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Title:
Art & Inspirations - Michael James
Author: Michael James Publisher: C & T Publishing ISBN: 1571200401 Not just for quilters, the Art & Inspirations book series is wonderful as inspiration for crafters in any medium. |
Book Review by Sandi Marshall
| The designs presented are not there to be copied exactly, but to serve as a point of inspiration from which you would then develop your own original work. |
Whether designing for their own enjoyment or for profit, crocheters and other needleworkers charting designs after studying these books are bound to be much more imaginative in their approach to their own design process.
Michael James began with making traditional quilt designs. In your craft medium, following patterns exactly as they are or creating in a traditional manner is a necessary learning process and can also be truly enjoyable but this book may help you then move beyond the usual and help you release your own creativity to develop your own unique style of creativity in your chosen art or craft medium.
As you take a look at the inspiring creations of Michael James and read his thoughts on his design process, you may feel as though you're following him around his studio, gazing at his quilts displayed along the studio walls and listening to his valuable input on his creation of those pieces. You might pause by the "Bedloe's Island Pavement Quilt", based on Amish quilt-making, and begin to realize that sometimes it's good to go for the unexpected in pairing up colors. Looking at the quilt series "Rhythm/Color", based on music and dance, it might dawn on you that some of your own personal interests might be a good basis for a design series that you could develop in your own craft medium. You might realize, with amazement, that Michael James started with simple strips of color and arranged the values and color intensity to form intriguing rhythmic patterns of movement, that will even sometimes appear to have changed after multiple viewings.
You learn that you first need to have a solid basis of knowledge of your craft medium and you can then expand into your own style of creativity. This creativity, that is your own style, will have evolved from many influences.
The style of Michael James evolved from his background in art, with a graduate degree in painting; influences, inspirations and knowledge gained through 25 years of personal and artistic development. Perhaps Michael James will be one of the influences of your creative development?
Feature: Design/Color Inspiration from Other Craft Mediums - Quilt Books
Cover image by permission of C & T Publishing
