Book Description
European Luxury Home Plans presents a fresh portfolio of plans drawn from the ageless character of classical Old World architecture. The styles conceived here to be classic speak softly of an American heritage, inspired over time by four regions of influence-Italian, French, English and Spanish. Scale and proportion as they are iterated in ancient dialects translate evenly to the incomparable beauty found in this collection of homes.
At once rugged and refined, each of these houses displays an intimate connection with the land, forming powerful mergers between walls and what surround them. Clay-tile roofs, sun-baked stone and rough stucco are subdued by open, airy interiors and breathtaking views. Rambling, joie de vivre porches and sandals-only courtyards balance well-defined rooms and an air of formality.
Created by the Sater Design Collection, here are stunning designs that "Redefine Tradition". These homes offer flexible living environments that meet the needs of today's busy lifestyles, but reflect a European character with timeless appeal.
Customer Reviews:
Disappointed!.......2007-06-13
The cover claims that there are 65 floorplans, but its more like 22. The same floor plans are shown with different facades for each section. I also would have hoped that the photographs from the front of the book would have been from homes built using the various floorplans, but from what I can tell none of the pictures correspond to a floorplan. Which is too bad, considering the homes pictured were what I was looking for.
The renderings are beautifully done, but hardly worth the price.
You may want to consider another title before you purchase this one.
Cookie Cutter.......2004-09-28
Very disappointed. The designs are simply ranch style homes with barrel-tile roofs. The book is divided into four sections: Italian, French, English and Spanish but they are literally the same plans in all sections with just simple modifactions to the front facade. Worse yet, most designs mix elements from all styles. You get a simple floor plan with a watercolor elevation that is often not completely reflective of the design. I particularly noticed that most designs had very large garages that are not rendered proportionally. If you are looking for unique designs that are true to the architecture of Europe this is not the book to buy. If you just want a "Spanish Look" to a ranch design this book offers nothing different than what you can find in the check out line of the local super-market. There is nothing unique or authentic in this book.
European Excitement!.......2004-01-13
This book of European home plans is what I've come to expect from The Sater Design Collection, absolutely fabulous home designs! The attention to detail of each plan offered was clearly evident. I paticularly liked the open flowing floor plans. The designs seemed to bring the best of classical exterior styling with modern amenities.
I've picked my dream home, its plan no. 8043.
Book Description
Known for its simplicity and fluidity of line, traditional Chinese watercolors capture the essence of natural objects with a profound, unmatched beauty. Renowned artist Lian Quan Zhen shows newcomers how to paint in this loose, liberating style through a series of basic demonstrations.
Chinese Painting Techniques for Exquisite Watercolors:
* Combines classic Chinese painting principles with Western watercolor methods for breathtaking results
* Features 12 step-by-step mini-demonstrations covering everything from brushstrokes to composition
* Combines the use of ink and watercolor
Following Zhen's unique watercolor methods, artists will learn to paint entire compositions based on classic Chinese watercolor subjects, including flowers, birds and fish. Mini-demos ensure that artists will successfully render every detail, including eyes, scales, feathers, beaks, petals and more.
Customer Reviews:
A beautiful presentation, but.......2006-03-13
It wasn't much help beyond some technicalities of brush work and some reproductions of the artist's work. Okay for a pretty intro. and some history. If your goal is to reproduce someone else's paintings, this book does that; but I want to create my own so Chinese Brush Painting: A Beginner's Guide by Pauline Cherrett, actually gives directions: on how to care for your tools, how to compose your own paintings, how to make your paintings vibrant with energy and spirit, with enough "what not to do's" to be truly a useful beginners guide. I don't understand the 5 star ratings on this book. As to technical brush work; Chinese Calligraphy Made Easy: A Structured Course In Creating Beautiful Brush Lettering by Rebecca Yue; gives wonderful step by step directions for brush work that transfers to painting everything else.
Exquisite watercolors? A Simply Excuisite Book!.......2003-09-21
The title "Chinese Painting Techniques for Exquisite Watercolors" is, by all accounts, an understatement! Of the countless dozens of art technique books I've read over the years, this one is by far the most captivating, beautiful and unique.
Rarely have I ever been this impressed by a book on any topic, let alone one on art techniques, of which I'm generally rather critical. I'm so used to art books that leave too much information lacking, are unoriginal, show sloppy technique, or simply cannot keep my interest, that this book left me salivating for more! It is truly an exception!
The author, Lian Quan Zhen brings to life an interesting blending of Chinese painting techniques and Western watercolor methods to create a style of painting that is simply, well... exquisite!
The author begins by covering the basic tools and techniques of Chinese painting, from materials and supplies, to mounting of completed paintings. He covers the difference between Chinese paints and watercolor paints, painting in ink, and even shows the *correct* way to hold a paint brush!
Zhen goes on to give one of the best explanations of effective painting composition that I've seen yet. He covers everything from linear perspective and establishing the focal point of your painting (which he refers to as 'establishing priority'), to geometric organization of objects in arcs, circles, triangles, rectangles and s-shapes, and provides clear examples of each.
Next, the author beautifully conveys the three basic styles of Chinese painting, which he identifies as "detail-style" (gongbi), "spontaneous" style, and a blending of the two which he simply calls "half-detail, half-spontaneous," and throughout the book he gives many beautiful examples, and techniques for creating each of them.
Through the rest of the book, Zhen shares the creation of many beautiful compositions, not only in Chinese ink, but also in watercolor using many of the techniques he uses in his Chinese paintings, and showing how the two different methods can be used to create very original, beautiful works of art.
I cannot recommend this book more to anyone with an interst in watercolor, but I must warn that once you see this book, its very likely you will be equally drawn to Chinese painting.
As for myself, and my growing addiction to Chinese painting techniques, I've now traded in several hundred dollars for a plethora of Chinese art supplies, and I couldn't be happier!!
Many thanks to Lian Quan Zhen, for sharing his uniquely beautiful approach to painting with the rest of us, and for introducing me to a brand new way of looking at a blank sheet of paper, particularly xuan paper!
Fabulous Book!.......2003-08-15
I am a beginner watercolorist and I found this book to be a great help! It is so easy to understand and follow.
BEAUTIFUL BOOK!.......2003-05-01
Not only do you get detailed instruction and easy to understand illustrations with complete list of supplies, you have a beautiful picture book as well! Great addition to your art book library!
Beautiful Teaching, Beautiful Art.......2002-05-16
This is one of the clearest and easiest to follow beginning art books that I have ever read. The author manages to weave together traditional, modern and improvisational oriental brush art and watercolor in a practical useful guide. Early in the book, the author gives a detailed guide to mounting sumi-e style paintings made on shuan or rice paper. I haven't found a better mounting guide in any other book. The step by step pictures for mounting rice paper paintings is priceless. In the latter half of the book, the author describes his watercolor techniques and tools. I found this section useful. He emphasizes that you don't need hundreds of colors and dozens of brushes. Beautiful results can be realized on a very modest budget. Too often, beginning watercolor artists spend hundreds of dollars before they even paint a single picture. You don't have to and this book vividly demonstrates that. It is a superb teaching tool and I highly recommend it to student and teacher.
Book Description
Since the late 1980s, the field of fashion photography has exploded, moving away from presenting a desirable ideal to showing contemporary lifestyles. An intriguing exchange of ideas and techniques between commercial photography and art photography and, more specifically, between fashion and art photography has completely changed the idea of what a fashion photograph is and what it should look like. The focus is on defining a milieu rather than just clothing. Fashioning Fiction in Photography Since 1990 presents a selection of high-profile fashion photographs influenced by two aesthetic strategies: cinema and the amateur photograph. The cinematic image, through its attention to drama and its reverence for tension and voyeurism, seduces a young audience whose primary visual points of reference are film and television. The amateur photograph, including the family album picture, provides seemingly offhand documentation of the activities of friends and associates in the lives of photographers, blurring the line between pictures made for hire and those made as personal keepsakes. This groundbreaking book, and the exhibition it accompanies, includes lavish illustrations of the work by photographers such as Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Cedric Buchet, Glen Luchford, Tina Barney, Jergen Teller, Nan Goldin, and Larry Sultan, among others. The principal essay, by Susan Kismaric, Curator, and Eva Respini, Assistant Curator, in the Department of Photography at The Museum of Modern Art, explores the nature of fashion photography in the last decade, and the work of the photographers presented in this volume. A second essay, by Dennis Freedman, Vice Chairman and Creative Director of w magazine, discusses the subject from within the fashion industry and provides an intimate view of the creation of the promotional campaigns and the imagery of fashion.
Customer Reviews:
this book is great........2004-08-03
What a great book. I was a little hesitant over how I would receive and enjoy this book at first, but after having leafed through its pages several times now I realize that this is exactly what is cool about narrative art today. This book does not contain the fine artists Crewdson, Garfield, Wall, or the young Yale ladies, instead it surveys in many ways the influence these artists, and the movements they are following, are having on fashion photography. And vice versa. What I have to say is that many of the photographers I did not know of before opening this book are just as good as anyone out their.
Philip Lorca diCorcia and Nan Goldin are well known artists in their own right and you will see them in this book. DiCorcia's work is interesting in that this is not what I would expect to see in a gallery judging from his earlier work. But it is pretty interesting and a new avenue for the guy. The better showings by artists here are those I had never heard of. There is some twisted stuff here. Not violent, but subversive 1950's post modern irony.
Hey, this is a great book. You will find yourself pulled back again and again. And the best thing is that it is easy to enjoy. Much more so than many other recent surveys that tackle the fine arts.
Book Description
From the phenomenal British classic sci-fi comic series, 2000 AD, comes a world of mists and magic from writer Pat Mills (Marshal Law) and artist Glenn Fabry (Preacher covers)
This classic tale of sword and sorcery, the epic saga that introduced 2000 AD readers and the comics world at large to a hero who makes Conan look like a boy scout, is finally available again, this time in a deluxe collectors' hardback edition.
Exiled from his tribe, Slaine is forced to roam the land of Tir-Nan-Og with his dwarf, Ukko. Ahead of him lie terrifying ordeals that will require all of Slaine's famed warrior strength if he is to return victorious and claim his rightful place as King!
Customer Reviews:
I'll tell you more about story when I read Slaine Time Killer.......2006-04-16
OK, so Glenn Fabry is master of black and white illustration, just like Bolland (ok, not that good ) and Adrian Smith. I liked the other artist, too and bought the book for art. British know to use ink.
Great stuff.........2004-04-22
This book starts with the begining of the Slaine saga then jumps off to how Slaine became a king and united the tribes as the Fumorian sea demons.
You wont understand a thing if u havent read anythin else before that so i would suggest buyin this book along with Slaine - Time killer which fills the gap between the start and the 'slaine the king' story.
Great read ,excellent artwork as always yet not recommended to poor fellows who grew up reading playboy magazines and conan the barbarian comics...
Supreme stuff if you are a slaine fan..
Highly recommended...
Awful, Ugly, & Pointless.......2003-05-04
Slaine The King is the creation of Pat Mills, one of the most influential British Comic creators of the 1970's and 1980's. His work on such books as Judge Dredd, Nemesis the Warlock, and (My favorite!) Marshal Law has become the stuff of legends across the pond, and even here in the States via reprints of his material from Great Britan's weekly 2000 A.D. comic. I'd been hearing about Slaine since I was a kid, so I thought I'd give Slaine The King a try.
Ucch.
The story revolves around Slaine, a Celtic barbarian, and his unsavory dwarf companion, Ukko; Having been banished from his tribe, Slaine and Ukko wander Tir-Nan-Og, battling Druids and various and sundry monsters. And that's about it.....
The writing is a barely comprehensible mixture of Celtic oaths and turgid prose, and the art is a mixed bag: The half of the book illustrated by Glenn Fabry (Famous for his covers for DC/Vertigo's "Preacher") is extremely well done, with clean, easy to follow art. The half illustrated by Mike McMahon is awful. Strangely exaggerated figures, dark, muddled panels, bizarre page layouts....They all serve to make the action hard to follow, none of which serves the story, which really ISN'T WORTH following. Perhaps the two volumes collecting "Slaine: The Horned God" will be more palatable because of the color art by Simon Bisley. Anyone looking for a well-told barbarian epic should seek out Marvel's "Essential Conan the Barbarian" instead, and avoid this expensive mess altogether.
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Slaine RPG: Invulnerable King (Slaine)
Various
Manufacturer: Mongoose Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 1903980542 |
Book Description
Welcome to The Invulnerable King, the first part in an epic campaign for the Slaine RPG. This campaign will take your players from Albion all over Tir Nan Og and beyond, as they quest to depose their tyrannical king, re-assemble an ancient stone circle, and save all the northern tribes from the combined might of the Fomorians and the Drune Lords. This adventure is intended for 1st and 2nd level characters from the Fir Domain tribe. It would suit a party composed mostly of warriors, with perhaps one druid or witch and one thief, though it could work with an all-warrior party so long as their skills are sufficiently varied. At least one member of the group must be able to read Ogham script - in the case of an all-warrior group, the Games Master should allow one Player Character to select the capability as a feat, identical to the thief character class's Read Ogham class feature. All you need to play The Invulnerable King is this adventure, a copy of The Player's Handbook¸ and the Slaine RPG. The first Slaine supplement, Tir Nan Og, would also be useful for additional background information on the various places and people covered by the adventure, but it is not essential. This adventure is intended for use as the first of a four-part epic campaign, though it can easily be adapted to stand alone - either by the Games Master inventing his own continuation of it, or tying up the loose ends by having the Player Characters return the last of the Teeth to Osdann and sending them on a different mission for their King. In the land of the tribes of the Earth Mother once existed a ring of stones called the Teeth of the Moon Sow. Many tales were told of it as a place of power and potency, but in the time before Slaine, none knew of its real magic. Long ago, the circle was dedicated to the Goddess in her aspect as the white moon Ceridwen, whose name means 'Crooked White One.' In gentle aspect, she was the muse, creator and protector of bards. In anger, she was a monstrous white sow, a flesh-devourer and bringer of madness. Ceridwen could inspire bards or she could destroy them, and the Teeth of the Moon Sow reflected her power. The Teeth of the Moon Sow had not always been stones: Long ago, in the dawn of Tir-Nan-Og, the followers of Ceridwen held a great festival where bards from all across the world, and beyond the world too (for El bards were among them) could compete before men and gods. Of them all, ten were found, nine most gifted, and one the very best. Ceridwen, greatly pleased with these, turned them into stone, forever to be the guardians of her circle of inspiration. Nine made the circle, but the finest bard of all was her altar stone. From her own power and theirs, she made a very great magic. Ceridwen created her stone circle to be an acoustics chamber, though it amplified more than melody. In the Teeth of the Moon Sow, one could intensify the power of dreams, and make them real. If a gifted bard stood at the circle's centre and spoke their tale, provided their will and imagination were strong enough, the very images conjured by their words would appear before the audience. They could create anything they wanted; treasures glinting on the grass, lovers created of woven flowers, demons of fire and flame, or armed men bursting out of the earth. The only limits were those of imagination and willpower. Should the bard possess enough of each, their creations might do more than just stand and be admired: given enough concentration, they could physically affect the world around them. The possibilities were endless and terrifying. Long before this campaign begins, the Moon Sow circle had been destroyed, to the deep anger of the Goddess it venerated. Its stones were taken and hidden throughout the Lands of the Young, by the Avanc beaver-folk, who could not bear the nightmare side of her sacred place. The Avanc believed she would be angry but would relent, because they adored her in all save this one thing. But by the time of Slaine Mac Roth, any druid worth his salt would know that almost all the Avancs had been destroyed by the Falians, also known as the Tribe of the Shadows. The Goddess is a rose with many thorns. She may love, but she does not forgive. Much of the campaign is based around the search by Player Characters and others to find the Moon Sow's Teeth and re-create or destroy the stone circle in their own kingdoms. It is not the land that makes the circle strong - it is the stones that make the land magically resonant, answering the desires of its most powerful bards. Thus, the tribe that has the Moon Sow's Teeth circle on its territory has a huge repository of dream to use. And they all want it! The four tribes of the Northern lands of Eriu will be seeking it, each for their own benefit. The various tribes of Midgard will be pursuing it. The El-folk crave it, the Drune Lords are looking for it and of course, the Cythrons wish to control it. The obvious question is; if the Avanc feared the circle so much, why did they not destroy the stones as opposed to hiding them? The stones are imbued with the sentience and the magic of the bards they once were. He who destroys one will immediately take its place, set in stone forever. And there is, of course, always the possibility that Ceridwen will be more than a little angered.
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The Rise of Roosevelt University: Presidential Reflections
Theodore L. Gross
Manufacturer: Southern Illinois University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
General
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Educators
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Roosevelt, Theodore
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ASIN: 0809326078 |
Book Description
Underscoring professional and educational issues pertinent to higher learning at universities across the country, Theodore L. Gross’s memoir of his years in academia chronicles his successful fourteen-year presidency at Chicago’s Roosevelt University, a period of leadership that resulted in an upsurge of fund-raising, sharp increases in enrollment and endowment, and the transformation of an urban campus into a metropolitan university.
Beginning with a description of his childhood and adolescent education and experiences, Gross recalls his years as a faculty member and academic administrator at the City College of New York from 1958 to 1978, when the college was moving from selective admissions to open enrollment. He also served in administrative positions at Penn State University and SUNY Purchase before accepting the Roosevelt presidency in 1988. Focusing on the tension between the promise of open admissions and aspirations of academic excellence, The Rise of Roosevelt University: Presidential Reflections relates Gross’s perceptions of the failure of open admissions at CCNY and his resolution to learn from those mistakes while at Roosevelt.
Drawing on private correspondence and conversations, essays, university documents, and other archival materials and research, Gross re-creates the highs and lows of his quest to make Roosevelt distinctive. His strategic plan included the appointment of senior executives and deans, the creation of a performing arts conservatory, the development of an educational alliance with other universities, online instruction, an honors program, a Chicago School of Real Estate, an MBA for Chinese students, the Partners in Corporate Education program, and the implementation of a second comprehensive campus. He describes the creation of the Albert A. Robin campus in Schaumburg and the realization of Roosevelt as a metropolitan university, creating a vivid portrait of the suburban culture, the educational context of large community colleges throughout the northwest suburbs, the development of a community advisory board that helped secure funds, and the improved morale of faculty and administration.
Gross’s fund-raising efforts increased the endowment from $3 million to $33 million, and a capital campaign surpassed the goal of $45 million. In this volume, he describes meetings with major donors, the successes and failures of contributions, and the development of greater alumni support in the context of fund-raising throughout Chicago. He also analyzes the highly publicized legal dispute between the Auditorium Theatre Council and Roosevelt University over ownership of the world renowned theatre, pointing out how the case epitomizes issues that all universities confront: the university’s need to control its entities, detrimental publicity, sectional and regional conflicts, and a split in the arts community. Throughout this narrative, Gross juxtaposes his personal life and professional career, dramatizing how the two are related.
More than a retelling of anecdotes and statistics, the volume provides a rare perspective on the intersection of higher education and politics in Chicago. Gross analyzes the different public and private universities in the city and in surrounding Cook County to describe their relationships with ethnicity, religion, class, and with city hall. He also covers the Daley political machine’s influence on higher education, the politics of university governance, the spectacular growth of the western suburbs, and city versus suburban identities.
A personal road map of the development of higher education through the post–World War II decades, The Rise of Roosevelt University: Presidential Reflections mirrors the social climate that affected the country’s universities at large, from the open admissions policies and student rebellions of the ’60s and ’70s, to the urban blight and suburban sprawl of the ’80s, to the strategic planning and expansion of the ’90s and the new century. The result is a captivating account of the issues involved in presidential transition and leadership, the strategic development of metropolitan universities, and the future role of Roosevelt and similar institutions.
Customer Reviews:
Unmemorable Memoir.......2006-02-05
This book is the type of self serving treatise that passes for historical biography these days. The author places himself in the center of positive change in a little known university that he appears to have re-invented (at least psychologically)as a prominent one. This based on cursory review of the statistics. The struggles that this institution endures are rather pedestrian, the "lessons learned" superficial and the book is larded with examples of unseemly behavior on all fronts. Importantly, there is little mention of how the quality of pedegogy improved under this presidency, or research or anything else of consequence for that matter, save the financial bottom line. Rather than shed light on modern day university challenges, the book seems to build a case, rather awkwardly, for the author's solitary leadership. And the key decisions seem to have been made based on shoot from the hip and personal factors rather than the establishment of sound university governance or collaborative decision-making. Many personal details are presented that, in my view, detract from the overall story line progression. At least from the 30,000 foot level, much pomp and little circumstance here.
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The Unique Treble
Alex Ferguson
Manufacturer: Hodder & Stoughton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0340792612 |
Books:
- Everyday Fashions of the Forties as Pictured in Sears Catalogs
- Exercise Workbook for Beginning Autocad 2006: With 30-day Trial Version on Cd-rom (Exercise Workbook for Beginning AutoCAD)
- Extreme Textiles: Designing for High Performance
- Fabrics: A Guide for Interior Designers and Architects
- Feng Shui for Dummies
- Glue Gun Decor: How to Dress Up Your Home-from Pillows and Curtains to Sofas and Lampshades
- Graphic Guide to Frame Construction: Details for Builders and Designers (For Pros by Pros)
- Graphic Guide to Interior Details: For Builders and Designers (Graphic Guide)
- Graphic Standards Details: Openings
- Great Escapes: New Designs for Home Theaters by Theo Kalomirakis
Books Index
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