Folk Art Motifs

A few weeks ago, I posted about a book sale  sponsored by our local friends of the library.  At that sale, for fifty cents, I purchased a book  in the art section entitled: Folk Art Motifs of Pennsylvania by Frances Lichten. It is a Dover book.  It is under copyright by the estate of Frances Lichten. The first copyright was in 1954.   

I picked the book up last week and looked it closely and I was amazed by the sketches and color pages.  The author redrew motifs from quilts, ceramics, painted furniture, tinware, and other items.  This portrays a look at traditional Pennsylvania Dutch motifs.  My favorite ones in the book are tulips, birds, parrots, and mermaids.  I was surprised by this book and the variety of motifs.  I haven’t checked Amazon to see if it is available there.  I know I’m going to be able to incorporate some of the vines and leaves in some of my own doodles.  I have another spread finished in my journal but I will have to share that another day. 

New Art Book

I was looking on Amazon this morning and found a new book that is just out.  It looked so interesting that I found a link at Amazon over to Diana Trout’s (the author) website.  It’s called Hub Bub  …..here’s the website adress:  http://dianatrout.blogspot.com/  The website has a great video of Diana doing a mixed media self portrait.  It also has another showing how to make a yo-yo bracelet. I do not recall ever seeing anything about Diana before, so, it was a wonderful find.

After checking out her website, I had to go back to Amazon and order the book.  I also found some great videos by Diana on You Tube.  Here’s what the new book looks like:

New Book – Creative Paint Workshop for Mixed Media Artists

This is my latest art book purchase from Amazon.  I skimmed it really fast and now I’m going back and reading it and enjoying all of the art work in it.  Ann Baldwin is the artist.  She started out primarily as a watercolorist.  In the introduction to this book, she explains how she gradually changed to doing mostly mixed media.  The book is beautiful as well as informative.  Some of the chapters are about “experiments in texture, layering paint and found images, and combining words and paints.”  If you are looking for a book that gives step by step how-to,  do not buy this book.  However, you do get many tips and techniques.   Most of the artwork in the book is by the author. The last chapter in the book has art by contributing artists.   The book is spiral bound and will lay flat.  It is published by Quarry Books.  I don’t think you will be disappointed if  you decide to purchase this book too. 

Drawing Faces

I found this book on Amazon.  It’s packed with ideas for drawing faces…instructions for creating portraits, caricatures and cartoons.  There are many different techniques to try, from drawing faces on a computer to paper collage and printing.   Here’s front cover of the book:

Here is page 33 in the book:

Collage Journeys

I thought I would blog about some of my favorite art books.   Today’s book is one of the best I have found on the subject of collage.  It is called Collage Journeys  with a subtitle  “A Practical Guide to Creating Personal Artwork.”  The author is Jane Davies.   I found it on  Amazon…published by Watson-Gutptill…it came out in November 2008.  Here are some of the topics she discusses in the book:  gathering materials, painting with paper, working in layers, personal expression, and making a journal for collage.  Jane Davies, the author, has a website and I have it listed on the sidebar under creative places to visit. 

The last chapter of the book  “Journals and Journeys” covers these areas:  The Collage Sketch  Journal,  Journaling Projects,  Topic-Specific Collage Journal, and Making a Book from Unbound Collaged Folios.  In my opinion, this book is worth checking out if you are into collage and/or journaling.  Anyone else read this book and what do you think about it?