My Favorite Art Books Part Two
I love reading, studying and collecting Art books.
Do you?
My Doodles
I am a daily reader, and love to read and study Art books. Over the past 10 years I’ve gained quite a collection and today I’m going to share more of my Favorite Books.
Please forgive me for the quality of the images I am sharing. Some are wonky! Especially the books that are big as they are hard to put on my small copy machine surface. I apologize for this.
I hope you enjoy these. If anyone wants the ISBN number of any of these just leave me a message!
A Proven Strategy forCreating Great Art
by Dan McCaw
Dan McCaw was born in Seattle, Washington in1942, and is one of America’s most highly respected contemporary impressionists. He started his formal art training at the San Francisco Academy of Art. From there he became a commercial illustrator for a design studio. He then attended Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and went on to be an instructor there for 17 years. He then started his career in Fine Art. He was influenced by Joaquin Sorolla, Edouard Vuillard, Pierre Bonnard, Gustave Klimt and the Abstract Expressionists. He has been painting for over 30 years and is one of the most sought after artists in America. He and his wife Stacey live in Los Angeles, California.
Dan published his art book in 2002, in which he provides his readers with a two-pronged approach to artistic training. His book covers the basics of painting, the fundamental building blocks which provide for the foundation for all good art. He will help you understand how light reveals form, how to render with light and shadow, how to design with shapes and edges and how to use color. In the second prong, he shows his readers how to develop their point of view using demonstrations that take you all the way through the creative process. His book is full of very useful and practical information. I really think you will enjoy this “how-to” book.
The Art of ANN TEMPLETON
A STEP BEYOND
By Ann Templeton
One of my art buddies, Debbie High, recommended this book to me. Debbie studied with Ann for many years in New Mexico. Ann was born in 1936 in Houston, Texas. She started painting as a youngster and won an award in the ninth grade. Next she married and had 4 children. She studied with Dick Turner, William F. Reese, Wolf Kahn, Edgar Whitney, William Henry Earle and Bob Rohm. In 1974, she started her professional art and teaching career. She and her husband Doug moved out to New Mexico in 1989, so she could paint the colors of the world, which she did for over 25 years. She left this world “to soar with the eagles” on October 17, 2011, after a courageous battle with lung cancer.
Ann Templeton was a world renowned artist, master colorist and Abstract Expressionist, as well as a highly recognized teacher and published author. She is known for her use of transparent, creative color and abstract landscapes. She was primarily a Plein air painter and developed techniques to capture the landscape quickly and interpret it with her unique vision of color and design. She taught workshops all over the world.
A quote from Ann, “I believe a painting should begin gently, build to a crescendo and then end quietly, so it becomes a piece of music. Every brush stroke becomes a note.” Another quote, “Finding your own style is a journey. And really it’s the journey we are after, not the destination. You don’t focus on the style. Let it evolve.”
This is just one of her books, it is a true gem, one you will refer back to time and time again! She also has instructional DVD’s.
SERGEI BONGART
By Mary Balcomb
Sergei Bongart was born in 1918 in Kiev, Ukraine. He studied art in Kiev, Prague, Vienna and Munich, before emigrating to the United States in 1948. In 1954, he moved to Los Angeles where he founded an art school. He taught a number of inspiring young artists who later became well known—among them: Del Gish, Sunny Apinchapong, Ron Lukus, Don Sahli, Ovanes Berberian and Guido Frick. In 1969, he established an art school in Idaho. Much of his art reflects the rustic settings which reminded him of his homeland in Ukraine. He was nicknamed “the cowboy from Kiev.”
He had a terrorized youth and experienced horrible scenes with arrest of innocent citizens, starvation, dead bodies all over the streets of Kiev under Stalin’s rule and later during World War II. Both of his parents were dead. He made 5 attempts to flee Kiev and Communists. He became a fugitive and was literally one step ahead of the enemy. His amazing encounters eventually lead to safety in the American zone in Munich. Courageous, intelligent, clever, and highly talented, he quickly learned how to use his art for survival and spiritual health as he began his 6-year wait for his visa and the American dream.
As soon as he arrived in Memphis, Tennessee with his sponsor in 1948, he began to receive commissions, accolades, prestigious award and medals. He was a gentleman and a beloved teacher. He was also a poet. He painted from his emotions and wanted to educate anyone who wanted to learn to paint. He is known as one of the greatest colorists in America. He died 1985, survived by his wife Patricia. Guido Frick was a good friend to him and was the last artist to see him before his death.
You will love this book! It is filled with his beautiful paintings and his poems.
Nicolai FECHIN
The ART and the LIFE
By Galina P. Tuluzakova
Nicolai Fechin was a brilliant artist born in1881in Kazan, 500 miles from Moscow. He was educated at the Kazan Art School and the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts, where he was taught by Ilya Repin, the great Russian master. Due to war, many Russians left their homeland and Nicolai Fechin emigrated to America in 1923, at the age of 42. He lived in New York City with the help of a patron of his, as he had to leave everything he owned back in Kazan. He later settled in the dry climate of Taos, New Mexico with his family when he developed TB. He became fascinated with the landscape and the Native Americans there. He produced a large body of work during his 6 years in Taos. He eventually settled in southern California in 1933, with his daughter Eya after he and his wife divorced. He worked and taught here until his death in 1955. He had always longed to go back home. Later his daughter took his remains back to Kazan. Sergei Bongart bought his home and his Rustic Canyon studio where he painted until his own death in 1985. The house is now a museum.
Fechin was a brilliant painter, a master of portraits, nudes, landscapes, still-lifes and drawings. He was also a master at sculpture, architecture, wood carving and ceramics. He loved painting with a palette knife to apply color to large areas of his painting surface and to emphasize gesture and movement. The brilliance of his painting style and the bold imagery in his drawings is undeniably arresting. He had a remarkable ability to capture the essence of personality in his portraits, figures and his drawings. He almost always painted directly from life.
This book is fabulous and is full of his incredible works. It’s a must-have for collectors!
There are many more of my favorite books for artists, collectors, and those interested in all things creative out there. I will continue sharing them in future posts, so stay tuned! I’ve already got 4 more picked out to show you.
Hope you enjoyed my blog post.
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