Friday, January 16, 2015

Steal Like an Artist - Off the Wall Friday

So I finally did it.  I finally read the book Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon.   My sister gave me the nudge by giving me a copy for Christmas.  If I had known it would only take me a couple of hours to read it, I would have done it sooner.  Oh - My - Gosh!  What a practical, pithy read it is.  Love it!!  If you've been reading my blog - you know I like pithy reads!  I figure if it takes people more than 5 minutes or so to get through one of my posts than obviously, I'm being too long winded.

Anyways, if you haven't read the book and have a creative spirit, I highly recommend it.    Kleon gives 10 pieces of advice on how to stay creative in our black and white world.  The advice is practical - easy to understand and in my opinion, dead on.  Most I know - Most I follow - Most I need to be reminded of.  What beginner artist doesn't??

Last year, it seemed I based my blog posts mostly on my journey on my masterclass.  This year, I thought I would use Kleon's book as a framework to hold the year together.  It will be fun to see how I can put his advice to use!!

So if you have 10 bucks and 2 hours go buy the book.  If you don't have 10 bucks, get it out of the local library.  And if you don't have 2 hours, you really do need to start making 2 hours to read every now and again.

Ohhhhhh, and yes, I did start on  my latest piece.  But I'm not sure I want to spill the beans quite yet.  I did want to share the nine contenders (there were a lot of dogs that I didn't bother to save ) though.  Once I saw them all together, I thought - wow - you could do it that way too LOL!! I will definitely be using photoshop to do value and color studies again!

So What have  you been up to creatively?

11 comments:

Jenny K. Lyon said...

They are kinda cool altogether! I've heard about this book maybe 5 times so I guess I need to go get it and read it!

Nina Marie said...

I know right? Jenny - I was putting together the blog post and thought - gee that would make a really nice hand applique quilt - LOL!! But since I'm trying to get up my step count instead of sitting and appliqueing I'll have to put it on the back burner for a while!

And yeah - the book was recommended over and over to me - but I never took the time to read it! I've said a lot of the things in it on the blog myself, practice a lot of them - but its nice to have it all in one cute book!

Kaja said...

I saw the picture before I read your text and I thought that was the quilt - it would be great, but I know whatever you're going with will be good too, so can't wait to see. I've never heard of the book, but will have a look for it now.

quiltedfabricart said...

Great quote! I hope you continue with quotes from the book - I love them. Thank you telling us about the book.

carla said...

Hi!!!! I do like all of them together too!!!! Very uplifting and inspiring!!!! Thank You

Gwyned Trefethen said...

Always looking for good reads. Thanks for the suggestion, Nina. Just put a hold on it a my library.

Norma Schlager said...

I agree it was a great little book with lots of food for thought. I also like all the blocks together.

Maggi said...

Thanks for the recommendation.

LA Paylor said...

N-M
I put this book on hold at the library because of your rave! Thanks girl
LeeAnna

Regina B Dunn said...

Sounds like an interesting book. Photoshop is so very helpful with color and value studies. I agree.

Turtlemoonimpressions said...

It's a great book! You won't forget it once you've read it!