I haven’t shared my art journal in a while, and the honest truth is that I haven’t been working in it much lately. I am still making art, but what I have been doing most often lately is embroidery in bed at night, or reading art books. I will hopefully share some finished embroideries on here soon. My husband and I are renovating our old acreage to sell, and so I haven’t had much gusto at the end of the day. We are nearing the end of all our projects over there, so I am feeling encouraged about that. It’s certainly been a balancing act trying to work there with our 5 kids in tow. Sometimes we take turns going there to work while the other one stays home with the kids. You do what you gotta do!

What I wanted to share today is one of my very favourite free art resources: the library. I may be slightly biased because all through my growing up years, my mom was the librarian in our school’s library. Regardless, it honestly feels like Christmas every time I pop by the library to pick up my requested art books. I live rurally near a village, so our tiny town library doesn’t have many art books to choose from. I went through them quite quickly. But from my phone, I’m able to do a province-wide search for all the libraries in the system. Anytime I discover a new artist I love, I check to see if they have any books, then I check for them in the online library catalogue. I do buy books as well, but it’s nice to preview books first to see which ones you want in your home library. I also like requesting DVDs. The Cloth Paper Scissors series by Interweave has a lot of great material for art journalers, but they have a whole range of other art-related topics available.

I used to work at a library (both at my local town library, then at our local city’s college library) and so I have been known to gift art to my local librarian because I know the extra work it takes on her end when a book is requested, as everything has to be packaged, labeled, and sent through the mail.

Sometimes I feel guilty for the amount of books I request, but I know the books are meant to be read, and not just sit on a shelf.. so I do my part!

Are you an art book lover too? I’d love your recommendations!