Escape from New York? Read Cat Seto's IMPRESSIONS OF PARIS: An Artist's Sketchbook. It sparkles with wit, insight and beauty.
Cat Seto's IMPRESSIONS OF PARIS: An Artist's Sketchbook (Harper Design, April) is precious in the sense of rare and valuable, a jewel of a book that sparkles with wit, insight, and beauty. This artist's book is organized around themes; color, pattern, perspective and rhythm. As Seto meanders curiously through Paris neighborhoods, local wonders take shape under her sure paint brush--whimsical, striking and often good enough to eat. The book begins with Monet's quote about color as .."my day-long obsession, joy and torment" and begins her journey at BERTHILLON. Seto is in agreement with Monet, but with the addition of ice cream. As she said, "when you lay down a good oil or or watercolor that you can literally feel the purity of the color wash onto the canvas, The artful glaces did just that to my mouth." And of course she visually deconstructs the colors of the glace. Pattern takes us to JARDINS DES PLANTES, where she "spiraled up a st...