'Think less. Draw more.' And seek out Danny Gregory!

More blog love!! Seth Apter of 'The Altered Page' (which is an immensely enjoyable read) is conducting a Buried Treasure 2010 collaboration in which he is encouraging people to search through their archives and repost some of their favourite articles. May I in particular point you in the direction of Danny Gregory's blog. The Slow=Know post is a particular favourite of mine - indeed a printed copy of it sits inside my Moleskine pocket.

Three cheers for Seth!!! Three cheers for Danny!!! And three cheers for Moleskine for putting pockets in their journals which is a throughly well thought out idea - I do so approve of thoroughly well thought out ideas! Anyone got any spare ones I can borrow?

Talking of archives, should you ever wish to look into mine, I've added a list of topics (or 'Labels' as Blogger rather irritatingly refers to them) that I regularly talk about, to the sidebar on the right-hand side. Go down past the list of places which I visit when I'm feeling curious, past my profile and there before you is my list of 'Labels'. Grrrr - I hate labels!

Book Review: 'Digital Expressions: Creating Digital Art With Photoshop Elements' by Susan Tuttle

I'm an old fashioned photographer in that I know a fair amount as to how to manipulate a camera shot, but place me in front of Photoshop & I'm sunk even with the aid of the doorstop of a manual that I bought to help me negotiate the programme. I get a pain in the neck just lifting the manual up so Photoshop & I have remained strangers up until now. With the arrival of 'Digital Expressions: Creating Digital Art With Photoshop Elements' by the highly talented Susan Tuttle, all this has changed.

Susan's intention is to teach us how to create beautiful digital art, something I've yearned to learn about as I want to incorporate such images into the art journals I keep. But hold on for one tiny second. In her introduction, in a lovely, lucid format, she has taught me what I've been looking for a long time - how to start working with Photoshop Elements! My days of a pain in the neck are over. She then proceeds to take you deeper and in thoughtful, step by step detail & with clear, luscious illustrations, shows you how to create digital art with chapters devoted to manipulating images, painting & drawing, layering elements to create digital collages, merging images to create montage art and incorporating traditional art into digital works. There are 25 projects to follow and a bonus CD with goodies for you to play with.

This book is lavish - information, inspiration, techniques & ideas abound. This is the perfect introduction & springboard for those of you who want to learn how to create digital art. Read this book and then run with it. Susan is giving you the key to the door and is the perfect companion to usher you into the world of digital art. I'm enjoying playing with this book so much & would heartily recommend it.

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!'

Creating an illustrated journal - but how to start?

Let me state my case clearly; I'm on the lookout for advice. I've kept private therapeutic art journals for years, my written journal is my best friend & alongside my dogs, my constant companion is a sketchbook. But now I want to take what seems to be the next logical step and start an illustrated journal. Maybe it's because I've got another birthday on the immediate horizon, but I have a fancy to leave something behind me & an illustrated journal seems to fill this archival need.

But...

This won't be my first attempt - not by the longest chalk imaginable. Time & time again, I've fallen over the twin hurdles of layout & my calligraphic inabilities. How do I produce a legible text? And how do I stop myself from committing drawing-squeeze or over-elaboration? Now the latter is a major problem. The art teacher who successfully sapped my self-belief & enthusiam for art at the end of 13, told me that my work was 'too detailed'. Since returning to the art fold after years in academe, I've strived to stay true to the line ( hence my love of unwinding with blind contour drawings) but my darned meddling brain gets in the way & before I know it, I'm restating until my page is a whirling mess. This isn't a problem in a sketchbook because leaves can be detached. In my art journals, gesso, paint & collage sort this problem out for me. But how to stay the hand in a journal? I'm seeking to display a clarity that I don't find in life itself; I want to sift my life & get the essence of it on to a page. So how to do this without getting in a mess?

If any of you have tales of discoveries you made when you first began your own illustrated journals or have tips about layouts, I would deeply & gratefully appreciate your advice. You never know; you might one day be doing my great-grandchildren a favour! How's that for an example of running before I can walk ;-)

A recipe for happiness? 5 journals + 2 vanity cases + 2 rolls of pens + 1 watercolour box = a distinct possibility!

I owe Ricë Freeman-Zachery a debt of gratitude for introducing me to the enchanting film above via her scintilating blog, Notes from the Voodoo Cafe. Ken Carbone has me itching to open up my pen & pencil rolls and work in one of the Moleskines which I keep by my bed in a vanity case from Cath Kidston. In another case, I've got all manner of journal goodies such as glue, papers, photo corners, ink pads, pens, masking tape, etc, etc.

I'm a portable gal, so why on earth do I have agoraphobia? Still, where there's life, there's hope which is something to hold on to. Oooh, I'm being positive :-)