Thought I'd share my summer reading list with you.
I just finished Twyla Tharp's "The Creative Habit". For some unknown reason this book had eluded me and I've been meaning to read it and finally found a copy. I liked it; in fact I liked it enough to do some underlining and highlighting. There's a chapter about "spine" which is something that helps clarify creative goals and I underlined the sentence reminding me that figuring out what I'm trying to say with my art before I go off and create randomly makes it easier to finish a piece. I'm all about the process, so I got some good tips from her book.
Then I picked up "Food Rules" by Michael Pollan only because of the cover and the illustrations by Maira Kalman. The author gives some healthy advice about foods we should eat and her drawings are amazing. One of my favorites is the one that goes with the title, "Make Water You're Beverage of Choice". There's an image of a figure below Niagara Falls and since I was born and raised there, I resonate with the image. It shows a tiny person at the bottom of the waterfall that is painted with simple, bold, energetic splashes of white, grays and greens. After looking at her artwork, it makes me want to get out my sketchbook and paints.
Another inspiring book, "A Very Modest Cottage" by Tereasa Surratt documents how she restored her grandmother's cottage. I think when I retire, I'm going to be a "picker" and uncover all kinds of treasures. This book showed some of the antiques she found and put in her cottage.
It occurred to me that after reading all three of these books, I've clarified my "creative spine" to render artwork inspired by the things I find in antique stores and thrift shops. Twyla gave me the instructions, Maira showed me a style and Tereasa reinforced my interest in objects from my childhood.
So that brings me to the 4rth book on my table. As I was checking out at the library I saw it on the shelf of new releases and it's a memoir by John Kennedy Jr.'s loyal assistant and friend, Rosemarie Terenzio. I can't put the book down and will have to finish it tonight. Such a sad tragedy, what a cool guy he was. (and so was his young wife). The title is "Fairy Tale Interrupted".
So that's my summer reading list so far.
Here are the links:
If you'd care to comment and share what you're reading, I'd be interested!
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