November 15, 2002
Having trouble keeping your ferret still for a portrait? Here are three books for capturing small critters, Hammond's in colored pencils, Scott's in paints, and Wynne's in both. Hammond is a highly accomplished artist with several North Light books to her credit. Here she has developed a special graphing system for beginners, primarily for drawing cats, dogs, horses, and squirrels but for a few bears and tigers, too. It's an excellent system for those intimidated by the variations of eyes, mouths, ears, and feet found on our furry companions. Scott's approach is for the advanced student who wants a more classically based style for painting rabbits, ferrets, mice, raccoons, and foxes. The influence of the Old Masters can be detected in her 41 mini-demonstrations and 16 full treatments in oil, acrylic, gouache, and pencil. Wynne is a British artist who has painted many well-known and royal pets, including the horses at the Royal Mews of Buckingham Palace. Hers is a lovely, loose style using either pencils or watercolors for cats, dogs, rabbits, guinea pigs, and horses. All three books are recommended and should prove popular. For large wild animals, see Cynthie Fisher's Wildlife Painting Basics: Deer, Antelope & Other Hooved Animals; for more narrow detail, see Rachel Rubin Wolf's Keys to Painting: Fur & Feathers.
Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.