A New, New Thing

Portrait Revolution: Inspiration from Around the World For Creating Art in Multiple Mediums and Styles – Julia L. Kay (Watson – Guptill)

Full admission up front; With the world ratcheting up based on political differences, when I first saw this book’s title, I have to admit that I thought this was a book of art comprised of portraits of revolutionaries.

What is revolutionary is not the specific subjects, but the styles, techniques and mediums utilized to create the portraits contained therein. So what makes these portraits revolutionary? Let’s start by boiling down the meanings of this two words:

Portrait - a painting, drawing, photograph, or engraving of a person, especially one depicting only the face or head and shoulders.

Revolution - a forcible overthrow of a government or social order in favor of a new system.

In Portrait Revolution: Inspiration from Around the World For Creating Art in Multiple Mediums and Styles painter, printmaker, photographer and digital artist Julia L. Kay compiles art from around the globe in the widest array of mediums imaginable. This skillfully assembled collection includes many standard mediums; acrylics, oils, pastels, watercolors, pen and ink, pencils and more.

It gets really interesting when your see portraits on rocks and portraits made of rocks. What makes this revolutionary and educational is that for artists it will open up the possibilities for trying new things.