Study Task 4 Books

BOOKS

Fiction

A Flower Fairy Alphabet-Cicely Mary Barker

I feel like this book and the illustrations may be a bit outdated however it was a book I used to love to look at when I was younger. I was fascinated by the fairies and how their outfits matched the flowers and I decided which flowers I liked most due to the fairies in the images. 

We also have 'The complete book of the flower fairies' by the same artist which I got in 2001 for my 3rd birthday. When looking through my old bookshelf at home I came across this book and it made me nostalgic to when I was looking at it as a child so I chose this book because I used to look at this book every day for years (driving my parents mad). To this day still looking at the imagery there is something majestic about some of the illustrations, they are just so damn beautiful. I think also it was a foreshadowing for my interest in Art Nouveau as there are definitely elements of that style here.

I would describe this as a fiction book because on the accompanying page there is a little poem which tells a story about each fairy.

Non-Fiction

The Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe- Richard Fitter, Alastair Fitter and Marjorie Blamey

This book is aimed at people who are interested in nature so that they can identify different flowers as they see them when on walks etc. The illustrations inside are so detailed they could be photographic however they capture a sense of beauty by being hand drawn.

My family are very interested in walking and exploring different places. My mum has always been disappointed in my lack of interest in all of the bird books that she has but has always commented on my interest in flowers. Apparently when I was younger I used to stare and stare at this book. I still love flowers, a lot! Since then I have used this as inspiration for drawings and in my GCSE art project where I crafted 3D flowers inspired by these drawings. The bind of this book is almost falling to pieces (the copy we have is from 1974 which mum used for botony at uni). 

In the book there is a page of multiple different flowers in a specific group (with close ups of the flower heads and the stalks and different varieties) and then on the accompanying page there is the latin name, a description and scientific terminology.

Picture Book

Illustrations for Le Morte Darthur- Aubrey Beardsley

I came across this book from my parents book shelves when I did an art nouveau project for GCSE and began exploring lino cutting. This book is from 1983 which my dad used at uni.

Everything within these illustrations focuses on line quality and use of space/ blocks. It is all printed in black and without many words at all as the images illustrate the story of King Arthur).

Each page is layed out with different presentation- opening with an amazing floral border surround a small summary of the chapter and following pages which have rectangular images of different sizes layed out in an unusual structure.

I find this book incredibly striking and each image (doesn't matter how small) has so many things going on but still in a minimalist nature.

Self Published

101 Artists to Listen to Before You Die- Ricardo Cavolo
This book I came across in Village in Leeds and there was no way I wasn't taking this home with me..
It goes through in chronological order of all of the great musical artists that the author likes (great taste). One one side he writes why he chose this musical artist and how it makes him feel (like a diary entry) and on the other side draws the musicals and incorporates the imagery he conjured up in the text. The supporting text is written in his handwriting in capitals and he has left in crossings out which gives it a very friendly/ informal.
The images are just so fun. They are so colourful and although every person looks very similar but with differnt coloured hair it works. There are just so many variations on the same principles that it is really interesting to see how he adds unusual things to each illustration. I feel that he manages to capture the music genre and the music in each piece extremely creatively! I also like the strip of imagery underneath the text which just sums up everything he has said and how he feels in such a vibrant way and with these he only uses 2 tones.
This book is obviously for people who are into music and that appreciate "the classics".
I have enjoyed reading the book so much (it makes me smile) and I have shown in to about 10 different people and forced them to look through it.