I’ve been meaning to talk about holiday reading for a while now. During the holiday season, I tend to read a lot of books. Generally they are either reflection-based or art-related. I tend to save them and then savor them during the holidays. Here are the ones I read this holiday season.
Most of the reading this time around was art books I’d been saving. I did read two (actually three but the other one I will write about separately) books that were more on the reflective side. Two of them were by Sark: Transformation Soup and Eat Mangoes Naked I read her last year during the holidays and I’d liked her so I bought a few more of her books and saved them. I did enjoy both of these and if Sark is your cup of tea, I think you would, too.
Then I read a bunch of art books. I’d been saving How to Make a Journal of Your Life for months. A little book on how awesome it is to keep journals. It covers journaling, sketching, taking photos, and collecting ephemera. It’s small, a quick read, and quite wonderful.
Since I wanted to keep art journals, I’d bought both The Decorated Page and Artist’s Journal Workshop for this purpose. I will admit that I didn’t read them for too long. But I loved both of these. Especially the latter. I loved loved loved that book.
Excellent examples of sketching, drawing, art journaling. Really worthwhile.
And since I was interested in sketching, you knew I was going to have to read at least one Danny Gregory, right? Creative License is one of the best books on sketching ever. Inspirational, lovely to look at, practical and just way too enticing not to read.
If you’re interested in sketching or into sketching, you must not miss Danny Gregory. He’s exceptional. I am confident every one of his books must be amazing.
I also bought 30-minute sketching because I read about it in Junelle’s blog. (Or I think I did.) This is a small book. quick to read and covers mostly watercolors. It’s wonderful. Don’t let its size fool you, there’s A LOT of information in this little book.
And specifically on watercolors I read Keeping a Watercolor Sketchbook. Another incredible book. Brenda’s an amazing artist. Oh to have that talent. This book is in detail, and I’ll be honest, I am still reading it. I just want to savor every page of it and make sure I learn as much as I can from it.
And there we go. Those are some of the books I read during the holidays. Every one of them was awesome. And getting to savor them during the holidays is an extra luxury. Have you read any good art books lately?
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