie Blume teaches painters of all skill levels to master a range of brilliant waterscapes. Projects like Mountain of a Wave, Through the Fjord, Village by the Sea, Secret Falls and more build your confidence in painting water in all its wild and varied states. The chapters progress in difficulty, with skills building upon each other, helping you to develop and strengthen your abilities as you paint your way through the book. Providing you with all the tips and tricks you need to master the art of painting waterscapes, Kolbie's approachable step-by-step instructions and helpful hints will guide you from burgeoning beginner to pro painter.

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Book SynopsisTable of ContentsTable of Contents ForewordArt of Acadia: A Centennial CelebrationPurpose of book: to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of Acadia National Park through the artists who have found their muse in the greater Mount Desert Island region. 2-4 imagesIntroductionArriving at AcadiaShort personal essay about how the authors came to Acadia 6-8 images Pre(r)ambleAcadia: The Lay of the Island Description of the area: location in Maine, physical features, allure, with maps, aerial views, silhouettes, stereoscope views8-12 images Part 1: 17th-19th CenturyEarliest depictions and first artistsNative Americans, DeBry engraving (1627), English Pilot silhouette (1760), F. Graeter hand-colored lithographs (1836), etc. Paintings by Thomas Doughty, Alvin Fisher 16-18 imagesHudson River SchoolFrederic Church (1826-1900) at MDI (1850- 1865), with his contemporaries and later 19th-century artists: Thomas Cole, Fitz Henry Lane, William Stanley Haseltine, Sanford R. Gifford, Jervis McEntee, et al. 25 imagesLate 19th-Century Illustration and ArtGuidebooks, adventure stories, engravings, drawings, photographs, paintings, stereoscopic views, etc. 25 images Part 2: 20th Century Acadia National ParkCarriage trails, bridges, gardens, scenic views (includes the Champlain Society, artist-in-residence program, etc.)25 imagesCarroll Sargent TysonImpressionist painter 10-12 images 20th-Century ArtistsJohn Singer Sargent, Dwight Blaney, Childe Hassam, Marguerite Zorach, Marsden Hartley, John Marin, Maurice Freedman, et al., plus 2-4 pages on cartographers 40 imagesFigures of Island LiteratureExcerpts of poetry and prose, with short bios of 10-15 authors 5 imagesTIPS—The Three Islesford PaintersH. B. Warren, C. Scott White, and C. E. Kinkead 20 images Artists of Great Cranberry Island Postwar generation: Heliker, LaHotan, Kienbusch, Campbell, Nelson, et al. 20 images Part 3: Acadia Contemporary 1970-2015Artists of Acadia Full range of interpretations of the island 90-120 images Afterword Portrait GallerySelected bibliographyAcknowledgements Index

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Book Synopsis'Art is continually haunted by the animal', wrote Deleuze and Guattari. Over the past two decades, animals have quite literally invaded the gallery space, from Joseph Beuys' co-habiting with a coyote, Janis Kounelli's instillation of live horses, Damien Hirst's shark in formaldehyde to Mark Dion's natural history displays and Marco Evaristti's 'goldfish in a blender'. In this latest addition to the highly acclaimed 'Art and...' series, Giovanni Aloi surveys the insistent presence of animals in the world of contemporary art, exploring the leading concepts which inform this emerging practice. From exhibitions featuring live animals, to taxidermy, and interspecies communication, Giovanni Aloi explores how animals feature in modern art with a range of thought-provoking and innovative visual representations. Art and Animals challenges ideas of identity, 'otherness' and civilisation by explaining the role animals have occupied in our cultural development and illustrating their presence in the visual arts today.Trade Review'Giovanni Aloi articulately and sensitively unpacks the varied passionate, complex and, at times, questionable motives behind the art world's current embrace of the animal subject. He accomplishes this with erudite, and yet accessible, explanations and perceptions, all the while keeping animals themselves firmly in the reader's mind. Thinking around animals has grown exponentially in the last decade. In this time of environmental crisis the interest in the human relationship with other species has become a focal point for change. Aloi offers us, through artists' engagement with 'the animal' and animals themselves, a mirror in which to see our own struggles with our relationships with the non-human world.' - Carol Gigliotti, Associate Professor, Dynamic Media and Critical and Cultural Studies, Emily Carr University and Editor, Leonardo's Choice: Genetic technologies and animals; 'Jacob von Uexkull once called on biologists, ecologists, and philosophers to take a stroll through the worlds of animals and men and challenged us to see the world through other than human eyes. Contemporary art has taken up Uexkull's call and now challenges us to do the same. Giovanni Aloi leads us on a stroll through the truly stunning world of animal art. Among the menagerie, readers will find themselves immersed in pickled sharks, genetically altered bunnies, taxidermied polar bears and pets re-imagined. It is some comfort to have this book as a companion in approaching such a multivalent field. In Art and Animals Aloi brings to bear his wealth of experience as editor of Antennae: Journal of Nature in Visual Culture. He proves an adept guide in giving his readers ways of framing and re-framing the burgeoning world of animal art without ever feeling that his mastery cheats the richness of the field.' - Ron Broglio, Assistant Professor, Arizona State UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction The Return of a Victorian Obsession: Taxidermy Live Animals in the Gallery Space The Death of the Animal Becoming Animal Animals and Climate Change

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Book Synopsis

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