Create beautiful studies of a variety of subjects in a range of media, and learn techniques for drawing feathers, scales and shells. With step-by-step tutorials and galleries of art, this is an essential guide for the amateur or professional artist.

Influential American architect Philip Johnson once mused, "All architecture is shelter; all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates the persons in that space." But with just a small swap of a key word, Johnson could well have been describing animal nests. Birds and insects are nature's premier architects, using a dizzying array of talents to build functional homes in which to live, reproduce, and care for their young. Recycling sticks, branches, grass, and mud to construct their shelters, they are undoubtedly the originators of "green architecture." A visual celebration of these natural feats of engineering and ingenuity, Architecture by Birds and Insects allows readers a peek inside a wide range of nests, offering a rare opportunity to get a sense of the materials and methods used to build them. Here, we see the kinds of places where nests are built--for instance, the house wren has been known to occupy cow skulls, flower pots, tin cans, and the pockets of hanging laundry, while the uglynest caterpillar prefers rose bushes and cherry trees. Inspired by the vast nest collection at the Field Museum, which features specimens gathered throughout North and South America, Peggy Macnamara's paintings are enhanced by text written by museum curators. This narrative provides a foundation in natural history for each painting, as well as fascinating anecdotes about the nests and their builders. Like so many natural treasures, nests are easy to ignore. But Macnamara's gorgeous paintings will undoubtedly change that. Architecture by Birds and Insects at last gives the tiniest engineers their rightful moment in the spotlight, and in so doing increases awareness and encourages the protection of birds, insects, and their habitats. Readers will never look at a Frank Gehry design, or a treetop nest, the same way again.

Birds are much admired, revered and envied. They have featured in art for many thousands of years and our fascination with them continues. They do though pose a challenge to paint and are not always the most cooperative of models. This practical book explains in detail how to go about drawing and painting birds. By understanding their anatomy and recognising their type, the artist can learn a shorthand way to capture movement and attitude. With technique and colour mastered, style develops and a special scene can be captured uniquely forever. In this book, Tim Wootton explains bird types and how identifying specific similarities can help the artist; advises on painting in the field, using photographs and working in the studio; describes how to paint plumage and birds in flight; demonstrates how to compose a painting with emphasis on the birds' habitat; and gives insights into painting birds from 30 leading artists, as well as illustrations of their work, including John Busby, Robert Bateman and Charles Tuncliffe. Beautifully illustrated with 423 colour illustrations.

Tiny ruby-throated hummingbirds weighing less than a nickel fly from the upper Midwest to Costa Rica every fall, crossing the six-hundred-mile Gulf of Mexico without a single stop. One of the many creatures that commute on the Mississippi Flyway as part of an annual migration, they pass along Chicago’s lakefront and through midwestern backyards on a path used by their species for millennia. This magnificent migrational dance takes place every year in Chicagoland, yet it is often missed by the region’s two-legged residents. The Art of Migration uncovers these extraordinary patterns that play out over the seasons. Readers are introduced to over two hundred of the birds and insects that traverse regions from the edge of Lake Superior to Lake Michigan and to the rivers that flow into the Mississippi. As the only artist in residence at the Field Museum, Peggy Macnamara has a unique vantage point for studying these patterns and capturing their distinctive traits. Her magnificent watercolor illustrations capture flocks, movement, and species-specific details. The illustrations are accompanied by text from museum staff and include details such as natural histories, notable features for identification, behavior, and how species have adapted to environmental changes. The book follows a gentle seasonal sequence and includes chapters on studying migration, artist’s notes on illustrating wildlife, and tips on the best ways to watch for birds and insects in the Chicago area. A perfect balance of science and art, The Art of Migration will prompt us to marvel anew at the remarkable spectacle going on around us.

The perfect reference for painters! Brighten your paintings with colorful birds and butterflies. Inside you'll find more than 40 step-by-step demonstrations to help you accurately render beautiful butterflies and a wide variety of songbirds, water birds and exotic birds including goldfinches, hummingbirds, cardinals, mallards and peacocks. You'll also learn how to embellish your paintings with individual feathers, eggs and a nest. This special guide features painting instruction and advice from 11 professional artists working in acrylics, watercolors, oils and colored pencils. Each demonstration includes a detailed materials list to make it even easier for you follow along. This invaluable combination of in-depth painting demonstrations and inspiring ideas is guaranteed to bring you success in all your work.

This book is one of a series of volumes resulting from the World Archaeological Congress, September 1986 which addressed world archaeology in its widest sense, investigating how people lived in the past and how and why changes took place to result in the forms of society and culture which exist now. The series brought together archaeologists and anthropologists from many parts of the world, academics from contingent disciplines, and also non-academics from a wide range of cultural backgrounds who could lend their own expertise to the discussions. This book is an exploration of the way in which the animal world features in the works of art of a variety of cultures of different times and places. Contributors have adopted a variety of perspectives for looking at the complex ways in which past and present humans have interrelated with beings they classify as animals. Some of the approaches are predominantly economic and ecological, some are symbolic and others philosophical or theological. All these different views are included in the interpretation of the artworks of the past, revealing some of the foci and inspirations of cultural attitudes to animals. Originally published 1989.