Presented for your consideration: a book which is, truly, required reading for anyone who tries to integrate artmaking into their lives. I received my copy the way most people do – another artist gave their dog-eared copy to me. I read it in one sitting. I’ve since purchased several copies for friends. To date this little puppy has sold over 200,000 copies with no advertising save word of mouth. Yes, it’s that good.
This is not a book of “I’m OK, You’re OK” platitudes; authors David Bayles and Ted Orland are both working artists and their writing speaks honestly and directly about the challenges and difficulties that artists face on a daily basis. I’m not gonna spend a lot of time telling you how great this little book is. I’m just gonna tell you to get hold of a copy, as soon as you can. You’ll thank me for it.
Here’s the first paragraph:
“Making art is difficult. We leave drawings unfinished and stories unwritten. We do work that does not feel like our own. We repeat ourselves. We stop before we have mastered our materials, or continue on long after their potential is exhausted. Often the work we have not done seems more real in our minds than the pieces we have completed. And so questions arise: How does art get done? Why, often, does it not get done? And what is the nature of the difficulties that stop so many who start?”
I keep this little book in my studio and often pick it up and read a few pages when I need to refocus and recharge my batteries. Or when I, also, wonder “Just WHAT the hell IS it I’m trying to do, anyway?”
Want it? Please support FPM by purchasing from amazon.com.
Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking
Read it, enjoy it, then pass it on to a friend.
CR
