Don't you love getting a gift certificate? I do, especially a gift certificate for books or art supplies.
Recently I was given a Barnes & Noble gift certificate. After savoring the thought of it for a few weeks the day finally came when I had time to browse and consider my selections. These books can't be chosen in haste after all, they are gift books, they must be chosen carefully!
From the front door I spied a huge book on the history of the circus.....in the sale section!! I love old circus pictures. Several oddities have been inspired by the vintage circus look; in fact there is a circus piece in the studio right now that could use some inspiration.
After looking through the circus book - yes it did look promising, but a decision can't be made that quickly - I headed back to the arts & crafts section. In addition to checking out the books in general, there were a few I wanted to look at in particular: Rice Freeman-Zackery's "Creative Time and Space: Making Room for Making Art". I also wanted to see "Who's Your Dada" by Linda and Opie Obrien and "Image Transfer Workshop" by Darlene Olivia McElroy and Sandra Duran. I was especially interested in Rice Freeman-Zackery's book. I have her "Living the Creative Live: Ideas and Inspiration from Working Artists" and I follow her blog and listen to her podcast, and I enjoy all of it, BUT, her book wasn't in stock. The other two books were available for my perusing pleasure; both looked good, especially "Who's Your Dada?". But, way up on a high shelf I spied "Art Making and Studio Spaces" by Lynne Perrella. Now, when it comes to other artist's working spaces I have to admit, I'm a bit of a voyeur. I must not be alone given the number of magazines on the subject that have cropped up in the last year or two. I generally find the magazines unsatisfying though; the spaces often look too decorated, too pretty for real work.
After finding a ladder I got the book down and thumbed through it and saw true work spaces.....enough to satisfy my voyeuristic tendencies! A book chosen!!
Back to the sale section to look at the Circus book again. It had some great pictures and illustrations - lots of inspiration there - so it had to come with me too.
A quick pass through the magazines; too many possibilities to list, but only one came home with me: "American Style". The article about collectors Jerry Slipman & Chet Robachinski caught my eye. Whenever I'm asked to speculate about what I'd do if I won $100 million in the lottery I say I'd become a collector of art and fine craft. "American Style" showcases collectors whose homes and collections I'm usually thinking of when I say that, like Slipman and Robanchinski's.
My gift certificate was well spent I think, don't you agree?
