The Blank Canvas: Inviting the Muse

I am one of the "beginning artists" at whom this book is aimed. (Just give me a moment to giggle at the person who complained that a book called "The Blank Canvas" is for painters. Okay, I'm over it.) This concise, easy to digest (but certainly not simplistic) text gives suggestions on how to find subjects on your own, which is where I am in my art, I need to know HOW to get ideas. It's not written in that mucky, "Vein of Metallic Glitter" mode, either. I believe anyone who makes visual art (drawings, paintings, sculpture, computer art, for instance)--and who is "stuck"--will find this useful. Also, it gives very helpful advice on good art habits that will help you keep flexible and open to what actually constitutes a subject. (BTW, if you are a writer, I'd suggest "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott or "Writing Down the Bones" by Natalie Goldberg, for similar but more writerly :) suggestions.)Well worth what I paid for it, and a welcome addition to my art library.

I started drawing about sixty years ago, when I was four years old. I love this book. Everyone should have a copy nearby. It's a small book, about five by six inches, so it'll fit in your field kit. The best thing about this book is that you can open it to any page and find good, down to earth advice that'll settle you down into your art making place. It's not just for painters, and it's not just for beginners. It's meant for any artist in any medium who has the crazy desire to create something from nothing.

While there are quite a few good books about making art, particularly for beginners, this one is especially helpful. It offers just enough, but not too much: plenty of ideas & approaches to finding & using one's creative potential, without overwhelming the reader with more than can be handled at one sitting. It's not so much about technical advice as it is about reframing the ways you perceive making art … or, to be more specific, how to get past the popularly assumed pre-conceptions about making art, which can trip you up & entangle you before you even start. Often it simply invites you to pause & really mull over what you want to make & how you want to make it: really, asking you to consider why you're making art in the first place, what it does for you, and to follow that wherever it might lead. Not so much a rule book as a guide & suggestion book, in other words. Recommended!

This is an excellent read that I plowed through on Saturday. I think I ended up highlighting half the book. If you’re an artist (of any kind) I would highly recommend it. If you’re an artist who has ever experienced writer’s block then I would consider it required reading.

I bought this book a few years ago and return to it over and over. Thoughtful, helpful, compassionate and also straightforward in identifying traps and pitfalls of art creation.

A very interesting book for those artsts "en panne" d'inspiration. . It expresses the problems that many artists meet but rarely talk about. I shall re read it several times.

Ok first read through, if you read it again you find yourself highlighting, if you read again you may write in the margins

The book has many good points that are reasonable but one glaring fault. This writer believes that you should not use literature as much as you should. It's no wonder a book like this had to to written, if this is the prevailing attitude. The reference in the book by the author is found on page 68." Think about doing images associated with, not illustrating, a favorite novel or poem."You have got to be kidding. This is the entire instruction about using literature as a well-spring for artistic ideas and the instruction is not to illustrate. For one thing illustrating an idea from literature is illustrating but it doesn't make you an illustrator. The greatest artists in human history have used literature as their source for the art they completed, illustrating all along the way. On the instruction by this author we are to be denied this artistic heritage because the author is afraid of being accused of being an illustrator. Give me a timeless mythological picture by Titian over a million poorly painted scenes by modern artists of some insignificant event in the artist's life or worse some meaningless blobs and splotches that we're supposed to derive some feeling about.All religious art is based on literature. This means the author is suggesting that you should ignore the entire Renaissance and forget about painting a picture that deals with that subject. No wonder you can't find anything to paint, and this author will give you a round about way to help you so that, heaven forbid, you won't illustrate. Mythological subjects are also based on literature. Some of the greatest paintings of the western world are based on religious and mythological subjects. Should we ignore the works of Michelangelo, Titian, Raphael, William Blake, and a thousand artists that were all better than many modern masters. I think not. Art that deals with current events is also recorded mostly as literature in newspapers. What about written, literature, histories. I suppose we should ignore all of that as well. Historical painters were at one time considered the best and most skill full of the artists. I guess you really need this book because by taking out all of these topics dealing with literature you don't have anything to paint.You can not be hypocritical about utilizing the ideas of earlier works of art and then in same breath deny the source which in many instances is literary. This author says that we should trust the work of the old masters because they have stood the test of time which many modern artist have not. This is true, fashion is fickle and modern artists that deny using literature as a well spring may easily find their star waning in the future when critics beyond this time find no reason for their art beyond it's decorative effect and insipid subject matter. Give me someone of talent that illustrates great literature any day over some of the modern drivel I've seen. If this is the course your teaching count me out as your pupil. I'll be in the class with the illustrators doing fine art which won't be half baked.