Quotes: Buckminster Fuller

"There is no such thing as a failed experiment, only experiments with unexpected outcomes." – Buckminster Fuller, American architect, designer, and author (1895-1983)

Creativity Books List III of III

Summer 2013 reading pile; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2013

Inspired by a list of 52 essential books on creativity, I've compiled my own and am publishing it in three sections. They are in no particular order. Books with highlighted numbers resonated with me the most. Here's another list of books on creativity. I now have another seven books to read (I've already read #8 on her list).

33. The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo

34. Orbiting the Giant Hairball by Gordon Mackenzie

35. The Accidental Masterpiece by Michael Kimmelman

36. Make Good Art by Neil Gaiman

37. The Medici Effect by Frans Johansson

38. Creativity by Matthew Fox (I have read this twice)

39. Walking on Water by Madeleine L'Engle (I have read this twice)

40. Beware Wet Paint by Alan Fletcher

41. The Art of Looking Sideways by Alan Fletcher

42. Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

43. Thunder and Lightning by Natalie Goldberg

44. Wild Mind by Natalie Goldberg

45. A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Rebecca Solnit

46. Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer (to be read as fiction since the author made up some quotes)

47. Drawing from Life: The Journal as Art by Jennifer New (I have read this twice)
48. Writing the Mind Alive by Linda Trichter Metcalf

Creativity Books List II of III

Summer 2013 reading pile; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2013

Inspired by a list of 52 essential books on creativity, I've compiled my own and am publishing it in three sections. They are in no particular order. Books with highlighted numbers resonated with me the most. Here's another list of books on creativity. I now have another seven books to read (I've already read #8 on her list).

17. Guitar Zero by Gary Marcus
18. Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew Crawford
19. The Artful Dodger: Images & Reflections by Nick Bantock
20. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami
21. The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau
22. Rework by Jason Fried
23. Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven Johnson
24. Creative Confidence by Tom Kelley and David Kelley
25. Learning by Heart by Corita Kent
26. Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath
27. In Pursuit of Elegance by Matthew E. May
28. Walking on Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution by Derrick Jensen
29. What It Is by Lynda Barry
30. The Everyday Work of Art by Eric Booth
31. The Faith of a Writer: Life, Craft, Art by Joyce Carol Oates
32. The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander & Benjamin Zander

Creativity Books List I of III

Summer 2013 reading pile; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2013

Inspired by a list of 20 52 essential books on creativity, I've compiled my own and am publishing it in three sections. They are in no particular order. Books with highlighted numbers resonated with me the most.

1. Free Play by Stephen Nachmanovitch (I have read this twice)
2. Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon (I have read this twice)
3. Show Your Work! by Austin Kleon (I have read this twice)
4. The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
5. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott (I have read this three times)
6. The Writing Life by Annie Dillard (I have read this twice)
7. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
8. Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey (I have read this twice)
9. The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
10. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
11. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
12. On Writing by Stephen King
13. Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Your World by Warren Berger
14. It is Beautiful Then Gone by Martin Venezky (I have read this 4 times)
15. Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith
16. Mapping the Intelligence of Artistic Work by Anne West

Quotes: Buckminster Fuller

"Mistakes are great, the more I make the smarter I get." – Buckminster Fuller

Studio Series: Leaf rubbings

Rubbings of clover leaves © Karen Thiessen, 2014

The nice thing about my intuitive mark-making practice (also known as my Lenten practice) is that anything goes. Now that the garden is alive again, maybe too alive with all the plants that need to be thinned out, I have fresh leaves to take rubbings of. These colours and shapes are informing my new Poetic Memory series.

Quotes: Sheldon Kopp

"Transformations require that we let go of familiar ways of doing things, without yet knowing what we will do next." –– Sheldon Kopp, American psychotherapist and author (found via ArtPropelled July 8, 2014)

Studio Series: Ampersand repeat pattern

Ampersand grave rubbing repeat pattern © Karen Thiessen, 2014

My Lenten intuitive mark-making practice continues. Here's a repeat pattern that I made of a rubbing of the ampersand on my late baby brother's grave that I made during a recent visit. It's a fairly bland pattern, but it's a beginning of a thought process. We all have to begin somewhere.

Quotes: Derrick Jensen

" Passion, love, hate, fear, hope. The best writing springs from these sources. Life itself springs from these sources, and what is writing without life? –– Derrick Jensen, Walking on Water: Reading, Writing, and Revolution, p. 19

Studio Series: Remington Rand ampersand pattern

Remington Rand ampersand © Karen Thiessen, 2014

Early this summer a great uncle died just short of his 100th birthday. Following the funeral, he was interred in the same cemetery as my brother. After the graveside service, I visited my brother's grave and looked at it for a long time. I had no camera, no materials with which to take rubbings, and no gardening tools to clean up the grass that encroached on his stone. My only resources were my eyes and time. An ampersand jumped out at me. Two weeks later, I took rubbings, cleaned up the grave, and took photographs. For now, here's a simple repeat pattern of ampersands that I made with an old Remington Rand typewriter.