Note: Weekly peace images are displayed (as a unit) under the “52 Weeks of Peace” tab above, where there is also a more detailed description of the series.
Kentucky artist Charlie Kratzer transformed his basement using $10 worth of Sharpie markers. Now that’s creative!
Note: Weekly peace images are displayed (as a unit) under the “52 Weeks of Peace” tab above, where there is also a more detailed description of the series.
Some say that bookstores are on the path to extinction. Like ditto sheets and cassette tapes, and tv’s with rabbit ears. In fact, there was a column in the Boston Globe recently about a school that’s planning to discard its entire library and become solely digital.
That’s right, no books at all. (Gasp!) I could hardy believe it. I felt incensed – how dare they take the young away from real live books, the texture of the paper, turning of the pages, the holding and carrying and the lining of shelves with them.
Okay, so a textbook might not be so lovingly treated, and in some ways I might even (dare I?) agree with digitalizing some of that to alleviate not only costs but the cumbersome qualities. But surely that’s not all they teach from. What about novels and short stories and poetry?
I’m no wimp when it comes to the digital world. I adore my Macs. I’ve used them professionally since they were first introduced. They’ve made a massive difference – without the slightest doubt, for the better – in the production aspect of my work. I have enormous appreciation for the wonders of the computer. And I’m definitely on the high end when it comes to time spent and knowing one’s way around the computer. They’re essential – and I love them! I even name them for crying out loud.
But no books? That’s taking it too far.
Yesterday I was signing books at The Town Book Store in Westfield, NJ, and I have to say, it’s a really lovely shop. It’s a small, independent bookstore, but not so tiny that you can’t move around comfortably. Owner Anne Laird has done a beautiful job. It’s well lit, well designed, and truly a pleasure to walk into.
The word delicious comes to mind – the very deliciousness of its books. The Town Book Store is a yummy place with plenty for the eyes to feast upon, and like a box of chocolates, you want to try them all and have a hard time deciding which to taste first. You gaze at the colorful wrappings, you want to pick them up, touch them. You gingerly open first pages with wonder and anticipation of what new acquaintance you’ll meet inside, what new thoughts, journeys, revelations or scrumptious tidbits you’ll discover.
And being in that shop reminded me of that article I’d read about about New England’s Cushing Academy abandoning its library.
How can ebooks ever replace the marvelous textural sensation of bound and printed works? To think they even could! There’s so much more to a book than the printed word … there is the presentation, the feel, the weight, the scent. There’s the deliciousness.
Their passing would be an atrociously sad day.
PS: My daughter also made a fantastic, practical, far less romantic point: “You know, computers crash – books can’t!” …Wise words from a teen.
Brooklyn Book Festival
It was a full weekend here on the east coast, with book signings at the Princeton Children’s Book Festival and the Brooklyn Book Festival. Towns don’t get much prettier than Princeton, and we had spectacular September weather for Sunday’s fair in Brooklyn, Both events were well attended and allowed we author/illustrator types another opportunity to meet and mingle with book lovers of all ages. Oh, and to sell some books too!
This coming weekend, on Saturday the 19th, I’ll be at the Town Book Store in Westfield, a charming shop that happens to be celebrating it’s 75th year of business. The Town Book Store is one of the last remaining independent bookstores in New Jersey. Both of my books – A Book of Fairies and The Book of Mermaids – will be available for signing that day. If you’re in the area between 2 and 4 pm, please stop in!
In anticipation of the Westfield event, a local paper, the Westfield Leader, wrote up a wonderful article (saxton fairytales combine magical words and art) on my children’s books. And this morning I learned that A Book of Fairies has been featured as an anticipated bestseller by CBC (the Children’s Book Council), along with another great new book by my publisher (Shenanigan Books) called Star of the Show. Congratulations to Shenanigan!
You can keep up with newsy book-related items by checking in on the News tab at patriciasaxton.wordpress.com. I know the fairies enjoy the attention. : )
Generally speaking, I’ve always found italic fonts a bit frustrating … the fluid nature one expects from “script” doesn’t always translate well as type – the letters carry too much “sameness”, which has a tendency to then smother the feeling of a natural script, losing vibrancy and becoming dully predictable. This is certainly why there’s been an onslaught of “handwritten” script fonts in recent years – but I’ll get into those later.
For the time being, there remains a time and place for a nice, classic italic font, and while none of these made my previous “10 Indispendable Fonts” list, they’re definitely worthy of note.
Note: Weekly peace images are displayed (as a unit) under the “52 Weeks of Peace” tab above, where there is also a more detailed description of the series.
Once in a while on this blog I segway from concepts of art & design, illustration, writing and marketing into topics more about life and the bigger picture. And today some upliftment seems especially appropriate.
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For all that’s good in life, to be embraced and appreciated, there’s a lot of very real concern too, for some big items on life’s plate. I think we’ve all felt this way at different points in our lives, and quite a few people are feeling it now. You feel stretched and burdened. Sleep is lost. And what happens after too many wakeful nights, the lack of a good night’s sleep becomes cumulative, so when morning comes, it’s tough to rally.
I felt that way this morning. But of course, I did rise. Had a cup of tea, got my daughter’s breakfast and lunch made, drove her to school, came back to set about the work day. While making a second cup of tea, I flipped on the CBS Early Show. They had a segment on a 79-year-old woman named Susie, diagnosed a few months ago with terminal cancer, 6-9 months to live.
Instead of seeking treatment, Susie is living out her own “bucket list” – she’s choosing “life” in a big way. What an inspiration she was (and is)! Maybe you’ve heard of her, but if you haven’t, she’s worth knowing about.
The great thing about Susie is that this isn’t a whim at the end of life – it’s big, and full of intent to live out the rest of her days with gusto, but apparently she’s always had a life-affirming spirit. An example is when her son, at the age of 16, become paraplegic; her guidance was to recognize that, ok, the muscles that don’t work, don’t work, and that’s that – so count the ones that still DO work, and use them for all they’re worth.
She has this immense kind of “get over it” attitude (which is advice she actually offers) – life is a gift – death is just another page of life’s book. She’s fearless and cheerful and unpretentious. She’s a no-nonsense, live life, get on with it person. And I for one am grateful that I “got to meet her” this morning – it put a whole new energy into my day, painted it with different colors, offered a new view. It didn’t change my lack of sleep or the amount or weight of things on my plate, but maybe a different way to hold and carry that plate, at least for today.
Every now and then someone crosses our path who lifts us up. This morning that happened to me. Thank you Susie, and may you fully, utterly enjoy every single moment on your list. And that goes for you reading this, too – as Susie says, life is “in your face”; so go ahead and take it on.
If you want to follow her adventures, there’s a Weadock Bucket List Blog and Weadock Bucket List Facebook page
Week 2: September 7 . 2009
Note: Weekly peace images are also displayed (as a unit) under the “52 Weeks of Peace” tab above, where there is also a more detailed description of the series.
Here is a link to a recent interview given by host Nanci Arvizu of PageReaders.
Nanci is a delight, by the way – and she provides a genuinely positive service by helping to promote authors via her blog talk radio program. I was pleased to take part in our talk about books, art & design.
Click here: Page Readers talks with Patricia Saxton, author of “A Book of Fairies”
September 1 . 2009
Today is my birthday and I’m making my wishes. Lots of them! But among them is a wish that I’m going to explore and illustrate all year long in the form of a personal project, which I’m calling “52 Weeks of Peace”.
Now when I use the word peace, I mean it in a broad, sweeping way .. from the kind of peace that permeates an individual’s soul with a sense of well-being, with love and with joy – to the kind that can move whole groups of humanity into harmony.
Peace is generally considered a quiet thing, like a particularly beautiful sunset – but it can also be loud, like a chorus that lets go and sings boldly to high heaven. Peace can be a meditative, sit-on-the-mountaintop feeling, or the heady, centering adrenaline rush that comes after good, hard athletics. Peace can be a sleeping cat, curled up in a sunny spot, the picture of complete contentment. Peace can be the joyful peels of a child’s laughter. Peace can be a bubbling creek, a cup of tea, the mending of a friendship – or the letting go. It can be found in a kind word, a job well done, a stranger’s smile. Peace graces a spring garden, and kicks up its heels in a snowstorm or a boisterous, pounding waterfall.
Peace doesn’t fight; it calms and exhilarates. Peace is freedom from pain, worry and doubt. Peace reaches over and takes your hand; it delights your heart. Peace feels right from our head to our toes.
And my wish is not just for me, but for you – and for all of us – to see more and experience more of whatever brings more peace, more often, into our lives. (This is one instance where less is not more!)
I’m also going to have a little fun with the designs I’ll be sharing over the next year, and I’ll hope some of that rubs off on whoever may be checking in. And in the end there should be a wide range of feeling and unexpected expression represented.
Some of you may be familiar with my pencil point series. For those of you who aren’t, the pencil point is my logo, and over several years I’ve celebrated that wonderful, marvelous little tool by creating nearly 100 design variations. If you’ve not seen them, and if you’re interested, you can see some of them here: saxtonstudio.com.
I’ll be taking a similar approach with this venture – except there will be a lot more pieces in a much shorter time period. And instead of a pencil point, I’ll be using the universal peace symbol. Each week I’ll post a new creation.
So, without further ado, here is the first – in honor of the first day of September and the first week of “52 Weeks of Peace”. (After this first one, I’ll post them under the “peace” tab above.)
Peace to all – enjoy!
There are literally thousands upon thousands of typefaces, but there are certain classics that will carry with integrity through entire design careers. Although it was somewhat hard to choose. these are the 10 timeless fonts I personally couldn’t do without:
I recently got on my high horse during a conversation about the craft of writing: the debate basically being whether writing and reading are alive or dead, whether we’re becoming/nurturing a breed of illiterates who can only function in 140 characters or less, a world of tweeters and soundbites. Let’s just say the topic sparked my interest.
It’s certainly becoming obvious that peoples’ attention spans in general seem to be shrinking into tiny little boxes, needing – or only able – to hear just what’s essential in as few syllables (and often as few individual letters) as possible … and while this may be due in part to information age overload and everyone’s time being filled up the wazoo, it can still be cause for concern. Are we losing our readers and writers?
I think not (and surely hope not). Those who love to write, write – they can’t NOT write. And those who love to read, read. I don’t believe that’s gone, nor will it be in the near future. The method through which they read and write may evolve, but the art will not die. It might be something as ancient as humanity: an inner sense or desire for storytelling. Soundbites just won’t cut it in that realm; they’ll never be as satisfying as a full story.
All my life I’ve been one of those who feels a compulsion to write. But I learned early on that not everyone shares that interest, skill or passion for writing, and have personally come to terms with that being “the way it is”.
Consider this: well before the advent of tweets and twits, brief emails, or the computer itself, writing was often preempted by a phone call. Before telephones, maybe there were the full-blown multi-page letter-writers, and the postcard-sending types. So it might just be that there have always been “pockets” of those who are simply more inclined toward the written word.
Newspapers and magazines may be going out of business, the publishing world may be in flux, but there’s still a thirst for the written word across all age groups. And what’s more, I think there’s room for both tweeting and writing …as long as they don’t confuse one as the other!
In 100 BC, Latin writer Pubilius Syrus is quoted as saying “You Should Go To A Pear Tree For Pears, Not To An Elm.”
I’ve always thought that made perfect, logical sense.
In a similar vein, if you want an apple, you’d go to an apple tree, and to an orange tree for an orange, right? Or would you ask the apple to behave like an orange, because you’re really hungry for both…
Lately I’ve become increasingly aware of this very kind of attitude (wanting an apple to behave like an orange) infiltrating the professional design field. It’s the idea that creative excellence resides side by side with mathematical expertise and technological wizardry.
It’s not exactly a right brain/left brain comparison, as there are many creatives who are very technologically adept, who can and do operate with both sides of the brain. It’s more the apparent expectation of both aspects to excel with equal brilliance within one individual. And it’s demanding that individuals be not only jacks-of-all-trades, but masters-of-all. (Oh, and by the way, for bottom dollar – an unfortunate side effect that’s been showing up across many professions in the current economic climate.)
It’s a disturbing trend. Because, generally speaking, in the end the expectations don’t seem sustainable, with results that may be less than desirable unless overall quality is of little consequence.
Some may think this expectation just a natural adaptation to changing times, as in fact designers have typically worn many hats. Conceptualist, craftsman, communicator, consultant, coordinator, business negotiator, marketer, developer and keeper of budgets, manager, director, teacher; some of us have multi-medium talents – and we know how to use the tools to make it all happen.
And it’s also true that every profession faces unique challenges almost continually as life, technology and opportunity rapidly evolve. So we all must grow, learn and evolve right along, perhaps even re-invent, which might frustrate some and invigorate others, but is true, nonetheless.
Yet I still feel there is a point of departure in the orchard.
Ask most programmers how they stack up beside designers and vice-versa. They know enough about each other to work effectively together, but aren’t necessarily sufficiently skilled in both to be considered masters of each realm. It’s apples and oranges all over again. Both nutritious fruits, but not derived from the same seed.
If you want an apple, the apple tree is your best bet.
It’s a pleasure to announce that “A Book of Fairies” is now available online and at local bookstores.
Yes, in between designing, illustrating and writing for business clients, I design, write and illustrate children’s books. You can visit the author/illustrator website at patriciasaxton.com for lots more information, some Q&As, links, and games – and the patricia saxton blog, where there are different types of thought articles on creativity, event updates, and a special Sightings page for reading about – or better yet, sharing your own – experiences with the fairy realm!
Note: Patricia will be signing books on September 12 at Princeton, NJ’s Children’s Book Festival, and September 19 at The Town Book Store in Westfield, NJ.