Ignore Everybody And 39 Other Keys to Creativity
Hugh MacLeod
Macleod has done a marvelous job of distilling the basics of being successful at being creative. This is not the same this being monetarily successful at being creative. Like The Happiness Project, Ignore Everybody makes you take a good long look at your perceptions and how outside influences color your desires and definitions of happiness and success.
McLeod covers two main areas of creativity that you rarely hear about. The first is that you should find time and headspace to make your art. It should be what you want to create and it should not be something you agonize over. If you are suffering for your art, you’re doing it wrong. Creating should be a pleasure.
The other aspect that is talked about even less is that creativity is...
Beadweaving Masters
Lark Books
Most people hearing the words “seed beads” probably think of Native American clothing and hippie bracelets. The master beadweavers in this book go far beyond the traditional decorations. From modern covered vases, kimonos, sculptures , plants, flowers and sea creatures these pieces of art are fantastically detailed and amazing. All the artists in this book are both immensely skilled technically and wildly creative. Anyone looking for a creative kickstart of some kind will find it in this collection.
Robert Doisneau – Paris
This immense collection of French photographer Robert Doisneau spans decades of his life. From the pre-WWII years of cafés, the opening of the Eiffel tower, Folies Bergére to the French Resistance during the war years and on into the 70s, these marvelous pictures show Paris in all its glory. The rich and famous are here, the artists, café-goers, can-can dancers and all the well-known Parisian regulars. But there are also the average people – shopping, working and enjoying their marvelous city. Gorgeous portraiture by a...
Read MoreThe Visual Miscellaneum: A Colorful Guide to the World’s Most Consequential Trivia
David MacCandless
MacCandless’ book is an example of graphic design at its finest – a perfect combination of attractive art and a clear message. From the serious (carbon footprints) to the frivolous (dictators mustaches) creative graphic design makes the data beautiful and...
Little People in the City
Slinkachu
Artist Slinkachu sets up teeny-tiny dioramas of teeny-tiny people doing naughty things throughout London. Using the surrounding “big people world” his minute people interact with their sets as though their size is perfectly normal. Amazing and devious.
http://slinkachu.com
Pheromone
Christopher Marley
On our honeymoon last year we stopped by the gallery in Prairie Edge Art Gallerie in South Dakota. A few of Marley’s insect pieces were on display and we were fascinated. Each piece is a small collection of real, exotic insects. Pheromone shows many of his pieces, along with some additional macro-photography. Often the insects are laid out into a pattern to show wing color gradation or sizing. Other images are show incredibly sharp and clear close-ups of insects so oddly constructed they don’t seem real. All the images are stunning. While Pheromone focuses solely on Marley’s insect work, his online portfolio also contains minerals, sea-life,...