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{{newreviewFrontpage|author= Stephen HickmanAntoine Laurain, Le Sonneur and Jane Aitken (translator)|title= The Art of Stephen HickmanRed is My Heart|rating= 43.5|genre= FantasyLiterary Fiction |summary= Stephen Hickman has [[:Category:Antoine Laurain|Antoine Laurain]] books have always been a well known artist black and white and read in the Fantasy and Science Fiction worlds for a number of years nowmy house. And so was this one, having created covers for authors such as Harlan Ellisonalthough I could have spelled that more accurately – this one was, Robert Heinlein, Anne McCaffreyand is, black and white and Larry Nivenred. His paintings are vibrantYes, kinetic, sometimes scary, often sensual, traditionalhe has an artistic collaborator on this piece, and yet modern. I think it''The Art s possible to say not one page lacks the influence of Stephen Hickman'' collects hundreds of these paintings, and the artist himself provides an intriguing commentary alongside which offers a fascinating glimpse into the artistic processsome striking visual ideas. |amazonukisbn=<amazonuk>1783298456</amazonuk>1913547183
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Lewis Carroll, Mark Burstein (editor) and Salvador Dali1912242052|title=Alice's Adventures in WonderlandO Joy for me!|author=Keir Davidson|rating=43|genre=Confident ReadersArt|summary=If you don't know 'Oh Joy for me!'' gives Coleridge credit for being ''the story now, then where have you been for a hundred and fifty years? A young girl sees a hurrying white rabbit, follows it, falls down a hole, fails first person to recognise walk the 'stranger danger' in partaking of random foods and drinks just mountains alone, not because of a label on themhe had to for work, nearly drowns a whole menagerie of animals in as a lake of her own tears, takes advice from someone on drugsminer, plays cardsquarryman, shepherd or croquetpack-horse driver, or both or neither, and wakes up but because he wanted to find it all a dream. Someone else tried out such gibberish on a young girl, wrote it down in a flurry, made a hugely successful name for himself, pleasure and woke up to find even at this remove that most people (unlike me) adore the thingadventure. But it's not just for nowHis rapturous encounters with their natural beauty, and its 150th birthday, that the work gets reprinted. In the 1960sliterary consequences, someone came up with the idea to put the esoteric, surreal and daft mind changed our view of Salvador Dali in cahoots with the esoteric, surreal and daft world of Carroll's Alice, and the result was a very rare and valuable edition – a box set of illustrated booklets, perfectly suited to the very surrealistic 105th birthday. Since getting sight of one is like seeing a flat clock in Dali's pictures, this decent hardback replication is the nearest you'll get to owning one of the most special of Alice editions.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0691170029</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=David Hollis1980891117|title=Practical Landscape PaintingG Engleheart Pinxit 1805: Materials, Techniques & ProjectsA year in the life of George Engleheart|author=John Webley
|rating=4.5
|genre=Art
|summary=Almost any George Engleheart was one of us can visit the countryside and capture leading portrait miniaturists of Georgian London, with a career lasting from the 1770s to the view in our memory or on our camera with comparatively consummate easeRegency era. However capturing it in paint is more difficult and yet something some He was also one of us the most prolific, painting nearly 5,000 miniatures altogether (me includedover twenty of them being of King George III) dream of. It was therefore with great excitement that I picked up this compact book Throughout most of seven lessons in landscape painting. As I believe (with good evidence) that I have time he carefully recorded the artistic ability names of a house brickeach of his clients, it would be a challenge but I also have a dream and subsequently transcribed them into what is referred to followas his fee book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782402802</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Christopher DellHewitt_Renoir|title=MythologyRenoir's Dancer: An Illustrated Journey Into Our Imagined WorldsThe Secret Life of Suzanne Valadon|author=Catherine Hewitt
|rating=4.5
|genre=Spirituality and ReligionArt|summary=What does a rainbow mean Deep in the rural parts of France in the 1860s, you would never really expect to you? How find someone who would you explain the creation come to embody a full artistic period – and not just a movement at that, but a full generation of the world both creative and societal change. And if you had no science were to expect that someone, they would like as such, or not be male. But almost stumbling into the changing hedonistic culture of Montmartre came Marie-Clementine Valadon. She started in the seasons? What other kinds of natures – chaotic trickerycircus that first caught her teenaged eye, evil personae or even the characteristics of goats – people your world? And why is it although her gymnastic career was short-lived. But what she did have from that was the answers man poise to be an appealing model for some seriously important painters and a natural beauty and figure to appeal to both them and woman have collectively formed their audiences. And what she also had, much to such questions have been so similar across the oceans surprise of many and across the centuries? This highly pictorial volume looks at the mythologies that formed those answersdistaste of some, and locks on to a multitude was artistic talent of subjects – blood, music, godly activity – to show us what has followed.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0500291519</amazonuk>her own…
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jules NilssonMurakami_Music|title=The Hounds of FalsterboAbsolutely on Music: Conversations with Seiji Ozawa|author=Haruki Murakami and Seiji Ozawa|rating=43.5|genre=For SharingArt|summary=''In between the beach huts''<br>''Where the white sands meet the seasMurakami loves music, any reader of his could tell you as much. Norwegian Wood was named after a Beatles song (albeit one not very well known) and After Dark is framed by a music soundtrack in a brilliant display of atmospheric setting. With this, all that love is here. And like all who have a good taste in music,Murakami''<br>''The heather meets the sand dunes''<br>''And long grasses dance the breezes is eclectic and very well considered. I found myself looking up musicians after reading this because I found many of his opinions quite convincing.''|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0992708419</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Paula BriggsRavilious_Recent|title=Drawing Projects for ChildrenThe Recent Past|author=James Ravilious
|rating=5
|genre=CraftsArt|summary=''Drawing Projects for Children'' is a beautifulJames, full-colour guide that encourages children to use a range son of materials to create stunning and thought-provoking artwork. As the author points out, the end result is not always as important as the journey and this book helps children to move away from the more traditionalwar artist Eric Ravilious, or inherited his father'safe' type of drawing styles and indulge in s artistic talents. Although he was a little more experimentation and risk taking. The book is ideal for parents gifted painter, his main career was to use with their children, but each chapter is be as a self-contained lesson plan that facilitators and teachers can use with groupsphotographer.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908966742</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Anna WeltmanWood_Gothic|title=This is Not a Maths BookAmerican Gothic: The Life of Grant Wood|author=Susan Wood and Ross MacDonald|rating=4.5
|genre=Art
|summary=I have Who won a national prize for a crayon drawing of three oak leaves before he was properly in his teens? Who sought acclaim as an artist and came to Europe to admitstudy from the greats, I wasn't only to reject all they had to offer? Who instinctively knew a huge fan picture of maths at school. Maybe if I'd had this book when I was a childhis dentist (yes, I his dentist) would have been. 'This is not a Maths Book' cleverly bridges the gap between maths be more appealing and art and teaches kids how say more to make beautiful patterns people than floating water lilies and shapes by using mathematical principles. We learn about parabolic curves, Pascal's trianglefrilly ballet dancers? The answer in all cases was Grant Wood, practically the stomachionmost well-known painter in America at one time, tesselation and 3D drawings. Because still the pages are interactive and hands-onbest, alongside Edward Hopper, kids are learning the rules of maths without realising itat presenting his world minus any Modernist trappings. After all, there is no reason why maths shouldn't be fun!|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782402055</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Andrew WilsonV&A_Patchwork|title=Alexander McQueenPatchwork and Quilting: Blood Beneath the Skin|rating=4|genre=Biography|summary=On the face of it Lee McQueen might not have seemed like the ideal candidate for greatness in the world of haute couture. He was the youngest son of an East London taxi driver, but there was history in the rag trade within the family, although his father told him that if he wanted to sell clothes he should get a market stall. Determined to do it A Maker''his'' way, Lee borrowed the money from a relative to enable him to attend Central St Martins after doing a tailoring apprenticeship. The name 'Lee' might confuse you, but at the time McQueen began his own business he was claiming benefits and decided to use his middle name to avoid detection.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1471131785</amazonuk>}}{{newreviews Guide|author=Quentin Blake|title=Tell me a Picture - Adventures in Looking at ArtVictoria and Albert Museum
|rating=4.5
|genre=Children's Non-FictionArt|summary=When did Patchwork is a magical craft: you last read can take relatively small pieces of material and turn them into another piece of material with an entirely different pattern. Quilting converts a topper and a children's book that absolutely flummoxed you backing fabric with some wadding in between into a fabric of an entirely different weight. Combine the way it showed or told two crafts and you have something you didn't know? (And please be an adult when you answer thatmore than magical, or else it won't be quite so impressiveoccasionally fashionable but always deeply satisfying.) Back in 2001, Quentin Blake wasn't a Knight yet – he hadn't even got his CBE – but he did get allowed But where to put on his own show at the National Gallery, with other people's pictures that contain oddities, stories, unexpected detail – sparks on canvas and paper that would inspire anyone lookingstart, when there are so many different styles of whatever age, both crafts? One answer is to piece things together, work things out, read ''Patchwork and Quilting: A Maker'form a narratives Guide''. The pictures came with no major labelling, no context – just what they held, and some typically scratched Blake characters discussing which looks - as the images as a leadcover says -in. They were simply hung in alphabetical order, at styles from Italian trapunto to Korean jogakbo and probably could not have been more different. This then is a picture book of delivers fifteen projects inspired by the most literal kind, with 26 storiesV&A collections.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1847806422</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=David EsterlyRutherford_Landscape|title=The Lost Carving: A Journey to the Heart of MakingLandscape Gardens|author=Sarah Rutherford
|rating=4
|genre=AutobiographyArt|summary=Bouncing between his studio in upstate New York My first experience of a ''big'' garden was Versailles as a teenager and the sites of various English sojournswhilst I was impressed, woodcarver David EsterlyI didn's seems to be an idyllic existencet really like it. Yet I felt stifled and strangely underwhelmed by the flatness of it's not all cosy cottages in the snow . As luck would have it I then saw Hampton Court and watching geese and coyotes when he looks up from his workbenchit was official: I was off big gardens. It would be many years before I revised my opinion. There is an element of hard-won retreat from On a trip to Harewood House, it was too hot a day to be corralled into the trials of life in this memoirhouse, but so I wandered the gardens and found they were delightful. I felt uplifted. Then a cricket match at Stowe gave me the opportunity to walk the same time there is grounds for over an argument for the essential difficulty hour. I was completely won over and a devotee of the artistLancelot 'Capability' Brown. Sarah Rutherford's life. 'Carvers are starvers,' a wizened English carver once told Landscape Gardens'' was an opportunity to put himin context. Certainly there is no great fortune to be won from a profession as obscure as limewood carving, but the rewards outweigh the hard graft for Esterly.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0715649191</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Alexander McCall SmithBarrie_Peter|title=A Work of Beauty: Alexander McCall Smith's EdinburghPeter Pan and Wendy|author=J M Barrie and Robert Ingpen|rating=54|genre=TravelArt|summary=It might be simplest if I begin by telling you what this book is ''not''. It's not a book of beautiful photographs (with some supporting text) childhood staple - the story of Wendy, John and Michael Darling and their beloved nurse, Nana the places you'll almost certainly want Newfoundland dog who took them to visit if you're visiting Edinburgh as a touristschool each day. If thatIt's what you want then there are dozens of such books available all over George Darling, their father, who makes the city at a fraction of mistake when he locks Nana in the cost of ''A Work of Beauty''. This might have yard and the look of a coffee table book (children are whisked away to Neverland by Peter Pan and it would certainly look impressive there) but it has a lot more depth and interest than you might expectTinkerbell. This is There's a book wonderful mix of Alexander McCall Smith's Edinburghcharacters, from Peter Pan, the boy who never wants to grow up, Tinkerbell, the city he walks around every dayrather unpleasant fairy, Captain Hook, Tiger Lily, constantly seeing something newthe lost boys and - of course - Wendy, something else with but then it wouldn't have been a story to tellclassic since the original stage production in 1904 and the novel of 1911 if it were otherwise.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1902419863</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Grahame_Wind|title=Beautiful PatternsThe Wind in The Willows|author=Various AuthorsKenneth Grahame and Robert Ingpen|rating=4.5|genre=CraftsArt|summary=If you are going to make a colouring Kenneth Grahame's ''The Wind in the Willows'' was one of the defining books of my childhood and more than sixty years after I first read the book aimed at adults I say do 've just recently passed it 100% and go all outonto another young reader. You can keep your minimalist landscapes or your naïve animals; give me a page packed to Since the gills with something that needs filling book was first published in. This can make a creative colouring book 1908 there have been some notable illustrators: Paul Bransom provided illustrations for the 1913 edition, Ernest H Shepard (perhaps better known for grownups feel more like a military operationhis illustrations of ''Winnie the Pooh'') in 1933, but at least you will have fun doing it Arthur Rackham (possibly the leading illustrator from the golden age of book illustration) in 1940 and improve your skillsRobert Ingpen who illustrated the centenary edition of ''The Wind in the Willows''.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782432787</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Jenkins_100|title=Summers of DiscontentBritain's 100 Best Railway Stations|author=Raymond Tallis and Julian SpaldingSimon Jenkins
|rating=5
|genre=Art
|summary=Raymond Tallis is what some people may refer In the mid-twentieth century, the railway was something which harked back to as a Renaissance Man. He is a doctor (specificallythe Victorian age with trains being supplanted by cars and planes, a neurologist)but steam was being replaced by oil, a philosopher, a poet even then and a cultural criticin the twenty-first-century oil is giving way to electricity. It''Summers of Discontent: The Purpose of s cleaner, more environmentally friendly and the Arts Todaystations which we'' is a collection of excerpts from Tallis’s numerous other worksd all rushed through as quickly as possible, extracted and collated by Julian Spalding – curator and Tallis’ contemporary. It’s a testament keen to the free-flowingescape their grime, all-encompassing way in which Tallis writes that these excerpts sit next were restored and became places to each other seamlessly; they feel like one complete discussionbe admired, which is an achievement possibly even lingered in itself.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1908524405</amazonuk>Simon Jenkins has chosen his hundred best railway stations.
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=David GentlemanHurst_Norfolk|title=In the CountryOn My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks|author=John Hurst|rating=54
|genre=Art
|summary=I had no intention of reading ''In The Country''. I opened it simply to see what it It was likepure serendipity: after a five-hour drive, we were, annoyingly, but by the time that I shut it again I was nearly halfway through and I had no intention of giving left with an hour to fill in Blakeney before we could have the book keys to anyone elseour holiday cottage. Now There was an art exhibition in his eighties David Gentleman is well known as watercolouristthe church hall, specialising so we went in landscapes- and found a display of the most gorgeous pictures. HeI's based in London d cheerfully have bought every one and hung them on our walls, but also has thought that I would have to make do with a home in Suffolk in the village couple of Huntingfield and itgreetings cards when I saw 's this house, the village and the surrounding area which is the location for 'On My Way: Norfolk Coastal Walks'In The Country'and I couldn't resist buying it.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>095715285X</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Jeff Scott and Rachael AdamsBlackburn_Threads|title=Strictly ShaleThreads: Circling British SpeedwayThe Delicate Life of John Craske|author=Julia Blackburn|rating=4.5|genre=SportArt|summary=When I John Craske was young I remember Speedway being a regular item on Saturday sport programmes on televisionfisherman, from a family of fishermen, who became too ill to go to sea. My father He was an aficionado and loved born in Sheringham on the noise, the risk and the sheer energy of the sport - my mother less so and she quoted the noise north Norfolk coast in 1881 and would eventually die in the strong possibility of there being 'Norwich hospital in 1943 after a nasty accident' when the riders slid their motorcycles sidewayslife which could have been defined by ill health. It is still on television but I'll confess There were various explanations for what ailed him, what caused him to not having watched sink into a stupor, sometimes for many years at a time and it he was for this reason that Jeff Scotton occasions described as 's an imbecile''Strictly Shale'' achieved . But John had a natural artistic talent, albeit that his work had to be done on the available surfaces in his home. Chair seats, window sills, the backs of doors all carried his wonderful pictures of the unusual feat sea. Then he moved on to embroidery, producing wonderful pictures of both being an eye opener the Norfolk coast - and bringing back long-forgotten memories, most famously, of the evacuation at Dunkirk.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0956861830</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|isbn=Bray Titania|title=WinterTitania and Oberon|author=Adam GopnikJo Manton, Phyllis Bray and David Buckman
|rating=4
|genre=ReferenceArt|summary=In this collection of five essays, each one offering a unique and fascinating perspective on the season of winter, Adam Gopnik takes the reader on a captivating journey, exploring history, art and society, through ''Romantic Winter'', ''Radical Winter'', ''Recuperative Winter''Equus, ''Recreational Winter'' Waiting for Godot and A Mid-summer Night's Dream'Remembering Winter''. In each essay, Gopnik focuses on one or two central themes, whilst also touching on surrounding ideas. For example– three very distinctive plays, in Romantic Winter his central topics are art and poetrymy favourite three, however, issues such as changing society, technology, sex and culture are also explored, in relation to these pivotal notions. He also includes two sections featuring collections out of artwork to illustrate his viewpoints, which add a charming, individual touch to this book.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1780874472</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|title=The First Bohemians: Life and Art in Londonyou won's Golden Age|author=Vic Gatrell|rating=4t often get me choosing just one.5|genre=History|summary=It was in the eighteenth century that an area of London consisting of about half a square mile, from Soho and Leicester Square across Covent Garden’s Piazza But were I to Drury Lanedo so, and down from Long Acre to it might actually be the Strandlast, with Covent Garden at for the very centre, became what has simple reason that I would delight in modern times been recognised as the world’s first creative ‘bohemia’playing any and all characters from it. This was where the cream of Britain’s significant artists, actors, poets, novelistsYes, I know Hermia and dramatists Helena look a bit implausible now – but I put it to you stranger things happen on stage… Some of the age lived and workedstrangest things involve a player himself, side by side with the city’s chief market traders, craftsmen, shopkeepers, rakes, pickpockets a lowly actor who gets given an ass's head and prostitutesis forced to be enamoured of a fairy queen. One might say It's this section of the play that all human life was herethis book concentrates on, in quite stunning form.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846146771</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|titleisbn=Sea Monsters: The Lore and Legacy of Olaus Magnus's Marine MapBM_Origami|authortitle=Joseph Nigg|rating=4.5|genre=Popular Science|summary=A confession. When reading hardbacks I take the paper cover, if there is one, off, to keep it pristine. Sometimes there's a second benefit, with [[Longbourn by Jo Baker]] as an example of having an embossed illustration underneath, or suchlike. But with this book I won't be alone, for the cover folds out into an amazing artworkOrigami, such as has only two extant original copies. It's a coloured replica of a large map of the northern seas Poems and Scandinavia, dating from 1539, and is in a category of three major artful scientific papers from where the whole 'here be dragons' cliché about maps comes from. Its creator, Olaus Magnus, followed it up years later with a commentary of all the sea creatures he drew on it, but Magnus has waited centuries for this delicious volume to commentate on both together, in such a lovely fashion.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1782400435</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewPictures|author=Judith Kerr|title=Judith Kerr's Creatures: A Celebration of the Life and Work of Judith KerrThe British Museum
|rating=5
|genre=AutobiographyArt|summary=In childrenSometimes you find a delight of a book. On an afternoon when it was unseasonably cold and decidedly wet I discovered 's literature there are some authors whom you know are not just reliable'Origami, but always impressivePoems and Pictures'' and I was transported to Japan. One As the title suggests we're looking at three celebrated arts and crafts: the ancient art of those names is [[:Category:Judith Kerr|Judith Kerr]]paper folding, haiku poetry and painting. For decades sheI's been delighting our children (and grandchildren) ll confess that it was the origami which caught my attention, but it still came as I was surprised by the extent to which the rest of the book caught my imagination. We begin with something of very simple: a surprise to discover that she would be ninety boat and in June 2013. To celebrate thiscase you're worried, Harper Collins all the entries have published ''Creatures'' in which Judith tells not just her own story but that a degree of the difficulty (from 'simple'creaturesthrough to 'tricky' - the characters in her books ) and her family - who have contributed to her inspirational life. It this one is, though, far more than just an autobiography with a marvellous collection of paintings, drawings and memorabiliaat the lowest level.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0007513216</amazonuk>}}'{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Rick GekoskiForeman_Travel|title=Lost, Stolen or Shredded: Stories of missing works of art and literatureTravels With My Sketchbook|author=Michael Foreman
|rating=4
|genre=Art
|summary=Over I guess the centuriesbest children's literature can do away with complete veracity, many works as long as it has something about it that is recognisable – a little of art have disappeared the spirit, heart and character of the real thing, whatever it may be. And if that's the case then come backit definitely applies to children's literature illustrations, or been returned almost such as if they had never been awaythose provided close on two hundred times by [[:Category:Michael Foreman|Michael Foreman]]. OthersThis prolific artist leapt at a scholarship in the US when he'd completed his official, less fortunateformal studies, were simply destroyed. A very few and it would appear – huge credits list regardless – that he's never really existed at stopped moving since, as this book takes us to all. That is corners of the basis of this unusual and very intriguing read from rare book dealerworld, writer and broadcaster Rick Gekoskiback home again.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846684919</amazonuk>
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{{newreviewFrontpage|authorisbn=Rosy SherryBiesty Trains|title=Boobadoodle|rating=5|genre=Humour|summary=Boobadoodle is a book of doodles. On boobs. Fifty doodles on a variety of boobs, some belonging to the author, some to her friends. Quite good friends, I imagine.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846059267</amazonuk>}}{{newreviewStephen Biesty's Trains|author=Christopher Simon Sykes|title=Hockney: The Biography, Volume 1, 1937-1975Ian Graham and Stephen Biesty
|rating=5
|genre=Art
|summary=As one of the major names of British twentieth century artTrains look imposing, but true fans (little boys, David Hockney has always been a larger than life figure. Published usually from about three years old and upwards) want to coincide with his 75th birthday, this is know what lies beneath the first volume of a biography skin which tells his story up you can see. They want to 1975know how it works.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>1846057086</amazonuk>}}{{newreview|author=Carola Hicks|title=Girl Getting to grips with one in real life is quite a Green Gown: The History and Mystery of big ask, but the Arnolfini Portrait|rating=4.5|genre=History|summary=The Arnolfini marriage portrait, as it next best thing is generally if perhaps inaccurately known, painted by Flemish artist Jan van Eyck, signed ''Stephen Biesty's Trains'' which features trains from all over the world and dated 1434, has long been one spanning the early steam train (complete with cowcatcher) right through to the trains of the most popular future which can reach a speed of 430 kph and enigmatic paintings of its timedon't even run on rails. Of modest size, Once the train reaches a little less than three feet high, it is one speed of 150 kph the wheels are raised and the oldest surviving panel pictures to be painted in oils rather than tempera. It train is also regarded as the first work of art which simultaneously celebrates both middle-class comfort and monogamous marriageheld up by magnetic forces alone.|amazonuk=<amazonuk>0099526891</amazonuk>
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