Who hasn't, at one time or other, kept a journal? The impulse to record our daily lives on paper is nothing if not universal. Still, only a few of us have the discipline to make it past the first few entries, and fewer still manage to create diaries whose insight and visual beauty can inspire anyone but their authors. Drawing from Life: The Journal as Art is an exploration of these exceptions books of obsessive wonder filled to their borders with drawings, sketches, watercolors, graphs, charts, lists, collages, portraits, and photographs.
Jennifer New takes readers on a spirited tour into the private worlds of journal keepers an architect, a traveler, a film director, an archeologist, a cancer patient, a songwriter, a quiltmaker, a gardener, an artist, a cyclist, and a scientist, to name just a few illustrating a broad range of journaling styles and techniques that in the end show how each of us can go about documenting our everyday lives. Excerpts from journals by such artists as Maira Kalman, Steven Holl, David Byrne, and Mike Figgis give us a peek at how creative souls observe, reflect, and explore.
For those who already keep a journal, Drawing from Life will be an inspiration. For those who have always wanted to or tried and failed it might just be the motivation needed to get past that first week.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.5 / 5.0
Excellent:
Art journaling has become so popular, I think by example. People see themselves in others' work and want to imitate and branch off and personalize. When we read about and see other's journal/art we don't feel so isolated and weird. Sometimes looking thru other's journals makes me feel kind of like this: -I've thought the same things, but I never thought about writing it down or expressing it -till seeing how someone else has journaled similar thoughts/feelings, and then my wheels are turning, and I'm... more info
Great for all kinds of creative expression!:
I love this book, and it repeatedly finds its way into my bag to be taken out and thumbed through on the bus, on vacation, at work during breaks or while I am on the couch during those rare few minutes of "me-time". It takes the idea of "journal" and makes it multi-faceted. You see the artistic side of journaling of course, but the author proposes the idea that a scientific journal or furniture designer sketchbook is just as artistic as the watercolor journal. It really takes away the fear that just because... more info
Great source of inspiration:
I really like this book and it is one of my favorites, one I will return to again and again when I need a little creativity kick start.
As a mixed media artist who writes/draws in a journal daily, I really enjoy getting a peek at what other people are doing in their journals and how they work things out on paper,what inspires them or drives them as the case may be.
If you are looking for a "how to" book then this is not the book for you, there are plenty of fine books in that specific area of... more info
Inspiration journaling....:
"The impulse to record our daily lives on paper is nothing if not universal." This quote is on the back cover of Drawing from Life. We aren't told who said it but the idea doesn't suffer for the lack. Teacher/author Jennifer New has compiled an exceedingly rich volume of journal pages and managed to include something that will appeal to everyone. My particular favorite piece of Drawing from Life is the fourth chapter -"Creation." Architect Steven Holl refers to the sketches and paintings that litter... more info
Privacy policy: we don't collect information
about visitors except for the standard technical server logs. We don't send unsolicited emails. We don't
sell the information that we don't collect about you to anyone. When you follow
links to other sites, their privacy policies apply. Thanks for visiting!
