My 2015 reading

This is the time of year that the "Top [fill-in-the-blank] of 2015" lists abound.

For me it's booklists that always succeed in tempting me to click in. I love to see how many I've read or imagine which one will be the next great read. (Do you have a favorite book list? Send it to me!)

Inspiration

These are the lists that have inspired me lately...

• Elizabeth Gilbert's My favorite books of 2015 
• Popular books of 2015 on Goodreads
• The Best Children's Books of 2015 on BrainPickings (with links to the 5 previous years lists)
• The 15 Best Books of 2015 on BrainPickings
• The 10 Best Business and Productivity Books of 2015, Fast Company
• Gretchen Rubin's (The Happiness Project) book club board on Pinterest
• BrainPickings bookshelf
• Designers and Books website

So, inspired, I took a look at the lists of books I've read. I've been keeping lists for years and have read hundreds (but probably thousands) of books in my lifetime.

It's said that what you do every day matters more that what you do every once in a while.

Of all the daily habits that have defined my life, reading is near the top for most defining. (I don't count social media fluff-n-stuff, which soaks up so much time. This year less FB and more reading FTW! )

I do count the audio books that I listen to on my commute and while doing housework. Hearing a book read aloud is a powerful way to hear the author's voice or be transported back in time or into a new world.

I don't have a complete lifetime list, which makes me sad. There was a span of life where I didn't keep track...too busy, too tired, not reading much.

But I've started to add all the books I can remember reading to my Goodreads bookshelf. Some day I'll dig out all the old early lists and catch up...or not.

I have kept track faithfully over the last eleven years, though.

By the numbers

2005 Started to keep track again

32 Average books read per year over the last 11 

2010 Began listening to audio books regularly 

1-5 Ratings for each book: 1- hate it, 2 - didn't like it, 3 - OK, 4 - liked, recommend, 5 - loved it, must read. 

31% average for Rating 5 

In 2015...

41 books read or listened to (more if I had kept track of children's picture books)

11 books with Rating 5

66% Audio books compared to paper books 

Genres 21 fiction (11 sci-fi), 15 nonfiction (6 memoir/bio, 3 biz), 5 YA/children

Themes Creativity, sketch art and novels about art, Neil Gaiman, Ursala LeGuin 

Summer Reserved for light fluffy beach reads or YA/children's books or favorite book rereads...Crazy Little Thing, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Eat Pray Love

Overdrive App of choice for reading or listening, because it's free with a library card (I have 2). Downside, it's difficult to find recent books on audio, or you have to wait. Can now listen streaming on the web, though. I mostly download the books so I don't trash my data plan when I'm away from wifi. Sometimes I use Kindle, but finding good free books is harder.

I take notes or post gems of truth on my Twitter feed, @ellenking. I used to keep a notebook of notes and quotes and enjoy looking back through them, but it's very time consuming.

Yes, I read a real book with a yellow highlighter to catch the parts that ring true. No, I won't mark your book if you lend it to me.

I do love reading on my phone too. It's easier to read faster, just flicking through the screens quickly scanning the words. I feel like I'm making so much progress in less time. Downside, highlighting and bookmarking is possible by not convenient. And it doesn't have that book smell or weight in your hand.

Some of my favorites from 2015:

The Stoneheart Trilogy, Charlie Fletcher. Three books about a 12-year-old boy, Eddie, who runs for his life in London, and across time, to fight the strange powers that animate the statues and monuments. He finds friends and discovers his own power and strengths. This series would be a great read-aloud for your kids.

The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt, is about a tragic accident that allows teenage, Theo, to become obsessed with a work of art and risk so much for it. It drags a bit in the middle but listening to it on audio keeps it moving along and engaging. What part does fate play in our lives? How much can we shape outcomes? How do we handle tragic grief? What power can the love of art have in our choices? "A really great painting is fluid enough to work its way into the mind and heart, in ways that are particular to you. Yours, yours, yours."

The Element, How finding your passion changes everything, Ken Robinson, and The Crossroads of Should and Must, Find and follow your passion, Elle Luna, are two books about creativity, finding "flow" and discovering what your passion is. So inspirational and informative. Maybe I'm not unique in my fears and blocks, but I am unique in my combination of talents and passions. And so are you.

I was so motivated by these two books I ended up covering my wall with post-it notes in order to organize my ideas about where I spend my time and what I love and value. Highly recommended. (The books, not the post-it notes activity.)

We Were Liars, E. Lockhart, was such a page turner. Lie upon lie. It has a surprise ending that I didn't guess at all.  Couldn't put it down.

A Kiss Before You Go was a touching memoir of love and loss after the death of his wife, done by designer and artist, Danny Gregory. So honest, so vulnerable, so touching. Taking up sketching again helped him heal and move on. Sketching is good for the soul, just saying.

You Are Stardust, Kelsey and Kim, is a beautiful children's book that reminds us of our place in the universe and our relationship to the earth. Wonderful illustrations and poetic writing. A gem to share with your child and cherish yourself.

Currently I'm finishing up Big Magic, by Elizabeth Gilbert and loving it. I like her writing style and I'm really absorbing the ideas. We think creativity is reserved for a talented few, but if you're human you're creative. It's part of what makes humans human.

This has been fun summing up my 2015 reading. Every once in a while it's good to take inventory of the things you love. Now it's time to get back to reading.

What should I read this year?

Ellen

Quoteable:

 “A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic,” Carl Sagan asserted in his iconic Cosmos series, admiring the “funny dark squiggles” that have the uncanny power to transport us, across time and space, into the mind of another.

Also read, Galileo on why we read and how books give us superhuman powers, at BrainPickings.

I have never known any distress that an hour's reading did not relieve. ~Montesquieu

10 Ways to Sketch More

Sketching is good for the soul

At least it's been good for my soul lately. So it makes sense to sketch more.

Pablo Picasso said,

"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls."

So let's wash some dust off and get more art into our lives.

Draw/paint/sketch/photograph something that inspires you

Be inspired by the ordinary, by the light on the patio after a rain, or by something you already love in the corner of your world.

I love that my phone is my camera and always with me. I love taking pictures of the ordinary and elevating it to art by finding an interesting composition, color, angle,  or close-up. Then I sketch it. Right then or later from the photo.

Inspiration is anything that makes me say "that's cool" or "that's interesting", or "I'll bet nobody has really looked closely at that." Maybe you like flowers, cats, architecture, lemons or cars. Draw it. You'll see it in a new way and love it more.

Let go

In another life I used to paint and craft, but other priorities took over for a time. I so missed being creative. I didn't realize how much until I started in again. So, I recently let go of a few things...a long to-do list that was never done, house-cleaning expectations, home cooking (not my thing), too much media, others' ideas of how I should spend my time and the need for perfection...to take up the pen and paint again.

Let go of anything that doesn't feed your soul. (And, no, sleep doesn't count...get your sleep.)

Start small

I bought a cheap sketchbook and a travel set of paints and a water brush and began to work the dustiness away, by doing small sketches. Use what materials you have, try different pens and pencils and paints. Do several small studies. And embrace wonkiness, and imperfections and learn from them.

Share with friends

Begin sharing with social media friends on Instagram or Flickr or Facebook. Your friends will say encouraging things or "like" it and that will give you a boost. Share the good...

... the bad and the ugly. It keeps you humble and learning.

Sign up for an online class

I signed up for an Alisa Burke online class, Flower Power, last spring to do something simple and unintimidating. She explores so many different styles and is full of never-ending creativity. Her classes are reasonably priced to get started with.

I know that my motivation comes from a class-type setting where lessons and assignments give me something to look forward to and goals to meet. 

I love learning about the other class members from all over the world, and from seeing their styles, and trying to emulate them.

Find inspiration in unusual places

These reading notes from a (rather dry) book on the golden ratio, The Story of PHI, just had to have a sketched illustration. I love math, and combining it with art made sense to me.  I definitely looked very closely at this sunflower as I was drawing it, and even counted the spirals of seeds. Yes, 34 going one way and 55 the other.

Draw something you love already, but might not be related to art.

Make something you'll see everyday

Stretch beyond the paper. Make a craft. Use different paints. Paint big. Paint on wood or fabric. Bloom where you are planted.

Get away from home

When you travel you get a bump in creativity. Neuroscientist Jonah Lehrer, in his book, Imagine, says "when you escape from the place you spend all your time, the mind is suddenly made aware of all those ideas previously suppressed. You start thinking about obscure possibilities." My mind is definitely in a good place on vacation.

So this makes sense now too..."a relaxed state of mind allows us to look inward toward a stream of remote associations in our right brain...insights come in the shower, when we are in a positive mood, when we are not looking for an insight." 

But really it's just that "Life is better at the beach". --Kitschy sign from the beach bum store

There's nothing to do but sit and listen to the waves and the wind, and enjoy the sun. (Ah, letting go of that to-do list again.) Get away to a new place and sketch what you see.

Experiment with a different technique

White sharpies are thing? Yes! This is just a piece of cardboard with drippy sloppy colors (let dry), and then a crazy white doodle on top. Batik-like. Just for the fun of it.

My birdhouse gourd (that has yet to become a birdhouse) was a last minute purchase from the farm market. It's done with acrylics base paint, then black paint and Sharpie used to make the look of lace.

Commit to sketching often

It wasn't until a friend encouraged me to #sketchmore during the month of November in support of her NaNoWriMo goals, that I realized how much I could get done, how it's helped me improve, and how good it really is for my soul. Do something every day.

Bonus tip: Do what you like

Be yourself. Enjoy your own style. Don't care what others think. Choose a quote from one of these philosophers to remind yourself...

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. --Oscar Wilde

Wanting to be someone else is a waste of who you are. --Kurt Cobain

Where is your will to be weird? --Jim Norrison

Just be yourself, there is no one better. --Taylor Swift

This one is my favorite because I'm my own worst critic.

If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced. --Vincent Van Gogh

So silence the inner critic, dust the daily life off, see how it feels. Good for the soul?

When you find what you love, follow it with passion

First Thought Films / Zeitgeist Films

Bill Cunningham's "On the Street" NY Times column, highlights fashion that he snaps with his camera from his bike on the streets of New York City. Down through the years (nearly 50!) he has chronicled the New York fashion scene as demonstrated by ordinary New Yorkers (and some extraordinary) every day.

He begins by letting the street talk to him. When an idea emerges, he begins collecting. Sometimes he'll get an idea and start looking. He could be looking for 20 trends at once!

Joy Sewing, "Even if you shrug off fashion as a frivolous indulgence,
Bill Cunningham’s energy and dedication is infectious. He makes you care. "

I recently watched the Bill Cunningham New York documentary on Netflix. I give it a two thumbs up, and more thumbs if I had them. It's a must-watch! Watch the trailer below.

Really, stop reading this post and go watch it NOW.

He's a fascinating man, getting on in years and still spending his days on the streets of New York and at charity and social gatherings in the city. He wears his signature blue smock (to protect the few clothes he does own from the camera equipment). He is on his 29th bike because the 28 before have been stolen. He has never "eaten in", in his small apartment over Carnegie Hall. He never goes to the movies and has never owned a TV. He has never been in a romantic relationship. He loves his work instead.

He tells a story about...

...this woman I had been photographing on the street. She wore a nutria coat, and I thought: "Look at the cut of that shoulder. It's so beautiful." And it was a plain coat, too. You'd look at it and think: "Oh, are you crazy? It's nothing." 

Anyway, I was taking her picture, and I saw people turn around, looking at her. She crossed the street, and I thought, Is that? Sure enough, it was Greta Garbo. All I had noticed was the coat, and the shoulder. "I never bothered with celebrities unless they were wearing something interesting."

Fashion icon Isabella Blow is photographed on March 20, 1999.

He lives an unencumbered life and has done much of his work for free, after hours. He says that if you never take money for your work, you can do as you please.

"Money is the cheapest thing," he says. "Liberty is the most expensive." Blithely, he conducts his life with an absence of material possessions.

His studio/apartment over Carnegie Hall is filled only with filing cabinets of his work.

He's modest about his work and his talent. "It's not photography. I'm just documenting what I see. I let the street speak to me."

Bill at Fashion Week, Wikipedia

And he does tell it as he sees it in the New York Times, in this recent video, for example. (There is a library of videos there, that you really ought watch. His personality is wonderfully evident.)

"Hello from the baked Apple...it's 100 degrees and fashion holds its own
....all in black and they're not going to give it up even in the heat."

And the street speaks back:

Anna Wintour, editor in chief of Vogue:
I don't know how many times he has taken my photograph, but we all dress for Bill. You feel he's the only one who notices or cares how you dress. I wonder if Bill will like this. And it's always a flattering picture he chooses.

Thethousands.com

He honestly says of himself:

I'm a hack...I'm not really a photographer...most of my pictures are never published. I just document things I think are important. ...I do everything, really, for myself.

Others who find him inspirational too, sum it up...

Designers present their work the way they have envisioned it, but it is the way we incorporate it into our own wardrobe that creates style. Bill Cunningham has been documenting the streets of New York for over 30 years. Although many would say he is simply riding around on a bicycle taking photos of street walkers, there is a true art behind the work he creates. Unlike many people who take a glance every now and then as people pass us by, Bill sees something different. He sees the trends that men and women have taken from the runways, or the photo spreads in Vogue. What truly fascinates him, however, is how each person interprets the trend differently to match their own personal style.

He lives his life with a single focus and a passion for his work. 

At Fashion Week (The Sartorialist)

He just plain loves women's fashion.


Quotable: 

There is no passion to be found playing small—in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living.  ~ Nelson Mandela~

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More reading:
New York Times Bill on Bill
New York Times The picture subjects talk back
Chron 5 reasons to see MFAH’s Bill Cunningham New York
Apartment Therapy Bill Cunningham's furniture free life
Time LightBox Bill Cunningham: The original street fashion photographer
Blog Croptops and Coffee Inspiration of the week
The Daily Beast Knowing Bill Cunningham

I love attending conferences

In February I attended An Event Apart in Atlanta Georgia. Since I love learning (hence the blog title), I love conferences. I learn from the whole experience.

I love being in a new place.

Looking up...

looking down...

looking outside...

looking inside,

 and seeing art everywhere, even on the ceiling.

I love eating in new places... 

meeting new people...

...and thinking new thoughts.

And, if I'm lucky, experiencing some great art. 

[High Museum of Art...amazing and varied collection]

I especially like thinking new thoughts...

gaining new insights about my work...

...and myself.

It's so good to "get out of the house", to clear my head and re-energize. The unmeasurable conference "effect" for me is a certain clarity the comes about issues not even related to the conference topics or events.

Does that happen for you too?