Nestled in the northwestern corner of North Carolina, the mountainous Ashe County boasts the most picturesque landscapes that painters and other artists could hope to find. This spirit of natural artistry runs deep through the county's culture--towns offer murals, street art, galleries and institutions like the Florence Thomas Art School. Even in West Jefferson, a town in which getting lost is impossible, there is an "art district." Truly an art destination, Ashe County is home to hundreds...

The mountains of Ashe County, in North Carolina's northwest corner, support an antediluvian mixed hardwood forest, rooted in nutrient-rich soil and watered by 40 to 60 inches of annual rainfall. From the highest peaks--approaching a mile above sea level--to the lowest valleys, through which flows one of the most ancient river systems in the world, trees carpet much of the county's 406 square miles.Species with nicknames like wahoo, goosefoot, ironwood, shadblow, bom-a-gilly and buc...

Carla Sonheim is an artist and creativity workshop instructor known for her fun and innovative projects and techniques designed to help adult students recover a more spontaneous, playful approach to creating. Her innovative ideas are now collected and elaborated on in this unique volume. Carla offers a year's worth of assignments, projects, ideas, and techniques that will introduce more creativity and nonsense into your art and life. Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists offers readers a fun...

Featured artist Jerry Stitt contemplates that ''A painting is good not because it looks like something, but because it feels like something.'' The difference is passion '' the kind of energy, excitement and pure joy that pulses through every page of this book.A brilliant collection of the best watercolors being created today, Splash 10 explores "passion" through the work and words of 100 top contemporary painters. With each modern-day masterpiece, insightful firsthand comm...

Artists have always been recyclers. This gallery of work made from repurposed materials is both a visual delight and "a source of ideas for crafters" ( Library Journal).Artists and crafters have always been recyclers at heart, but in recent decades, it's become not only a thrifty choice but a moral imperative for many.1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse contains a cutting-edge collection of the most inventive work being made with reused, upcycled,...

Awe-inspiring works by contemporary masters, along with the secrets behind its creation.Drawing is the most intimate and immediate form of self-expression, fundamental to every artist's ability to communicate with a viewer. The sense of energy and expression that can be captured in mere strokes of charcoal, ink, pastel, marker or any of the other modest mediums proudly represented in this book is astounding.A glowing celebration of the art of drawing, S...

What the world needs now is this inspiring poetry anthology—featuring poems from today's most renowned poets.More and more, people are turning to poetry as an antidote to divisiveness, negativity, anxiety, and the frenetic pace of life. How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope offers readers uplifting, deeply felt, and relatable poems by well-known poets from all walks of life and all parts of the US, including inaugural poet Amanda Gorman, Joy H...

More secrets from the private sketches of 38 master artistsThe idea may be derived from anything really--a flash of sunlight, the tilt of a head, a glass on the table...but the sketch is where it all begins, the point where inspiration meets artist. Gloriously free of the need to get it "right," the sketch is where possibilities are explored, compositions are found, and visions come to life.A brilliant follow-up to the first Sketchbook Confidential...

"Drawing is the connection between eye, heart and hand."--Linda WesnerDrawing is a fundamental skill for artists in any medium, a wonderfully direct means of expression and the driving inspiration behind this provoking collection. Strokes of Genius 3 celebrates drawing as an art form in its own right, featuring work from 95 of today's brightest artists.In this brilliant collection of drawings, 95 contemporary artists explore the subjects that touch their hea...

When life, or the spirit of experimentation, or the whim of watercolor itself leads artists outside their comfort zone, conditions are favorable for something new and wonderful to happen. Splash 11: New Directions features 126 such somethings, representing the best watercolor work being created today.As intriguing as the paintings themselves, the artists talk about what inspired these new directions - anything from a trip around the world to a bowl of apples passed by a hu...

Experience the wonder of child prodigy Akiane Kramarik’s divinely inspired artwork firsthand.Akiane’s nonreligious parents were bewildered when their four-year-old daughter started sharing her dreams of angels, heaven, and Jesus. Her spiritual insight quickly expressed itself through impressive sketches, drawings with oil crayons, paintings, and eventually poetry, and her artwork began a conversation that brought her whole family to Christianity and to the attentio...

You'll Love This Watercolor Painting Book If:• You love getting inspiration from fellow watercolor artists• You want the feeling of peeking inside an artists' studio• You love watercolor & want to improve your skillsSee great completed watercolor art pieces from more than 100 artists in The Artistic Touch 5. Hear from them as they discuss how & why they paint like they do and why they love working in watercolor. Learn from fellow watercolor artists as ...