Ahhhhhh, I can hardly believe Christmas is just around the corner and, as usual, I’m pretty unprepared! It seems I’ve developed a habit of leaving things like gift finding until the last minute! Compounding the problem (or one I can use as an excuse!) is that sending parcels is out of the question as Canada Post has been on strike for about four weeks with no solution in sight. (My heart goes out to the small businesses who depend on the post to deliver their products like those run by my sister and brother!) However, one solution is giving art books!! I’m a book lover and I know most of my HowToPastel readers are too! You’ve asked for recommendations so here’s my list of ten must-have art books that I’ve loved in 2024!
In no particular order…
Alla Prima II by Richard Schmid
I don’t care if you don’t work in oils, the visual feast and the incredible knowledge you’ll find here are invaluable for learning and inspiration. Although a substantial financial layout, you won’t regret it. If there’s one book you give yourself this Holiday Season, you won’t go wrong with this one! I purchased the paperback (cheaper) but if I did it again, I’d spring for the hardcover as the book is heavy with beauty! This is a book you will reach for again and again. I have the original printing of this book and deliberated whether to spend the money on the Expanded version and I’m so glad I did! Schmid writes with humour and shares everything he knows (as the subtitle says!). My Mum and I are slowly working our way through the book, conferring as we go. A marvellous activity to do with others! If you’re serious about improving your understanding and skill in art-making, don’t hesitate!
How To Be an Artist by Jerry Saltz
This is a book that, when I read it the first time (and I’ve read it many times since!), I found myself nodding and underlining throughout. That’s how it hit me! Although it’s aimed at the emerging artist, I’d say every artist can benefit from a read and having it handy on the book shelf. It’s a small book with short chapters (most a page only) but with words that will reach your soul! It will be there anytime you need a bit of a shake!
Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel
This is probably the book I’ve recommended the most this year. I LOVE it!!! It’s not a fast read and weighty at 926 pages (the actual book is only 716 pages long with the rest given over to footnotes and bibliography). It’s certainly not a fast read. But that’s because each page is dense with insight and detail. Mary Gabriel is an amazing writer who skillfully weaves incredible amounts of information into this story about five women artists (Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, and Helen Frankenthaler) who were part of the Abstract Expressionist movement in the US. It’s about their lives but it also tells us all about the artists around them (eg Jackson Pollack and Willem de Kooning) and even more, shares the historical context of that time coming as it did after World War II. The read is smooth and fascinating! Highly recommended!!
Broad Strokes by Bridget Quinn
This is another book about women artists. This time we dig into the lives and careers of 15 female artists spanning the centuries, many of whom you may not have heard of. The author Bridget Quinn is a feisty (fun!) and clear writer who makes you want to know these women deeply. Her book is part of the corrective movement to show off the brilliant women artists that had been previously lost to history in the more patriarchal slant of art history. Highly recommended!!! Buy it – you won’t regret it. (As an aside, I will read anything that Quinn writes. And this includes her fascinating book on women’s suffrage in the US in She Votes. And her recently published book, Portrait of a Woman: Art, Rivalry, and Revolution in the Life of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard is on my wish list!)
The Colour Storm by Damien Dibben
I really enjoyed this art-historical novel that centres around the Venetian artist known as Giorgione. We’re thrust into a world of intrigue, of Venetian artists in a race for new pigments, of big commissions and wealthy patrons, of studios with apprentices, of the dangerous atmosphere of Venice in the 16th century. I felt as if I was there! (And what was really lovely was that having been to Venice a few years ago, I could picture locations mentioned which made it all the richer.) It’s a fascinating and enjoyable read and one that helped me understand the time and place of the Venetian artists.
The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin
This book was highly recommended to me so I bought it. I had no idea until much later that the author is in the music industry! If you go to the Amazon page, you’ll see many many testimonials to the book. I myself haven’t yet read the whole thing. What I like to do is flip the book open in the morning and read a passage. (This is NOT the way I would usually read a book as I’m one of those who always starts at the beginning and moves through a book sequentially!) The chapters are short and filled with quiet ideas for me to ponder. As the title says, this book is more than being about creativity – it’s about being. Rubin himself has said, “I set out to write a book about what to do to make a great work of art. Instead, it revealed itself to be a book on how to be.” A daily meditation on creativity, it’s a book that will sit alongside The Art Spirit and Feck Perfuction on my bookshelf. It’s a book to pick up to inspire you. Certainly it’s one to read if your creative flow dries up – it will help!!
How to Paint Skies by José Payá Zaforteza
This is a brand new book by the author of Landscape Painting and Composition, a book I reviewed back in December 2021. Although I haven’t read it in depth yet, I’m going to add it to this list of must-have art books. Why? Because I know that many students struggle with painting skies (and clouds) and I know that, going by his previous book, José Payá Zaforteza will go into great detail and offer many tips and ideas on the subject. He’s included inspirational work by 15 other contemporary artists (including pastel paintings by Nancie King Mertz, Jeanne Rosier Smith, and Karen Margulis) plus masterpieces from the past all of which will inspire you to paint skies!! To top it off, scattered throughout the book are QR codes that will take you off exploring further online. It’s a massive resource if you want to understand and improve your skill in painting skies!!
The Landscape Painter’s Workbook by Mitchell Albala
If you love painting landscapes and this book isn’t in your library, then get it and put it there!! I resisted getting this book because, truth be told, I was put off by the cover. (I don’t know why because the painting by Sue Charles is fabulous!) Then I purchased it. Once I flipped through it, I was wowed and have been recommending it ever since!! The book is full of all the info you need to paint both representational and abstracted landscapes. If you need visual inspiration, just pick it up and open it anywhere. It’s full of paintings not only by the author but by many others including pastels by Tony Allain, Loriann Signori, Bill Cone, Barbara Jaenicke, and Carol Strock Wasson. Just get it!
Picture This by Molly Bang
I was reminded of this tremendously helpful book by a member on a recent IGNITE! membership Zoom session. This is a book that will help you understand and develop not only your compositional skills (and don’t we all want that!) but also how what you include and where it’s placed affects the viewer’s perception of and emotional response to your piece. The author takes us through the story of Red Riding Hood and shows us, in simple cutout shapes, how the visual compositional variations change our feelings about the picture. Her book reveals clearly how our intentional consideration can shift everything in an art piece. This book will change the way you view and create art!!
The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
And last, an oldie but a goodie! Why this book now? Well, 2025 for me will be about doing more of my artwork. I love teaching (LOVE IT!!) but it seems my own artwork – the artwork that takes more time and more pondering – has taken a backseat to my instructional activities lik the HowToPastel blog, my IGNITE! Membership, My Accelerant Mentoring Programme, my in-person art retreats and workshops. I’m determined to change that in 2025. And reading this book is helping me begin this process. It was on my list back in 2019 and I’m happy I saw it on my shelf and started into it again! If you’re in a creative rut or you are committed to doing more art, this book WILL help you!!
And that’s this year’s list of must-have art books!!
I’d love to hear from you! Do you have a book that should go on this list? I’d love to know what your must-have art books are from 2024 and why you’ve put them there!! Are you tempted by any of these books?? I hope so. Any one of them would be a great gift to yourself. You deserve it!!
I already have a stack of art books to read in 2025 and look forward to sharing my art book wins at the end of 2025. In the meantime, happy reading!
Until next time,
~ Gail
(Full transparency – if you purchase a book through any of the links, I get a wee commission. By doing so, I get to buy more books I can then share with you. Win win!!)
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