Unless you know me really well, you wouldn’t know that 40 some years ago, I went to college for an art degree. When I’m not at work at the library, I enjoy creating things.
I haven’t painted for a long while and tend to be more crafty these days. Now that I no longer have children at home and have more free time, I would like to get back to painting.
Are you wondering what this has to do with “art inspiration at the library?” As I said, I want to paint and use my brushes again. The book “Daily Painting” by Carol Marine has a type of painting I want to try.
I learned about this book from a great blog I follow by Marian Parsons at missmustardseed.com, and was pleased to find out that we had it in our collection. The book recommends that you paint every day. They don’t have to be great paintings, but you get into the habit of using your brushes, canvases and paints regularly. The object is to jump-start your creativity and encourage experimentation. These small paintings can be finished quickly with no great time commitment.
The crafty side of me has been leading some quilling classes at the library. We’ve done Christmas cards, Valentines and coming up is Mother’s Day. Again, I had done this years ago. It’s been fun brushing up, learning new techniques and meeting others who enjoy doing crafts. To get me going again, I looked at the books “Paper Quilling for the First Time” and “New Concepts in Paper Quilling: Techniques for Cards & Gifts.”
Once you begin to look around the library, you realize that inspiration is everywhere. If oil painting or quilling is not what you’re looking for, we have books on drawing, watercolors, sewing, knitting, crocheting –- all kinds of arts and crafts. If you look on the library’s resources page at mybcpl.org under automotive and hobbies, you’ll see the Hobbies and Crafts Reference Center where you’ll find ideas and articles about arts and crafts, collecting, kids crafts, scrapbooking and more.
Back in our magazine section, you’ll find issues of The Artist’s Magazine and American Patchwork & Quilting to take home, along with DVDs on how to use acrylics, watercolors, knitting and crocheting. Gale Courses online offers Drawing for the Absolute Beginner, which is interactive and fun!
If these ideas aren’t quite what you’re looking for we have two more nifty books filled with hundreds of ideas: “The Artist’s Library: A Field Guide” and “BiblioCraft: A Modern Crafter’s Guide to Using Library Resources to Jumpstart Creative Projects.” These books guide you in how to use the library as an artistic resource by giving you projects and exercises to stretch your creative muscles.
Last week, a patron came to the library looking for a book that would show her how to draw a pine cone. My first thought was “Uh oh, that’s pretty specific. Will I be able to help her?” Long answer short, yes! It took some digging, but we were able to find several books that showed her how to draw a pine cone and other objects from nature. It’s a very good feeling when someone leaves with materials from a successful search.
Adults aren’t the only ones who can be inspired by coming to the library. There are many programs, activities and lots of books to inspire a young artist in both the Teen and Children’s areas. Check out our monthly event guide to see what’s happening for all ages.
To close with a quote from Andrew Carnegie who said, “A library outranks any other one thing a community can do to benefit its people. It is a never failing spring in the desert.” This year as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Cleo Rogers Memorial Library, we invite you to be inspired by resources available at your library.
Michele Bottorff is the Bartholomew County Public Library’s reference librarian. She can be reached at [email protected].
