Reading, Writing & Pondering

I have been using colored pencils more in my art journaling and wanted to learn more about blending and shading so thought I would try this book. Colored Pencil Painting Portraits is a truly gorgeous book. The author's portraits look like photographs, they are so amazingly well done. Colored Pencil Painting Portraits has 7 chapters. In Chapter 1, Nickelsen talks about what tools to get, work surfaces and materials to make your portraits the best. In Chapter 2, she takes the rules of successful oil painting and applies them to the colored pencil medium. In Chapter 3, she shares the techniques and methods for painting with pencils. In Chapter 4, she talks about understanding color and the properties of pigments. In Chapter 5, Nickelsen discusses composing a portrait from start to finish. In Chapter 6, she offers advice on practicing the key components of good portraits such as skin tone and facial features. In Chapter 7, Nickelsen talks about painting the portrait from start to ...

A Couple With Common Cents is a small book that is part short story and part study guide. Ryan Eidson begins the book by telling the story of Jack and Tabitha and their financial struggles. Tabitha is frustrated with their family's finances and Jack is not really concerned. Over the course of the story things change and the couple learns to make some changes. Then the second half of the book takes the reader through questions and things to think about as the reader works on their own financial situation. I like the cover of this book. For a book that is published by a small subsidy publisher, I think it looks quite professional. My husband and I are graduates of Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University so we have studied finances together already and have been working to make changes to improve our situation. Ramsey runs a well-polished machine and you can't beat those materials. I could see where using this book could be helpful in a group study setting for discuss...