Paint Books

I've waited thirty years for this book and I was not disappointed. I have read separate biographies of Rubenstein, Arden, Lauder, and Revson; this is by far the best. If you have any interest in beauty, glamor, art, social history, fashion, business or just a good story about two extraordinary women who created empires out of nothing, this book is for you.

This book is a delight.

War Paint gives us two biographies, a juicy bit of history, a slice of art, some romance, some business insights, a bit of drama, heaps of inspiration, and a lot of entertainment.

The thickness of the book is daunting, but considering what it offers it is certainly worth every page. The stories of these two remarkable women set amidst the landscape of the fashion industry in their time will certainly find a place in every reader's heart.

When I'll finish this book,i'll send my opinion. Thanks for your interest.
Lucy Laragione.
(Lucy is my wife and the reader)
mcosin

I knew a fair amount about Helena Rubenstein, but knew little about her rival Elizabeth Arden, and this book pulled no punches about their rivalry. It was a time when those two created their own fortunes and companies from the ground up, something that doesn't seem to happen in the cosmetic industry today. It seems all you have to do is be a "media darling," sign a contract, and your name is plastered all over all kinds of products. Helena may have been rithless to those around her, but Miss Arden seemed to take great delight in backstabbing and the like. I'm sure I'm prejudiced, but Madame Rubenstein, albeit tiny, cut a regal figure,and to me,Miss Arden was a bit on the frumpy side. A very enjoyable book for those interested in the battle between those two.

Rubinstein and Arden had a rivalry that you might compare to that of Jack Benny and Fred Allen--i.e. one largely conducted for publicity reasons. Lindy Woodhead has donesome amazing research, can you imagine, she spent months kneeling on the floors of Krakow parishes to find just the right birth certificate for Helena (nee Chaja) Rubinstein--not an easy thing to do, especially given the fact that Rubinstein lied about her age by several years! And in every case Woodhead goes the extra nine yards to try to distinguish what is true and what is false about her two millionairesses. They were among the first to sell American women the "culture of beauty," to insist that the cosmetics they sold would bring the consumer a whole zeitgeist of pleasure, not just individual beauty treatments. To this end they conspired with Madison Avenue and devised decades worth of intriguing, perhaps misleading advertisements.

In the end what lets us down is the feeling that perhaps the two women aren't actually that different, and it gets confusing trying to remember their slight differences--which of the two was four feet ten, while the other was five foot two? A depressing business saga of how the mass public can be manipulated with great success, but they will pay you back in the most final way--they will forget you as soon as you're not alive any more.

Excelent book, with excelent graphs, explanations that require a medium level in physics, I recommend it highly to painters that want to go deeper in the Color World

Roy Berns is an inventive genius and now is at the foremost color science program in the US, at Rochester Institute of Technology. His revision and updating of Billmeyer and Saltzman's classic reference is now firmly established as the best book of its kind anywhere.

(Full disclosure: I have known Dr. Berns since 1982 and knew the late Fred Billmeyer and Max Saltzman as well. Fred and Max were giants, and Roy is a worthy successor.)

This oversized book stands out from the crowd by virtue of its size and illustrations. Best-suited to students and those who want to understand the concepts without getting their hands dirty (in maths).

A bit pricy for the length, if you ask me.

There are many books written on color, some of the classic being the ones by Judd and Wyszecki, Wyszecki and Styles, Durrett and others. The book by Billmeyer and Saltzman is exceptional. It provides a visceral understanding of the elements of color by dealing with the fundamentals by example. Each example builds upon the previous ones and as they do so one gains insights that surpass any other text. In many ways it reads like a novel, the wording is smooth and flawless and the inserts of wisdom resonate with the theme being developed.

Chapter 1 defines color. The approach is graphical and not mathematical, yet the mathematics flow immediately from the approach taken. Rather than providing details in equations the authors provide details in very well done graphics. The example used to describe color is brilliant. It uses the metaphor of colored stones and their classification. From that the complex issues and ideas of hue, lightness and chroma are immediately evident and do not require the reader to do anything except follow the colored stones. The shortest and best explanation ever!

Chapter 2 describes color using the red, blue and green models. The authors simply walk through the evolution and issues so that when one arrives at the CIE chart all makes sense. Then of course on page 61 they rip the chart to shreds, metaphorically to state that it is only a cross section of what is required; it forgets brightness!

Chapter 3 is about measurements. The approach is a great balance of ideas, constructs, implementations, and does not fall into the trap of over description or of simplifying too much. The reader is never put in the position of missing the dots in between. There is never "it I left as an exercise for the student" approach that many academic authors take. On p. 83 there is a good summary of all the key instruments and then details.

Chapters 4, 5, and 6 continue to look at measuring color, colorants (dyes versus pigments) and then producing colors. What I found interesting is that plants are said to have pigments, but to the authors pigments generally are non-organic compounds having metals.

What is missing? Well that will depend on each reviewer's favorite topic. Mine are twofold. First, what is color, namely what is the effect of absorption on light and why? For example in plant anthocyanins there are slight changes in the molecule of say cyanidin that change it from red to blue, because one absorbs blue, thus becoming red and one red thus becoming blue. This discussion would have helped. Then there is the issue of plant color in general. How would one estimate concentrations of separate anthocyanins from total reflected light knowing the underlying profiles. This would be applying signals and estimation to the overall problem. But that is just my preference, the book as it is currently done is perfect, I would just have wished that they kept going on, since what they had done was so well presented.

The latest edition of Billmeyer and Saltzman's Principles of Color Technology is a complete rewrite. The author's use of in-text examples and "back to principles" appendix facilitate understanding of the concepts. The range of color science conepts (from basic colorimetry to an end-to-end color imaging system) make it a must-have for the color science student to the experienced color professional.

This , like all the Foster books, is simple illustration for anyone beginning to draw, and especially if one is not all that familiar with horses. A good book to familiarize one prior to actually going into the field to draw from live animals.

I would love to obtain any of the numbered Foster "How To Draw" books pertaining to oil painting. Contact me at

Simply beautiful!

Helpful Votes: 4 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2000-11-26

A wonderful book with a two-page spread of a gorgeous painting which teaches more about horses than most of the gritty technical stuff can. :) I'm not a big fan of How-To-Draw books, but this one is very good because of the simple, straight-forwardness (and the awesome painting!)

GREAT!!!

Helpful Votes: 5 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2002-01-24

I am really into drawing and I am good at it. However, horses are probably the hardest animals to sketch because of their interesting shape and detail. This book makes it easy to draw all kinds of horses, starting with simple heads, advanced heads, and then progressing to full bodies, getting more challenging but keeping an easy pace as you go. Not to mention tips on keeping porportions straight, and supply suggestions. Now I really want to get "Drawing Dogs" by Walter Foster!

if you want to learn how to draw horses this is the best

Helpful Votes: 9 out of 10 total.
Review Date: 1999-09-11

this is the best book to learn how to draw horses and learn how to do shading. If you keep practicing, you won't even need to use the book anymore. This book is great for any age!