brass tacks

watercolor, oil pastel, charcoal, and colored pencil on gessoed moleskine sketchbook page

here are the links... inspiration first, then books...

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tilleke schwarz

bobbi studstill's tumblr is positively loaded with inspiration. that's where i found out about tilleke schwarz (above). page after page of art and artists, most of whom i've never heard of before. thanks, bobbi, for permission to link to your tumblr and for the inspiration from your blog!

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many of these books I found out about through 'book forum', which comes free when you subscribe to 'art forum'. lol, so far i like 'book forum' more than 'art forum'. the best thing about the publisher's ads in 'book forum' is that they tell you how many color and b&w plates are in the books. yes!!


Everyday is a Good Day: The Visual Art of John Cage - the publisher's write-up says: "this essential first broad assessment of cage's art includes new interviews and extracts from a 1966 exchange with irving sandler. at its heart is a selection of quotes by cage with notes on key themes and influences'. 80 color and 20 b&w plates. at the top of my wish list...


i recently heard great things about Life, Paint and Passion, by michell cassou and stewart cubley, and have since ordered it.


Bea told me about the next two books... Drawn to Stitch, by gwen hedley,


and Creative Illustration Workshop by Katherine Dunn. i ordered Katherine's book within minutes of finding out about it because it's exactly what i'm interested in. plus, i've loved her work for a long time.


Maira Kalman's new book, The Pursuit of Happiness is also on my wish list, as are the next three books that I found out about in 'book forum'.


Picasso in the Metropolitan Museum of Art - a comprehensive catalogue of the works by picasso at the metropolitan museum - 323 b&w plates and 340 color plates!!!


Matisse Radical Invention, 1913 - 1917. 138 b&w plates and 515 color(!).


Antonio Lopez Garcia: Drawings - i seem to have ripped out the ad for this and can't find it now, so i don't know how many images there are in the book, but the write-up on amazon mentions 200 color plates.

that's it! if you have feedback on any of these books, i'd love to hear it!

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"What I'm proposing, to myself and to other people, is what I often call the tourist attitude -- that you act as though you've never been there before. So that you're not supposed to know anything about it. If you really get down to brass tacks, we have never been anywhere before."

~ John Cage

XO