My "Go-To" Books For Fresh Inspiration.

I am lucky to work in a very inspiring environment, a college art department. My colleagues are all practising artists, constantly making new work and using techniques I may have never tried before. My students are a dynamic and vibrant bunch of young people, most of which are eager to learn and develop their work in exciting ways and try new things. They are risk takers.

Most of the time this really keeps my juices flowing. My inspiration is always topped up because of the materials we have, the workshops we work in and the equipment we use. However, sometimes, such as now, I do have a slump and this stops me feeling motivated and inspired. Consequently my mood doesn't improve, because i'm not creating.

At those dire times I turn to blogs, Pinterest and most importantly my huge collection of art books to help. So i've picked my three "go to" books that boost my mood and inspire me to get back to my desk to show you. The titles are links to the books on Amazon.co.uk

Naive Graphics, Vera: The Art & Life of an Icon and Print & Pattern 2

I'm going to show you some of my favourite pages from within the books. 

Tad Carpenter

Andrio Abero

Skinny La Minx

These images are all from "Naive". This books contains such a variety of techniques which appeal to me both visually and in a creative way. I want to make work in the same way. The processes used include silkscreen printing, classical typography, hand lettering, woodcutting and folk art. Even though I did a Fine Art degree I have tended to move more and more in the design direction over the years. 

There are lots of band posters featured in this book as well as original art.

Vera Neumann was an artist and designer, most famed for her beautiful bold and colourful scarves. She was an innovator and a wonderfully successful female entrepreneur who believed art should be accessible to everyone. This book contains full colour images of her gorgeous scarves as well as pictures from her factories, sketches and a great picture of Marilyn Monroe wearing nothing but a sheer Vera scarf. Oh I say!

Prints Charming

Jurianne Matter

Hillary Bird

Graphic Nothing

These images come from the wonderful book Print and Pattern 2. I know it's the second book but I had this one before only recently getting the original and have used this edition loads for inspiration so I had to pick it first. It's really easy to use because all the artists are in alphabetical order and the images are in beautiful crisp colour. The design of the book is also a joy, with the same font design and colour schemes running throughout. Don't you just love that attention to detail?

Well hopefully they have given you some ideas for books to buy next, hopefully they'll do their usual tricks and help me come up with some new work. 

Can you recommend any good books for me to check out?