1/ Gallery Detroit Notebook
2/ Miliko Softcover Notebooks, Set of 4
3/ Large Corner Ring Bound Notebook
4/ Notebook for Creatives
5/ Paint Splatter Mini Notebook
6/ Marble Article 06 Notebook
7/ Sketch Book Monument
8/ Object Notebook in Midnight
9/ Mudcloth Print Paper Journal
10/ Radial Graph Notebook
Because of the sharp lines and side-by-side high contrast artist Siobhan McBride uses, many of her pieces look like collages at first glance. But look for a little while longer and you’ll start to notice subtle shading and other intricacies that can only be achieved by the skilled brush of a painter.
The Monday after this year’s Women’s March seems like an ideal day to share Johanna Goodman‘s The Catalogue of Imaginary Beings! All women, all fierce, all powerful. Each elongated figure is a collage combining elements of art, design, and architecture with references to cultural artifacts such as talismans, idols, and totems.
Zara Picken is a UK-based illustrator with a very graphic style that’s reminiscent of mid-century art. Each piece, commissioned or personal, has a strong concept and lots of visual punch featuring her trademark 2D flat perspective.
Andie Dinkin‘s paintings and illustrations sit firmly on the line between traditional and modern in her very own distinctive style. The faces with shallow features and little detail, the garments that are difficult to assign a time period to, the color palettes that make you study each piece rather than simply view it. My favorites are the crowded scenes, a sort of Where’s Waldo on a considerably elevated scale.
After years working as a graphic designer, Ian Palmer turned his attention towards being an artist. Precipitated by his family moving from England to a 200 year old barn in southwest France, Palmer found himself surrounded by beautiful mountain and countryside views full of inspiration. I really like his ability to layer colors and when he uses a heavy hand with trowels and drips.
I’m having a moment with the work of Italian-born, London-based painter and illustrator Alessandra Genualdo. Each piece feels so very melancholy and introspective, even when filled with bright saturated colors. As you’ve probably noticed by now the time of year drastically affects the kind of art I’m drawn to, and Alessandra’s work feels perfectly suited to how I spend Januarys.
Shop Alessandra Genualdo’s work
Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur
A collection of poetry and prose about survival. About the experience of violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity. The book is divided into four chapters, and each chapter serves a different purpose. Deals with a different pain. Heals a different heartache.
The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair
This book tells the unusual stories of seventy-five fascinating shades, dyes, and hues. From blonde to ginger, the brown that changed the way battles were fought to the white that protected against the plague, Picasso’s blue period to the charcoal on the cave walls at Lascaux, acid yellow to kelly green, and from scarlet women to imperial purple, these surprising stories run like a bright thread throughout history.
Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks
A gentle Eastern European immigrant arrives in New York City after his family and his life have been torn apart by his country’s civil war. A man who loves to bowl rolls a perfect game – and then another and then another and then many more in a row until he winds up ESPN’s newest celebrity, and he must decide if the combination of perfection and celebrity has ruined the thing he loves. These are just some of the tales Tom Hanks tells in this first collection of his short stories.
The World of Lore: Monstrous Creatures by Aaron Mahnke
In this beautifully illustrated volume, the host of the hit podcast Lore serves as a guide on a journey through the history of these terrifying creatures, exploring not only the legends but what they tell us about ourselves. In a world of “emotional vampires” and “zombie malls,” the monsters of folklore have become both a part of our language and a part of our collective psyche. Whether these beasts and bogeymen are real or just a reflection of our primal fears, we know, on some level, that not every mystery has been explained and that the unknown still holds the power to strike fear deep in our hearts and souls.
Literally Me by Julie Houts
Julie Houts has cultivated a devoted following as “Instagram’s favorite illustrator” by lampooning the conflicting messages and images women consume and share with the world every day. A collection of darkly comic illustrated essays, Literally Me chronicles the exploits of “slightly antisocial heroines” in vivid, excruciatingly funny detail.
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay
It was a cloudless summer day in the year 1900. Everyone at Appleyard College for Young Ladies agreed it was just right for a picnic at Hanging Rock. After lunch, a group of three girls climbed into the blaze of the afternoon sun, pressing on through the scrub into the shadows of the secluded volcanic outcropping. Farther, higher, until at last they disappeared. They never returned.
Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo by Grant Faulkner
Designed to kick-start creativity, this handbook from the executive director of National Novel Writing Month gathers a wide range of insights and advice for writers at any stage of their career. From tips about how to finally start that story to helpful ideas about what to do when the words just aren’t quite coming out right.
All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
The stunningly beautiful bestseller about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II. Deftly interweaving their lives, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another.
Other People We Married by Emma Straub
Straub creates characters as recognizable as a best friend, and follows them through moments of triumph and transformation with wit, vulnerability, and dazzling insight. In “Some People Must Really Fall in Love,” an assistant professor takes halting steps into the awkward world of office politics while harboring feelings for a freshman student. Two sisters struggle with old assumptions about each other as they stumble to build a new relationship in “A Map of Modern Palm Springs.” These twelve stories, are filled with sharp humor, emotional acuity, and joyful language.
Mark Thompson‘s grayscale paintings feel exactly like January. It’s been frigid and full of snow in many parts of the U.S., making everything feel washed-out and salt covered. Thompson says of his paintings that they are works of memory, not of any one time or place but a world distilled.
Phil Galloway creates some of the most incredible digital paintings I’ve seen yet. (Could you even tell? It took me a minute!) The Cheshire, U.K. based artist specializes in pencil and digital portraits with a focus on expressive realism. Lately he’s been moving into oils, pastels, and charcoal in the same style.
