Reading, Writing & Pondering

  Do you want to get out of your head and create more? Don't Call it Art by Austin Kleon will inspire you to "create like a kid again."  Don't Call it Art is full of inspiration to be creative in your own way--and to get out of your own way in the process. I enjoyed this book in reading the author's encouraging words to be more creative. I also liked his fun illustrations--and his fun stories he shared in the book. I flew through this book in a day because I just enjoyed his writing. It was just the inspiration I needed as I move forward into creating an art space in my office and to just plain have fun creating no matter where I am or what sort of art I am doing.  Austin Kleon is a new author for me. I was excited to learn that he has several books out so I have a whole list of backlist books that I can now read since I enjoyed this one so much! I highly recommend Don't Call it Art to any other creatives out there who need a boost of encouragement to just...

  When I was young, I used to help my Grandma gather eggs on the farm where they lived. Grandma's egg money used to help her buy things she wanted and needed too. While I have never had chickens of my own, those fond memories led me to read Therapy Chickens by Tedra Hamel Therapy Chickens: Let the Wisdom of the Flock Bring you Joy is a beautifully colorful and interesting six-inch square book. I love the beautiful chicken art pictures throughout the book that the author made. I love the gorgeous cover that is colorful and has texture. I also enjoyed reading about the author's flock of chickens. In Therapy Chickens, the book is divided into seasons, followed by a biography of each chicken in the author's flock. Hamel Shares a lot of interesting information about living with chickens--and their eggs. She also shares how the chickens change throughout the year with the seasons. At the same time, she relates the chickens to how people could better live their lives too. It is ju...

Creative Journaling is one of my favorite things to do to relax. 30 Days to Joy is a 30 day creative journal designed for people who like to write, draw, photograph, or collage. You can personalize the journal however you would like. 3 0 Days to Joy starts out with a short introduction explaining the difference between joy and happiness.The journal then has Scripture verses and quotes about joy interspersed throughout the book. In-between are pages with prompts to make your own creative work. There are also pages in the back to list the songs that bring you joy to make your own playlist on Spotify. The concluding pages of the journal invite you to write about what you have learned about yourself and where do you want to go from here. You can end the journal with a short page about you and all of the people you want to thank in your life as the author of your own book. I know I will use and enjoy this 30 Days to Joy journal. I have read through all of the prompts and the quote...

 I am a huge fan of publication design both for books and magazines. My journalism degree included an emphasis in magazine design. Along with a love of publication art, I also relish good cookbooks. I have a fairly extensive collection that I read just like novels. With my interests, I found great pleasure in Leave Me Alone With the Recipes . Cipe (Pronounced C. P.)  Pineles was one of the most influential graphic designers of the 20th century. This  spent many years working for Conde Nast publications as their first female art director and even taught design classes, as well as other notable work. I found her story to be fascinating. The first part of the book tells her complete story, as much as the authors have known. The four women who collaborated on this project all have an interesting connection to Pineles and publishing themselves. The main part of Leave Me Alone with the Recipes features Cipe Pineles beautifully painted food pictures and hand-written fa...

Here's Some Happy: A Coloring Journal to Lift the Soul by Gina Graham is a large formatted beautiful coloring journal. Gina Graham has designed beautiful and whimsical pictures, some with Scripture verses and some without, in this journal that measure 10.1 inches square. There are plenty of lines amidst the pictures of birds, animals, flowers, adorable people, and other whimsical designs. They are indeed happy pictures to color and they are all on thick paper to minimize bleed-through. I have read that coloring reduces stress and these designs feel especially stress-reducing to me. Journaling also is said to reduce stress. Putting the two together in this gorgeous book should make for some "happy" to think about. People of all ages could enjoy this book too. The designs aren't too tiny for those of us who like larger designs like I do. This is a real feel-good coloring journal that would be fun for anyone who enjoys both coloring and journaling. I highly...

I have been using colored pencils more in my art journaling and wanted to learn more about blending and shading so thought I would try this book. Colored Pencil Painting Portraits is a truly gorgeous book. The author's portraits look like photographs, they are so amazingly well done. Colored Pencil Painting Portraits has 7 chapters. In Chapter 1, Nickelsen talks about what tools to get, work surfaces and materials to make your portraits the best. In Chapter 2, she takes the rules of successful oil painting and applies them to the colored pencil medium. In Chapter 3, she shares the techniques and methods for painting with pencils. In Chapter 4, she talks about understanding color and the properties of pigments. In Chapter 5, Nickelsen discusses composing a portrait from start to finish. In Chapter 6, she offers advice on practicing the key components of good portraits such as skin tone and facial features. In Chapter 7, Nickelsen talks about painting the portrait from start to ...

The Parables of Jesus coloring book devotional is unlike any other Christian coloring book that I have seen. Besides containing a devotional, this book also contains pictures that are a modern artist's rendition of Bible stories. They remind me of some of the beautiful stained glass windows that I have seen at some old churches with their bold lines and beg to be filled with bright colors. The devotionals in this coloring book all contain a Bible verse(s)followed by reflections on the verses for each devotional and concluding with a prayer or a closing thought/activity/question related to the verse. Because this book contains parables from Jesus, as one would expect, the readings are all from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. This large, beautiful book roughly measures 10 inches square and contains 46 illustrations that correspond with each devotional. For coloring purposes, each picture is done on heavy paper with a blank back side making it nice to use for ...

A Giving Heart by Stephanie Corfee is a coloring book created with mothers in mind through and through. This book would be great for any mom who likes to color. Mom can grab a cup of their favorite hot beverage, put on some relaxing music and grab their favorite coloring tools for a little "Me" time. A Giving Heart has 46 coloring pages featuring beautiful pictures of quotes, Bible verses, flowers, and many more things that Moms enjoy. There is a large variety of pictures in this collection. The pictures are on one side with the backsides either blank or with a single printed verse and accompanying tiny design. This is a good book for those who like to color with a heavier hand or to use markers without worrying about page bleed through. Putting an extra piece of paper or cardboard behind the piece you are coloring is also helpful, although these pages are made of a nice heavy stock. This collection of designs in A Giving Heart is made up of drawings with smaller, finer...

The Joyful Inspirations Coloring Book by Robin Mead is a beautifully illustrated coloring book brimming with cheerful, whimsical designs. The Joyful Inspirations Coloring Book has 96 pages of well drawn illustrations to color. I like Mead's renditions of people and animals with cheerful faces and large, bright eyes. I also like her illustrations of  summer beach scenes, churches, flowers, butterflies, birds, sunrises/sunsets, and so much more--many of which have Scripture verses that accompany them. This is just a wonderful coloring book to turn on your favorite playlist and relax with. I also especially like that Mead includes a page at the back of this book that list her favorite coloring products along with tips for using those products to create your best work. She also has a page with ten coloring tips that I found helpful. I tried blending some oranges and yellows to create the ball part of my sun in this picture. I hadn't done that previously. I plan to try that ...

This week, Tyndale released a line of colorable stickers to use for journaling, scrapbooking or any other craft where you might see a use for these. I like the idea of colorable stickers. These designs are quite nice, as are the words on the stickers. I will use them in my journaling Bible or my journal. My only complaint is that I wish the designs were larger to color. At the least, I wish a few of the designs had larger areas to color. I needed to use my fineliner markers or especially sharp colored pencils to color the designs. Someone with especially good eye sight and better skills than I have may have no problems. I understand they are stickers so need to be smaller than a coloring book page but I think the lettering could have been a little larger for me. Still, I love the designs and the words so I would recommend them but  you do need to keep in mind the designs are quite small. I see the stickers are available at most places that carry Tyndale products: Amazon, C...

The Wonders of Creation coloring book is a beautiful 96 page coloring book for adults. I have a few of the new coloring books and I have to say this one is especially nice. There are no words or verses in this book but instead the book is full of a variety of the animals God created. A few of the animal pictures included are a platypus, lion, rhinoceros, flamingos, monkey, penguin, sea horses in the ocean, and wild horse in the desert. Some of the pictures look true to life and some of them just look fanciful. Some are in fine detail and others aren't quite as intricate. I like that this book has variety all the way around. I colored one 2-page spread with colored pencils: The picture on the backside, I used both markers and colored pencils: I do think you need sharp colored pencils to do the intricate lines. Also, I had a little trouble with the markers smearing the black lines on the rooster page. I think you especially can see it in his feet. For that reason, I w...

When I was in high school, I did several collages in art class. I enjoyed making them so much. I also seemed to have an eye for putting them together, as my teacher entered one of my collages in an art contest. I won a Gold Key award for that collage and it hung on display in New York City for awhile. I was pretty excited about that. . .But since high school, I haven't done much with collage. Then I found the Collage This Journal book. I perused every page Collage This Journal and found myself to be excited to be creating my own collages once again.The front of the book offers a few basic principles of collage to get you started. Even though I had once made collages in art, I hadn't done so for several years. Maybe you have never made a collage. It doesn't matter with this book. The author suggest you use the book however it works best for you. . .work on one at a time or work on several at once. She also suggests ways to make them the best with the tools you have suc...

Whatever is Lovely is a beautiful new adult coloring book  that mixes art time with your Quiet Time with God. This color book is geared towards peace and worship time with God. There are 46 coloring pages that all include a contemplative quote from an inspirational writer, beloved hymn, or Scripture, along with decoration  to color with the words. The pictures are all on the front of the page, which I think is different from other color books I have seen, and I like this format. The paper is thick and heavy. I used both colored pencils and markers for the two sample pages that I did and I had no problems with either one bleeding through the pages. With the blank backer pages, I also didn't have to worry about color accidentally transferring onto another picture if it wasn't quite dry.. To help set the mood for worship with creative coloring expression, Waterbrook has included a link to the Whatever Is Lovely playlist on Spotify. I did not have the Spotify app on my Ipad...

  My 14 year old son loves to read cartoons and he likes to doodle. This book sounded like an irresistible combination for him. It is great for helping someone learn to draw and design cartoons. From our perspective, this book didn't look as intimidating as some of the more formal drawing books and it looked fun to use. Christopher Hart's book on drawing cartoons is a fun book to help you get more creative in making cartoons. This book goes through several stages to help the aspiring cartoonist create funny pictures beginning with a silhouette of the character, then drawing expressions, drawing animals, drawing the clothes on your characters, and different ways to share the dialogue or caption for your cartoons. The last chapter has ideas for making funny inventions. Each page offers detailed instructions that are easy to follow. . .and each page shares a bit of the author's humor, getting you into a humorous cartoon frame of mind. Hart says in the introduction that he...

Growing up, coloring was one of my favorite pastimes. It was also a favorite pastime with my son when he was younger. Somehow, it always seemed to be a child's activity in my mind so I put the colors away. With The Time Garden from Korean artist Daria Song, I found I could bring out my colors and enjoying coloring on my own level again. The Time Garden is a beautiful imaginative retreat in an adult coloring book. I especially like that this book is based on a child using her imagination to travel through the doors of a cuckoo clock. The pictures take you away and tell the story at the same time. What a beautiful reminder that we all have an imagination and can enjoy using it.Unlike most children's coloring books I have used, this book is done on heavier paper, has a dust jacket and will showcase your artistic coloring when completed. I would recommend this beautiful coloring book for any adult wanting to set aside the cares of the day and relax without a care, like when...