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.
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“As human beings, we flourish through our collective efforts in society not in isolation. In fact, the degree in which we are able to cooperate and collaborate to build complex and sophisticated civilizations is uniquely human. This trait sets us apart from other species.”
Writers, do you know Margie Lawson? She’s like a magician—do what she says, and your writing will sparkle. Read this article about giving your novel a great title. This article appeared last February, so the course info at the end of the article is obsolete. But if you’re intrigued, check out her website. If you can’t take a class, you can always buy the lecture notes. I have “Deep Editing, Rhetorical Devices, and More.” It’s fabulous.
This is an article in 5 memes about writing (and other kinds of) success. There are a lot of good points in the article, but the fifth meme is in bad taste. Skip this if the f-word will spoil your day.
Funny bumper stickers. (Warning: some are kind of offensive.)
One final half-zendala for the last day of ICAD and World Watercolor Month. Patterns used: Brayd, Cat-Kin, MI2, Golven, Laced, Gem.
This year I made a total of 38 cards, far less than the goal of 61; last year I completed 52. I comfort myself with the thought that if I complied with my normal goal of working on an art project on every even-numbered day, I’d actually have fewer products to show.
My cards are evenly divided between the calligraphy practice I did in June and the watercolors I made in July. I love doing challenges like these, because they push me to be more deliberate in my practice. As of this writing, these two cards got the most “likes” on ARHtistic License:
B
Sky
This card got the most likes on Instagram:
Ogee grid with onamato and A.L.F.
That surprised me, because my absolute favorite of the bunch is this one:
Wave
And I’m also very fond of these two:
Kaleido
Half-Zendala #1
I always enjoy these challenges, and I love seeing what other participants post.
ARHtistic License 