Book Review: How To Be An Explorer Of The World

Author's Note - this blog post was originally published last year (November 3, 2008), and I was reading it again. I still think it's a great book and I want to republish it again.
I went out today this morning to a bookstore to see if I could get two magazines that I wanted. Nope, they were not available just yet. While I was in the store, I decided to go to the crafts section and see if there were any new books.

Sure enough, there were a couple of them. I picked one particular book,How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museumout from the shelf, and skimmed through it. I was elated to see that Keri has written a book that can help you to see the way I see. No, my deafness does not give me any advantage of being able to see differently. As a matter of fact, and in my own humble opinion, Keri Smith does a much better job than me in seeing things differently or in new ways. I am sure that her book will definitely help you how to do that. So, please do me a favor - get the book yourself and I will feel a lot better knowing that you can learn to see the way I see, or should I say, the way Keri sees. Have a great day!


Disclosure notice: I purchased this book from a local bookstore with my own monies, however, a small percentage will be paid to me by Amazon.com if a sale of the above book or others is made via the above links. Thanks so much for your support!

About the New Camera

Canon PowerShot A1100IS 12.1 MP Digital Camera with 4x Optical Image Stabilized Zoom and 2.5-inch LCD (Silver)

At the beginning of last month, I had to buy a new camera as the springs holding the lens covers together broke in my old camera's during the photographing of the cardboard play domehouse. Yep, that's the new camera that I used for the close-up photos of the beautiful daylily stamens as posted in my other blog. This camera is much lighter and thinner, and it fits in my pocket perfectly. I have been using this camera since the beginning of July for the new posts in all of the three blogs. One thing I have to keep in mind is that I should not put the camera and the keys or coins together as most of the camera's surfaces (including the back screen) are easily scratched. I will need to buy a protective case for this camera. A good number of this camera's features are similar to my older Canon camera, and it did not take me that long to become used to it. I'm very pleased with it, and if you need more information - click on the underlined product name above.

Book Review: Face Parts

Last Friday, I stopped at a bookstore on the way to a class in New York City, and I was browsing through the art instruction section. I decided to look for anatomical reference books, and I did not like most of them. But I came across this book, Face Parts (author: Simon Jennings) and I have never seen anything like it.

Face Parts

This book provides, not necessarily exhaustive, but just enough information on the facial features to generate ideas for any project. Not only that, it provides excellent examples of how the whole or parts of the face can be drawn, painted, sculpted, photographed, digitally processed, or created with found objects (!). It also shows the three different styles used by Picasso, Miro, and Modigliani in drawing the eyes. And it provides suggested "art directions" i.e. etchings, graffiti ("defacing"), pictographical represenations, and typewritten portraits, to name a few. It even contain a photocopyable images of the turning face and winking eye, so that you can created an animation flip flick book. This is really a neat and one of the most interesting reference books on faces.

Book Review: The Street Art Book

The Street Art Book: 60 Artists In Their Own Words

I got this book, The Street Art Book (author: Ric Blackshaw and Liz Farrelly) while I was in New York City last week, and I wondered why I did not see it sooner. I have acquired several other books on "street art" and more often than not, they're more of the coffee table variety - just pictures of the art itself. But this book is different as it's more of a street style book than an "art book". It contains tons of information on various artists, their techniques (stickers, spray paint, markers, and stencils), their style, and their bios. I have never seen so much information in a small book like it, and yet, it has references to other websites where you can get even more information. A number of paintings on public spaces are indeed illegal, but I thought they were really great, and talents & cleverness are evident in these street art. For example, the parking space lines were transformed into stems by stenciling in the flying seeds at the ends. They're probably illegal, but I have thought about another way of doing street art without getting caught - photograph the street scene and do some graffiti on the printouts. I know that it's not the same thing as actually do the work right on the building walls or streets, but at least I won't get caught! Anyway, despite some partial nudities and "dirty" or nitty-gritty side of urban/city life in this book, I love it!