The Curiously Sinister Art of Jim Flora


Book Description

Flora was prolific in his commercial work; he created art privately in equal measure and often with more fiendish pleasure. His style is cartoonish, evoking childhood nostalgia and dereliction of adult responsibility. There are clowns and kitty cats, grinning faces and beaming suns. But Flora did not restrain his darker impulses. His montages are crammed with bullets and knives and fang-baring snakes. Muggers run amok, demons frolic with rouged harlots, and Flora's characters suffer that is, are afflicted by the artist with severe disfigurement. The banal and the violent often coexist within inches of each other on the canvas.




Brave Intuitive Painting-Let Go, Be Bold, Unfold!


Book Description

Adopt a spontaneous, bold, and fearless approach to painting as a process of discovery—one that results in lush and colorful finished works that will beg to be displayed. This inspiring and encouraging book for both novice and experienced painters teaches how to create colorful, exciting, expressive paintings through a variety of techniques, combining basic, practical painting principles with innovative personal self-expression. Flora S. Bowley's fun and forgiving approach to painting is based on the notion that “You don't begin with a preconceived painting in mind; you allow the painting to unfold.” Illustrating how to work in layers, Flora gives you the freedom to cover up, re-start, wipe away, and change courses many times along the way. Unexpected and unique compositions, color combinations, and subject matter appear as you allow your paintings to emerge in an organic, unplanned way while working from a place of curiosity and letting go of fear. —Learn techniques for working with vibrant color and avoiding mud. —Make rich and varied marks with a variety of unexpected tools. —Break compositional rules. —Embrace nonattachment as a way to keep exploring. —Keep momentum by moving your body and staying positive. —Work with what's working to let go of struggle. —Connect more deeply to the world around you to stay inspired. —Embrace layers to create rich complex paintings. —Find rhythm by spiraling between chaos and order.




Lucian Freud Herbarium


Book Description

As intimate and meticulous as his revered portraits, Lucian Freud's magnificent paintings and drawings of plant life are gathered for the first time in book form. Lucian Freud's portraits are known for their spectacular detail and unflinching gaze. Although Freud brought the same qualities to his paintings and drawings of plants, flowers, and landscapes, these are largely unknown. This elegant book shows how working with plants emboldened Freud to experiment with style and composition. Reproduced in sumptuous plates that allow readers to indulge in exquisite detail, seventy-five works--including Two Plants, Bananas, Cyclamen, The Painter's Garden, and Interior at Paddington--reveal Freud's singular approach to plant life. Readers unfamiliar with this aspect of Freud's work will find many similarities to his portraits--earthy palettes, unconventional rawness, and assiduous attention to detail. From the delicate realism of the cyclamens' petals to the bold brushstrokes that immortalize his overgrown garden, readers will appreciate Freud's ability to portray plants in new and personal ways. Comparative illustrations from throughout art history accompany essays on the history of plants in art and an appreciation of Freud's oeuvre. This monograph is a tremendous contribution to Freud's legacy, one that will enrich his admirers' discernment while also introducing his thoroughly original depictions of plants to a new audience.




Painting in Acrylics


Book Description

The technical secrets of a professional painter for the best results and more room for creativity. Painting in Acrylics: The Indispensable Guide provides comprehensive guidance for painters of all experience. Realist painter Lorena Kloosterboer, known for her exceptional technical skill, starts with the basics and progresses to advanced techniques and professional practice. The topics include: About Acrylic Paint -- Types of acrylics, comparative advantages, how to read a paint label, using mediums and additives, gesso and varnish Materials and Equipment -- Art supply shopping, palettes, masking, special effects tools, brushes, knives and shapers, airbrush, supports, surface preparation, the studio The Foundation -- Color theory, mixing colors, size and dimensions, order of work, using references, transferring images, painting whites, grays and blacks Techniques -- Underpainting, washes, wet in wet, adding salt and alcohol, blending, dry brush and scumbling, pouring, masking and stenciling, grisaille, glazing, impasto, sgraffito, spattering, sponging, stamping, decalcomania, airbrushing Surface and Form -- Still life, wood, glass, metals, fabric, paper, flowers and leaves, portrait, skin, hair, animals, feathers, landscape, water, clouds, shrubs and trees, stone and brick Be a Pro -- Ethical behavior, competitions/exhibits, art community, consistency, painting titles, keeping records, recording your work, framing, shipping, reproductions, social media, tuition. A navigator sidebar refers readers to related sections for more information or problem solving. Appendices include a list of recommended brands and where to buy them, a glossary of art terms, how to fix common problems, and health and safety. Beyond its outstanding content, this book's size makes it an exceptional value. Other titles on this topic rarely exceed 200 pages, even the so-called "big" books. An affordable volume by a world-renowned, widely exhibited artist, Painting in Acrylics: The Indispensable Guide is a superb value that will provide years of expert guidance and inspiration. It is an essential choice for retailers and libraries.




Flora Symbolica


Book Description

'Flowers In Pre-Raphaelite Art'. 120 colour illus.




Two Paintings of Flora


Book Description




Creative Revolution


Book Description

Half holistic guidebook, half painting how-to, Creative Revolution offers support and inspiration to anyone looking to express themselves, through paint or otherwise.




The Mischievous Art of Jim Flora


Book Description

by Irwin Chusid 11 x 10, SC, 180 pages, FC, $34.95 The first collection of the marvelous, mischievous album cover art of Jim Flora (1914-1998), collecting most of his known covers. The book also includes rarely seen illustrations and covers from Columbia's "Coda" trade journal and elsewhere.




A Touch of Blossom


Book Description

"Explores the art of John Singer Sargent in the context of nineteenth-century botany, gynecology, literature, and visual culture. Argues that the artist was elaborating both a period poetics of homosexuality and a new sense of subjectivity, anticipating certain aspects of artistic modernism"--Provided by publisher.




Flora


Book Description

Sandra Knapp's 'Flora' examines the art and science of plant collecting, illustrating what we have learned from gathered botanical specimens.