Since she sent me an advance copy at the beginning of June, the publicist at Watson-Guptill has patiently asked me a couple of times when my review of New Acrylics Essential Sourcebook by Rhéni Tauchid was going to appear. My answer has kept being "I'm working on it."

The problem is the book keeps distracting me! Whenever I pick it up to write the review I get diverted into reading it yet again instead of writing about it. So what's the attraction? For me it's the depth of the technical info, the why not just the how. These sentences from the introduction sum it up:

"It is not necessary or required that what is considered to be successful art be backed up by experience and education. However, boosting these aspects will inevitably elevate the outcome as well as the artist's merit."

New Acrylics Essential Sourcebook goes on sale today and I have, by the skin of my teeth (or should that be an acrylic skin?) got my review published in time.

Remember, as with all About.com reviews, when you've read this book you can add your own review using the link at the bottom of my review.

See Also:
• An Introduction to Acrylic Paint Mediums
• How To Create a Painting by Pouring Paints

^{Image: © 2009 Marion Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc}

...that you can make a ring from an eraser (it certainly solves the problem of finding an eraser when you need one!). I saw it on Little Goat's Etsy Store, who makes eraser rings with the word "negativity" carved in them, for "the wearer to erase the negativity". A useful mantra when erasing part of a drawing you're doing for a painting that is frustrating you by not being "right".

See Also:
• Protecting Arts/Crafts Intellectual Property
• Opening an Etsy.com Shop

This afternoon I learned about Access to Arts from the blog of the painter Tom Phillips who is its patron. Access to Arts describe themselves as a charity

"...which makes it possible for disabled and frail older people to visit museums and galleries in London."

Tom Phillips describes them as a small-scale but vital charity that

"...affords people who are no longer able to visit museums, galleries and exhibitions under their own steam the possibility of continuing their first-hand experience of art."

I wonder if there are any other organizations like this anywhere else? Because seeing art first-hand rather than in reproduction is very special.

"Realists might argue distortion is a safe harbour for folks who know they couldn't get it right if they tried. On the other hand, getting it right is no trouble for many of us, but we still prefer to redesign things as we see fit. Doubters might be suspicious of the truth in that last sentence. ... The question is -- How does distortion suit my purpose?"
-- Robert Genn, "Distortion in Figurative Art", 20 July 2009.

Abstraction (the subject of this month's project) is a deliberate distortion of reality. Instead of trying to create a painting that looks totally like the actual scene, abstraction is distorting it by being selective about what is included in the painting. By emphasizing a particular aspect, such as tones or shapes, over the style of painting many regard as "getting it right".

Realism is only "right" if that was your intention. If abstraction is your intention, then the result is also "right". To believe realism is the only way to paint would be like believing the only way to eat potatoes would be to make chips from them. It's not about something being right, it's about the form you prefer.

^{Photo ©Marion Boddy-Evans. Licensed to About.com, Inc.}