To view Lyndsay Crook's bold and spirited paintings is to be absorbed into the fullness of New Zealand life, from early babyhood on the beach, to the floury interior of a bakery, to 150 years ago as the first European settlers made their initial footfalls. Often it is to find oneselfin the visual equivalent of a Shakespearean comedy. Crooks' voluptuous, confident figures relish their own physicality as they ski, shear sheep, cycle, deliver milk, take to the surf or float in ecstasies of affection. Writer and critic, David Eggleton's clear-eyed essay 'Benevolence and Bounty' introduces this unique and extraordinary artist with gusto. Each painting is accompanied by a written response; the artist's brother meditates on diving; rugby player, Josh Kronfeld, reminisces about surfing at St Clair, while poet, Emma Neale muses on motherhood. Generously illustrated in magnificent colour, 'Venus on a Beach Towel' is a retrospective tribute to Crooks' remarkable painting career.

In this engaging, award-winning book, an acclaimed art writer journeys through centuries of the painted world

Which building flaunts a fine piece of jewellery? Where can you get fit and indulge in poetry at the same time? Who can change light into water? Find out inside. Let Art & About: A Pocket Guide to Wellington

You want a permit to draw? Madam, that will be very difficult. I can give you a permit to take photographs because photography is illegal. But drawing is not illegal. Therefore I cannot give you a permit to draw. - Sudanese police inspector Permit to Draw is an artist's sketch of her experience of Africa in a turbulent era. It offers a sympathetic, humorous, and prophetic insight into the people and passions of this colourful, complex and ancient continent. About the Author Pamela Searell was born in 1926 in Putaruru. She qualified as an advisory art specialist and was an itinerant teacher from 1947 to 1953. She took up full-time painting in 1953, complemented by temporary jobs while overseas, journalism and radio current affairs and art reviews in New Zealand. Pamela met her husband Ross in the Southern Alps. Mountaineering was an essential part of their life until middle age, when small boat cruising gave a platform for bird studies by Pamela. In 1956 Pamela and Ross went to Malawi, where African faces drew a response with their sculpted features, the landscape inspired strongly structured oils, and wild animals started to feature in Pamela's works. After Malawi, life back in a New Zealand forestry town seemed dull in comparison, and in 1960 the couple returned to the Sudan, the setting for this book. Years in France followed before they returned to NZ in 1967, living on the coast north of Wellington. Pamela then began to create in bas-relief paintings, and later freestanding sculptures. At first monochrome, colour in her three-dimensional work was inspired by polychrome statues of antiquity. The distant past provided much of her source material, as did sketches from her travels and bird life along the varied shores of Wellington. Pamela and Ross travelled extensively in South America, the US south-west, Alaska, central Australia and Namibia. All these places enriched her three-dimensional work. When she died in 2000 Pamela Searell left over 200 works in private and public collections.