Off the bookshelf

art·ist   

[ahr-tist]

–noun

1. a person who produces works in any of the arts that are primarily subject to aesthetic criteria.

2. a person who practices one of the fine arts, esp. a painter or sculptor.

3. a person whose trade or profession requires a knowledge of design, drawing, painting, etc.: a commercial artist.

4. a person who works in one of the performing arts, as an actor, musician, or singer; a public performer: a mime artist; an artist of the dance.

5. a person whose work exhibits exceptional skill.

6. a person who is expert at trickery or deceit: He's an artist with cards.

7. Obsolete . an artisan.

Origin:

1575–85;  < MF artiste  < ML artista  master of arts.


I've been in a bit of a creative rut as of late and can't seem to bring myself out of it. Fortunately for me, one of my wonderful friends recommended this life changing book to help me get back in the groove and jolt the endless flow of creativity (which we all possess in one way or another). She has read this book and so has many of her acquaintances and they all swear by it, so I thought, why not?!? I've got nothing to lose and everything to gain at this point. So The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron is currently on my "reading list". If you know me, you know that I'm always "reading" something or something(s) and my favorite are books that you find in the self help section or craft section, go figure! My favorite book store in NYC is Strand, it's CRAZY!! As they say, 18 miles of books, both new and used. The best part is that you pretty much always find the book your looking for, used and 1/2 the price! If that's not an incentive, then I don't know what is!


Anyway, I picked up The Artist's Way a few weeks ago at Strand and have already read the first part. It's already very interesting and has so many great reviews that I can't wait to really get into it and learn more about my creative self! I already strongly recommend it to any artist out there...it's worth the purchase and the time! Once I finish it, I will be back with my thoughts, so stay tuned!


Inspirational Quote; "For every success a thousand failures forgotten lie. For every failure to try, a thousand successes prematurely die."- Anonymous


Now, on to the other "something" I'm currently reading; Love the one you're with by Emily Giffin. I've recently started reading novels again, after my long hiatus with just the how-to books and magazines. I'm loving Emily's books! See, I like chick flicks AND chick lits (as they call them) so natural, she's one of my favorites! Her stories have the perfect mix of love, suspense, drama and happily ever after which= books written just for me (and maybe you too)! If you haven't already, check them out and let me know what you think! So far I've read; Something Borrowed, Something Blue & Baby Proof, (note that you should read Something Borrowed before Something Blue, or else you will be pretty confused).

Well that's it for now and enjoy the good reads!