Art Books I Can't Live Without

The reading nook in my studio. The bookcase just beyond the chair holds all my favorite art books .

As a mostly self taught artist, books about art are as important to me as brushes, paint and canvases. I have to confess: my addiction to them is hopeless. I troll the latest titles on Amazon, eagerly read reviews of new releases in art magazines, and browse the shelves at Barnes & Noble every chance I get. Given a choice between the gift of a luxurious designer handbag and a newly released book about abstract art, I'll choose the book. (Maybe that's why I'm not famous for looking like a fashion plate, haha.)

When younger artists ask me how they can advance their careers, I tell them to do two things: spend as much time painting as possible, and take advantage of the incredible universe of knowledge found in art books. (Yes,YouTube is a wonderful resource also. But only a book allows you time to read, mull over what you've just read, and dream up ways to apply it, even making notes in the margins.) I consider art books to be an essential part of an artist's development. Read enough of them and you'll get an education to rival that of attending art school. Maybe even better.

I paint with acrylics, I paint abstracts, and I also work in mixed media and collage. There's no shortage of terrific books out there covering every conceivable aspect of these topics. Here are some of my favorite titles. They're the books I read for information and inspiration -- the ones I consider studio essentials:

Surface Treatment Workshop by Sandra Duran and Darlene Olivia McElroy
Abstract Explorations in Acrylic Painting: Fun, Creative and Innovative Techniques by Jo Toye
Create Perfect Paintings: An Artist's Guide to Visual Thinking by Nancy Reyner
Abstracts in Acrylic and Ink: A Playful Painting Workshop by Jodi Ohl
The Art of Expressive Collage: Techniques for Creating with Paper and Glue by Crystal Neubauer
Gelli Plate Printing: Mixed-Media Monoprinting Without a Press by Joan Bess
Alternative Art Surfaces: Mixed-Media Techniques for Painting on More Than 35 iDifferent Surfaces by Sandra Duran Wilson and Darlene Olivia McElroy

This is by no means a complete list. It just happens to be a list of the titles I happen to have at hand right now. If adding to your skill set is your aim, you can't go wrong with any of these titles. So grab a good book, a cup of tea, and let these authors lead you to improvements in your work.

Image and text ©2018 Lynn Edwards

A Thought for Sunday, July 6, 2014

"Art is a song of color; you are the conductor and the paint is the orchestra." -- Darlene Olivia McElroy and Sandra Duran Wilson in Mixed Media Revolution: Creative Ideas for Reusing Your Art

Painting an Artist Trading Card or ACEO with Sponges

Why is it the art I seem to be most satisfied with are the pieces created "off the cuff?" Yesterday was a good example. I had been dipping the ends of some fabric beads in iridescent silver paint. When I finished, there was about a teaspoon of paint left over.

I didn't want to toss it, or wipe it off onto the cloth I was using for a cleanup rag. Instead, I decided to see if I had an old or unfinished painting I could stamp onto with the silver paint. Maybe it could rekindle my enthusiasm for some orphaned project. So I went looking in my stash for a suitable piece to work with.

The perfect candidate turned out to be a 2 1/2x3 1/2" artist trading card my friend Rebecca Salcedo had given me a few years ago. Rebecca is both a decorative artist and a fine artist. She had been experimenting with faux paint treatments for a client's walls, and had created several of these little cards to test various effects and color combinations. One afternoon she had stuck her head in my studio door (at the time we were both tenants in a communal studio space), handed me two of the cards and said, "Here's something to start some tiny paintings with." Intending to do just that, I had placed them in a drawer. Where they languished until yesterday.

One of the cards featured a bit of texture on its surface. It was painted a mid-value grey, lightly glazed with what looked to be a mixture of Pthalo Blue and black, making it an ideal blank slate. Eureka! The leftover silver paint would look great with those colors. I got right to work.

A 2 1/2x3 1/2" abstract, painted entirely with sponges.

Instead of a brush, I decided to use itty-bitty sponges. These were actually pieces of a large sponge I had previously cut up for another project. Back then I had used the pieces to stamp small squares onto a canvas. The biggest of the bunch was about the size of a thumbprint, the smallest about the circumference of my middle finger.

Painting with sponges was a way to leave my comfort zone and give something different a try. It's part of my New Studio Mantra: new digs call for exploring new directions. Since moving into my new space, I've been doing just that and having a ball, inspired in part by a book titled Mixed Media Revolution: Creative Ideas for Reusing Your Art by Darlene Olivia McElroy and Sandra Duran Wilson. Already Sandra and Darlene have led me down several new pathways to creative opportunity.

Doing this little sponge painting was great fun. I held no expectations for its outcome, just allowed myself to play and dabble. In addition to the Iridescent Silver, Carbon Black, Titanium White and Payne's Grey rounded out my palette. I learned quickly to use the very lightest of touches when applying the loaded sponge to the paper, or a big blob would result that had to be covered up. The sponges' textured surfaces created a delicate, yet intricate interplay of colors; layering and veiling and layering some more produced a remarkably detailed level of complexity my clumsy photography can't capture adequately here. Nor can it capture the luminous glow the metallic silver paint infuses.

As I worked on this I was fully in the Zone, dabbing away and enjoying every minute as the painting took shape. When I finished it, I noticed it looks equally good turned in any direction, and because the silver paint is reflective, each orientation looks very different from the others. It's like four unique little paintings in one!
©2013 Lynn Edwards 









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