• Mark Christopher Director

The NEW Creativity is not about painting pretty pictures, or products that sell; it is about you aligning with your natural state-and creating energy in each moment. We are here to build a better world, fuel our wildest dreams, and alchemize our visions of a New Earth-vibrant, verdant, and rooted in love, not fear. With these words, Whitney Freya opens the door to her world of wondrous images and wisdom, sharing the stories of her journey, and the moments when her life was transformed by the power of Super Soul Flow. Each richly illustrated chapter features an essential energy embodied by an animal totem and a painting prompt-the perfect inspiration point for freeing your mind, one brushstroke at a time. Start letting your own soul flow with potential and positivity so you can rise above the noise and into your life today.The future is yours to create. This memoir of fictional Chinese artist, Little Winter, is written for her American daughter.

It takes the story of Communist China beyond the death of Mao and for the first time in fiction shows the birth of the radical art movement, The Stars, in 1979. Her haunting love story connects us to this time of hope for freedom of expression in China, and to a man frustrated by 'being kept in small shoes'.

Superbly researched and beautifully told, this story brings to life recent Chinese history and explains Chinese politics. Set in New York and New Jersey during the early 1990s, 'Brushstrokes of a Gadfly' reveals the story of Katherine Walsingham, the only daughter of the CEO and Chairman of Walsingham Industries, an international cosmetic and pharmaceutical company that has been in the family for generations. Daunted by its global proportions, she has no real interest in the business other than its sentimental value.

An artist by calling and temperament, a lover of literature, a philosophical idealist and animal rights activist unafraid to speak her mind, Katherine has a talent for leaping ahead with anything that seems like a good idea at the time. Often landing in hot water with her sharp tongue and allegorical paintings to the consternation and amusement of everyone around her. Setting her heart on opening her own gallery when she graduates from an elite art college, life is good. With a trust fund to secure her, she has no real worries that are the plague of struggling artists, but soon discovers wealth does not guarantee a smooth passage in life, for all her plans do not turn out exactly as she expected. Opening a gallery is not an easy task, and Katherine must quickly learn to balance art and business, demanding customers and harsh art critics, family tragedies and disappointments. With so much to do, romance is the last thing on her mind, and despite her best efforts to avoid any entanglements, falls in love with one of New York's most eligible bachelors. From her own reticence to become involved with anyone, to the rumours spread about his family, it is a relationship that seems doomed, but Katherine finds that love will blossom where it will and cannot be controlled or stifled, nor the joy and heartache that accompanies it.

Final fantasy xiv xbox. 'Brushstrokes of a Gadfly' is a story brimming with vibrant and entertaining characters that only New York's High Society and art circles can provide. It is a colourful and amusing novel tinged with human tragedy. Blooms and Brushstrokes takes you on a unique journey through the history of Australian art, one flower at a time, examining the blooms depicted in still lifes, floral portraits, decorative interiors and botanical illustrations by a long line of Australian artists. Mother-and-daughter team Penelope and Tansy Curtin start this fascinating journey in the late eighteenth century, when the traditions adhering to the Western art canon were transplanted into the newly colonised Australia. They follow it through the rapidly developing artistic styles of the early twentieth century, to the new media of the contemporary period.These works of art also shine a light on the role and importance of plants and flowers in everyday life.

They illustrate changing floral fashions, as well as highlighting flowers in their various forms - cut flowers, pot plants and gardens. How can an abstract sequence of sounds so intensely express emotional states? How does music elicit or arouse our emotions? What happens at the physiological and neural level when we listen to music? How do composers and performers practically manage the expressive powers of music? How have societies sought to harness the powers of music for social or therapeutic purposes?

In the past ten years, research into the topic of music and emotion has flourished. In addition, the relationship between the two has become of interest to a broad range of disciplines in both the sciences and humanities. The Emotional Power of Music is a multidisciplinary volume exploring the relationship between music and emotion. Bringing together contributions from psychologists, neuroscientists, musicologists, musicians, and philosophers, the volume presents both theoretical perspectives and in-depth explorations of particular musical works, as well as first-hand reports from music performers and composers. In the first section of the book, the authors consider the expression of emotion within music, through both performance and composing.

The second section explores how music can stimulate the emotions, considering the psychological and neurological mechanisms that underlie music listening. The third section explores how different societes have sought to manage and manipulate the power of music. The book is valuable for those in the fields of music psychology and music education, as well as philosophy and musicology. Struggling with the news of his angelic origins, thirteen-year-old Rafe Ryder's friends begin to disappear without a trace at just about the same time a mysterious painting, known as The Brushstroke of Time, arrives on the doorstep of Cliff House. Rafe is left with more questions than answers. Are his missing friends alive?

Have they fallen victim to the treacherous angelic training ground known as Mystfira, or is it a more nefarious plot conjured by the dark spirits in Baeldavar? Along with a crotchety leprechaun named Seamus, Rafe and his two remaining friends must solve the mystery before time runs out. On a sunny fall afternoon in 1988, Jon Sarkin was playing golf when, without a whisper of warning, his life changed forever. As he bent down to pick up his golf ball, something strange and massive happened inside his head; part of his brain seemed to unhinge, to split apart and float away. For an utterly inexplicable reason, a tiny blood vessel, thin as a thread, deep inside the folds of his gray matter had suddenly shifted ever so slightly, rubbing up against his acoustic nerve. Any noise now caused him excruciating pain.

After months of seeking treatment to no avail, in desperation Sarkin resorted to radical deep-brain surgery, which seemed to go well until during recovery his brain began to bleed and he suffered a major stroke. When he awoke, he was a different man. Before the stroke, he was a calm, disciplined chiropractor, a happily married husband and father of a newborn son. Now he was transformed into a volatile and wildly exuberant obsessive, seized by a manic desire to create art, devoting virtually all his waking hours to furiously drawing, painting, and writing poems and letters to himself, strangely detached from his wife and child, and unable to return to his normal working life. His sense of self had been shattered, his intellect intact but his way of being drastically altered.

His art became a relentless quest for the right words and pictures to unlock the secrets of how to live this strange new life. And what was even stranger was that he remembered his former self. In a beautifully crafted narrative, award-winning journalist and Pulitzer Prize finalist Amy Ellis Nutt interweaves Sarkin’s remarkable story with a fascinating tour of the history of and latest findings in neuroscience and evolution that illuminate how the brain produces, from its web of billions of neurons and chaos of liquid electrical pulses, the richness of human experience that makes us who we are. Nutt brings vividly to life pivotal moments of discovery in neuroscience, from the shocking “rebirth” of a young girl hanged in 1650 to the first autopsy of an autistic savant’s brain, and the extraordinary true stories of people whose personalities and cognitive abilities were dramatically altered by brain trauma, often in shocking ways. Probing recent revelations about the workings of creativity in the brain and the role of art in the evolution of human intelligence, she reveals how Jon Sarkin’s obsessive need to create mirrors the earliest function of art in the brain. Introducing major findings about how our sense of self transcends the bounds of our own bodies, she explores how it is that the brain generates an individual “self” and how, if damage to our brains can so alter who we are, we can nonetheless be said to have a soul. For Jon Sarkin, with his personality and sense of self permanently altered, making art became his bridge back to life, a means of reassembling from the shards of his former self a new man who could rejoin his family and fashion a viable life.

He is now an acclaimed artist who exhibits at some of the country’s most prestigious venues, as well as a devoted husband to his wife, Kim, and father to their three children. At once wrenching and inspiring, this is a story of the remarkable human capacity to overcome the most daunting obstacles and of the extraordinary workings of the human mind. What kind of a life picture are you painting?

You are gifted with talents and a calling that is unique and part of the vast vision God has for His people on this planet. Each day we have the opportunity to add brushstrokes to our personal canvas by taking simple steps of obedience at work, in our homes, at church, and together as a nation. I am challenging you to say 'yes' to God and consider each 'yes' as the stroke of a brush, painting a masterpiece of your life. Ignoring God's voice results in an incomplete picture lacking the exquisite perfection required to fulfill God's plan as He intends it to be. Missed opportunities through disobedience can be the difference between a bold, colorful life and a dull existence. If we want to be successful and have a significant impact walking in our life purpose, obedience is required. As believers, we should be so in tune to the voice of the Holy Spirit that we don't even question if we are hearing His voice because we know in our 'knower' that He is Emmanuel, God with us, speaking to us.

The Keys To Superior Painting Can Be Yours! These are the brushstrokes with which great oil paintings are created. They give you the power to convey everything from realistic light and shadow to dynamic mood and tension. Mark Christopher Weber shows you how to mix and load paint, shape your brush and apply a variety of intriguing strokes in nine easy-to-follow demonstrations.

Special icons appear throughout the book to indicate which brush to use for each technique and when. It couldn't be any easier. Art student, Olivia Banks, was living her dream at an exclusive school when everything came crashing down around her. Now back in the small town she grew up in, she's forced to spend her senior year at her old school where she's known as the 'freak', all because she'd rather focus on her painting than the trivial drama of high school. But things aren't the same as they were when she left. And the one thing that is turning her life upside down the most just happens to be the resident bad boy, Colt Morgan. Her senior year was supposed to fly by so she could pack up and leave again, but what happens when there's suddenly a reason to want to stay?

Can art be powerful enough to endure? Ragni Clauson’s work, relationships, and body all seem to be falling apart. And she isn’t convinced that spending her vacation fixing up her great-grandmother’s cabin and supervising her rebellious teenage niece, Erika, will offer any much-needed rejuvenation. As Ragni and Erika clean, they begin to uncover the secret paintings and life of Nilda, Ragni’s ancestor who lived in the cabin in the early 1900s. Ragni doesn’t know how much she has in common with her great-grandmother, but it becomes clear Nilda faced her own struggles.

Taking care of home and menfolk, fighting off locusts, raising her daughter, and finding time to paint in the midst of it all were not easy tasks. Will Nilda’s passion for enduring art re-ignite Ragni’s artistic soul a century later? Weaving together the stories of three generations of women, The Brushstroke Legacy stirs us to believe that no matter the circumstances, we are called to use our gifts– never knowing when they might bring a stranger to a new place of hope. From the Trade Paperback edition. Winner of the 2016 Scotiabank Giller Prize and the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction, shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and longlisted for the 2017 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, this extraordinary novel tells the story of three musicians in China before, during and after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989. Madeleine Thien's new novel is breathtaking in scope and ambition even as it is hauntingly intimate. With the ease and skill of a master storyteller, Thien takes us inside an extended family in China, showing us the lives of two successive generations-those who lived through Mao's Cultural Revolution in the mid-twentieth century; and the children of the survivors, who became the students protesting in Tiananmen Square in 1989, in one of the most important political moments of the past century.

With exquisite writing sharpened by a surprising vein of wit and sly humour, Thien has crafted unforgettable characters who are by turns flinty and headstrong, dreamy and tender, foolish and wise. A sparkling, propulsive new novel from the bestselling author of The Imperfectionists. The artists gather for a picture at a party in an ancient villa.

Bear Bavinsky, creator of vast canvases, larger than life, is at the centre of the picture. His wife, Natalie, edges out of the shot. From the side of the room watches little Pinch-their son. At five years old he loves Bear almost as much as he fears him.

After Bear abandons their family, Pinch will still worship him, striving to live up to the Bavinsky name; while Natalie, a ceramicist, cannot hope to be more than a forgotten muse. Trying to burn brightly in his father's shadow, Pinch's attempts flicker and die. Yet by the end of a career of twists and compromises, Pinch will enact an unexpected rebellion that will leave forever his mark upon the Bear Bavinsky legacy.

A masterful, original examination of love, duty, art and fame, The Italian Teacher cements Tom Rachman as among this generation's most exciting literary voices. Beautiful brushstrokes step by step! This is the one!

Mark Christopher Director

The Brushstroke Handbook is your complete reference for mastering more than 50 fabulous strokes. Inside you'll find visual, step-by-step instruction divided into two sections that detail techniques for working with both round and flat brushes in acrylics. Flip through and find the stroke you want, featuring a range of comma strokes, pressure strokes, fan strokes, teardrop strokes, scroll strokes and much more. From the very basics of supplies and techniques to more in-depth guidance for creating unique compositions, this guide offers everything you need to build confidence, have fun and paint successfully-whether you're a beginner or a more experienced decorative painter. This comprehensive guide includes: Quick-reference photos for finding the right stroke, fast.

Step-by-step stroke instructions that actually build a little painting with every lesson. Easy-to-follow worksheets for combining strokes to make complete flowers, birds, butterflies, lace, ribbons and more. 20 fresh and pretty borders painted with round and flat brushes. Two sections highlighting common mistakes and how to fix them.

Plus, this guide offers a bonus section that shows you how to create six gorgeous compositions that feature today's most popular colors and stroke styles. It's all here! The Brushstroke Handbook gives you everything you need to master every stroke and explore a range of decorative painting possibilities.

It's the one reference you'll want to have handy for virtually every project. Virginia Heffernan “melds the personal with the increasingly universal in a highly informative analysis of what the Internet is—and can be. A thoroughly engrossing examination of the Internet’s past, present, and future” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) from one of the best living writers of English prose. This book makes a bold claim: The Internet is among mankind’s great masterpieces—a massive work of art. As an idea, it rivals monotheism.

But its cultural potential and its societal impact often elude us. In this deep and thoughtful book, Virginia Heffernan reveals the logic and aesthetics behind the Internet, just as Susan Sontag did for photography and Marshall McLuhan did for television. Life online, in the highly visual, social, portable, and global incarnation rewards certain virtues. The new medium favors speed, accuracy, wit, prolificacy, and versatility, and its form and functions are changing how we perceive, experience, and understand the world.

In “sumptuous writing, saturated with observations that are simultaneously personal, cultural, and strikingly original” (The New Republic), Heffernan presents “a revealing look at how the Internet continues to reshape our lives emotionally, visually, and culturally” (The Smithsonian Magazine). “Magic and Loss is an illuminating guide to the Internet.it is impossible to come away from this book without sharing some of Heffernan’s awe for this brave new world” (The Wall Street Journal).