Saturday, October 22, 2011

idea book and Gloria Gaddis

Into my 17 x 14 Aquabee sketchbook, I tape photos of paintings from the HUGE (but shrinking) collection of art magazines I have in my studio. When I'm not feeling very creative, I go into the studio and pull out a few old art magazines. As I flip through the pages, I tear out all of the photos that appeal to me. Whether it's color, composition, treatment of the subject ... no matter what it is that interests me, I tear it out. When I have a nice pile, I trim them down and tape them into my "Idea Book." I make comments here and there. 

Now, when I am not feeling very creative, I can flip through my idea book. Just this last week I flipped to this page and then followed up by checking out the artist Gloria Gaddis. Check out her stuff here!

Oh, and stop throwing away your old art magazines! It's time to use them selfishly for you own idea book. You never know what might happen because of it!

8 comments:

Celeste Bergin said...

Great idea to have a scrap file...and I bet getting rid of the "rest" of the magazine frees up a lot of room!

Sonya Johnson said...

This is a really good idea - pasting images in a journal for quick inspiration. I have a huge stack of Southwest Art magazines I keep for inspiration, and that would be a good place to start.

I think I see a couple of Wolf Kahns in there :).

Pam Holnback said...

I have piles of old magazines! I need to get sorting!

Anonymous said...

I like this idea! I use to do this as a kid with home decor and design ideas. I do love art magazines and this is a great way to save the images you like.

Sarah Bachhuber Peroutka said...

I haven't checked in on you for a while! LOVE your new look on your blog! Cheers!

Katherine van Schoonhoven said...

Celeste, Sonya, Pam, Joni, and Sarah. Thanks so much for the comments! I hope you'll create your own idea books if it seems like the right thing for you.

Celeste: so far I've freed up about 4" of shelf space in the studio!

Sonya: good eye to spot the WKs!

Pam: you'll fill more than one book with a big collection like that!

Joni: I've seen your decorating idea books on your blog. Just another step to do it for your artwork. Who knows, you just might see something that calls for a new calligram!

Sarah: thanks for coming by and thanks about the blog!

Carolyn Rondthaler said...

I used to do that, but haven't paid much attention lately. Loved the link to Gloria Gaddis. WOW!

Ellemieke said...

What a great idea! I will do it too, for the inspiration to create my own style of cake decorating....
Thanks for sharing it, Katherine!