Having fun with a FABULOUS website!

I write like
Vladimir Nabokov

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Ha ha ha!!

Sorely missed - Beryl Bainbridge

Beryl Bainbridge (21 November 1932 - July 2, 2010)

I will never understand why this wonderful English novelist didn't win the Booker prize. There's not a single book in her oeuvre that I don't treasure. She was one of our brightest & our best.

Namaste Dame Beryl! I hope you meet Samuel Johnson & all your other boys in heaven!

'The Faces' Jewellery Challenge: so what would you make for...

I'm reminded of the 'Faces' jewellery challenge that I referred to earlier this month. My impetus is eluding me at present and my sketchbook of ideas for Ellen Terry ( please see this entry) is a staccato mess. Nevertheless, I have another face for you; a photograph of Virginia Woolf whom I mentioned yesterday.

Both this photograph and that of Ellen capture them before the originality & true colours of their lives had unfolded. Perhaps this is why I find it difficult to pluck out inspiration from these youthful photographs; I know what is to come and it is not yet a highly visible seed in these innocent portraits. Methinks I must bear in mind the character & experience of these extraordinary women and celebrate the beauty of maturity. Perhaps I should challenge myself with a photograph of the poet, Dame Edith Sitwell instead.

But ah me no; Dame Edith had more style in an elegant finger tip than I would ever dream of addressing. I dare not presume!

My search for a face continues...

The Art Journal & Creativity Bookshelf: The Long List!

Our house groans with books. Literally. Walls have been scaled by carpenters & cabinet makers ( being married to someone in the antiques trade has its perks - Bushwood Antiques, I thank you) and shelves have been adhered to any wall not suitable for paintings. I love peering into books & sniffing out their treasures. And my books are more informatively interactive than Kindle. All book lovers should look away right now because I hereby confess to the sin of writing in the margins of my paperbacks. Indeed I have paperback copies of some of my hardbacks purely so that I can carry on a written conversation with the author. Remember the quote from my last blog entry,

"Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: "What! You, too? Thought I was the only one."

Well this is just one of the reasons why I write in my books; the magic spell of recognition.

My little addenda add an extra dimension to re-reading old favourites. 'Did I really think that? Oh shallow youth!' ( I rather enjoy feeling pompous about my younger self; it shows I may have actually learnt something as I've travelled through life and that all is not necessarily lost!) In fact my long standing loves which I refer to again & again, such as Virginia Woolf's diaries or Carrington's 'Letters & Extracts from Her Diaries', have special journals devoted to them which stand by their sides on the bookshelves. Carrington's paintings have always beguiled me, but when I read her enthralling letters & saw the illustrations which she added to them, I fell under her thrall & have remained her slave ever since.

Indeed, many, many years ago, it was Virginia & Carrington who first inspired me to keep a journal of my own. At first it was just a diary, but this one volume has blossomed into many. I now keep a diary, a reading record ( for thoughts I dare not expose in the books themselves!), an art journal, as well as a multiplicity of sketchbooks ( which, to my mind, are another form of journal). The latest addition is a more formal illustrated journal whose shape still hasn't comfortably settled in my mind.

But I digress. The reason for this post is that I've been 'editing' my art journal resource shelves. Not because I'm divesting myself of any of the books which have helped me along the journalling path, but because some seem more pertinent to the shelves in the Shack where I paint & make a mess whilst others seem more suited to the calmer climate of my study.

Now that I've finally finished dusting off & restating the bookshelves, I thought I'd list a selection of favourites books which I've referred to as I've mined my way through my own particular seam of journalling life. They are of particular help in the bad times, but also nourish me in the good. In other words, they are Battle Books!

Here goes...

Firstly the greats. You can treat yourself to books by any of the following authors and each & all will hold your hand and delight, inspire & inform you. Make space for:

Lynne Perella, Gwen Diehn, Danny Gregory, Maggie Grey, L.K.Ludwig, Ricë Freeman Zachary & her wonderful interviewees, Sark, Alan Fletcher, Dan Price & any of the volumes of 'Illustration Now'.

And now, in no particular order, here comes a lengthy selection of my favourites. I've added links to Amazon, not because I'm on commission ( because I'm not) but purely so that you can read a little more about each particular book.

'Kaleidoscope' by Suzanne Simanaitis
'Exhibition 36' & 'Digital Expressions' by Susan Tuttle
'Celebrate Your Creative Self' & 'The Creative Edge' by Mary Todd Beam
'Art Escapes' by Dory Kanter
'Collage Sourcebook' by Holly Harrison, Jennifer Atkinson & Paula Grasdal
'Mixed Media Collage' by Holly Harrison
'Journal Spilling' by Diana Trout
'Life is a Verb' by Patti Digh
'1000 Art Journal Pages' edited by Dawn DeVries Sokol
'1000 Journals Project'
'Complete Guide to Altered Imagery' by Karen Michel
'Exploring Colour' by the late Julie Caprara
'Handmade Prints' by Anne Desmet & Jim Anderson
'Drawing & Painting People: A Fresh Approach' by Emily Ball
'Painted Paper' by Alisa Golden
'The Artist's Sketchbook' by Lucy Watson
'Sketchbooks: The Hidden Art Of Designers, Illustrators & Creatives' by Richard Brereton
'Mixed Media Self Portraits' by Cate Coulacos Prato
'The Nature Diary of an Artist' by Jennie Hale
'Art Stamping Workshop' by Gloria Page
'Printmaking + Mixed Media' by Dorit Elisha
'Drawing From Life:The Journal as Art' by Jennifer New
'Journal Bliss' by Violette
'Drawing, Seeing & Observation' by Ian Simpson
'Sometimes I Think, Sometimes I Am' by Sara Fanelli
'Experimental Drawing' by Robert Kaupelis
'Creating Sketchbooks for Embroiderers & Textile Artists' by Kay Greenlees
'Making Journals by Hand' by Jason Thompson
'Artist Trading Card Workshop' by Bernie Berlin
'Mixed Emulsions' by Angela Cartwright
'Practical Printmaking' by Colin Gale
'Creative Awakenings: Envisioning The Life of Your Dreams Through Art' by Sheri Gaynor
'Taking Flight' by Kelly Rae Roberts
'Collage Unleashed' by Traci Bautista
'The New Creative Artist' by Nita Leland
'Keys To Drawing With Imagination' by Bert Dodson
'Creative Paint Workshop' by Ann Baldwin
'Drawing Matters' by Jane Stobart
Jim Krause's Colour Index Volumes I and II
'Sources of Inspiration' and 'Pattern, Colour & Form' by Carolyn Genders
'Connecting Art to Stitch' by Sandra Meech
'Acrylic Revolution' by Nancy Reyner

There are more, but I fear I may have exhausted you and that, dear Reader, will never do.

PS, I'm avidly awaiting the arrival of 'The Journal Junkies Workshop' by Eric M.Scott & David R. Modler which is available in the States, but not here in the UK as of today. Help! I'm not known for my patience! I have discovered Eric's blog though for which I shout 'Hurrah!'

Sitting with The Vicious Circle

Before you read the following paragraphs, please pay a visit to Jean Yates' blog, otherwise it won't make any sense. I call Jean 'The Rock CHICk' because she put the chic into rock. Earlier today, I called on Miss Margot * of 'The Impatient Beader' & 'Sparkletastic' fame (Margot's books are superb - you will love them. If you're a Brit like me, 'Sparkletastic' will appear on our shores any minute now, but until then, buy 'The Impatient Beader' books & frolic in the fun) and I read her post about titles. I would hereby like to make an official application to whomsoever deals with these things, that Miss Jean be also known as The Rock CHICk™.

Have you read Miss Jean's post yet? Her wish is my command :-)

"Today I lunched with the Vicious Circle, though why they allowed me to join them is beyond me. I cannot get my copy past the editorial team at the New Yorker - they are SO picky - but Mrs Parker made a scathing comment about me & I sniped back with a witty retort so I was invited to join them. I could tell this irked her - I suspect that Mr Benchley's invitation was an attempt to hold my flimsy red rag in front of her dangerous, piercing bull. Thankfully I sat next to Mr Ross so my meat wasn't minced today."

I do enjoy a nice day dream from time to time :-)

* I call her Miss Margot because she's a belle who wears beautiful dresses & has skin like porcelain. She also has a mind like a razor & this demands respect!

Project Procrastination & the Mslexia Effect

I procrastinate every single day of my life. Indeed I would go so far as to say that it's become a fully fledged hobby - let's call it 'Project Procrastination'. So far I've worked on three projects today. Dreaming up the name 'Project Procrastination' was the third.

Number one took place when I added one of the two photographs that I like of myself to my profile. It was a toss up between me aged two & me aged twenty five. Twenty five won. It's a totally misleading photo, but I can be whoever I want to be on the web, so I'm a twenty five year old with permanently wet hair.

For number two, I thought about sorting through the pile of things to read which totters by my bed. This is dangerous - this shows that unconsciously at least, I had no real intention of doing anything today. Fortunately I picked up my copy of July/August's edition of 'Mslexia', a UK magazine for 'women who write' - there is always something in here that I want to talk about so finally I'm active.

In my humble opinion, 'Mslexia' is one of the finest magazines currently in print. Each page is absorbing & full of interest. It's published every two months which is perfect because this gives one adequate time to assimilate the content of each issue.

In 'Diary of a Literary Agent', you can read how 'It's odd to receive a wastepaper bin in the mail.' There's also an update on the 'Save Our Short Story' campaign, an article about shoes (writing about them rather than a retail recommendation) and a feature about writers on the web, 'the marketing tool that's taken the ether by storm'. This is soooooooooo interesting!

My friend, the Rock CHICk spoke to me recently about Tracy Chevalier - Tracy's sister has developed a cool website for her. Erica Wagner is a writer & journalist whose opinion I have never knowingly disagreed with. I could go on ( and on and on), but now that I have dropped these titbits into your lap, I feel I have accomplished something so it's time to move on & do the work I've been trying to avoid.

Having said that, I may have to pay page 5 another visit & re-read the article about shoes by Julie Farnworth. She describes the effect that a pair of ring-a-ding shoes ( my expression & not Julie's) has on her:

'but when I do occasionally wear them I am transformed from a stewed cup of tea leaving an unsightly ring on a glass coffee table into a firecracker.'

I know what she means. I've got a pair of boots that can perform the same trick!

A Poem for People Who Don't Like Poems!

A copy of 'Poetry' by Marianne Moore is permanently pinned to one of the corkboards in my study. When I began the reading adventure that led me to give part of my heart to poetry, I struck gold by coming across this one at an early stage in my journey.

As I've mentioned before, I use poetry as a sieve. I use it to make sense of things which are elusive. Here comes another metaphor - it helps me to sew thoughts & feeling into comprehensible strands.

Marianne Moore is a poet that I often turn to. She's a very special tutor.