Book Description

The work of Thomas Hirshhorn (b. Bern, Switzerland, 1957), recently on view at such major international art venues as the Tate Modern (2003), Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, 2001), and the Art Institute of Chicago (2000), are giant, labour-intensive, room-sized collages of low grade materials, that is to say, rubbish. Part-text, part-sculpture, part-junkheap, incorporating furniture, cardboard boxes, wooden frames and more, these baroque installations reflect an extraordinarily prolific imagination. Their sheer volume and the time it takes to read and see these massive, detailed installations make them unforgettable, often quite humorous experiences unlike the work of any other contemporary artist. ... Read more

Book Description

Extensive guidebook to a popular and rapidly growing craft.

Many of us have walked the squares of Venice, Rome and Madrid and admired the geometric pavements of pebble mosaics. Made from found stones, and as beautiful as they are durable, pebble mosaics are a welcome addition to gardens, patios, and public spaces.

The Complete Pebble Mosaic Handbook is the most complete sourcebook for enthusiasts and landscape designers -- an accessible and illustrated guide that covers materials, design, tools and techniques.

The book lists the best sources to find or buy pebbles; how to choose and test pebbles for strength and quality; and which materials to avoid. There are practical instructions for ensuring the mosaic can withstand frost, foot and vehicle traffic, pollutants, and water.

The book explains in detail the principles of creating walkways and patios, precast slabs, fountains, pools, and cascades. Illustrated sample projects are followed step-by-step. Designing is also fully explained whether using simple sketches or professional graphic design software.

A showcase of pebble mosaic from around the world by leading artists demonstrates the craft's vast creative potential. In addition, a section of design ideas features many popular subjects and patterns including animals, heavenly bodies, spirals, borders, floral, fish, flowers, and many more. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A beautiful collection
Maggy Howarth's COMPLETE PEBBLE MOSAIC HANDBOOK provides a review of pebble mosaics which can be used in gardens, patios and public places. Artists, landscapers, and any with a special interest in the design qualities of these mosaics will find this a beautiful collection which not only provides step-by-step insights, but includes a survey of traditional works by contemporary pebble mosaic artists. ... Read more

Book Description

Digital images are an integral part of all media, including television, film, photography, animation, video games, data visualization, and the Internet. In the digital world, spectators become navigators wending their way through a variety of interactive experiences, and images become spaces of visualization with more and more intelligence programmed into the very fabric of communication processes. In How Images Think, Ron Burnett explores this new ecology, which has transformed the relationships humans have with the image-based technologies they have created. So much intelligence has been programmed into these image-dependent technologies that it often seems as if images are "thinking"; ascribing thought to machines redefines our relationship with them and enlarges our ideas about body and mind. Burnett argues that the development of this new, closely interdependent relationship marks a turning point in our understanding of the connections between humans and machines.

After presenting an overview of visual perception, Burnett examines the interactive modes of new technologies -- including computer games, virtual reality, digital photography, and film -- and locates digital images in a historical context. He argues that virtual images occupy a "middle space," combining the virtual and the real into an environment of visualization that blurs the distinctions between subject and object -- part of a continuum of experiences generated by creative choices by viewers, the results of which cannot be attributed either to images or to participants. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The Long Memory
Carpenter, intricately weaves the multi-textured cultural history of the African diaspra experience into her new book on African-American art of the late twentieth century. By focusing our gaze on the works of Betye Saar she has rekindled the creative flame that drives contemporary art.

I would highly recommend this intimate portrait for those both new and familiar with African-American art. It could serve as a centerpiece in any collection of literature. ... Read more

Book Description

For many people, art is at once a form of self-expression and discovery.Perhaps that’s why collage, which is based on the idea of spontaneously layering imagesand symbols, is a favorite medium for crafters of all kinds.

This book approaches the topic by theme: 5 chapters present 20 projects that deal withexpressing personal creativity, exploring and recording relationships, dreaming andwishing, finding inspiration in nature, and creating visual memoirs.

The instructions tell how to create a personalized project, sharing necessary techniqueswhile suggesting ideas for substituting personal themes and materials. The directions area starting point to encourage the reader’s own artistic journey, guiding the reader tocontemplate, explore, and express thoughts and feelings through the medium of collage.

An inspirational gallery concludes the book, with another 26 projects by leading artists inthe field. Whether a person’s passion is stamping, decoupage, painting or paper art, thisbook shows how various collage techniques can combine to help any crafter or artistimprove their craft and enrich their soul.

Holly Harrison is a freelance writer and editor. Her first craft book, Angel Crafts:Graceful Gifts, Inspired Designs, was published by Rockport in April 2002. She has alsocontributed to numerous magazines, including Metropolitan Home. She lives in Concord,Massachusetts.

Paula Grasdal is a printmaker and mixed-media artist living in the Seattle area. She hascontributed to several other Rockport books, including Angel Crafts: Graceful Gifts,Inspired Designs, The Crafter's Project Book, and Making Shadow Boxes and Shrines.Her work has been exhibited in galleries in the U.S. and Canada. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Worth buying, but slightly anemic.
If you can afford to pick this up and just want to have all the collage/assemblage/book altering things you can get, by all means go ahead and nab this one, because it is lovely. There's a little Bagby, some Bagley, with dashes of Michel and Perrella and Riesch, so of course the eye candy is there, but I selfishly wanted a little "more" from this one. Some of the other featured art, while certainly very pleasant to look at, just isn't striking enough, IMO, to stand up on its own against the stronger pieces, let alone to have its own step-by-step instructions provided.

One thing that makes me feel a certain lacking is how abbreviated the authors' text seems. Mind you, it's not that what commentary is provided isn't engaging, but it doesn't go as deep as its potential. It's like having a dinner companion bring up something you find intensely interesting, and dropping an intriguing tidbit of their own opinions on the subject, but then realizing others were listening and biting her tongue.

I was left with no doubt in my mind that the authors have so much more to offer than this, but that they were somehow short on time and had to break this project off just shy of reaching its full development. Definitely worth owning, but don't break Mr. Piggy to buy this one new.

Lackluster
I was thoroughly disappointed in this book. Based on reviewer comments I hastened to buy it, and then found it uninspiring. It presented nothing new, not an iota of soul and seemed like a simple compendium of collage work with some scattered instructions that may not be sufficiently clear.

Collage for the Soul
If you are a collage artist, you will want to purchase this book. It is not a "how to" book but a wonderful resource of images and artists you might not find anywhere else. Many different styles of collage are represented and I find something new and inspiring everytime I look at it! There are many women creating in the collage world today and not enough resources to find them...get this book and see new images and artists! The collages are shown in beautiful, full page reproductions so that you can study the details. Highly recommend!

Get another book
I was really excited to get this book and explore the world of collage. I am a mixed media artist so I am familiar with materials. The pictures are gorgeous, but I found the instructions vague and lacking in detail. There is the collage picture and opposite is the materials list with bulleted instructions. One page per picture. One page for instructions (this is the area that needed more detail) And that is it.

Look at the house shaped box collage called "Crossings". The material list is there but the written instructions don't match the list. I expect to learn in the instructions how the 3 3/4" x 48" birch plywood is cut and used. Forget that. . .there is only vague information about how the box comes together. The pictures are inspiring and showcases great collage artwork. I celebrate that but hey the meat is in the instructions and sharing the techniques with others. If you are looking to learn about collage get another book.

INSPIRATION!!!
Collage for the Soul presents a wide array of handsome artwork and is complete with text on definition, process and technique. Holly Harrison and Paula Grasdal have assembled a stellar line-up of artists who generously share their personal expressions on canvas, in boxes, in book form, with fabric, and beyond. From simple to sophisticated, these pages will stimulate your thinking process on how to approach collage. The clear close-ups of the compositions, next to the materials listing and basic instructions, enables and encourages you to translate into your own individual creation. As a collage artist, I know that my focus and interests change and evolve so this book will be a constant resource of inspiration and information. Not to be missed! ... Read more

Book Description

Chinese blue and white porcelain has made a unique contribution to the history of ceramic technology. Throughout its development from the beginning of the fourteenth century, through its technical originality and artistic brilliance, it has continued to captivate and inspire the entire world.

This richly illustrated book traces the history and evolution of blue and white in China, first during the Yuan dynasty (1271-1368), when the Mongols ruled all of Asia, creating an environment in which blue and white could travel swiftly as far as the Mediterranean. In the fifteenth century the Chinese became enamoured of their own product, while at the same time the Ming potters were susceptible to ideas from the Islamic world and commercial and aesthetic pressures during the colonial period of European expansion. From the sixteenth century onwards, passion for collecting became a major influence on the concept of chinoiserie.

Finally John Carswell shows how the combined efforts of scholars, collectors and archaeologists have illuminated how, why and when blue and white developed and has made such a major impact on world civilization. The stunning illustrations are from museums and private collections around the world and include some never before published.

Important Note: The book also includes a very special unpublished material from a mysterious fourteenth century shipwreck in the Red Sea. Seen by only a handful of experts, the findings from this shipwreck are very important for art history and are published here for the first time. Full details with line drawings and complete mini-catalogue of this material are given in the book. ... Read more

Book Description

Symbols of the warmth of home life and the time-honored artisan tradition, l'art de la table, or "table art," comes from two sister crafts: pottery and faience. One rustic and earthen, the other the very picture of refinement, both have played a fundamental role in the expression of French culture from rural life to the high court at Versailles. This lushly photographed book takes the reader on a sun-soaked journey to the craft's ancestral home of Provence, in the South of France, to view the fascinating process of creation involved in these cherished crafts.

Filled with fascinating historical anecdotes, this thoroughly researched book goes inside the centuries-old ateliers of Provence to examine the making of pottery and faience from the cultivating of clay and its shaping at the potter's wheel to the kilns, painted decoration, and more. This lovely book offers not only a close-up look at this world-renowned craft but also a moving portrait of life in Provence. ... Read more

Book Description

Carolee Schneemann is one of the pioneers of performance, installation, and video art. Although other visual artists, such as Salvador Dali and Yves Klein, had used live self-portraiture and performance as a vehicle for public provocation, Schneemann was among the first to use her body to animate the relationship between the world of lived experience and the imagination, as well as issues of the erotic, the sacred, and the taboo. In the 1960s, her work prefigured the feminist movement's sexual self-assertion for women, and by the mid-1970s, her work anticipated the field of women's studies and its critique of patriarchal institutions. In the 1980s, she was one of the first to experiment with virtual environments.

Imaging Her Erotics integrates images from Schneemann's works in painting, collage, drawing, and video sculptures with written material drawn from the artist's journals, dream diaries, essays, and lectures. Encompassing four decades of her work, it demonstrates her profound influence on artists in all media. An opening essay by Kristine Stiles presents Schneemann's major themes and places her work in a historical context. Among other topics, the book covers Schneemann's response to the widespread use by artists of the ideas of theoreticians such as Georges Bataille, Jacques Derrida, and Jacques Lacan; her relationship to male artists such as Joseph Cornell, Robert Morris, and Claes Oldenburg; and reminiscences about her friends Ana Mendieta, Charlotte Moorman, and Hannah Wilke. The book also contains essays by Jay Murphy and David Levi-Strauss and interviews with the artist by Kate Haug, Linda Montano, and Aviva Rahmani. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Feminism is fully alive and vibrant in Carolee Schneemann
This is a wonderful career survey of this brave artist. Her experience as a feminist artist painter sculptor film maker performer dancer thinker is very inspirational. Carolees relationship to her sexual body and the power of transformation throught the body is so very human healing strong and deeply intelligent. The power of feminist art to change art history and change the world is seen through her performances and paintings. For me the work in this book demands that I remember the struggle women artits had and still have- its only been 30 - 40 years of feminist body art! Let us never forget the struggles of these great artists who are women....This is a wonderful book! ... Read more

Book Description

Conceptual art marks a major turning point in late twentieth-century art. An art of ideas - which can be written, published, performed, fabricated, or which can simply remain inside your head - it is also an art of questions. Since its emergence in the mid 1960s, it has challenged our precepts about not only art but society, politics and the media. An international movement, Conceptual art encompasses not only North America and Western Europe but also South America, Eastern Europe, Russia, China and Japan. Its legacy is global, ranging from small local participatory projects to large-scale installations at major museums and biennales. This comprehensive volume combines in one book an authoritative Survey essay by philosopher and art historian Peter Osborne, tracing Conceptual art's origins in Europe, Japan and the USA, its development throughout the 1960s and 1970s and its legacy in contemporary art; a Works section documenting the key works, divided usefully into six distinctive types of

Conceptual art; and a Documents section including texts by philosophers and writers who crucially influenced the movement, alongside key original texts by artists, critics and art historians. ... Read more

Book Description

We Love You is a unique compilation of sonic artworks featuring collaborations between innovative musical originators such as Brian Eno, Derrick May, Boy George, Hugh Cornwell, Add N to X, Pet Shop Boys, and Arthur Baker with a cross-section of the most cutting-edge British contemporary artists including Tracey Emin, Marc Quinn, Gilbert & George, Jake Chapman, and Angela Bulloch. It is presented in the form of a CD/book, a new format, a "futique" - a collectable piece of the future. We Love You is published in conjunction with Candy Records and contains original pieces of art by all the artists whose sonic artworks are contained on the accompanying CD. All the tracks on the compilation are previously unreleased and exclusive to We Love You. Designed by The Carpet Gypsies."A genuinely gorgeous collection of disco-pop and literate groove music... his is the uneasy listening album you could slap on only the coolest of coffee tables." - Laura Lee Davis, Time Out"We Love You - pretentious, silly, funny, frequently better than Robbie Williams." - Matthew Collings, Tate Magazine ... Read more

Book Description

Teach Yourself Mosaics explores the history of mosaics and explains how you can make everything from a mirror to a tray to a table.

Abundant color photography--on virtually every page--provides inspiration for:

• Selecting materials and tools
• Accomplishing suggested projects
• Developing original ideas
• Mastering skills and techniques

Reviews (2)

Excellant art book , great photos of artists and their studi
A fine art book, with good text and fine shots wide variety of artists and where they work o worked

A coffee table book that makes you forget the coffee.
One way to judge my opinion of this book is for me to remember that I have read it and reread it many times. It is a fascinating look into the working spaces of some of the greatest artists of the 20th Century. The photos are usually Liberman's own and while good, they are not usually "fine art". However, they do provide glimpses into places few have been, and that now no longer exist. Do I recommend it? Try borrowing mine--sorry! A companion piece is another book entitled, "Latin American Artists in Their Studios". The photos were taken by professionals and they look it. Both books are worthy of study for serious art enthusiasts. For more info on Liberman, read "Alex", the story of his life. ... Read more

Book Description

Intarsia refers to the ancient art of wooden mosaics-making pictures in wood. The authors have taken this art form and adapted it for today's woodworker. Using easily available woods and common woodworking tools such as scroll and band saws, the average woodworker can produce beautiful wooden reliefs through step-by-step instruction. The included patterns range from large, majestic portraits and murals to small jewel-like mosaics. Full-color photographs illustrate the beautiful and intricate work possible in the realm of intarsia. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Good, but misleading cover
I am just learning the art of intarsia, and this book had some helpful information. However, I was quite disappointed that none of the patterns in the book are for the pieces on the back cover (does and fawn, rearing horse, duck)- only the front cover patterns are included.

Lost in the woods
As I became lost in the art of intarsia, this book was my map. Completely unknown to the craft, I purchased this book as a way to beat my summer bordom. As I opened each page, a swirl of thoughts came to me, and I immediately made plans to visit the local hardwood retailer to start my first project. But where to start? This book has the most wonderful design ideas, from beginner to advanced, even I was impressed with the works I had done. You can make each project over and over, because the wood you use is always different. I would recomend this book highly to anyone slightly interested in the art and history and creativity of intarsia. ... Read more

Book Description

Mosaic-making is the craft craze of recent years, and understandably so. While the results may look complicated, the basic technique is easy to master, allowing even beginners to create original decorative pieces for the home.

This original collection of 12 contemporary projects for the home and garden teaches readers how to easily combine pebbles, stone and other natural materials to create mosaics of lasting beauty and originality.In addition to the traditional outdoor mosaic projects for garden paths and patios are mosaics that can also be incorporated into the home--in entranceways, kitchens and fireplace hearths. From a quick-and-easy wall plaque to a more challenging, large-scale oriental pathway, there is something for all abilities. Step-by-step, illustrated instructions, a comprehensive techniques section and beautiful photographs ensure great results. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Great Book
I looked at many pebble mosaic books before deciding on this one.
Has many hints and ideas for the beginner, with marvelous step-by-step instructions. Her mosaic patterns and use of material are some of the most creative I have seen. ... Read more

Book Description

Fragments of glass, stone, and clay are pieced together in the mosaic art form to create intricate patterns within a unified whole. Functional or decorative, abstract or pictorial, mosaics can be naive in their simplicity or designs of polished sophistication. Once again, this ancient craft is in vogue. This time, mosaic artists are firmly grasping the wheel of its centuries-old techniques, and changing course toward modern aesthetic standards.

"The Art of Mosaic Design" gathers some of the best contemporary works into a striking gallery of images, ideas, and information. Colorful photographs accompanied by enlightening text dramatically document the work of 42 international artists. Much more than a beautiful picture book.

"The Art of Mosaic Design" is a comprehensive study of this unique art form now poised for resurgence. ... Read more

Reviews (16)

An inspiring collection
This is an interesting, inspiring and beautifully presented book of work from mosaic artists around the world. There is so much variety in terms of style, technique, materials, and colour, and I very much like the fact that there are many photos of works in their entirety as well as pieces showing closeups of the same work in detail. There are generally between four and six pages for each artist, showcasing their work and talking a little bit about their artistic background, their technique used for certain pieces and their inspirations, all of which I found fascinating and brought me to a greater understanding of how the piece was created.

I admit that not everything in the book is to my own personal tastes: my preferences lean towards the more colourful. Among my favourite mosaicists in this collection are Erin Adams, whose compositions are based on intricately patterned oriental rugs; Gary Stephens, whose weird and wonderful designs feature brightly coloured fruit, fish, frogs, and ukelele-playing mermen (!); Linda Beaumont, especially for the assortment of objects she incorporates into mosaics; and Candace Bahouth, who I feel has a great eye for colour and shape. Nonetheless, there is a lot of creativity and enthusiasm evident in all the work in the book, whatever your tastes.

It also has possibly the best introduction I have ever read in a book about mosaic: "Mosaic design is a fascinating art based on paradoxes that must be embraced. Among these are the pieces, multiple objects of simplicity fused into a singular, complex wholeness; the irregularity that springs from deliberation; and, more often than not, the creation that is wrought from destruction. Such paradoxes are put into context by the mosaicist when the principles of other visual arts are applied. By shaping tesserae like a sculptor, choosing colors like a painter, and weaving patterns like a fiber artist, the mosaicist presents his or her vision."

What a wonderful way to introduce what mosaic is all about! I also feel that there is just the right balance between text and photographs - enough to enhance understanding, but not so much as to detract from the art itself. I recommend this book to all lovers of art, not just of mosaic.

Inspirational, beautiful design--a must buy for art lovers
This book is an exceptional overview of the state of contemporary mosaic art. The photos are exquisite and the text inspirational. Clearly, this book is a labor of love by the artists, writers, and publisher. A great resource for someone looking to commission a mosaic project. After reading this book, I went out and purchased a mosaic piece from one of the artists in the book

The in-mosaics
Authors Joann Locktov and Leslie Plummer Clagett praise the multi-talented mosaic-maker. Mosaic-makers color like painters, shape tesserae like sculptors, and weave like fiber artists. They go way back, to ancient Chinese pebbled streets.

About 2,500 years ago, mosaic-making reached Europe and the Mediterranean area. There, mosaic-makers cut rocks into small, regular pieces, known as tesserae. Mosaics then worked in wall and ceiling murals.

In the 20th century, artists pioneered using ceramics, glass and rock in mixed-media mosaics. Glass had been used for about 2,200 years. It was easier to cut down than stone, into much smaller pieces. Many different colors of many small pieces gave spectacular lighting.

For 1,400-1,500 years, Ravenna, Italy has been the place for traditional mosaics, for churches. Nowadays, alternative designs and uses crop up. For example, Ellen Blakeley makes household items, mirrors, picture frames and tabletops, from the shattered safety glass of vandalized bus shelters and store windows. Such thick pieces often break inside. This gives stunning lighting and looks.

Austrian painter Gustav Klimt, with murals, and Catalan architect Antonio Gaudi, with buildings, set the standards for today's ceramic mosaic-makers. Gary Stephens joins them, with his sculptures made from colorful pottery and tile pieces. He grew up in an Arizona border town. He then went on to travel. So he brings together the simple directness of Mexican folk artists, with the brassy busyness of Thai mosaic-makers.

Thailand, with its temples, is also one of the countries where stone mosaic-makers are rightly proud of their works nowadays. Another is Portugal, with its pathways. Both influence Linda Beaumont's mosaic columns, floors, fountains and pavements.

One mixed-media mosaic-maker is Raymond Isidore. It took him almost 25 years to cover the outside of his house with thrown-out crockery and dishware pieces. His mosaic-making style is called pique assiette, or stolen from plates.

So THE ART OF MOSAIC DESIGN packs beautiful illustrations and clear wording into just the right space. Along the way, I picked up another favorite art style in Ilana Shafir's stained glass and mosaic. She mixes traditional and unexpected materials, such as seashells and natural stones. Her works beautifully catch light and move viewers skywards, as in her window for the Netzach Israel synagogue in Ashkelon.

NOT Cutesy!
This book convinced me of the serious nature of new mosaic work being done around the world. This book made me want to be a mosaic artist!

WONDERFUL, COFFETABLE BOOK!
NOT ONLY IS THIS BOOK A EXCELLENT VIEW OF MANY UNIQUE ARTISTS BUT IT'S FORMAT IS BEAUTIFULlY LAYED OUT. A GREAT BOOK FOR AN UNBELIEVABLE PRICE! ... Read more

Book Description

On Planet Earth: Travels in an Unfamiliar Land collects Jan Staller's strangely seductive photographs from locations across the United States and around the world.-from abandoned factories to military test sites, from high-tech water-purification plants to heavy machinery that looks like it fell from outer space. Staller's square-format and panoramic photographs reveal bizarre and forgotten constructions of industrial society, set against a symphony of color and light.

A sense of mystery pervades Staller's images: ordinary building devices and machine parts take on the aura of Surrealist sculptures, while common construction sites echo the sacred grounds of ancient civilizations. Using long exposures and a combination of light sources-often photographing at dawn or dusk-Staller produces photographs that are breathtakingly rich in color and intensity.

Complementing the images in On Planet Earth is a narrative by Luc Sante, who shares Staller's fascination with urban and industrial wastelands, the history they contain, and the mysteries they conceal. Together, Staller's photographs and Sante's text offer a stimulating, Technicolor tour of the unknown at the edge of the contemporary landscape.
... Read more

Reviews (1)

:)
Take the desolate sound of Tool and the bilateral lyrics of Pink floyd and combine it with the eeriness of the X-Files into photographs, and Staller's book is accomplished. The pictures leave you wondering "What the hell?" as they evoke the wonderment and slight fear you haven't felt since you were a child. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

This book is good...and here's why (Read On!)
The Illustrated Star Wars Universe is unlike other Star Wars books because its purpose is not to entertain by way of action or plot and not to inform like a reference book. Its purpose is to show the various places in the universe that were and might not have been shown in the movies. The illustrations were excellent, and it was especially good to see some of the earlier versions of some places we got to know in the movies. I ask that you understand this before buying so that you don't buy it and think it was bad because you thought it is something other than what it is, a collection of depicting artwork.

My Idol
Ralph is one of the Best Illustrators that i know.His work is very inspirating for me.If you are true fan of Star Wars you just need this book.Excellent printing on high quality paper.Don't wait and buy this piece of art.

Entertaining travel guide to the Star Wars galaxy.....
Take the artistic talents of acclaimed production artist Ralph McQuarrie and the writing skills of prolific author Kevin J. Anderson (The Jedi Academy Trilogy) and you get The Illustrated Star Wars Universe, a coffee table book that gives readers a glimpse of the various planets showcased in George Lucas' original Star Wars Trilogy (1977-83).

Using McQuarrie's production sketches and paintings for A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and other Lucasfilm projects (including the Endor-based television specials of the mid-1980s plus preliminary sketches for the 1997 Special Edition updates), Anderson takes readers on a grand tour of the most important planets seen in the Luke Skywalker/Darth Vader half of the Star Wars Saga. Starting with Tatooine, the desert world that is the home world to both Anakin Skywalker and his son Luke and ending with Alderaan, the planet where Princess Leia was hidden from her father and was doomed to be destroyed by the Death Star, eight planets are described in individual chapters, each told not by one omniscient narrator but by eight different observers, each with his or her point of view and/or political agenda.

For instance, while the chapter on Tatooine is an anthropologist's dispassionate and scientific report on the desert planet's hostile environment and its hardy inhabitants (ranging from the nomadic and hostile Tusken Raiders and scavenging Jawas to the resilient human moisture farmers and their homesteads), the description of Coruscant, the massive city-planet which was once the seat of power of the Old Republic and is the capital of Emperor Palpatine's Galactic Empire, is a pro-Imperial propaganda article authored by Pollus Hax, the Emperor's chief public relations expert and "spin doctor."

Although much of the artwork featured in The Illustrated Star Wars Universe has been published elsewhere (either in the various Art of Star Wars books relating to the Classic Trilogy or in McQuarrie's Star Wars Portfolios), this combination of production paintings and Anderson's vivid and imaginative text works wonderfully and adds detail and background to both the movies and the post-Episode VI Expanded Universe novels, including Anderson's own JedI Academy trilogy and Darksaber.

A MUST FOR STAR WARS FANS
Awesome Illustrations and enjoyable narratives to go along with them. Lots of fun.

You feel inside this Universe
This incredible book help you feel like all the Star Wars universe and its planets are real. You read the accounts of the "writers" and you think that they really exists.
It helps to understand all the story and the beutiful pictures help to get into.
A MUST book for a Star Wars fan. ... Read more

Book Description

Best-selling author Claudia Nice provides all the information artists need to create gorgeous country garden art. She reviews basic watercolor techniques, including glazing and texturing, along with basic pen and ink techniques for producing a variety of line textures.

Readers will find valuable step-by-step demonstrations utilizing a variety of media. They'll begin by drawing in pencil, then add watercolor and/or pen and ink. In addition to flowers, Claudia shows how to illustrate a variety of leaves, vines, moss, ferns and other country scene details, including rabbits, dogs, statues, birdbaths, wagon wheels, weathered wood arbors, fences and more. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

The most recent in my collection!
I admit it: I am hooked on books by Claudia Nice. Pen & ink can be quite an intense media. Claudia Nice simplifies the techniques and conveys the instruction as only as master can, and does it in her trademark informal, friendly manner. Another aspect I love is her use of watercolor to bring her works to life. The reader gets the treat of two complimentary media in one book: pen & ink and watercolor.
For the beginner, I might recommend starting with her other books before attempting the more advanced exercises and techniques in Painting Country Gardens. The perfect introduction is Sketching Your Favorite Subjects in Pen & Ink, followed by Painting with Watercolor, Pen & Ink, and then perhaps Creating Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolor.
There are more technical books on pen & ink technique for advanced students, some intimidatingly so; but for the beginning to intermediate artist, no series of books is as valuable for developing sound technique. And certainly no other books are as intimate, casual, and just plain fun as those by Claudia Nice. ... Read more