 The Simple Art of Chinese Calligraphy: Create Your Own Chinese Characters and Symbols for Good Fortune and Prosperity by Qu Lei Lei makes the complex art of oriental calligraphy doable for novices. The technique requires dedication and practice, but supplies are simple and there are many projects and demos. Photographs and art are helpful and inspiring. There are step-by-step exercises using the "four treasures": ink, stone, bush, paper. Along with inspiring text, there are names and proverbs to copy for practice.
 Wildlife: Waterfowl & Wading Birds by Rod Lawrence is one of North Light's popular "Painting Basics" Series. The book covers essential supplies in all media, with the emphasis on acrylics. Illustrations include drawings, paintings and photographs of artwork and subject matter. There is a good section on sketching, with detailed anatomy of wings and feet, bills and eyes. Various subjects are discussed, including feeding, flying, feathers and backgrounds. Lawrence stresses the importance of accurate research and representing the appropriate season and geography pertinent to the subject matter.
 Ann Kullberg's book, Colored Pencil Portraits Step-by-Step has been out for awhile. There are many beautiful illustrations of colored pencil techniques and many demos. The book includes discussion of supplies, an index and appendix, plus a section on the portrait business. Instructions are very clear on technique, composing the subject, using grids, representing light and skin tones. Also featured are techniques for doing hair and fabrics. Ann's more recent book, Capturing Soft Realism in Colored Pencil is also well done. I'll have to admit, though, that I don't think I could put 60 hours into a painting. That's my Inner Watercolorist speaking.
 Plein Air Painting in Watercolor and Oil by Frank LaLumia includes lists and photos of equipment for both media. There is also helpful information on equipment for different conditions. LaLumia says, "See it, simplify it, and state it," a wise statement for any kind of painting. He emphasizes "squinting" in order to see relationships better. The book includes tips on studio painting, using slides and photos, and combining sources. The work described progresses from field sketches to studio paintings. Remember when we called it "outdoor painting?"
 Incredible Visual Illusions, subtitled "You Won't Believe Your Eyes," is an amazing collection of optical illusions with hundreds of different illusions throughout the book. Some images seem to sparkle, others appear to disappear. Many objects on the printed page give the illusion of movement. Optical illusions have always fascinated me and this book is extraordinary in the number of images, many published for the first time.
 Carl Purcell's Painting with Your Artist's Brain is subtitled "Learn to paint what you see, not what you think you see." Supplies are simple and clearly described for each of the many demos throughout the book. This is essentially a watercolor book, with basic instruction at the beginning. There is some discussion of integrating the visual and intellectual capacities. Purcell emphasizes the importance of seeing shapes and not details, and modifying boring shapes to make them more interesting. He says not to depend on a camera, but learn to find or make interesting shapes and to use thumbnail sketches to design value patterns. User-friendly.
 Watercolor Made Simple by Claudia Nice includes detailed how-to instructions on every page. The demos are partial demos of techniques, but not many finished paintings. Supplies are clearly illustrated. There are comprehensive illustrations of most basic techniques used in watercolor. This is not an experimental painting book, but it is a good reference for textures and materials used for nature and landscape and nature themes. I found the calligraphic writing difficult to read over a period of time, although it makes for an attractive book.
 Watercolor Wisdom by Jo Taylor has a Whitney-esque tone to it. Like Whitney, it makes a lot of sense. The book is simple but thorough in its approach. Taylor deals with color first, then addresses watercolor techniques and tricks. The section on composition has good basic information. There are some experimental techniques in the book, including tissue collage, monoprint, watercolor with pastel and use of plastic wrap, but nothing earth-shaking. I like the subtitle: "Lessons from a lifetime of painting and teaching."
Unfortunately Hand Tinting Photographs by Judy Martin and Annie Colbeck appears to be out of print. This book includes an interesting history of early photography and color enhancement of black-and-white photographs. There are no demos, but lots of examples with detailed information on materials for different methods. An extensive gallery of subjects and techniques of different artists is included. Hand tinting appears easy to do, but great subtlety is required for the best results.
 Jean Grastorf's Pouring Light: Layering Transparent Watercolor focuses entirely on pouring without tricks and experimental techniques. Grastorf's demos are very well done. One of the later demos, "Shell Beach," would have made a good first demo of the processes. The opening pages on supplies and materials are thorough. I like her take on design, too. She works with a very limited palette of three colors in most paintings and has an excellent chapter on color (color wheel with yellow at the top. Yay!). Note well her excellent pages on value studies. She describes the masking techniques clearly, but you must pay attention in every demo to how the process works, otherwise you may get "mud" if the colors mingle too much or the pours are of too heavy consistency. This is in my opinion the best of the three books for breaking down the pouring process into doable sequences.
 How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself by Nita Engle is subtitled: "Experimental Techniques for Achieving Realistic Effects." Nita Engle is the Grande Dame of masking-and-pouring in watercolor. Her paintings are far more complex than Grastorf's and Wallake's and create an illusion that is almost photographic without being filled with picky detail. Her palette is unique and she is the absolute master of her colors. She sprays water, throws and squirts paint, spatters, floats and pours colors in sequences for special effects, after having masked key lights and white areas on the paper. This is a text-heavy book loaded with information as well as technique, but well worth the concentration it takes to work it out. Her watercolors are magnificent. I love this book for intermediate to advanced watercolor painters.
 Jan Fabian Wallake's Watercolor: Pour It On is subtitled: "Let Your Creativity Flow Using Dramatic Color Glazing Techniques." The book has many demos and varied illustrations of creative watercolor techniques. Wallake describes at least thirty techniques and texture washes. There is a good section touching on design with rudimentary color (and a skewed color wheel, which drives me nuts). Wallake shows a palette arrangement similar to that of Nita Engle. There isn't as much detail on pouring in Wallake's work as there is in Grastorf's and Engle's. Both of the latter have more subtlety in their work, but Wallake does love vibrant color. Along with an index, there is useful information on showing and selling your work. The author's explanations are clear and illustrations are instructive. The book is very user friendly and helpful to artists who want to loosen up their watercolor techniques.
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