The list is looking a little long...

This year I was feeling ambitious and decided to commit to a reading club that was loosely connected to scrapbooking & other paper arts. I've ordered most of the titles and now that they are all neatly arranged on my headboard, I'm feeling a little worried...maybe I bit off more than I can chew! The reading list started off with a book that I was a little intimidated by at first but once I cracked it open, I couldn't put it down! Most of you have probably heard of it, A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. This book shed light on relationships in a way that I had never given consideration to and it immediately inspired me to create a book celebrating the relationships in my life, namely the women who are important to me. I emailed them (this is your gentle reminder, guys!) requesting a digital copy of their favorite self-portrait and a written piece so that I could create a mini album of them all and keep their images & words in one special place. If you are even remotely artistic, don't be alarmed if you, too are struck with similar inspiration after reading this book- if you've already read it, you know the feeling of which I speak. I definitely recommend this book to all women who have ever experienced betrayal, loss, grief, bonds of any kind. I know the messages resonated within me and if you embark on the journey of this read, hopefully it has an equally deep impact on you as it did, me.
Then we make a 180 degree turnaround and enter the no-limits world of art journals, leaving the heaviness of the previous month's read far, far behind. I've only begun to delve into the concepts found in this book and I think I'm about ready to push the boundaries of my comfort zone, roll up my sleeves and get a little messy. There is a fantastic line in this book that says "What art would you make if no one were looking?" I think that is just perfect. It gives us total permission to let our hair down and kiss all those self-imposed rules goodbye! I don't know about you but I definitely make a different kind of art when I know someone is gonna see it, but if it's really and truly just for me, well that yields art of a different sort altogether. The book for this month is Journal Revolution, Rise Up and Create! by Linda Woods & Karen Dinino. Some of the concepts feel a little off the wall for my artistic style but that seems the perfect reason to try them. Push some of your own creative limits and check this book out!