Award-winning illustrator/painter Marjorie Sarnat presents an outstanding refresher course in creative thinking, suitable for artists of every level. In this guide, she shares the tips and techniques she's discovered in the course of her personal experiences and explorations. These 300 quick, easily grasped text passages detail methods for adding inspiration and innovation to your creative process. The new, hands-on approaches to materials, painting surfaces, and texture applications can help you find a fresh angle for your style or break through a creative block. Every "secret" in this book is expressed in practical terms geared toward boosting your artistic abilities. From sharpening your drawing skills and applying media in unique ways to creating intriguing visual illusions and refining your choices of color and composition, this guide is loaded with advice and fresh ideas. You'll also find cost-saving ways to obtain and manage your art tools and supplies as well as scores of ideas for making art with creative kids. AUTHOR: Marjorie Sarnat is the author and illustrator of Dover's bestselling Creative Cats Coloring Book and Owls Coloring Book as well as more than a dozen other books on art and creativity. The Chicago native is an award-winning mixed-media artist whose fanciful colouring book style evolved from her love of patterns, which she developed in the course of her work as a textile designer.