Posted on Leave a comment

Artful Log Cabin Quilts: From Inspiration to Art Quilt – Color, Composition & Visual Pathways

Take the first steps to becoming an art quilter with popular teacher and best-selling author Katie Pasquini Masopust. Starting with an inspiration image, choose fabrics to create your own artistic log cabin quilts. Learn to navigate visual pathways and composition, applying easy techniques and experimenting with color. Student work is showcased to prove that anyone can create an art quilt! Design and make your masterpiece with freeform log cabin blocks using this versatile method.

Posted on Leave a comment

Creative Haven Deluxe Edition Artful Quotes Coloring Book (Adult Coloring)

Inspiring observations by Abraham Lincoln, George Eliot, Henry David Thoreau, William Shakespeare, and other important figures ― each framed by exquisitely detailed designs of flowers, birds, and other naturalistic images ― add thought-provoking zest to these 63 coloring pages. Pages are perforated and printed on one side only for easy removal and display. Specially designed for experienced colorists, Artful Quotes and other Creative Haven® adult coloring books offer an escape to a world of inspiration and artistic fulfillment. Each title is also an effective and fun-filled way to relax and reduce stress.

Posted on 3 Comments

Artful Words: Mary Engelbreit and the Illustrated Quote

The wisdom of the wise and the experience of the ages are perpetuated by quotations.”
When I come across writing that really moves me and inspires me, my reaction is twofold. I want to share it with others and I want to draw something that is worthy of it. I love finding quotes that stop people-that really make them think. And I love the idea that my work, combined with meaningful words, can provide comfort or inspiration to someone.” -Mary Engelbreit, from Artful Words

Mary Engelbreit has made it her life’s work to transform everyday objects-teapots and cottage roses, for example-into beautiful, sentimental icons. But what makes her art strike a chord with so many people worldwide is the substance behind the style. For Engelbreit, words and pictures have always gone together like the lyrics and melody of a great song.

Perhaps the most common question the wildly popular artist hears is, Where do you get your ideas? Her latest collection, Artful Words, collects the best of Engelbreit’s signature artwork, complemented by quotations, adages, and sayings and sprinkled with Mary’s commentary and reminiscences about what inspires her. The book is organized into seven categories:

* Love and Family

* Friendship

* Inspiration and Encouragement

* Wisdom and Learning

* Childhood

* Holidays

* Pure Mary



Fans the world over can’t seem to get enough of Engelbreit, so Artful Words is sure to become another instant classic.

Posted on 2 Comments

The Artful Garden: Creative Inspiration for Landscape Design

“I want to put the mystery back into the heart of garden design, where it needs to be. It’s what lures you in through the gate, keeps you moving through the landscape, and fills you with excitement along the way. The sense of mystery is what turns a mere display of plants, paths, and ornaments into an adventure.”                          
—James van Sweden
 
Guided by world-renowned landscape architect James van Sweden and horticulture expert Tom Christopher, any gardener can learn the secrets of the gardener’s art and absorb the essence of inspired garden design. In their gifted hands, creating your own perfect garden, with its own alluring mysteries, turns out to be not only easy but a delight.

Whether it’s a ten-foot-square city terrace or a ten-acre expanse, the same principles apply: the intelligent use of positive and negative space, of form and scale, of light and shadow, of rough and smooth textures. Do you want a garden you can immerse yourself in? A garden you can smell and listen to as well as observe? An exuberant garden or a contemplative garden?

In this elegantly written and visually stunning book, van Sweden reveals the secrets of famous gardens around the world and encourages you to find inspiration in the arts—in painting (from America’s classic regional artists to the abstract expressionists), music (from classical to jazz), sculpture, even dance. He introduces you to famous artists who share how their art has influenced the design of their own gardens, and teaches you to think not in terms of borders and beds or even paths and meadows but of a tapestry woven from sky, trees, rocks, vines, flowers, grasses, and space.

Richly illustrated throughout with magnificent photographs, The Artful Garden both tells and shows, sharing with beginning and experienced gardeners a wealth of inspiration and practical help. “What’s my message?” van Sweden asks in conclusion. The wise answer: “Don’t squander the potential for surprise and wonder.” This beautiful book guarantees everyone who reads it a priceless store of gardening wisdom.