One third of the way through Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Curry I realized I need a wife or a servant to be a successful artist. In all seriousness I learned a lot from reading this collection of habits and routines from various famous creatives over the years. While many of them did have wives and/or servants to deal with the children and more household duties so they could lock themselves in a room for hours at a time. Still plenty of others had/have day jobs and would create during their lunch hour or after hours. A number of them were married women with children. As long as I have discipline I have plenty of time to work hard and get things done. It was a great book for reading on the road until it became too dark for me to see clearly. I highly recommend picking this book up if you are a creative type looking to feel less crazy and be inspired in the process. You can buy a copy on Amazon, your local bookstore or check it out at your local library like I did.
Saturday Share Book Review: Steal Like an Artist
I love books. Fiction is great but as am artist creative inspiration and encouragement is always appreciated. Sometimes I treat myself to buying books to add to my art studio reference library. I love reading novels on my Kindle but I just don't enjoy books like this on the screen. I like to physically flip through the pages. So I picked up a copy at a local bookstore while I was out one day. Oh how I had these books Steal like an Artist and Show Your Work by Austin Kleon when I was graduation from art school. It could have saved me a whole lot of pain and years of floundering. I wish I had this book when my children were born as a kick in the pants to keep doing my thing despite the lack of sleep and devotion to my children. But I have it now and damn straight I am going to put the good advice that is contained within it's pages to good use.
Make something today. Make something everyday. Starting can be hard but once you get going it is a lot like breathing. Share what you make and a bit of your process. Have fun and keep going. I am still drawing, painting, writing and printing waiting to figure out what the next "big idea" thing I am going to do is. I know it will somehow come from all my current tinkering and experimenting and purging my thoughts in the morning and on my blog.
The Sad Sisters of Cheerier Cloths
Getting geared up to carve a large woodblock this winter and getting inspired by the patterns from the Textile Designs book that my inlaws got me for Christmas last year. So many awesome patterns to sift through it is such a great book for any artist. I am especially drawn to the page of black and white textiles of "half-mourning" from the late 19th century and early 20th century used to cover widows who had passed through the early morning period but not quite ready to wear colorful fabrics. Interesting but I am not sure where I am going with these just yet.
inspiration