The Year in Books

Looking back on 09, I thought I'd share some of the books that inspired or informed me about art and its creation. In mid year the book "A Visual Palette" by Kevin Weckbach was a big eye opener for me. Kevin credits Quang Ho, one of his teachers in Denver's Art Students League School, with the basis of his philosophical principles of the visual dialogue in painting. It is a concise 60+page treatise dense with information. At the end of the year I purchased the DVD "Nuts and Bolts" from Quang Ho. A 6 hour set with lots of Quang talking about these principles and many examples from his work. About 50% of the dvd is of Quang doing demo paintings of these principles. The dvd is a condensation of more than 30 years worth of making, looking and thinking about art summed up in 6 hours, both are excellent resources for artist or collector alike.

I read some biographies, De Kooning: An American Master by Stevens & Swan and John Sloan: painter and rebel by john Loughery. Both books offer insights into art in America and NYC from the 1900s to the 1970s.

For marketing and the business side of things a good read and resource is "I'd rather be in the Studio" by Alyson Stanfield and "Starving to Successful" by Jason Horejs a guide to getting into galleries.

I just started "The Undressed Art: Why We Draw" by Peter Steinhart, its a wonderful series of essays about drawing and drawing from the figure. This just in: "Inside the Painter's Studio" by Joe Fig a book of photos and interviews with painters, very east coast centric but full of interesting and useful information about studios, work habits and creativity.

The main idea or thread that is common to all of this list is: show up and work at your art/craft regularly; in doing/being-- things will happen. The more organized and regular your work habits the greater the likelihood of having "success".

This list didn't include 3 or 4 catalogs from museum shows or any of my just for fun scifi and thriller/adventure reading.

If you enjoyed some inspirational reading about art or creativity let me know in a comment.

Thanks for reading and Happy New Year.

Bruce