I've had this book in my wish list for several years and recently bought it due to being heavily discounted. I loved Rhodes' Fragmentation and Repair, and I've found Sketchbook Explorations quoted, referenced and wish-listed by many artists in many art books. Because my expectations were really high, the reality was a bit disappointing.
I LOVE
> Although Rhodes is a textile artist, the book is very useful for mixed-media artists and painters.
> The hard-cover is coated with a velvety fabric. A real treat.
> Gorgeous, good quality photos that give us an insight into Rhodes' art process and artistic eye. They are not just illustrative for what she speaks about, but they can be used on their own to get inspiration.
> The way Rhodes approaches sketchbooks and the many ideas and inspiration I got when reading and looking at the book photos.
> The tips on how to create your own brushes and painting tools, how to make concertina books, ring tags books, scroll sketchbooks, foldable sketchbooks and much more.
> The ideas to use labels, envelopes, index cards, and tickets to create mixed media pieces.
> This is a book to both read and watch and you can do one or the other, or both at the same time.
> The book has a small back index, old style publishing, something that I love.
SO SO
> I wish the book had a ribbon bookmark because this one of those books that I visit over and over.
> Some of the practical exercises Rhodes suggests are well known and nothing original or new in 2024. They might have been innovative in 2018.
> Most of quotes Rhodes includes in the book are not necessary as Rhodes is an experienced artist, an awesome one, and her voice is as strong as the one of the artists she references.
> Rhodes skips the surface for the subjects she presents in the book, so they are excellent as an introduction not in-depth explorations.
I DON'T LIKE
> Although printed in good paper, this is a bit too glossy for my liking.
> The text body is not fully justified, which, in my opinion, rests polishedness to any edition.
> The font size is too small and faint, difficult to read for me and I had to use a magnifying glass for it. The font type and size for the quotes in the book are perfect, and I would have loved that to be the one used for the text body. Reading a hardcopy book
is different from reading it on a Kindle, so I wonder why some editors think it is OK to have such a small font (beyond saving printing space) especially when the book is quite pricey.
> The structure of the book is not specially organic to me.
IN SHORT
A must book for those artists who want to keep a sketchbook art practice. Definitely perfect for beginners, but I found it to be a source of inspiration for me. Having said that, Rhodes' Fragmentation
book is more comprehensive an experimental; if I had to decide
on which one to purchase now that I have both, I would choose Fragmentation.
This book is an online rendition of an online workshop that the two authors hold regularly. It's great for people, like me, that don't have a budget for online courses, but want to have the teachings in them accessible. This is the case here and, therefore, a great value for money.
THE CORE
" In a time when information and imagery from other people’s art is so readily available at our fingertips, we believe mindfully sourcing inspiration from within our own hearts and authentic lived experience is a crucial part of finding a unique voice" (p. 42).
The authors depart from this premise. Having skills or knowing techniques isn't enough to have an authentic voice. There are artists reproducing the Monalisa to perfection who have no artistic voice whatsoever.
The authors believe that there are eight key ingredients needed to discover and develop a personal creative style: 1/ Desire, 2/ Self-Inquiry to bring your life experience, cultural background, and passions into your art. 3/ Trust your intuition. 4/ Awareness of your surrounding world and of the present moment. 5/ Expansion through learning new things, exploring new materials and learning from new teachers. 6/ Exploration via giving you the time to learn by making 100 studies. 7/ Gentleness, by disregarding negative self-talk. 8/ Dedication and persistence in a life-long art journey. The book is then structured following all of these elements and philosophy with three major sections,:
> Internal Exploration,where we’ll also explore our cultural roots, families of origin, and our chosen families as a way to deepen our connection to our personal history.
> External Exploration, where we explore how the external world inspires us. There are exercises to learn to tune our senses to the world and actively engage with it for artistic purposes.
> and hands-On Art-Making Practice. Each chapter is organised in subsections that require a hands-on approach: the writing enquiries, the creative exercises, which are complemented with jumping-off points (prompts).
THINGS I LIKED
- Most of their philosophy and the emphasis on sourcing our inspiration from the internal, the external and other people, the three of them, to create our unique voice.
- There
is a
good deal of painting and mixed-media techniques offered in the book. Most exercises are presented as suggestions to contribute to our art skills and inspiration toolkit.
- The insistence on experimentation and playfulness.
- The use of Eastern-religions practices to calm our mind, anchor intuition, and source imagery and ideas from it. So it's a kind of artistic meditation.
- The beautiful playful photos from the authors and their students' artwork.
- The book structure and the fact that is not a directional book, but it gives us freedom to explore what they propose, still giving us some structure.
- The project of 100 paintings, and approaching them as studies so that we don't feel the pressure of producing a masterpiece every time we paint.
- The importance of organisation in your work area. Often, I expend tons of time looking for things that I haven't stored and organised properly, which is a waste of time and energy.
- The writing inquiries are great as self-knowledge tools whether we are artists or not. It force us to dig into our personal stories, experiences and surroundings and then use this information for creative purposes.
- The jumping off point (prompts).
- Chapter seven is especially good. We live in a mega-visual era, constantly bombarded and/or immersed on imagery. I particularly like Pinterest and Instagram and the number of art images I process a day is embarrassing. It's difficult not to get threatened and inspired by these images, and not copy them either. The issue is how to incorporate the inspiration into our work without copying someone's style or being overly derivative. The tools suggested to help us do that are great.
- Some of the exercises and ideas recommended are great. For example, mark making with veggies (which reminded me of my primary school days crafts), carving rubber stamps and making stencils, the use of textiles and jewellery elements in artwork, the colour pairing exercise, using our family memorabilia and ephemera in our art, the intuitive wandering, the scavenger hunts, and many more.
- Great hyperlinked index.
SO-SO
> Some of the exercises aren't original or new. I've found them on books that were published before, way before this. Exercises like blind contour drawing, shadow drawing, drawing with the non-dominant hand, mark making with different brushes and materials, transferring images with graphite or carbon paper.
> Although the book aim is to have you do 100 small paintings, the focus wasn't perhaps on the creation of them, on the practical making of them, but in giving ideas and encourage us to do them.
I DIDN'T LIKE
> Description of a meditation or a breathing exercise. It would be great having a link to an audio-recording (on the authors' website for example, or YouTube, Vimeo, etc.). I cannot meditate when reading a written instruction. I could record it myself, but it doesn't work as well as when someone else recites the meditation for me.That's just me. It might be different for you.
> The preaching about cultural appropriation. It's well intentioned, but the authors seem to be lost in their own boho babble, and end mixing apples with bananas. Then, they say that they borrow the word (and not just that) mandalas... If we follow what they say about appropriation, what they do is also cultural appropriation. Somebody could tell the authors that they're
appropriating Eastern Philosophy with their Buddhist practices, or
that they're appropriating the Brit's language. Most cultures, except for indigenous ones, and not all of them, are the result of culture creole. Western Civilization is just a mash of cultures, that also are varied within each country and each region in the same country. Let me put it in plain language, if you plagiarize, you appropriate. If you are overly derivative you appropriate. But, if you borrow from here and there and create something yours, you're just creating. That's what creation is.
Copying dot Aboriginal style and selling it as an Aboriginal painting is not only illegal but also appropriation. Yet, I could use
Aboriginal paintings as a source of inspiration, and make a dotty painting because nobody on this planet owns dots.
Let's use another analogy. If you aren't Spaniard and cook a Spanish paella, are you appropriating the dish? No!, unless you do something that is not Spanish and sell it as such, or make a paella and then tell the world that this is a new dish that you've created. The same goes for painting.
> Some of the recommended artists' insta have uninspired art to me.
KINDLE EDITION TYPOS AND FAILED LINKS
The Kindle edition is very good overall. The only issue is, perhaps, the way the students' art is displayed, the photos grouped together within a page without breathing space. I can easy double tap and zoom-in on them, but this isn't the most user friendly way of displaying images.
I only noticed a typo (Now, let’s talk about the vibe in "yourart") in page 33 and some of the links of the recommended artists' Instagram profiles aren't public or existent.
"It sounds a little extreme, but in this day and age, if your work isn’t online, it doesn’t exist. We all have the opportunity to use our voices, to have our say, but so many of us are wasting it. If you want people to know about what you do and the things you care about, you have to share." (Page 25).
This is the last of Kleon's trilogy and the most personal of the three. It feels so to me at least, as it's the one in which I hear Kleon's voice louder and clearer. What I mean is that his personal life, thinking and experiences are as important as what other people say; therefore, the book has less quotes and paraphrasing than the other two and feels more personal.
The aim of the book is to teach us how to think about creative work as a never-ending process, how to share our process to attract people who might be interested in our art, and how to deal with the ups and downs of sharing our work.
THE GOODIES
> Kleon has a very engaging style that connects us to him as a person immediately.
> I really like his approach to life, the artistic life especially, and the fact that he sounds like a decent human being that happens to be a famous writer by now. All of that is commendable.
> Once more, Kleon debunks the myth of the lone genius, the bohemian starving artist that lives in the collective unconscious. Kleon shows that most great ideas are birthed in a collaborative way with other creative people or from other people's minds or ideas
> Kleon also debunks the myth that success happens overnight.
> His advise on online sharing is excellent. Kleon gives sound advice on when, how often, and what sort of stuff we should be sharing.
> The author's advice on how to give credit to artists whose work we share or quote.
> Kleon's reflections on how the value of any given work is affected by the story attached to it. That's why it's important to be a good storyteller.
> The information on the psychology of forgery is fascinating.
> Sound advice on how to deal with criticism.
> Kleon's diaries snapshots at the end of the book give insight into his work process.
THE SO-SOS
For the rest, the book suffers from some of the sins as his previous books:
> The
content is still lean, and this feels, again, another diary/booklet/blog
turned into a book, what I call a blook. Kleon himself confirms "a lot of the ideas in this book started out as tweets, which then became blog posts, which then became book chapters." (Page 57).
> There are too many quotes, no matter how good they are. Also, I miss the quotes being properly referenced, not just the name but also occupation and source (book, TV interview, podcast, newspaper, etc.). In this way, he'd be following his own advice about giving due credit, but he does not.
> Most of what Kleon says in this book is directed to people who show/want to show their work online and the book revolves about that not about showing your work in any other sort of way, like ezines, small art galleries, etc.
> Although I like most of what Kleon says, the chapters are sometimes a bit off point.
> Repetitive at times.
> Section 1 seems fitter for Kleon's "Keep Going" book.
> Section 3 is very nice if you already have a name, but what about plagiarism? Not 'stealing' but totally using someone else's work? How do we counteract the online exposure with this very real every-day-happening fact?
> Section 4 on Tell stories is great, a first good approach to what good stories are made of. I found that this is great if you're a writer but not so much if you're a painter. For sure, there are paints, ours or others', who go attached to personal or collective stores, but others are not. So in which way can we share and make stories about artwork that has no story? I can make a story about a problem with a painting, how I tackled the problem and how it ended, but not all my paintings are a struggle, and some others have no happy ending and, to be honest, I don't think this might interest other artists or the people I share with.
> Section 5 about sharing what you know is full of platitudes and statements that can be true for some online teachers. It is true that we gravitate towards artists whose art we like and can teach us, but not all of them are good teachers or know how to teach. Also, there are too many online (mostly bad/mediocre) teachers whose art is also mediocre. I'm all about teaching your work if you have something good to teach. Being great at what you do doesn't equal being a great teacher.
> Section 9 mentions the famous model of 'free' giveaways to get people's emails and then promote work or sell products or services. It definitely work. I guess it worked great when first came along. It works now? Not for me at least. What I do is this. I get interested in something being offered for free. I use a secondary barely personal email address, I get the freebie, when I start to get marketing or promotional emails, I unsubscribe. Did it work?
1. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A GENIUS.
> It is not about having talent about the way we contribute to the world.
> It's very important to have and keep a beginner's mind, have a passion for what we do and keep going as our work will improve the longer we stick around. Amateurs get less stuck than professionals.
> Before sharing your work, think about what you want to learn, and do so in front of other people. Pay attention to what others are NOT sharing and fill in the void with your online presence.
> The only way to find your voice is to use it
> Reading obituaries or biographies of people who made great things is a way to connect with the present, give direction to our lives and not waste our time.
2. THINK PROCESS, NOT PRODUCT.
By sharing with others our process online every day we can create an audience and bond with them. Many people are interested not in the final piece of art, but in how we get, the messiness to get them, how we deal with the messiness, etc.
3. SHARE SOMETHING SMALL EVERY DAY.
> If in the very early stages, share your influences or what inspire you. If in the middle of it, write about your methods or share works in progress. If the project is finished, show it.
> Share something every day (blog post, twit, video, etc.).
> Pick the online platform that best suits your kind of artwork.
> Stick to the question " What you are working on/" and you’ll be good.
> Don’t show your personal life; show your work.
> Don't worry about being perfect, most of what we do is crap, but sharing our work opens up to how people react.
> If you're too busy or your life is hectic, devote just 30 minutes to online sharing a day.
> Don’t post work online that you’re not ready for everyone in the world to see.
> Don't overshare.
> When you share regularly, you'll notice patterns, themes and trends emerging from/in your work.
> Create your online space and build a good domain name. Stick to it forever. Keep it simple and professional.
4. OPEN UP YOUR CABINET OF CURIOSITIES.
> Before we’re ready to share our work with the world, we can share our tastes, things that drive us, artists we love, our artistic interest and influences, and what drive us to work.
> Show who you are, what you like, and don't let anyone pressure you on to saying the contrary or feeling bad about yourself for that.
> Being open and honest will bring around those people who are in the same frequency.
> Don’t share things you can’t properly credit. Find the right credit, or don’t share.
5. TELL GOOD STORIES.
> If you want to share effectively, you need to be a good storyteller, therefore, know what a good story is and how to tell one.
> A good story has a set structure that works most of the time, from the old fairy tales to the modern novels.There’s the initial problem, the work done to solve the problem, and the solution. The first act is the past, the second act is the present, and the third act is the future.
> Keep your audience in mind.
> Used proper language, good spelling and punctuation. Write clearly and in a way that is understandable.
> Speak about yourself and what you do. You should be able to explain your work to anyone and everyone but keep it honest, matter of fact, short and sweet.
6. TEACH WHAT YOU KNOW. Teach your craft, or techniques or how-to as this will generate more interest in your work. When you share your knowledge/work with others, you receive an education in return.
7. DON'T TURN INTO HUMAN SPAM. Don't turn into that sort of people who show no interest on anything or anyone but themselves. The sort of people who cave attention, notoriety and followers but show no appreciation or interest for those very people who follow them. If you want to get, you have to give.
> If you want to be accepted by a community, you have to first be a good citizen of that community.
> Forward-thinking artists aren’t just looking for passive-consumer fans, they’re looking for potential collaborators.
> Notice and you'll be notice. Give and you'll be given. If you want to be interesting, you have to be interested first.
> Make stuff you love and talk about stuff you love and you’ll attract people who love that kind of stuff.
> "Don’t be creepy. Don’t be a jerk. Don’t waste people’s time. Don’t ask too much. And don’t ever ever ask people to follow you. “Follow me back?” is the saddest question on the Internet." (Page 107).
> Don't do what drains you. Don't give air to people who drains you.
> Keep close those people who support and encourage you. Those you share your passions and view of the world. Praise them. Honor them. Be grateful for them. Collaborate with them. They're your inner circle.
> Meet your online peers in person.
8. LEARN TO TAKE A PUNCH.
> Relax and breeth. Criticism is not the end of the world.
> The more criticism you take, the less it can hurt you.
> You can only control how you react to criticism .
> Being hated by certain people is sometimes a badge of honor.
> You can always hide work that is too close to you to prevent it from being criticized, but avoiding vulnerability won't allow you truly to connect to other people.
> Your work is something you do, not what you are.
> Care only about what the right people think of you.
> Don't feed the trolls. Block people. Turn comments off if necessary.
9. SELL OUT.
> Turn fans into patrons.
> Ask for support when necessary.
> Keep a e-mailing list. Free giveaways are great to collect emails and have a group of people to connect, share or sell.
> Paid it forward. Praise those people, platforms or organizations that support/ed you before you were well-known.
10 STICK AROUND.
> Getting there takes time. If you keep going,you'll get there. Don't quit too early.
> Success is never guaranteed, and nothing guarantees that after a success there will be another one.
> Persevere no matter you're successful or not.
> Use the end of one project to light up the next one. Ask yourself what you missed, what you could’ve done better, or what you couldn’t get to, and jump right into the next project.
> Take long breaks or sabbaticals if necessary. Otherwise, take advantage of your idle time (commuting, exercising, enjoying nature or going to a park).
> When you feel like you’ve learned whatever there is to learn from what you’re doing, change course and find something new to learn; move forward.
MIND
> This book is not a how-to and doesn't have an in-built method.
> The book focuses mostly on our presence online, how to show our work online .
This is one of those books that you want to have on our table when you start your mixed-media journey. I wish I had it on mine when I first started. Ten years have elapsed since the book was first published, but some of the techniques and content are still relevant and many of the techniques and supplies were unknown to me.
This is a how-to book. I consider it good for for both mixed-media newbies or people who usually work with mixed-media but want to expand their technical repertoire.
Kahn says at the beginning of the book that her aim is just to provide us with techniques so that we can try them and/or incorporate them into our artwork, and she stresses that they're just techniques to use to create pieces that will then be incorporated into our artwork, so they're not intended to create masterpieces or finished pieces on their own.
GREAT THINGS
> Greatly photographed and edited.
> Kahn goes through every technique, from the use of different subtracts, techniques to create resist, use of different art supplies, ways to create textures, rubbings and hand-printing techniques, you name it.
> The book reads quickly, but this is one of those books that I want to keep at hand to come and apply some of the teachings in my work.
> Kahn has an amazing knowledge of how different paper and textile substrates work, so she's able to properly advice on how the same technique works on different materials.
> The abstract artwork displayed on the book is gorgeous and very much my cup of tea.
> The tutorial to make a folding book.
> She uses inexpensive supplies most of the time, so that's great as I think this pushes us, or at least me, to try things without worrying about having this or that fancy supply.
> The last section of her book has examples of ho Khan put together some art pieces using the techniques she describes throughout the book. They're so beautiful.
SO-SO
> We live in a world bombarded with video-tutorials and some of the things presented here are already popular and well-known.
> The text is not justified, something that always bothers me.
> Some of the brands that Kahn mentions might be very common in the US but not elsewhere. I would have loved having a replacement mentioned, or just a generic product mentioned.
> Thermofax machines were becoming uncommon when Kahn wrote her book and I don't think they're that common today. I have never heard for them, anyway. So, I don't think this is something that the average artist has access to.
This is a very handy book for both beginners and intermediate crafters
and mixed-media painters. It contains plenty of techniques, tips, creative
ideas and projects to try on and get inspired by.
The book is divided in three parts.
The first one contains all the techniques that the authors will use in
the following mixed-media projects but isolated and photographed step by
step with simple clear effective descriptions. The second part contains
tutorials for 12 different projects by both authors, which are photographed and described step by step in the same effective manner as before. The third part contains 10 new projects, but they aren't
photographed step-by-step, just the steps described.
THE GOODIES
> I got plenty of inspiration and some ideas despite having worked on mixed-media for a while.
> The book is unpretentious and goes to the point.
> The tutorials are photographed and short-described wonderfully, so you can follow them quickly and effectively.
> Some of the tips spread throughout the book are extremely helpful.
> I love the fact that the authors use stitching, fabrics as well as sealing wax and wax in general as the results are very tactile and visually rich.
> The variety of styles and complexity in the projects included. It goes from the very simple to the challenging. I especially loved the projects Bounty of secrets, Our House, Devotion Shrine, Sweet Heart, Birds Nest, Kindness to Ruth, Flight, and My Secret Heart Hopes.
> Good quality photographs.
> No typos in view and good edition overall.
> The book having a index of subjects at the end, something that I always love.
> A quick read, but it can be used as a reference guide, as well.
DOWNSIDES
>
The book feels a bit aged in some parts, but some of the techniques and results must have been groundbreaking when the book first came out 9 years ago
> Some of the techniques are very basic and won't be helpful to people who already work on mixed-media like me.
> I miss the second batch of projects being photographed step-by-step like the first. I don't know why they did it this way, to be honest.
> Ain't a fan of rhinestones on artwork unless they're vintage, small and delicate.
> Text isn't justified.
This is the second Kleon's book I read and the second from the trilogy directed to artists and creators. Like the first book, Steal like an Artist, it's a very enjoyable read, full of common sense and very down-to-earth advice.
Kleon departs from the premise that creative work is hard and it doesn't get easier even if you make a living out of it or are a famous artist. He debunks the stereotypical image of an artist as a chaotic
flamboyant individual who's genius is boundless and has a semi-hippy life, that is, the image in the collective imagination.
There
is more personal insights into Kleon's life in this book than in the previous one, I'd
say, and I appreciate that as I want to hear Kleon's voice, which might
be the sum of his influences, but it's still personal; after all, he's not the many people
he quotes from. I really like when Kleon gives us an insight into his own experience and life and not into someone's else.
This book is also more philosophical than the first one, and I really enjoy that.
Keep Going is written in a simple way that has no pretense or jargon and is easy to understand.
I love the illustrated vignettes and highlight
boxes summarizing points discussed, the author's personal views on things, or relevant quotes.
Regarding the digital edition, I
haven't found any typo or grammatical error. The structure, style and font use tell me
immediately that this is a Kleon's book. The book includes a short bibliography, which is great.
THE SO-SOS
This
book sins are similar to those I pinpointed in his previous book.
> The
content is still lean, and this feels, again, another diary/booklet/blog
turned into a book, what I call a blook, by adding generous margins,
large illustrations, frame boxes, humongous headings and plenty of blank
pages.
> Like the first time around, there are too many quotes for my
taste. Not that I don't like most of them,but there are too many, so
Kleon's voice is always muffled by someone's else with his own consent.
> I also think that some of the chapters could have been meshed together, like chapter 2 and part of chapter 8, and chapters 5 and part of 9, and chapter 6 and part of 9.
> Kleon says "If we do not get outside, if we do not take a walk out in the fresh air, we do not see our everyday world for what it really is, and we have no vision of our own with which to combat disinformation." (Page 129). I think this is a bit of empty talk, having a walk around the park won't battle disinformation, having a critical mind will.
> I miss the book having the quotes he includes in properly quoted, like the name of the person, occupation (painter, philosopher, writer, etc.) and the source from it comes from (like a book, or TV interview for ex.).
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THE TEN WAYS
1/ EVERYDAY IS GROUNDHOG DAY. Take a day at a time as you never arrive at destination when you're are an artist. Life is full of ebbs and flows, so setting up a daily routine forces you to do something even when you don't know what. Even if you are inspired, it will help you not to waste your time. To set up your routine pay attention to the time you're usually more creative, or the times you can spare from work or family duties. Routine gives your direction and movement. When the day is over, be kind to yourself and remember and be grateful for all the good things that happened to you during the day. Do to-do lists, they will help you on track.
2/ BUILD A BLISS STATION. Having
some disconnected time from our overly-connected overly/shared world and having some silence and solitude will favor your work
and creativity as you'll be able to connect to yourself.
> Set up your work station in the way it works for you personally, something that varies from person to person. Condo's advice is not really relevant for creative spaces.
> Don't wake up to the news or the Internet.
> Say no to social interactions that are not relevant to you and say yes to yourself instead.
3/ FORGET THE NOUN, DO THE VERB. Keep doing what you meant to be doing, writing, painting, sculpting, etc. Don't focus on the thing that you're trying to be or do, but on the work. Don't take it too seriously; work with a sense of playfulness, like children do.
4/ MAKE GIFTS. Forget the art market, put making money at the back of your mind even if this is your way of living. Do what you love for yourself or others. Gift friends and family some of your art. When we try to monetize, there is pressure, there is adaptation and sometimes we lose our North or genuine self. If you put your artwork online, ignore the metrics, the likes, dislikes, views, ratings and so on. Don't get obsessed with analytics.
5/ THE ORDINARY + EXTRA ATTENTION = THE EXTRAORDINARY. Pay extra attention to the ordinary, the every day, so you can notice what's special or extraordinary. Find magic in the mundane and translate this into art.
> Slow down, get outside and draw/sketch anything.
> Notice what you pay attention to or you usually do. If you want to change your life, change what you pay attention to.
6/ SLAY THE ART MONSTERS. We all have our our monsters and art monsters inside. If making art is ruining your life or somebody else's, it is not worth going on. The world needs more good people not more artists.
7/ YOU ARE ALLOWED TO CHANGE YOUR MIND. Changing once's mind is perfectly OK. Art thrives on uncertainty. We don't know what we'll end up with when we start each work. We don't know everything. We should be open to change.
> We need of other people to think us think so that we can think ourselves. Only in an environment that has diversity of opinions we can learn and grow.
> Like-minded people keep you just where you are. Seek people who are like-hearted, who might not agree with your opinions but do this kindly and help you get a different point of view.
> Also, revisit the past to get new ideas (as the adage goes, everything has already been said) but put your spin on them, resurrect them, reinvent them, turn them around.
8/ WHEN IN DOUBT, TIDY UP. You’re often most creative when you’re the least productive. There’s a balance in a workspace between chaos and order. Keep your tools organized and your materials messy. Tidying up a studio is a way of procrastination, of deflecting your attention from what you want to do, yet it allows you to clear your mind, or come across stuff that you didn't know you had or where it was.
> Another way of de-cluttering your mind is also having a nap.
> Tide-up your external world. Go an collect rubbish from your local beach for example,
9/ DEMONS HATE FRESH AIR. Exercising is one of the best tools to fight your demons. Walking is good for your physical, mental and spiritual health, great for problem solving and to help you with your artistic endeavors. Art requires awakening your senses and walking/exercising is a perfect way to do that.
10/ PLANT YOUR GARDEN. Creativity, like the weather, has its seasons and we need to know which one we're in and be patient in the off-seasons. Our lives have seasons but some people blossom at a young age and others at an old age. Every day is a potential seed that we can grow into something beautiful.
PEARLS OF WISDOM
> Nothing makes play more fun than some new toys. Seek out unfamiliar tools and materials. Find something new to fiddle with. Another trick: When nothing’s fun anymore, try to make the worst thing you can. The ugliest drawing. The crummiest poem. The most obnoxious song. Making intentionally bad art is a ton of fun. Finally, try hanging out with young kids. (Page 56-57).
> "When
you start making a living from your work, resist the urge to monetize
every single bit of your creative practice. Be sure there’s at least a
tiny part of you that’s off-limits to the marketplace. (...) draw the line between what you will and won’t do for money." (Page 64).
>"When
you ignore quantitative measurements for a bit, you can get back to
qualitative measurements. Is it good? Really good? Do you like it? You
can also focus more on what the work does that can’t be measured. What
it does to your soul" (Page 68).
> "When
you have a system for going back through your work, you can better see
the bigger picture of what you’ve been up to, and what you should do
next." (Page 86).
> "Thinking requires an environment in which you can try out all sorts of ideas and not be judged for them. To change your mind, you need a good place to have some bad ideas." (Page 102).
> "When you’re only interacting with like-minded people all the time, there’s less and less opportunity to be changed. Everybody knows that feeling you get when you’re hanging out with people who love the same art, listen to the same music, and watch the same movies: It’s comforting at first, but it can also become incredibly boring and ultimately stifling." (Page 105).
> "Art is not only made from things that “spark joy.” Art is also made out of what is ugly or repulsive to us. Part of the artist’s job is to help tidy up the place, to make order out of chaos, to turn trash into treasure, to show us beauty where we can’t see it." (Page 125).
> "I don’t want to know how a thirty-year-old became rich and famous; I want to hear how an eighty-year-old spent her life in obscurity, kept making art, and lived a happy life." (Page 139).
A very enjoyable reading, full of wisdom, sound advice and food for thought. But it reads more like a blog than anything else, it has too many quotes, and everything he says it has already been said.
I have very mixed feelings about this book.
I LOVED
> The author's colloquial language and lack of pretense.
> Good edition without typos or language oddities in view. The digital edition is acceptable and can be bookmarked. > The illustrations and note-cards spread throughout the book. The illustrations and note-cards spread throughout the book. I thought that some of the discarded task cards were excellent!.
> The very down-to-earth approach to art and artistic creation.
> A few good ideas. My favs are:
--- Find your own creative/artistic genealogical tree and position yourself in one of the branches where you stand alone as a result of what has influenced you. The way this is explained is really simple, effective and inspiring.
--- "The reason to copy your heroes and their style is so that you might somehow get a glimpse into their minds." (Page 38).
--- He puts the idea of the rebel artist in the bin. "I’m a boring guy with a nine-to-five job who lives in a quiet neighborhood with his wife and his dog. That whole romantic image of the creative genius doing drugs and running around and sleeping with everyone is played out. It’s for the superhuman and the people who want to die young. The thing is: It takes a lot of energy to be creative. You don’t have that energy if you waste it on other stuff." (Page 98).
--- "The art of holding on to money is all about saying no to consumer culture. Saying no to takeout, $4 lattes, and that shiny new computer when the old one still works fine." (Page 99).
--- The Logbook idea and focusing just on the good things that happened, which are often overlooked due to something negative taking all of our energy and thoughts.
NOT SURE
> > Kleon sometimes struggles making clear that you have to stay home and work, but at the same time go out and do nothing, procrastinate to allow the creative spark to spark. Like I get that there is a balance, you cannot be consumed by your art because it will consume you and you'll get an artistic block, that ideas and inspiration sometimes come from your siesta, your walk or your music/movie streaming. Yet, the way it 's put in the book feels like he's saying something and then the contrary..
> "Draw the art you want to see, start the business you want to run, play the music you want to hear, write the books you want to" (Page 46). I agree and disagree with this. My fav art is abstract and surrealism, but what I hand paint is mostly abstracts. I sometimes paint surreal-hinted imagery and I do mostly surreal when playing digitally. So, in short I don't always want to do the art I love the most. Also, the fact that I love surreal paintings (not only digital collage) doesn't mean that I can draw well and realistically. You know what I'm saying'?
> "Don’t worry about unity—what unifies your work is the fact that you made it. One day, you’ll look back and it will all make sense." (Page 63). I also agree and disagree. The cohesiveness of your artwork will come from things that give them unity, like your colour palette, mark making, textures, composition and energy. Yet, if there is not cohesiveness, there is no unity and it's not crystal clear that paint 1 and paint 2 belong to me. So, I worry about unity and cohesiveness.
> "So get comfortable with being misunderstood, disparaged, or ignored—the trick is to be too busy doing your work to care." (Page 93). Sometimes we don't understand some art and consider it 'bad'. I have heard tons of people saying this of Picasso's works because they don't get it neither viscerally or intellectually. But, it's also true that sometimes we dislike something because it's bad art, mediocre writing or not good enough. I can see my own flaws and struggles when I look at my artwork, and in all honesty I can tell when it is good or bad, even if somebody tells me, oh it's really nice.
> "The trick is to find a day job that pays decently, doesn’t make you want to vomit, and leaves you with enough energy to make things in your spare time." (Page 102). That's the ideal, I agree wit this. However, employability decreases with age and area where you live, and whether the job that feeds you actually gives you enough money to survive.
I DIDN'T LIKE
> The very lean content. More a booklet than a book due to the small number of pages and the fact that these have wide margins, some of them have just the section or the chapter title, and the font is on the large size overall plus the illustrations.
> The overwhelming presence of somebody's else quotes. I love quotes, mind you. The ones Kleon provides are of my liking. However, I consider constant quoting unnecessary because I guess the author has his own voice and can speak from there. Like, when there are so many quotes, I wonder why the author didn't gather all together and put them cozily packed under the heading, as this would have sufficed to give sound advice. Yet, I think that Kleon has plenty of stuff to say, it's just that he doesn't take the plunge. The quotes are like crutches he leans on when, in fact, he can walk on his two legs perfectly.
> Some lack of cohesion throughout the book.
> It feels like a published blog. If this was a blog, I'd like it. As a book, I think it lacks depth and tools to really inspire or support emerging artists and writers. Many of the ideas and sentences I liked could be put in a single blog entry.
> The book is full of platitudes, especially evident those about the Internet and traveling the world.
> Lack of conclusions or summing up of the main points in the book.
IN SHORT
An enjoyable light reading with some good ideas for emerging artists and creative people. Bloggish and lacking depth, full of platitudes. Nice illustrations.
This book grew on me from the first pages, when I quite disliked it, to when I finished, which I really liked it. This isn't a tutorial kinda book, it's a book to harness your intuition for artistic purposes and give you tips, prompts and techniques that will translate that into your paintings.
I DID LIKE
>>
The lovely design and style of the book, from the lettering to the
doodles incorporated into the pages to the gradient boxes with the
exercises. The book has high quality full-color reproductions, too.
>> Some of Bowley's artwork displayed on the book.>.
The technique prompts in the first chapters of the book are excellent,
especially for beginners and something that I haven't seen in other
teaching Art books. Prompts cover the use of water spray bottles,
fingers, rags, etching, stamping, and small brushes and foam brushes. I also loved the tip on how to create a glass palette
>> Bowley provides us with a great selection of exercises to harness our intuition for artistic purposes. This is actually the best part of the book and something I haven't found in other Art books out there. We're given tools on how to approach a painting, how to go through the hurdles when we get stuck, how to finish a painting, when should we finish it, and how to create from our inner voice.
>> The fact that Bowley advises us to ask ourselves 'what's working' (instead of what's not working) when we're stuck or when a painting isn't working.
>>
How simply but effectively color theory is explained in p. 59 and the
examples of which color combinations create/don't create mud in p. 69.
>> The Taking
Stock section on page 120 contains 13 questions for us to ask ourselves before deciding whether a painting is finished or not.
SO-SO
>> " Remember, only you can paint like you". (Page 112).
-- This isn't totally true. There are people painting The Monalisa like Da Vinci at the dozen in China and they're really great. Also, remember the forfeiting paint industry, which needs of super-qualified experts to distinguish the original from the copy.
>> The Blindfolded finger painting exercise is fab, but what about if we don't paint on canvas and use A4 or A3 watercolor paper instead?
>> "Make sure you always have at least two canvases in progress at all times (...) as it allows one canvas to dry as you work on the other." (Page 66).
-- Not sure if this is valid for paper either.
>> "It’s tempting, and very natural, to want to know what your paintings are going to look like before they are finished, but the truth is you never really know what the future holds. Incredible amounts of energy are wasted by chasing what you cannot catch." (Page 28).
-- I see this sort of statement repeated everywhere these days but it doesn't ring 100% true to me. Many artists and art masters in the past have painted and paint on commission and within strict guidelines, or like to produce whatever final product, like a realistic portrait of the Queen, just to mention something. I don't think that all artists let their creativity go wild.
>> Bowley's paintings in the book aren't named or dated.
I DIDN'T LIKE
>> The book has 129 pages, but the written part of it covers half of the book. Many pages contain full-page photos, most of the others have half-page photos and 1-2 columns of text or 1 exercise boxes.
>> Too many quotes, covering half page. I like them, but, are they necessary? No!
> The positive-thinking New-Age Law of Attraction spiritual philosophy that pervades the book. It's like something I've read gazillion times in other places for other purposes. Ready-made sentences that mean little to me. Not every painter is spiritual. Not every painter who's spiritual is into New Age or yoga or whatever. You can be a good teacher and be agnostic and in a wheel-chair. You know what I'm a saying?
> Relax by taking a bath... I haven't seen a bath in urban rentals in the huge city I live in for decades. Not even in many of the newly-built small houses.Having a bath is like a fantasy these days, like a luxury, but the sentence comes up so often together with relax that's annoying.
>> "Human aliveness is inseparable from creativity. We are all artists already… each and every one of us." (Page 13).
-- I don't agree with this. We are all creative and creators for sure, not all of us are artists. Not every painter who lives out of their sales is an artist either. I think there are not many true artists around these days.
>> The About
the Author section at the end of the book is vague/generic, and says that Bowley has works published in books, albums and in paintings in galleries.
So, which galleries, which albums and which books? It reads more
like a FB, Amazon or Fivver profile trying to impress customers than something fit for a book bio. In fact,
Bowley's profile elsewhere is more specific and mentions just books not galleries or albums. Vague biographies rest credibility
to any author. Also, I would have loved knowing whether Bowley studied
Art in Art School or a self-taught painter.
TYPOS
Overall the book is well edited, but I noticed, on page 117,the following:
"If you premeditate on using a word before you’ve started your painting, you run the risk of your words seeming contrived. ask yourself whether your words feel forced, or whether they are a natural extension of your process?
Notice that ask should be in capital and that the interrogation mark is unnecessary in this sentence as it's phrased.
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