Blog 2

Step Away From the Screen, (pages 53–61)

PART 1 Use Your Body

I absolutely loved this section of the book! I was hooked right away when the author mentioned Stanley Donwood (the artist who designs the album artwork for Radiohead). I find his work eerily fascinating – love, love, love King of Limbs and In Rainbows. Donwood's contrasting images of watching someone working at a computer screen versus a musician performing in a concert or a great orator giving a speech are quite striking. I totally agree that when I use my body, even just walking the dogs, I feel renewed. There is a mind-body connection that is lost when I sit at a screen all day. So, part 1, how can I reconnect my mind and my body this week?

The other message that I took from this section is to create using my hands. Maybe because I've never taken an art class and have never “had the time” in my past professions to play with different types of artistic media, I am thrilled to use my hands to create, draw, write, think. Okay, part 2, how can I create using my hands?

On to part 1... I love to cook but I really tend to rely on modern conveniences like my food processor and bread machine.Twenty-five years ago before I had a bread machine, I made bread by-hand all of the time. So, I decided to make bread the old-fashioned way.The process was fun – kneading the dough, feeling it change as more and more flour was absorbed, seeing it rise, punching it down, smelling it bake, sharing and eating it with my family. It also brought back fond memories for me and my husband of when I'd make bread before the bread machine.

A couple of other things that I did differently this week:

(1)  I normally walk the dogs around the park in our neighborhood but I took them to a wooded area. It has pine trees and is somewhat secluded. It left me feeling connected with the earth. 

(2)  My family and I went to a dance concert and Krannert this weekend. It was amazing. The strength, beauty, and spirit exhibited by the dancers made me cry. ’Nough said. 

(3)  At yoga, I took the time to really connect with my body. Sometimes I just go through the motions which is fine – 90% of life is just showing up right?

There is much that I want to do from this section I am going to do it over two weeks.  I started going down both paths this week and I am enjoying it. I think the “artistic” part deserves more time. I'll do more with Part 2 Use Your Hands, next week.

Blog 1

Nothing is Original (pages 7-8)

According to the section of Steal Like an Artist, all creative work builds on what came before. Nothing is completely original. Okay, why look at some of my favorite pieces of graphic design and build on what came before?

I have always loved the hand-drawn lettering and textures used by the artists of the Vienna Session movement. I went to the website (www.theviennasecession.com) and looked at the works. So, I've attached three works that I find particularly appealing.

I used these works and many others to create my own hand drawn title and some patterns in the this style - some of the designs more closely follow the originals than others but I experimented with color and texture.

To come up with the lettering style I looked at many, many fonts both on the posters at the Secession website and other font sites on-line.  It took me a LONG time to draw a font that I felt reflected the style and was half-way decent. I used graph paper to keep the uniformity of the letters and drew lines to help me duplicate it in my sketchbook.

I like the idea of borrowing from the past. There is so much amazing art from which to borrow! As quoted in the book:

“There is nothing new under the sun.”    (Ecclesiastes 1:9)