Art Books

I have some new art books that I just love and want to share them with you. They are Art Revolution by Lisa L. Cyr, Exhibition36 by Susan Tuttle, Image Transfer Workshop by Darlene Olivia McElroy, Printmaking & Mixed Media by Dorit Elisha. I also have the new Mary Todd Beam book, but cannot remember the name of it. I loaned it to someone already, so I can't run into he studio and look at the name. All of these books have useful information in them, but Mary Todd Beam's two books are my favorites.

Like most artists, I rarely actually read my art books cover to cover. I look at the pictures and if smething strikes my fancy, I read about how it was done, mark the page in the book and move the book to my studio. Then it sits there for weeks until I am tired of moving it around. Rarely do I actually try the techniques I read about. That is something I am trying to change. I have promised myself that I will try at least one technique from each book that I buy. Of the books listed above, I have tried techniques from two of them. I guess I shouldn't say that I never use the information from the books, because I do internalize some of the information and find myself using a variation of it sometime in the future.

I have discovered that art books about mediums other than those that I work with, usually still have something to offer me. I regularly buy the magazine Cloth, Paper, Scissors and often find techniques that I can use in my work even though many of the techniques are designed for fabric.