What are you reading?

This morning while getting ready for work, I glanced over at my nightstand and realized that I have a huge stack of books waiting to be started or finished.  Obviously I have a book obsession as well as art.

Here is my list:

The Artists Way - read this and am keeping it by the bed for reference

Live Through This - waiting to be read

The Screwtape Letters - third time reading this

How Good is Good Enough - waiting to be read

10-10-10 - not sure I will ever get to this

Life is a Verb - great book, about half way done

The Total Money Makeover - another great book, working the baby steps

Quilting Arts Magazine – always wonderful eye candy and great to look at when you don’t want to “read”

The Satorialist - loads of fashion ideas from just normal folks on the street

My Life in France - great autobiography of Julia Child and her time spent in France

This is quite an eclectic stack of Art, Drama, God, Business, Money, Fashion, and Food.  There is another stack of books on American History waiting for my attention on a smaller table across from the bed.

Speaking of books - I have started putting some my art books up for sale on Amazon.  You can view them by my seller name: marciglenn

Here are some of the titles that are up there now:

• Color on Color: Elegant Designs to Stitch (Simply Stitched series)
• Journal Bliss: Creative Prompts to Unleash Your Inner Eccentric

Chocolate Chip Cream Puffs from David Lebovitz

 

I bought this wonderful book by David Lebovitz  a few days ago and have just devoured its pages.  David’s writing is brilliant and entertaining.  His daily interaction with Parisians is laugh-out-loud hilarious.  My in-laws are French and everything that he has written is true!  I am about half way through and have already made two batches of the Chocolate Chip Cream Puffs.

 

I highly recommend his book and hope that you will consider it the next time you are looking for wonderful cooking and baking recipes mixed in with daily clips of life in Paris.  bon appétit.

Is there anything more exciting….

than seeing your artwork published in a book?

Tonight I received my copy of L.K. Ludwig’s newly released book “Collaborative Art Journals and Shared Visions in Mixed Media”. 

As I began to turn page after page, soaking in the beautiful candy, I was taken back when I looked at a page, recognized it and then looked underneath the photo to see this:

artist: Marci Glenn

Oh sweet affirmation!  Really, is there anything better than to be acknowledged as the person you knew you always were?   Thank you L.K. for including my art in the same book with so many talented, fabulous, well-known artists!

Artful Recycling, Journal

Last October I started my journey in artful recycling by creating a journal out of paper scrap that was in my recycle bin. The idea started when I saw Ingrid Dijkers recycled journal on her blog and challenged myself to do something similar.  I pulled the journal out a few days ago and finished priming all the pages with gesso.   Next was to paint the backgrounds.  Here is what I have done so far.

These two pages are the back of a Kleenex box and a raisin box.  I used some masking tape to mask different layers of paint.  I love this look, it reminds me of graffiti.

This is the front side of a brown manilla envelope.

Here is the backside of that brown manila envelope.

Below is the front side of the half clock face.  You can still see some of the numbers through the pain layers.

Here is the back of that clock face page.

These pages are now ready for collage, journaling and embellishments.

Keep it simple!

A New Book: Bead Creative Like Crazy

Nancy Eha has published a new book, Bead Creative Like Crazy - her latest how-to beading book.  Wait until you see the yummy eye candy pictured within the 113 full color pages.  She shows you how to bead as if you were stitching a crazy quilt, but imagine this on an art quilt, a purse or even a jacket?  Stunning!!

I am new to beading on fabric and this book has step by step instuctions with illustrations that are easy to read and follow along.  She writes about the basics of fabric selection, beads and tools and then she shows the basic crazy quilt stitches and how to create those with beads.  This book will give you the confidence to create your own masterpieces and I highly recommend it even if you have never done beading before.  You will find it to be a source of inspiration and a great reference book to add to your library.