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In this second edition of #ThursdayQuotes, I will share a quote from one of my favorite books since childhood.





"I like good strong words that mean something".


from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott



The quote is one from Jo, the tomboyish, hot-tempered, geeky fifteen-year-old girl we find when we are introduced. You can hear the trouble in her name – she's called Josephine, a feminine name, but she goes by the more masculine-sounding Jo. Jo also loves literature, both reading and writing it. She composes plays for her sisters to perform and writes stories that she eventually gets published.


Jo hopes to do something extraordinary when she grows up, although she's not sure what that might be – perhaps writing a great novel. Whatever it is, it won't involve getting married; Jo hates the idea of romance because marriage might break up her family and separate her from the sisters she adores.


As we can guess, Jo is sure to be a semi-autobiographical stand-in for the author, Louisa May Alcott. Like Jo, Alcott was one of four sisters, with a philosophically-minded father, strong religious principles, and a penchant for writing.










What about the quote?


In this day of Twitter and Facebook, are "good, strong words" a good idea? Have we lost the joy and delight of children's books? Are newspapers a thing of the past? Have we lost good grammar in signature shortcuts like LOL, or OMG?


Like all these Thursday posts, please tell me your thoughts in the comment section below this post.


Pin it, please.






An artist doesn't work out of a vacuum. My ideas come from things that I see or dream. Yet, the ideas need to connect to the technique. The creative process has been studied by many, for example, The Five Stages of the Creative Process. I don't dwell on this, but I am sure I go through each stage. I don't analyze my process. I know that I do prep work, an idea "incubates," I do have "aha" moments, I evaluate what I'm going to do and what I need for materials, and I carry out a physical process, combining materials, technique, visuals, and the final result.




I don't often head for the myriad of art books that I have. More often than not, I have the images in my head before I start my work. A sketch, some pencil work, and I am off and running. I often work from my photographs, even if I have the objects in front of me (a still life). But art books do charge my batteries. Flipping through pages sometimes is enough to give me ideas for how to get a certain effect.


So here is my list:



I don't draw/or paint many people. Why is this my number 1? Well, for me, it's a desire to know figure drawing. As an art student at the Universidad de las Americas in Mexico, we had to draw every major muscle in the body and then overlay the skin to draw that body part. Whew. I still hear the professor: "The deltoid muscle raises the arm to a horizontal plane."



These books vary by level and are available in Paperback, Kindle, or Hardcover.









By Carrie Stuart Parks and Rick Parks. Paperback.



By Mark Millenbrink. Available in Kindle and Paperback.



By Caroline Linscott. Assorted lessons. Paperback.



By Gordon MacKenzie. Hardcover. Intermediate.


By Claudia Nice. Kindle, Hardcover, and Paperback.



By Emma Lefebre - Paperback, Kindle, and Hardcover.



By Rosalie Haizlet. Paperback.



By Saunna Russell. Paperback.



By Marina Bakasova. Paperback.



By Peggy Dean. Paperback.



By Ann Mortimer. Paperback. 18 Books.








Pin it, please. Comment below.










 
 
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