Published over ten years ago, many of the book’s themes have been repeated, embellished and embraced in other books, workshops and forums.

However, much [...]]]> The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women, by Gail McMeekin is truly a “portable mentor” as the subtitle suggests.

Published over ten years ago, many of the book’s themes have been repeated, embellished and embraced in other books, workshops and forums.

However, much of this advice is timeless and as important today as it was then.

It is about moving forward as a creative woman, overcoming past obstacles and fear, and claiming your creative self.

The chapters in this book take the reader on a journey… the journey to creativity.  It is broken into three “gateways”:

• Engaging Your Creativity
• Mastering Your Challenges as a Creative Woman
• Actualizing Creative Results: The Power of Positive Priorities

From my experience, many artists turn to books for help when they feel stuck and unproductive. This book addresses those issues head-on.

In the section about surrendering to creative cycles, the author reminds us, “In the creative cycles of birth and death and rebirth, there are times when we are empty of ideas, adrift in a sea of ambiguity and nothingness.  These times can be labeled the neutral zone, the void, a vacuum.  No matter what they are called, they are part of the creative cycle, and wise women accept them and trust that when it’s time, their inspirations will percolate again.  The void beckons like a doorway to transformation and new beginnings.”

A later chapter talks about knowing what supports and detracts from your creativity, and how to identify your personal positive priorities.

In other words, it helps you create a basic structure — perhaps a map — of your best path to creative expression, and where its boundaries are.

The 45 women interviewed for this book include:

• Sarah Ben Breathnach
• Clarissa Pinkola Estes
• Shakti Gawain
• Chris Madden
• Sigrid Olsen
• Barbara Sher

Pros

You can open the book to almost any page and find something inspiring.

Quotes in the margins add depth to each section.

The interviews and stories represent a wide range of backgrounds, philosophies, and approaches to creativity.

Cons

Much of this reads like a textbook.

No pictures.  I wanted a break from the words… photos, artwork, anything visual.

A little dated, since many of these ideas have become part of our popular culture in the past ten years.

Summary

If your public library has this book, check it out.  (If they don’t, recommend it.)  If you’re a full-time artist or aspire to be one, a used copy of this book is a smart investment in your creativity and peace of mind.  There’s a lot of, “Whew! I’m normal” in reading this.  There are also a lot of great solutions to the nagging problems some of us have (erroneously) accepted as “just part of the job.”

[rating: 3]

Available at Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

See larger image The 12 Secrets of Highly Creative Women: A Portable Mentor (Paperback) By (author) Gail McMeekin List Price: $17.95 USD New From: $6.79 In Stock Used from: $0.94 In Stock

Subtitled “250 Exercises to Wake Up Your Brain,” this book offers some tremendously fun and stimulating exercises to get you un-stuck as an artist… in minutes.

This book suggests things [...]]]> Caffeine for the Creative Mind is on the very short list of books I rate with the full five stars.  It’s that good.

Subtitled “250 Exercises to Wake Up Your Brain,” this book offers some tremendously fun and stimulating exercises to get you un-stuck as an artist… in minutes.

This book suggests things I’ve never seen anywhere else.  For example: Write down 20 things that smell great when they are cooking.

See?  Doesn’t that kick your senses out of the doldrums?

Or how about these:

• Go take 15 pictures of different kinds of barriers.
• Build the shell of a robot out of objects around you right now.
• Choose a song and make a children’s story out of it.

This book offers 250 fresh, exciting ways to refresh your brain and your creativity.

It’s visually inspiring, too. The presentation — a mix of fonts in a very creative book design — makes this book tremendous fun to flip through.

Ordinarily, I try to say something negative (but fair) about every book, even those I rave about. With this book… I can’t think of anything bad to say about it.

Go buy a copy and take it out when you’re stuck. It will work. I promise.

[rating: 5]

See larger image Caffeine for the Creative Mind: 250 Exercises to Wake Up Your Brain (Paperback) By (author) Stefan Mumaw, Wendy Lee Oldfield List Price: $16.99 USD New From: $9.99 In Stock Used from: $6.46 In Stock

This book will stay open whether laid flat or propped up on your workstation, so that you can follow along – with the page in question open [...]]]> Written by an artist FOR artists, every detail has been considered, starting with such practicalities as a book with a rigid, wipeable cover and interior ring binding.

This book will stay open whether laid flat or propped up on your workstation, so that you can follow along – with the page in question open right in front of you (how many of us are driven absolutely wild with frustration when trying to follow a particular technique we haven’t tried before – only for the book to flop closed – usually right at the crucial moment!).

Each chapter leads you into a new technique which is clearly explained in language I can understand, and with absolutely loads of full-colour photographs including stepped How To’s as well as finished pieces – by herself and other artists, so that you can see each technique from a different point of view.

Although Mary is essentially a Fine Artist, this book would also serve well for anyone interested in other branches of arts and crafts, from collage, mixed media and journaling to calligraphers, altered book artists, quilters etc.

The techniques incorporate many different mediums including watercolours and acrylics, along with items you may never have thought of (eg: shelf liner, aluminium foil). Mary covers subjects such as resist (used in a way I hadn’t seen before) and creating surface texture, how to find your own personal voice and streamline and strengthen your own designs. She also deals with personal symbolism, something I had never really thought about.

Mary Todd Beam’s use of colour is truly inspirational and will definitely encourage you to work out of your “safe” colour zones. She also suggests layouts, and shows actual examples of paintings using those layouts, which is really helpful. Every style is covered, from figurative and virtual (photographic) style through to truly abstract.

Mary’s techniques also cover practical problems you might encounter: how to make realistic rocks that have weight; really wet water; rough, grainy sedimentation; a leafy, loamy forest floor – not just in colours of paint but also in use of texture so that you really FEEL your subject (quilters and embroiderers especially will love this).

I highly recommend this book, and hand on heart I think anyone would gain a tremendous amount of information from it. It is true eye candy from a deservedly highly successful artist, who not only talks the talk but walks the walk. An essential for any artist’s book shelf.

Summary

• Each section very clearly explained and easy to follow
• Tons of full colour step-by-step photographs
• Truly inspirational use of colour
• I really felt encouraged to try these projects

Learn more about Celebrate Your Creative Self

Amazon.com or Amazon.co.uk

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When I read the title of this book, No More Secondhand Art, I knew I had to own it. Until Mr. London phrase it that way, I had never thought of other people’s art work in and prints as “secondhand. ”

It’s not that he’s discouraging you [...]]]>

When I read the title of this book, No More Secondhand Art, I knew I had to own it. Until Mr. London phrase it that way, I had never thought of other people’s art work in and prints as “secondhand. ”

It’s not that he’s discouraging you from buying other people’s art. It’s important to own art, but is just as important–and perhaps more so–to create your own.

The back cover of this book says, “This book is about using art as an instrument of personal transformation, enabling us to move from an inherited to a chosen state of being.”

Frankly, if you don’t like self-help books, you won’t like this one. It includes a variety of exercises to enhance your ability to visualize, and to overcome obstacles that prevent you from creating authentic art.

From making masks, to painting with “forbidden” and dangerous colors, to discovering meaning in found objects, this book is an adventure.

If you are stuck as an artist or aren’t creating art that makes you sing in the shower, this book may be exactly what you need.

[rating:3.5/5]

Order a copy or read others’ reviews at
Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk

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