On Words ~ Art ~ Inspiration

I've sure been on a dry blogging spell. Haven't had any time for art, so I guess I haven't thought about posting. The ephemera swap is in full swing and I'm having a fun time collecting all the goodies to disperse to the swapees:) I do have some fun inspiration to share. I'm really into Anahata Katkin's art right now, as many others are. Teesha Moore wrote an article on her in the latest issue of Art & Life. Anahata has the coolest Spare Parts books that have images of ephemera and other bits of wonder to use in your art work. She just came out with a new volume!

From the artist:

"This collection has been put together for you to use as “Spare Parts” for your own visual journey and mixed-media story. It can also serve as an example of one artists palette and inspire you to create & embellish your own. Collage, more than any other art form, has the unique power of symbolic emphasis. Using images from our world and reconfiguring them into new templates is a profound & personal statement. Your life is a composite based on interests & archetypes. Let it shine through your art work and begin to build your own “Symbolic Alphabet!"

Doesn't that sound cool!!! I am so intrigued with her "symbolic alphabet" statement and want to know more. Has anyone heard of this?

Also on her blog, she mentions some really cool free fronts from artist Edwardo Recife. Check them out here. Wow! I think Cassondra used some of Anahata's Papayalicious images in her Away-from-the-Usual book. I love this!!!

Speaking of alphabets and words, I finished Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert last night. Loved what she had to say in the first half or so (Italy and India), wasn't quite as into it when she was in Indonesia. This was the "romance" part of the book and I guess I was more into the soul-searching aspects. However, she really had some interesting explanations of Indonesian culture and I loved how she weaved that into her life story. Overall, it was a really great read and I would highly recommend it.

One fun part of the book is when she is having a conversation about how every city has a word that defines it, it identifies most people that live there. For example, they believe that Rome's word is sex, New York City is achieve, LA is succeed, Stockholm is conform. They expand this game to defining a family with a word, and then themselves. Later in the book Elizabeth decides that her word is antevasin, which means "one who lives at the border." I've been thinking about what is my word? I think mine is GLEAN, "to collect bit by bit". That's pretty much the story of my life:)

What's YOUR word?

Lastly, another neat book that just came out is called Collage Lost and Found: Creating Unique Projects with Vintage Ephemera by Giuseppina Cirincione. I just got it at the library the other day. It has some great ideas!