February LOVE...Art Books

All my life I've been a reader...I started with the sweet Disney books that had a little record player reading the book to me and "dinging" every time I had to read the page.  My mom still has my big box of all those stories...I love looking at them.  I then worked my way up to bigger books that had no "ding" to signal the turn of the page.  Three of my favorites as a grade-schooler were The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, A Wrinkle in Time and Charlotte's Web.  As I got older I read every one of my mom's Danielle Steele books and yes, even her Jackie Collins--she could NOT have known how inappropriate the Collins' books were.  Yikes.

A few years ago I found another kind to add to my love of "regular" books...ART Books!  They're beautiful, interesting, and inspirational.  I have quite a collection growing and I love re-reading them, looking at their amazing pictures and seeing the parts I've highlighted to encourage me over and over.

Some of my favorites are...

• Daring Adventures in Paint by Mati Rose McDonough...she seems to be drawn to vibrant colors, just like me!  

• The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron...this is probably one of the original books that really made me realize that I NEED to create.  I have reread this book so many times.  It truly is motivating and really affirms how important honoring my creative self is.  

• Art Saves by Jenny Doh...I was instantly intrigued by the title because I truly believe that I have been saved (emotionally and physically) when I starting committing myself to living a more creative life and taking risks by putting myself out in the world artistically like applying to juried art shows, opening an online shop and submitting my work to be licensed with some companies.  The book is great because it features many different artists and what they do to share their art with the world and how it healed them or how they help to heal others through their creations.

Now I know I said I have quite a collection growing, and I do, but I'm just going to share these three with you today.  I'm wondering, what is your favorite art book?  Maybe I already have it, and if not maybe I "need" to add it to my inspirational collection.  Thanks for visiting today.  I'm looking forward to hearing about some of your favorites.