Mar9
Tag Archives: Drawing
Feb21
Some Selections from my Art Book Shelf
You might know that I’m a bookaholic. So is my husband, Greg. We love books. We have many bookshelves scattered throughout the house. We have closets stuffed with books we haven’t read yet. We’ve given away hundreds of books. We have books we can’t bear to give away because we have reread them multiple times and plan to reread them again.
These are the books currently on the art book shelf in my writing/quilting room. I have more art books in the bookcase in our foyer.
I’ve pulled out five books that I especially like.
I’ve posted about first book, Samantha Dion Baker’s Draw Your Day: An inspiring guide to keeping a sketch journal, before, and you may want to check out my review.
My son Andrew gave me The Complete Book of Drawing Peopleby Barrington Barber (and two others) for Christmas one year. I especially like it because Barber breaks down the parts of the body and draws them at different angles. Barber also breaks drawings into steps so you can see how to plan and construct them. A few years ago I worked from this book for the Index-Card-a-Day challenge.
A couple of years ago I saw the sketchbook 300 Drawing Prompts by piccadillyinc.com at Target and grabbed it. It has pages with prompts and ample room to draw. I have not yet used it but I intend to start this year—it’s one of my unofficial artistic goals.
I love watercolor, and I want to get serious about it. I bought 15-Minute Watercolor Masterpieces by Anna Koliadych because I’ve seen some of her tutorials on YouTube. I’ve used some of her designs for World Watercolor Month, and I think I’ll use this book again this year. She has a section on mixing colors and watercolor techniques, and she breaks her masterpieces down to doable steps.
The final book I have read many, many times: A Walk Through the Cloisters by Bonnie Young, about the medieval branch of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, located in Fort Tryon Park in Manhattan. If you’ve followed ARHtistic License for any length of time, you know I’m obsessed with the Cloisters, and especially with the unicorn tapestries that are housed there. Unfortunately, this wonderful book filled with history and gorgeous photographs is out of print, but you might be lucky enough to find it in a library or used book store.
Now it’s your turn. What are some of your favorite art books? Share in the comments below.
Jan13
Creative Juice #326
Articles too good not to share.
- New legal thrillers. I already have one of these in my TBR pile.
- A traveler shares pictures of things and experiences she treasures.
- Landscape photography.
- San Juan Hill before Lincoln Center. What was razed to make way for culture. Artists will not let us not forget.
- Some pretty and colorful quilts.
- Kids say the darndest things, LOL.
- How to draw five birds: robin, blue jay, cardinal, parrot, toucan.
- An artist’s story.
- Here’s a different way to mount a small quilt for hanging.
- The Instagram page of collage and mixed media artist and art teacher, Jennifer Wilkin Penick.
- I wish I were on the beach on Oahu, but I’ll have to settle for these sketches instead.
- A canyon in Iceland.
Jun10
Creative Juice #298
Lots of good stuff here.
- The grand opening of your novel.
- Enhancing photographs in Photoshop.
- Sewers and quilters, storage idea for threads.
- The best article I’ve ever read about productivity.
- The story of my life, summarized in a poem.
- Fiction writers: Having trouble outlining your plot? Start from the ending and work backwards to figure out how to get to your destination.
- Three tips for fiction writers.
- How to draw a dog.
- A watercolor artist and instructor talks about her process and favorite products.
- I love this artist’s storypaintings on Instagram.
- Sketching in Mumbai.
- Books written by teens. I was surprised by some of these. Oprah recently announced that the last one is her latest choice for her book club.
Jun3
Creative Juice #297
This week’s articles are a gold mine for writers, but there are pickings for other creative people too.
- Beautiful artwork.
- Hand-lettering tips.
- Have you ever forgotten a word and had to make up an alternative term for it?
- Do you have recurring dreams? Mine include several houses, including my childhood home, except the door won’t secure. . .
- Ways to fix passive voice.
- How to draw a frog.
- Public speaking tips for writers (but they’ll work for anybody).
- Points to consider when writing mystery and suspense.
- Novelists, be careful when you injure your characters.
- Write an Op-Ed article.
- Fiction writers: give your character some internal conflict.
- Recommended books on writing. I’ve read 12 of these 34, and I have some of the others. (Yes, I know—I’ve got more reading to do.)
May27
Creative Juice #296
So many of these articles touch my heart.
- He knew his mom died in a fire on September 11, 2001, but he didn’t understand what that meant.
- Young piano prodigy.
- This artist does an amazing job of hand-lettering Bible verses.
- A creative approach to environmental and homelessness activism.
- Simplify, and enjoy better quality of life.
- That time Beethoven was arrested by cops who didn’t believe he was who he said he was. Oh, and the Ode to Joy.
- The story of a quilt. I love how Frances journeyed from inspiration to completion.
- A stroll in Jersey City, complete with murals and art.
- Visit to a quilt show.
- From photography to watercolor.
- I love to watch Kelly draw.
- Sketching on location.
Apr16
N is for Zentangle patterns that start with the letter N
I’m posting late today. But my taxes are done. Don’t leave yours until the last moment.
One of my goals for this year, which I really haven’t done much about, is getting back to Zentangle with more regularity. Since I couldn’t think of anything else that starts with the letter N that has something to do with the arts or the creative process, I thought I’d go to the wonderful website tanglepatterns.com and see what I could find. Out of the ones listed, I tried these four:
Nine Patch by Suzanne McNeill, which all the quilters will recognize:
Navaho by Caren Mlot:
Noodle by Angie Gittles:
Nayo by Angie Gittles (my favorite of this group):
Apr15
Creative Juice #290
Art for Easter, beautiful photographs, and lots of other creative stuff.
- Photos of geological formations.
- Heartbreaking comics.
- Happy Easter illustrations.
- A young woman receives a message from her recently departed father.
- How to develop an art practice.
- Though I believe in writing every day, it’s interesting to learn how other writers work.
- How writers and artists find inspiration in everyday objects, like an old bike.
- Award-winning nature photographs.
- Paintings of fashionably dressed working women.
- Aw, I just saw these fun cards and eggs yesterday, too late to get them done for this Easter, but maybe next year. . .
- This Korean couple connect to their grandchildren through drawings on Instagram.
- The extraordinary watercolors of Michele Clamp.
Mar25
Creative Juice #287
Good stuff here for artistic people.
- Photographs that kind of remind you of Renaissance paintings.
- Are you a book rereader?
- Yes. I’ll take them. All of them. Jewelry.
- Underwater embroidery.
- Murals. And a hint about photographing them.
- Flowers, quilts, and turkeys. Happy Spring.
- For the writers, for the rare occasions when you have no ideas: creative writing prompts.
- Another for writers: how to focus.
- No, they’re not cherry testicles (do I have your attention yet?), they are extrafloral nectaries.
- How to draw butterflies. She makes it look so easy.
- Gorgeous watercolors.
- Amazing Zentangle designs on Instagram.
Mar18
Creative Juice #286
Beauty to enjoy. Techniques to try.
- Beautiful Ukraine—read and weep.
- Painting on water.
- Raindrops on . . . well, not roses, but on other stuff.
- Daffodils and crocuses.
- How to shade.
- Practicing self-care, an author wrote down some harsh, angry words that she didn’t want to say out loud . . . and found she had written an emotional scene she might be able to use in her novel later . . .
- I don’t particularly care for the first quilt in this post, but be sure to keep scrolling—the rest are stunning.
- Mary had a little lamb, and here’s the rest of the story.
- What if someone found your purse 70 years from now?
- Slime molds are beautiful. Who knew?
- Multimedia art project. You can watch the video to see it in progress.
- I love Rosa Bonheur. Here’s a discussion of her most famous painting. More about Rosa Bonheur.
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