Art
Book Reviews
cont.,
Color Theory for Artists: Everything you need to know about working with colour is a great go-to standard book on colour theory. It covers the usual attributes of colour with hue, value, saturation, temperature and its transparency or opacity. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on pigments and paints.
So many Banksy's have disappeared over the years. But maybe that was always the intention although I'm sure he didn't think at first that a lot of times they disappear because people see the dollar signs rather than the art. I'm sure he was aware that many would be painted over or some council worker would want them removed as they are grafitti. Banksy's Lost Works records these mostly ephemeral works. It's a very interesting read.
I've actually been creating linocut stamps to add to my urban sketching so it was nice to see a book about it. Linocut Printmaking in the City by Ella Flavell includes projects that involve linocut as the full urban "sketch." Flavell describes what you need to get started and even what type of papers to select. There are even projects featuring collage papers to bring your work to life and using collagraph and textures.
Like the linocut book above, the author, Nick Morley, of Linocut: Learn in a Weekend lays out all that you need to start linocutting. He also provides you with images to trace and use yourself to get familiar with the process. It's very approachable and you really could learn in a weekend.
I'm trying to use the gel plates that I have. I like using them in my urban sketching as well like incorporating them for texture or framing etc. But I'm always on the lookout for new tips and tricks. The Gelli Arts Printmaker's Handbook is a great starter book for your gel printing journey. The author, Jessica Russo Scherr covers using image transfers (and how to be successful at this from the get go), stencils, magazine transfers as well as discussing general art decisions on composition and colour palettes.
Once you graduate from the book above you may want to push yourself with Block Print Magic by Emily Louise Howard. She leads you through several projects that go a step further. I particularly like the project showing you various backgrounds you could print on like a page from a book or tissue layers or other textured paper. You can even involve stitching. I like that she has selected other artists to spotlight so you are really getting a range of ideas and styles.
Lives of the Great Makers covers most fine art and craftspeople from the 16th century to present drawn from the V&A collection. 40 makers are highlighted and illustrated. These include William Morris, Christopher Dresser, Eileen Gray, Lucie Rie and range from silverware, to glass, furinture, pottery etc. It's a lovely collection.
Still not done with Gelli plate printing? What about adding to your research Fun with Gelli Plate Prints. The authors in this book also show you how to create your own gel plate (unlike the other two books that are produced with the branded Gelli Plate). There's the usual list of materials and techniques but also help with understanding colour theory and how to use this most effectively.
Joan Bess is the inventor of the actual Gelli plate so she knows a thing or two about getting the most out of this printing method. In fact there are 60 techniques listed in Gelli Plate Printing that you can try out with more examples of variations. At the end of the book she showcases other gelli plate artists who contributed to the book with examples of their work.
Still in a linocut mood? This book really goes beyond the other books above that are more about getting you started. Linocut for Artists and Designers as the name suggests is more on the professional side. The author showcases 8 international artists and describes how linocuts can be applied including to fabric. Morley goes over the various types of presses that can be used if you have access to one or thinking about investing in one.
If you've been following along you know that I love looking at other artists' sketchbooks. The Artist's Sketchbook: Inside the Creative Mind goes through sketchbooks in the V&A collection. These range from the famous historical like Da Vinci to amateurs and artists of the modern day. I am nerdy and love the details about the type of sketchbook ("140 pages of white buff paper with gilt edges, with 137 drawings on laid paper pasted in, bound in blue cloth"). Some entries have photos of the outside of the book as well as examples from inside. I particularly loved the sketchbook by a Mrs. Hughes and her teacher Mr. Ryland. The teacher provided drawings that she had to copy on the opposite page.
Hockney's Pictures is another exhibition catalogue of the artist's 50 years of production. The large volume consists mostly of images (over 300) and quotes from the artist divided into problems of Depiction, Life Stilled, Portraits, Space and Light, Endless Inspiration (Yorkshire, Computers, Yosemite etc.). Here is a delightful overview of his work in all media.
I missed both Tracey Emin's retrospective at the Tate Modern while I was in London (I was there but the crowds put me off) and also seeing her studio in Margate (not open on that day). So this, Tracey Emin Paintings, is the next best thing. While her career started with painting and drawing she turned her attention to film, photography, sewn appliqué, sculpture, and neon, but in recent years she gone back to painting. She is nspired by artists Egon Schiele and Edvard Munch. Her paintings, like much of her art, are provocative, confrontational, and vulnerable, personal and universal.
Yes another David Hockney book. Recently the great artist passed away and so I felt I needed to go back over his work. This book was also refered to in my online course through the St. Ives School of Painting. David Hockney: A Bigger Picture is the exhibition catalogue of the same name and a film documenting this work that concentrates on his home county of Yorkshire. The thing that struck me the most was his writing on that we see with memory - a memory of place beyond topography and also of artistic tradition. The reproductions of the works are beautiful in this substantial book.
Love Lucian is a collection of Lucian Freud’s early letters from 1939-54, partly from his estate, private collections and public archives (the Freud Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Tate). The early thoughts of schoolboy Lucian in letters to his parents to correspondence with others who will become important to his career often feature drawings and quirky details. I love seeing how his handwriting would change depending on who he was writing to.
My Heart Is This: Tracey Emin on Painting is a conversation with the artist (led by art critic and historian Martin Gayford) particularly in regards to her painting. It is really a look at her practice and career and how things have changed since her cancer diagnoses.
I'm really drawn to Emin's mark making rather than her subject matter.
More snooping in artists' sketchbooks... JMW Turner: The Skies Sketchbook is a complete reproduction of the great Turner's sketchbook (including the flypaper). This sketchbook is thought to date from 1818 or later. The artist has worked from back to front. The watermark on the paper dates its production to 1814. Most of the images are from on location in London. Some of the warmer skies may be from his trip to Italy in 1819. And of course there are the skies of Kent, dear to the artist, that he considered the best skies in Europe.
The Secrets of Painting is by a painter, Lachlan Goudie, who himself is the son of a well-known artist. This book looks across the centuries since the first known artistic images (cave paintings, Fayum funerary portraits) to the present day (Hockney digital drawings and Refk Anadol whose studio consists of computer scientists, architects and neuroscientists). Now normally these books are by art historians (and I have an MA in art history so this is no diss). What makes this interesting is that it is by an artist and seen from the perspective of a working artist. In some of the chapters he focuses on particular artists, and not just the big, big names. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on Alma Thomas who developed her technique that made her famous when she was in her 70s. In 1972 she was 80 when she became the first African American woman to have a solo exhibition at the Whitney. This book is going on my Christmas wishlist!
This rather new book , Turner and Constable: Art, Life, Landscape by Nicola Moorby, is a very interesting read of the two artists born just 14 months apart and both of whom changed our approach to landscape painting and appreciation. It is really worth a cover to cover read rather than a pick through. The section on how both used printmaking and their time at the Royal Academy as students and teachers is is an interesting look at the similarities and differences.
50 Ways to Break the Rules in Oils by Haidee-Jo Summers may have oils in the title although there are a lot of “rules” that apply to acrylic, watercolour etc. The artist looks at composition and subject matters as well as colour and technique. I especially like the section on Rules of Behaviour like you can only paint outside on sunny says, don’t paint in midday sun - Haidee shows you with cheerful, bright paintings how breaking “the rules” can set you free. The format of the book and the rich images truly make for a great read.