Mary Catelli's Erraticly Updated and Exceedingly Ill-Organized Journal

The Christmas Story from the Metropolitan Museum of Art

On the eleventh day of Christmas, I read this! A selection of their artwork, some quite lovely pieces, follow the Gospel story, and some commentary on the art.

Secrets of Monet's Garden: Bringing the Beauty of Monet's Style to Your Own Garden by Derek Fell

An analysis of what Monet planted and why, and what you can do like it, even if you don't have a dedicated team of ten gardeners, a backhoe to deal with exhausted beds, several greenhouses solely to raises flowers, and all that land. Some aspects, he points out, can be duplicated in little as planters, such as color scheme.

Also comments on the art. For instance, Monet, despite the rumors, did not dislike hybrids; all his waterlilies were hybrids. He didn't like double flowers because they were less translucent.

Art of Nothing: 25 Years of Mutts and the Art of Patrick McDonnell by Patrick McDonnell

About the history of the strip. Influences such as the specific artworks he derived Sunday titles from. Strips in various stages. Picture books vs. comics. Some of the philosophy.

Middle-Earth: Journeys in Myth and Legend by Donato Giancola

Artwork based on Tolkien's tales. Many gorgeous oil paintings, and a lot of good sketches. Heavily weighted toward Lord of the Rings, but does include Hobbit and Silmarillion.

Greg and Tim Hildebrandt: The Tolkien Years by Greg Hildebrandt Jr.

An account of the years of the Tolkien calendars, as told by the son who was five-years-old at the time. And frequently featured as a hobbit. Sketches, reference shots, final work, with commentary all along.

Temporary Preserves by David Zinn

A collection of his work, with some discussion of motifs -- Sluggo the green alien; Philomena the pigasus; the child-like glee of making things like holes, and putting sky down underfoot; the utility of mice in small places, and more -- with how as a child he found a random scribble on his blank canvas more inspiring than the blank itself.

Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American City by Nicholas Christopher

More a lyric discussion than serious analysis, with personal opinion freely mixed -- discussion of all sorts of elements of film noir from the lighting to the use of money, to the labyrinthine cities. Femmes fatale, millionaires, boxers, vets, and other characters. Crime, generally organized. The use of color when it came in.

Masters of Deception: Escher, Dali, and the Artists of Optical Illusion by Al Seckel

An interesting view of a fair number of artists who engage in trompe l'oeil, double images, impossible perspective, and a lot of other optical tricks. One even works in fonts to produce such things as "Teach" that is reflected as "Learn". Also sculptures that produce shadows or reflections that reveal the significance, or -- from the right angle -- show "impossible" perspective.

I've read more art books!

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I was in a mood for Art.  So I pulled out some Fantasy Art books and started to read.

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