Secret of the Painted Rock

Secret of the Painted Rock
Author: John Calu
Publisher: iUniverse
Total Pages: 108
Release: 2006
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
ISBN: 0595398073

Kelly, her brother Geoffrey, and their friend Danny try to uncover the mystery of a rock in the New Jersey Pine Barrens that has been continuously painted over with the American flag for decades.

The Secret

The Secret
Author: Byron Preiss
Publisher: ibooks
Total Pages: 1
Release: 2016-10-05
Genre: Games & Activities
ISBN:

The tale begins over three-hundred years ago, when the Fair People—the goblins, fairies, dragons, and other fabled and fantastic creatures of a dozen lands—fled the Old World for the New, seeking haven from the ways of Man. With them came their precious jewels: diamonds, rubies, emeralds, pearls... But then the Fair People vanished, taking with them their twelve fabulous treasures. And they remained hidden until now... Across North America, these twelve treasures, over ten-thousand dollars in precious jewels, are buried. The key to finding each can be found within the twelve full color paintings and verses of The Secret. Yet The Secret is much more than that. At long last, you can learn not only the whereabouts of the Fair People's treasure, but also the modern forms and hiding places of their descendants: the Toll Trolls, Maitre D'eamons, Elf Alphas, Tupperwerewolves, Freudian Sylphs, Culture Vultures, West Ghosts and other delightful creatures in the world around us. The Secret is a field guide to them all. Many "armchair treasure hunt" books have been published over the years, most notably Masquerade (1979) by British artist Kit Williams. Masquerade promised a jewel-encrusted golden hare to the first person to unravel the riddle that Williams cleverly hid in his art. In 1982, while everyone in Britain was still madly digging up hedgerows and pastures in search of the golden hare, The Secret: A Treasure Hunt was published in America. The previous year, author and publisher Byron Preiss had traveled to 12 locations in the continental U.S. (and possibly Canada) to secretly bury a dozen ceramic casques. Each casque contained a small key that could be redeemed for one of 12 jewels Preiss kept in a safe deposit box in New York. The key to finding the casques was to match one of 12 paintings to one of 12 poetic verses, solve the resulting riddle, and start digging. Since 1982, only two of the 12 casques have been recovered. The first was located in Grant Park, Chicago, in 1984 by a group of students. The second was unearthed in 2004 in Cleveland by two members of the Quest4Treasure forum. Preiss was killed in an auto accident in the summer of 2005, but the hunt for his casques continues.

The Last Leonardo

The Last Leonardo
Author: Ben Lewis
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Total Pages: 402
Release: 2019-06-25
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1984819267

An epic quest exposes hidden truths about Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi, the recently discovered masterpiece that sold for $450 million—and might not be the real thing. In 2017, Leonardo da Vinci’s small oil painting the Salvator Mundi was sold at auction. In the words of its discoverer, the image of Christ as savior of the world is “the rarest thing on the planet.” Its $450 million sale price also makes it the world’s most expensive painting. For two centuries, art dealers had searched in vain for the Holy Grail of art history: a portrait of Christ as the Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci. Many similar paintings of greatly varying quality had been executed by Leonardo’s assistants in the early sixteenth century. But where was the original by the master himself? In November 2017, Christie’s auction house announced they had it. But did they? The Last Leonardo tells a thrilling tale of a spellbinding icon invested with the power to make or break the reputations of scholars, billionaires, kings, and sheikhs. Ben Lewis takes us to Leonardo’s studio in Renaissance Italy; to the court of Charles I and the English Civil War; to Amsterdam, Moscow, and New Orleans; to the galleries, salerooms, and restorer’s workshop as the painting slowly, painstakingly emerged from obscurity. The vicissitudes of the highly secretive art market are charted across six centuries. It is a twisting tale of geniuses and oligarchs, double-crossings and disappearances, in which we’re never quite certain what to believe. Above all, it is an adventure story about the search for lost treasure, and a quest for the truth. Praise for The Last Leonardo “The story of the world’s most expensive painting is narrated with great gusto and formidably researched detail in Ben Lewis’s book. . . . Lewis’s probings of the Salvator’s backstory raise questions about its historical status and visibility, and these lead in turn to the fundamental question of whether the painting is really an autograph work by Leonardo.”—Charles Nicholl, The Guardian “As the art historian and critic Ben Lewis shows in his forensically detailed and gripping investigation into the history, discovery and sales of the painting, establishing the truth is like nailing down jelly.”— Michael Prodger, The Sunday Times

The White Shaman Mural

The White Shaman Mural
Author: Carolyn E. Boyd
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Total Pages: 220
Release: 2016-11-29
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1477310304

Folded plate (1 leaf, 39 x 61 cm, folded to 19 x 16 cm) in pocket.

Rock Art Handbook

Rock Art Handbook
Author: Samantha Sarles
Publisher: Fox Chapel Publishing
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2019-10-01
Genre: Crafts & Hobbies
ISBN: 1607655209

• With more than 30 step-by-step tutorials, this is the comprehensive rock art resource. • Covers many different craft techniques for decorating rocks: puffy paint, acrylic paint, oil pastels, gelatos, art pens, and more. • Parenting resource—Great craft for parents to do with kids. Cross-merchandizing opportunity with paints and pens. • The author’s rock doodling Facebook video has nearly 2 million views; her galaxy rock video has 500,000+. • Featured in a recent TODAY show report, “kindness rock” painting is a full-scale trend!

Raven Rock

Raven Rock
Author: Garrett M. Graff
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 560
Release: 2017-05-02
Genre: History
ISBN: 147673545X

Now a 6-part mini-series called Why the Rest of Us Die airing on VICE TV! The shocking truth about the government’s secret plans to survive a catastrophic attack on US soil—even if the rest of us die—is “a frightening eye-opener” (Kirkus Reviews) that spans the dawn of the nuclear age to today, and "contains everything one could possibly want to know" (The Wall Street Journal). Every day in Washington, DC, the blue-and-gold first Helicopter Squadron, codenamed “MUSSEL,” flies over the Potomac River. As obvious as the Presidential motorcade, most people assume the squadron is a travel perk for VIPs. They’re only half right: while the helicopters do provide transport, the unit exists to evacuate high-ranking officials in the event of a terrorist or nuclear attack on the capital. In the event of an attack, select officials would be whisked by helicopters to a ring of secret bunkers around Washington, even as ordinary citizens were left to fend for themselves. “In exploring the incredible lengths (and depths) that successive administrations have gone to in planning for the aftermath of a nuclear assault, Graff deftly weaves a tale of secrecy and paranoia” (The New York Times Book Review) with details "that read like they've been ripped from the pages of a pulp spy novel" (Vice). For more than sixty years, the US government has been developing secret Doomsday strategies to protect itself, and the multibillion-dollar Continuity of Government (COG) program takes numerous forms—from its potential to evacuate the Liberty Bell from Philadelphia to the plans to launch nuclear missiles from a Boeing-747 jet flying high over Nebraska. Garrett M. Graff sheds light on the inner workings of the 650-acre compound, called Raven Rock, just miles from Camp David, as well as dozens of other bunkers the government built for its top leaders during the Cold War, from the White House lawn to Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado to Palm Beach, Florida, and the secret plans that would have kicked in after a Cold War nuclear attack to round up foreigners and dissidents and nationalize industries. Equal parts a presidential, military, and cultural history, Raven Rock tracks the evolution of the government plan and the threats of global war from the dawn of the nuclear era through the War on Terror.

The Secret of Marie

The Secret of Marie
Author: Rebecca Bricker
Publisher:
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2016-03-04
Genre: Art
ISBN: 9781518839320

She was known only as Marie. Her story has perplexed art historians for the decades since American Impressionist painters flocked to the French village of Giverny, as they followed the path of its famous artist-in-residence Claude Monet. Marie was the favorite model of one of those painters, Theodore Robinson, whose untimely death at the age of 43 eclipsed his legacy as one of the greatest American painters of his day.This is the tale - part true, part imagined - of Theodore and Marie, set in Giverny, where author Rebecca Bricker captures the life and spirit of a thriving artists' colony at the turn of the last century. In The Secret of Marie, Monet's Giverny is the backdrop for a modern-day love story between a French architect and an American writer who meet at an ancient moulin in the village. Their romance conjures up the secret of an artist from Vermont and his Parisian model who left an indelible mark, tinged with mystery, on the history of American Impressionism.

Secret Stairs

Secret Stairs
Author: Charles Fleming
Publisher: Santa Monica Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2010-04-01
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1595809414

Containing walks and detailed maps from throughout the city, Secret Stairs highlights the charms and quirks of a unique feature of the Los Angeles landscape, and chronicles the geographical, architectural, and historical aspects of the city’s staircases, as well as of the neighborhoods in which the steps are located. From strolling through the classic La Loma neighborhood in Pasadena to walking the Sunset Junction Loop in Silver Lake, to taking the Beachwood Canyon hike through “Hollywoodland” to enjoying the magnificent ocean views from the Castellammare district in Pacific Palisades, Secret Stairs takes you on a tour of the staircases all across the City of Angels. The circular walks, rated for duration and difficulty, deliver tales of historic homes and their fascinating inhabitants, bits of unusual local trivia, and stories of the neighborhoods surrounding the stairs. That’s where William Faulkner was living when he wrote the screenplay for To Have and Have Not; that house was designed by Neutra; over there is a Schindler; that’s where Woody Guthrie lived, where Anais Nin died, and where Thelma Todd was murdered . . . Despite the fact that one of these staircases starred in an Oscar-winning short film—Laurel and Hardy’s The Music Box, from 1932—these civic treasures have been virtually unknown to most of the city’s residents and visitors. Now, Secret Stairs puts these hidden stairways back on the map, while introducing urban hikers to exciting new “trails” all around the city of Los Angeles.

Paint Pouring

Paint Pouring
Author: Rick Cheadle
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 185
Release: 2019-02-12
Genre: Art
ISBN: 163158300X

Paint Pouring is a form of abstract art that uses acrylic paints with a runny (fluid) consistency. The acrylic paints react with each other when combined to make interesting and visually organic motifs. Fluid acrylics can be used on many types of substrates through various techniques such as pouring, dripping, swirling, glazing, dipping, and more to create dazzling and masterful effects. This book provides everything you will need to become a paint pouring artist. Learn to: Set up your paint pouring studio on a budget Complete your supply list Discover a variety of techniques Properly handle and care for your art Establish appropriate mixing ratios Achieve correct paint density And many other lessons crucial to the craft This new art form is fun for all ages. Become a fluid art master today.