The Return

Review: Lessons in Classical Painting: Essential Techniques from Inside the Atelier Juliette Aristides Watson-Guptill 2016 Good basic instruction here in increments that if followed will help just about anyone improve their skills.   For the more advanced that have hit a snag this would be a good review to work through just to check your technique for the “little” things that matter.    Each chapter talks the reader through the lesson and gives progressive pictures to show what the words cannot convey.   Talk about lighting and shadows all you want, but a picture gives me that aha moment where all the words come to make more sense.   Each lesson builds on the previous one which for the impatient sorts will chafe considerably.   But that’s way forward in art it seems.    Planning and more planning to get the right light, colors, and form will become part of the routine.   Value strips abound.   Tedious stuff, but tr...

Review: Searching the Scriptures: Find the Nourishment Your Soul Needs Charles R. Swindoll Tyndale House Publishers 2016 Swindoll has dedicated this book to Dr. Howard G. Hendricks who taught him “many of the principles and techniques” included in this book.   Swindoll says, “I determined to prolong the memory of his life by sharing with others what he faithfully invested in me so many years ago.” (v).   Dr. Hendricks died in 2013.   I think he would be honored by the work Swindoll dedicated to him. This book is for those just starting their study of the Bible or for those that have been around for a while, too.   I belong to the latter group and I have to say I have already found much within the first few chapters to be helpful.   Things I either have never done or have gotten careless with over time that diminished the benefits of the study time I have spent in the last few years.    This is a step by step journey through the p...

Review: The Temple and the Tabernacle: A Study of God’s Dwelling Places from Genesis to Revelation J. Daniel Hays Baker Books 2016 First impressions count.   Academic comes to mind when I first looked at this book.   And in some respects it is, but don’t let that scare you off.   Hays has written a book that is informative, thought provoking, and accessible to folks like me (a non-academic) and only about 200 pages long.   There are no five questions for discussion at the end of each chapter either and that is a plus for a work like this one.   A bibliography for those that want to know who this author consulted and endnotes for even more information are included.   Pictures, charts, and graphic renderings break the narrative at appropriate spots and help the reader to more fully grasp the discussion that surrounds them.   The content covers not only the tabernacle and temple architecture and furnishings, but also the history from ea...