Steal Like An Artist

I have been the lucky recipient of a marvellous little book entitled 'Steal Like an Artist' by Austin Kleon, a gift from my good friend and erstwhile fellow musician/artist/blogger Peter and have been itching to share some of the brilliant ideas and advice contained within. If you're a creative type (and maybe if even not ) I think you will do well to get hold of a copy, as this is the type of 'dip in and out' reference book that could become a very firm friend. Why? Well here are the ten titles of each chapter...
1) Steal like an artist. 2) Don't wait until you know who you are to get started. 3) Write the book you want to read. 4) Use your hands. 5) Side projects and hobbies are important 6) The secret: do good work and share it with people. 7) Geography is no longer our master. 8) Be nice. (the world is a small town.) 9) Be boring. (it's the only way to get work done.) 10) Creativity is subtraction.
That surely must have your appetite whetted. This little book is full of wisdom gathered from creative people from all walks of life ie:- "Be regularand orderly in your life so that you can be violent and original in your work" - Gustave Flaubert "We don't know where we get our ideas from. What we do know is that we do not get them from our laptops." - John Cleese and this one I love; "In the digital age, don't forget to use your digits!" - Lynda Barry. You get the flavour, I'm finding it very inspiring already and I strongly recommend it to you if like me you often find yourself in a creative cul-de-sac, or worse still up a certain creek... it may just unlock your creativity. Thanks again banksyboy for introducing me to this little gem.

Daily Sketch 06/01/2013 - Bathroom Tap

Daily Sketch 05/01/2013 - Cupcake

This is in fact a porcelain cupcake salt shaker from a novelty salt and pepper set we've had a couple of years. Purely on impulse I bought myself a little rubber stamp set a while back and wondered when I would get to use them.

Daily Sketch 04/01/2013 - Yo~Yo Box

Daily Sketch 03/01/2013 - Gigas Oyster

Daily Sketch 02/01/2013 - G and T?

A Daily Sketch for 2013

To kick things off in 2013 I've decided to proceed with the idea muted in my last post about making a sketch a day for a year. You can call it a new year's resolution if you wish, I'm calling it 'a daily sketch', for two reasons really, 1) because that is what it is, and 2) most new year's resolutions are hastily made in a boozy haze on new year's eve and often falter fairly soon afterwards. I've been pondering this a while and from what I can see from other people's daily painting and drawing projects it can be a really helpful and interesting exercise. We'll see.
From my own point of view, with limited studio time at the moment because of my commitment to our business I'm hoping that the somewhat monastic, regular 'drip, drip' of sketches will at least keep my eye in and at best open up some new ideas for larger works when the time will allow, so, happy new year friends, and here goes...