Chandelier

"Knowledge is a process of piling up facts;
wisdom lies in their simplification."
~ Martin H. Fischer

5x8" watercolor moleskine, pitt pen

It was hard to find a name that fit this doodle box. It really did start as a mandala, but it morphed into something that reminded me of a jetsons style control board (i.e. food arackasacker for you jetsons fans). A massive control panel with buttons and gadgets to do everything from making sandwiches to folding towells to putting on makeup. Then again, it reminded me of looking up through an elaborate chandelier in a German castle. This was drawn over the course of a few days while the kids were having their baths.

Books to Read in 2010 (Draft)

"Why isn't my life like a situation comedy?
Why don't I have a bunch of friends with nothing better to do
but drop by and instigate wacky adventures?
Why aren't my conversations peppered with spontaneous witticisms?
Why don't my friends demonstrate heartfelt concern
for my well being when I have problems? ...
I gotta get my life some writers."
~ Calvin & Hobbes, Watterson

The 2010 List of Contenders first draft, no particular order. There are 87 books in my to-read "shelf" at Goodreads. DISCLAIMER: Books will be added to this list. Books will be deleted. I won't get to all of them. It is theoretically possible that I will finish this list. But then again perhaps not. Do not stand up while the ride is in process. Library books have cooties. I really tried. Back to Amazon.

Non-Fiction

The Artist's Way, Cameron
The Creative Habit, Tharp
An Illustrated Life: Drawing Inspiration from the Private Sketchbooks... Gregory
Finding Flow, Csikszentmihalyi
Freaks of Fancy: Artistic Printing and the Ethics of Ornament
On Writing, King
Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain
Altered Surfaces, Kozen
Rethinking Acrylic, Brady
Brave on the Rocks, Harrison
Letters of Ayn Rand, Rand
Parenting with Love & Logic
Understanding Exposure, Peterson
Learning to See Creatively, Peterson

Fiction

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier + Clay, Chabon
The Yiddish Policemen's Union, Chabon
The Third Option, Flynn
The Help, Stockett
The Stone Raft, Saramago
The Middle Place, Corrigan
Flipped, Van Draanen
Stones from the River, Hegi

A Short List of Books I've Enjoyed, Non-Fiction

The Creative License, Gregory
Spilling Open, Harrison
Finding Your Own North Star, Beck
1,000 Artist Journal Pages: Personal Pages and Inspirations, Sokol
Artist to Artist: 23 Major Illustrators Talk to Children About Their Art, Carle
The Decorated Page AND The Decorated Journal, Diehn
The Right to Write, Cameron
Bird by Bird, Lamott
The Improvisational Cook, Schneider
A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, Wizenberg (Orangette)
Kaleidoscope: Ideas And Projects to Spark Your Creativity, Simanaitis

More...

• The Official Guide to Daisy Yellow Creative Prompts
• Altered Book: orange.peach rev 3.1, love building art journal pages @ lists
• My Top Picks: Books for Kids 0 - 12
• Abstract Reading Challenge based on Clue at Goodreads, odd, odd, odd
• How {Not} to Micro-Manage Kids' Art

Questions...

1. What is on your reading list for 2010? <see above> 
2. Do you keep track of the books you read? <yes, for decades>
3. How many books (fiction + non-fiction) do you read each year? <about 25> 
4. Has the number of books per year increased or decreased over the last 5 years? <decreased since I am doing more art> 
5. Do you read more than one book at once? <always 2-4 books going>
6. Do you read more fiction or non-fiction? <more non-fiction, but love fiction so want to read more!>
   

Sunspot

"She wondered: How could people respond to these images if images didn't secretly enjoy the same status as real things? Not that images were so powerful, but that the world was so weak. It could be read, certainly, in its weakness, as on days when the sun baked fallen apples in orchards and the valley smelled like cider, and cold nights when Jordan had driven Chadds Ford for dinner and the tires of her Chevrolet had crunched on the gravel driveway; but the world was fungible only as images. Nothing got inside the head without becoming pictures."
— Jonathan Franzen, The Corrections

"sunspot" 5x8" watercolor moleskine journal, watercolor

Links | Creative | Curious | Again

Fresh + Fun Inspiration:

1. At Artsyville, abstract fun with acrylic inks + ceramic tiles.
2. {e} house studio: 5 Ways to Create a Creative Office Space (useful for any interior design project)
3. Unique illustrations by Leigh Wells
4. At Creative Liberty you'll discover creative momentum from unique perspectives; one of my fav posts is The Bare Essentials, "exercises... for dissolving creative blocks, dealing with time-management challenges, or nagging worries..." about creative tools
   
5. Lisa of Curious Girl captures life in unforgettable photographs
6. Via Curious Girl, I discovered the work of photographer Sharyn Cairns!
7. From GardenMama: A Tutorial for Waldorf Window Stars
8. In Smudging, Scraping + Scratching up Art, iHanna of Create + Live Happy had fun creating art journal backgrounds on black gesso inspired by a variety of artists (including Daisy Yellow!)
9. 8 Ways to Be a Happier Mom from Parenting.com
10. From The Sister Arts Finally, My Post NaNoWriMo Debriefing, which describes how a mom of two found time and inspiration to participate and achieve her goal. (via Studio Mothers)
11. At Pintame el Dia you'll find art, photography and corners of her world in spanish and english.
12. Animalarium explores "art, illustration, crafts and design... featuring animals, both real and fantastic."  (via Kireei, a lovely Spanish design blog)
13. Color Inspiration from the Masters of Painting at ColourLovers

Kick-Start Your Art Journal (14)

"A modest garden contains,
for those who know how
to look and to wait,
more instruction than a library."
~ Henri Frederic Amiel

Altering another catalog...

So the idea behind these prompts is that It is Your Art, your page, your space, your place to play, so grab paper, paints + markers, put on some music and enjoy some play-time! While you are working, take a photograph of your work-in-progress and post to Art Journal Pages Unfinished (a Flickr group for work-in-progress) or take a detail shot of part of your page and post to Art Journal Details & Macros. 

<Tweet-Story> Write a short story in 140 characters or less. Create a page to illustrate the story with color & images. Include the story on the page.

<Words as Art> Click over to 20 Beautiful Examples of Creative Text Used in Advertising at webdesigndev and peruse the list for ideas. Develop a page using artistic text in an interesting way.

<Torn Abstraction> Paint randomly with acrylic or watercolor on a loose piece of heavy cardstock. Let it dry. Cut into squares or tall narrow rectangles and use the pieces as a component of your page. Fold, weave, collage, grid, play.

<Preppy Plaid> Using a brayer or brush, create a plaid background with tips at Plaid Backgrounds with Acrylics and put an image or word in each "box' of the grid of the plaid pattern.

<Analytical Angle> For your background, glue a page of yellow legal paper, accounting ledger paper, an old bank statement, the stock market closing prices, a telephone book - something related to numbers or finances. Add a thin layer of gesso if needed to mute the background. In words, analyze something having to do with numbers or your financial world. Ideas include financial challenges, your age, getting organized, a budget.

<Trends R Us> Create an art journal page using one of the four themes from the Summer 2010 Color Trends at Fashion Trendsetter.

Which prompt are you tempted to do?

Paisley Inspiration

"Increasingly, people seem to misinterpret complexity as sophistication, which is baffling —
the incomprehensible should cause suspicion rather than admiration.
Possibly this trend results from a mistaken belief that using a somewhat mysterious device
confers an aura of power on the user."
~ Niklaus Wirth

{Click mosaic for to go to Flickr for full photographic credits}

• Love mosaics? Orange Inspiration, Textured Inspiration and more mosaics
  
• Love color? Inspiration: Doodling & Imagery, Color Series: Inspired by Pink and the Color Series