Essential Techniques of Landscape Drawing by Suzanne Brooker

Essential Techniques of Landscape Drawing by Suzanne Brooker ISBN-13: 9780399580666 Hardcover: 208 pages Publisher: Watson-Guptill Released: August 7, 2018

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
This beginner's guide to drawing in graphite pencil uses step-by-step exercises to teach fundamental methods for rendering all aspects of the natural landscape, with additional lessons on using charcoal, colored pencil, pastel, and other media.

This book pairs the most universally-pursued topic for artists (drawing) with the popular subject matter of the natural landscape. Brooker breaks down landscapes into their various elements--including the terrain, water, sky, and trees--to convey how the fundamentals of drawing are applied to capture each aspect. Using the graphite pencil as her baseline instrument, Brooker provides you with step-by-step lessons that help you improve your rendering skills.


My Review:
Essential Techniques of Landscape Drawing teaches the basic techniques of drawing and how to apply them to landscape drawing. The author started by talking about the different tools and materials for drawing. She explained various terms and techniques, like foreshortening, perspective, proportion, and such. She also covered the basics like how to hold a pencil, the grid method, composition, light and shading. She talked about how to apply these concepts to a drawing when you begin a drawing.

Then she specifically talked about how to draw sky, terrain, trees, and water. In each section, she provided several step-by-step demonstrations showing how to draw different types of clouds, trees, etc. The first part of the book focused on pencil drawing, but she did cover charcoal pencils, colored pencils, and pastel pencils at the end and included one demonstration for each. Overall, I'd recommend this informative book.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

Practical Landscape Painting by David Hollis

Practical Landscape Painting by David Hollis ISBN-13: 9781782402800 Paperback: 96 pages Publisher: Ivy Press Released: April 5, 2018

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Watercolour offers both portability and gorgeous, rich, mutable colours. This is the perfect introduction for anyone who has thought about painting in watercolour but isn't sure where to start. Unintimidating and accessible, it will help you to get the pictures in your head onto the page.


My Review:
Practical Landscape Painting teaches beginners some of the basics of watercolor painting. It will appeal most to those who like to jump right in to the painting. The author explained what materials you need to do the projects in the book. He kept the materials pretty basic: 7 colors, a suitable round brush or two, and cold-pressed watercolor paper.

Most of the book focused on learning landscape painting through doing 7 projects. He started each project with a description of the technique or concept. He then described how to use this to create a simple landscape watercolor scene. There were step-by-step pictures to illustrate the text. The projects were used to explain types of washes and how to do them, painting skies using the wet-in-wet technique, tonal contrast, texture and patterns, color theory and composition, shapes and forms of trees, and perspective and shadows. At the end, there were a series of watercolor sketches which he did in Ireland. He described the techniques and process that he used to create each of them.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

Your Brain on Plants by Nicolette Perry; Elaine Perry

Your Brain on Plants by Nicolette Perry; Elaine Perry ISBN-13: 9781615194469 Paperback: 204 pages Publisher: The Experiment Released: Aug. 7, 2018

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
As scientists come to better understand how the brain works, the gap between traditional and alternative medicine is narrowing fast. Botanical Brain Balms, cowritten by a neuroscientist and an expert in medicinal plants, describes the beneficial effects of more than 56 plants on memory, mind, and mood—think St. John’s wort for depression, lavender for stress, and sage for cognitive function.

Expert authors Elaine and Nicolette Perry share insights into their own research into how plants can help us sleep, reduce stress, improve memory, and simply feel better. Botanical Brain Balms is organized to allow those experiencing anxiety, sleeplessness, or even pain to go directly to the appropriate chapter, where they’ll find orienting info about appropriate medicinal plants, including how plant compounds work on different parts of the brain.

Make-at-home recipes and remedies for teas, tinctures, balms, cordials, and even foods featuring ingredients proven to alleviate symptoms appear throughout, as do complementary exercises such as meditating on a chamomile lawn, qi gong in a wildflower meadow, and walking in woodland. An appendix includes the scientific documentation.


My Review:
Your Brain on Plants talked about 56 plants that affect your mind or emotions. The authors covered 7 calming plants, 8 memory boosters, 8 plants that lift spirits and relieve mild depression, 7 plants that promote sleep, 7 plants that relieve pain, 7 plants that combat mental fatigue and restore vitality, 5 plants that alter your consciousness, and 5 plants that help in several ways at once. Many of these plants are easy to find, like sage, peppermint, cat mint, garlic, ginger, turmeric, green tea, blueberries, rosemary, and walnuts. Others were less common and may be more difficult to find, though I've seen many of them at my health food store.

For each plant, there's a picture of the plant plus general information about what it looks like and where it grows, historical uses and folklore, a summary of scientific studies, the bioactive ingredients, uses and how to take it, and safety warnings. There were also some recipes for foods, drinks, lotions, and such that used the plant. While this is a very pretty and informative book, I'd hoped for more information about the scientific studies. These were summarized in a small paragraph or two while the history and folklore was usually two to three times as long.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

Vegan Yack Attack on the Go! by Jackie Sobon

Vegan Yack Attack on the Go! by Jackie Sobon ISBN-13: 9781631594229 Hardcover: 208 pages Publisher: Fair Winds Press Released: July 3, 2018

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Vegan Yack Attack on the Go! has options you can make in advance, take with you, or prepare quickly and easily once you get home. Packed with everything from car breakfasts and work lunches, to airplane snacks and potluck fare, you'll feel confident knowing you can go anywhere, do anything, and still eat delicious food. Beautifully photographed recipes you not only want to eat, but can whip up in any slice of time you can carve out, whether it’s at night, in the morning, or on a lazy Sunday. Recipes include:

No-Bake Apricot Almond Bars
Beastly Cauliflower Breakfast Burrito
Acorn Squash Chips
Bagel Hummus Veggie Sandwich
Whole Wheat Empanadas
Sheet Pan Squash Tacos
Pressure Cooker Pesto Spaghetti Squash
Chickpea Tendies & Waffles
Lentil Balls with Zesty Rice
Peanut Butter S’mores Dip



My Review:
Vegan Yack Attack on the Go! is a cookbook focused on quick, portable, vegan (no meat, dairy, eggs) snacks and meals. There were just over 100 recipes, and most of the recipes were less than 30 minutes (or 10 minutes) to make. The author used things like store-bought "vegan cheese" or "vegan yogurt," probably to save time and effort. She even used a gluten-based meat substitute in some of the recipes. She indicated if a recipe was safe for people with certain allergies, but she did use soy products in a number of recipes and tree nuts in others. The recipes also used added oil (usually sunflower oil) and added sugar (usually agave nectar). While the recipes looked simple enough to do and generally used common ingredients, there just weren't many recipes that looked interesting to me.

The recipes were grouped as breakfast and snacks (including smoothies, bars, cookies, a scramble, etc.), prepare ahead of time food (bars, veggie chips, granola, crackers, etc.), lunch (sandwiches, a wrap, salads, etc.), meals and sides that take less than 30 minutes to make and serve about four people (chili, burgers, pasta, cornbread, etc.), main dish recipes that are easy to double or triple, campfire and grill recipes, and sauces and jams.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


Excerpt: Read an excerpt using Google Preview.

Winslow Homer and the Camera by Frank H. Goodyear, Dana E. Byrd

Winslow Homer and the Camera: Photography and the Art of Painting by Frank H. Goodyear, Dana E. Byrd ISBN-13: 9780300214550 Hardcover: 208 pages Publisher: Yale University Press Released: July 10, 2018

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
One of the greatest American painters of the 19th century, Winslow Homer (1836–1910) also maintained a deep engagement with photography throughout his career. Focusing on the important, yet often-overlooked, role that photography played in Homer’s art, this volume exposes Homer’s own experiments with the camera (he first bought one in 1882). It also explores how the medium of photography and the larger visual economy influenced his work as a painter, watercolorist, and printmaker at a moment when new print technologies inundated the public with images.

Frank Goodyear and Dana Byrd demonstrate that photography offered Homer new ways of seeing and representing the world, from his early commercial engravings sourced from contemporary photographs to the complex relationship between his late-career paintings of life in the Bahamas, Florida, and Cuba and the emergent trend of tourist photography. The authors argue that Homer’s understanding of the camera’s ability to create an image that is simultaneously accurate and capable of deception was vitally important to his artistic practice in all media. Richly illustrated and full of exciting new discoveries, Winslow Homer and the Camera is a long-overdue examination of the ways in which photography shaped the vision of one of America’s most original painters.


My Review:
Winslow Homer and the Camera is basically two essays about Winslow Homer. The first was by Frank Goodyear, who looked at Homer's entire career with a focus on what influenced his artwork and especially at how photography influenced his art. The second essay was by Dana Byrd, who looked at how Homer captured the Bahamas, Cuba, and Florida in his art during his vacations in 1884-1886. She compared and contrasted his art with others who were painting or photographing these areas at that time. There were pages of pictures along with each essay showing the photographs and artwork that were mentioned in the essays.

The essays were informative and will probably be of most interest to fans of Homer's artwork. I was curious about how photography influenced American artwork at that time, and now I know as much as I care to. However, the authors assumed a previous knowledge of Homer's overall body of artwork, which I didn't have. While I could follow the specific references since pictures were provided, I couldn't fully appreciate their comments about his work in general.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

A Victorian Lady's Guide to Fashion and Beauty by Mimi Matthews

A Victorian Lady's Guide to Fashion and Beauty by Mimi Matthews ISBN-13: 9781526705044 Paperback: 152 pages Publisher: Pen & Sword History Released: July 2, 2018

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description from Goodreads:
What did a Victorian lady wear for a walk in the park? How did she style her hair for an evening at the theatre? And what products might she have used to soothe a sunburn or treat an unsightly blemish? Mimi Matthews answers these questions and more as she takes readers on a decade-by-decade journey through Victorian fashion and beauty history.

Women's clothing changed dramatically during the course of the Victorian era. Necklines rose, waistlines dropped, and Gothic severity gave way to flounces, frills, and an abundance of trimmings. Sleeves ballooned up and skirts billowed out. The crinoline morphed into the bustle and steam-moulded corsets cinched women's waists ever tighter.

As fashion was evolving, so too were trends in ladies' hair care and cosmetics. An era which began by prizing natural, barefaced beauty ended with women purchasing lip and cheek rouge, false hairpieces and pomades, and fashionable perfumes made with expensive spice oils and animal essences.

Using research from nineteenth century beauty books, fashion magazines, and lady's journals, Mimi Matthews brings the intricacies of a Victorian lady's toilette into modern day focus. In the process, she gives readers a glimpse of the social issues that influenced women's clothing and the societal outrage that was an all too frequent response to those bold females who used fashion and beauty as a means of asserting their individuality and independence.


My Review:
A Victorian Lady's Guide to Fashion and Beauty provides an overview of women's fashion in England between 1840 to 1900. The author used information and quotes from 19th century beauty books, fashion magazines, and lady's journals. She also included some fashion plates. I'm not familiar with the fashion terms of the period. I would have enjoyed more illustrations or more detailed descriptions for commonly used words describing parts of the dress or accessories, but I still found the book very interesting and informative.

The first part of the book described the fashionable dress styles (and their underpinnings), hats, shoes, cloaks, gloves, jewelry, and such during each decade and how the fashions changed. The author also talked about how changes in society and technology caused changes in fashions.

Then the author discussed the various dresses that were worn: the morning dress, walking dress, afternoon dress, dinner dress, evening dress or ball gown. She talked about changes in riding habits, seaside holiday dresses, bathing costumes, sports wear (for lawn tennis, golf, and cycling), wedding dresses, maternity dress, and mourning dresses during the Victorian period. She also described beauty advice and attitudes, from soap and cold creams for the face to hair care and hairstyles to cosmetic usage (face powder, cheek rouge, lip rouge, perfumes, etc.).


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.

The Complete Book of Arts Crafts, Grades K - 4 by Thinking Kids

The Complete Book of Arts Crafts, Grades K - 4 by Thinking Kids ISBN-13: 9781483826929 Paperback: 416 pages Publisher: Thinking Kids Released: July 27, 2017

Source: Review copy from the publisher through Amazon Vine.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
The Complete Book of Arts & Crafts for kindergarten to fourth grade helps your child explore creative outlets in the following areas: painting, sculpting, drama, handmade toys, mixed materials, and holiday projects. This standards-based activity book builds a solid foundation in fun, hands-on learning! Filled with fun projects and detailed instructions, The Complete Book of Arts & Crafts engages children as they develop important creative skills. This child-friendly workbook promotes independent study by offering exciting and artistic projects.

Each comprehensive workbook engages children with full-color photographs and illustrations that hold their attention while they learn important concepts for success.


My Review:
The Complete Book of Arts Crafts, Grades K - 4 contains art and craft projects for grades kindergarten through 4th grade. The book "supports current state standards" according to a seal on the cover. Each project has a page that briefly describes what you're going to make and what you will need. Most of the things you need are easy to find around the house, like a cardboard roll, wax paper, rubber bands, crayons or markers, and scissors. The next page or two describes in simple steps how to make the project and has illustrations of the process.

The art projects use tempura or watercolor paint, markers, or pencils. The book includes several recipes for finger paint, air-drying or oven-drying clay, kid-safe playdough, and bubble solution for blowing bubbles. The book includes projects like: Tie-dying. Making musical instruments like a drum, kazoo, shakers, tambourine, etc. Making puppets of various sorts and costume masks. Making homemade toys and games, like a spider, a pine cone owl, or a tic-tac-toe board. Using pasta or yarn in making art. A pine cone bird feeder, bulletin board, treasure box, plate mirror, and pop-up cards. Making holiday-related crafts, like a felt wreath, snowman puppet, or craft stick snowflake. The projects are pretty easy to do, with some being easier than others for the younger kids.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.