Sarah's Books - Used & Rare

Spring...?  Spring...?  Anyone, anyone...?  No takers, apparently.  Because we are in the thick of another blizzard today and tomorrow looks like more of the same.  Also possible flurries the day after that.  The forecast states between one and two feet of new snow, all told.  However, the woodstove is aglow, Hodge is sleeping nearby, Ryan's workplace closed early so he is nearby too, and warm gingerbread just came out of the oven, so we are contented around here, more or less.  I'm also feeling good because I finished volume one of the David Hockney biography by Christopher Simon Sykes, found a decent copy volume two, and am already halfway through reading that - David Hockney: A Pilgrim's Progress 1975-2012 (Doubleday 2014).  In volume one I came across this great statement from Hockney, written by him in 1962 for a group show he took part in (p.116):

"'I paint what I like when I like, and where I like, with occasional nostalgic journeys.  When asked to write on 'the strange possibilities of inspiration' it did occur to me that my own sources of inspiration were wide - but acceptable.  In fact, I am sure my own sources are classic, or even epic themes.  Landscapes of foreign lands, beautiful people, love, propaganda, and major incidents (of my own life).  These seem to me to be reasonably traditional.'"

Pretty great statement of purpose, broad yet specific, BIG but with local feeling too.  It still holds up, after all these years.  Another statement from volume one - Hockney on making money from your art (p.273):

"'If you're an artist,' he wrote, 'the one thing you can do when you get money is to use it to do what you want in art.  That's the only good thing you can ever do for yourself.'"

I would rewrite that last bit to say it's one of the good things you can do for yourself.  There are others!  We just took our tax paperwork to our accountant after spending a previous blizzard-day getting it all sorted out, and I am happy to say that my income from sales of both paintings and books was off the charts last year.  Paintings are in the lead, by a lot.  Books trail far behind but are steady.  I am truly blessed to be able to do what I want to do, and I am taking Hockney's advice and stocking up on everything I need to paint with for the next year and more.  But I am also taking great pleasure in spending some of that money on books, and spending some with other artists, too.  Such as the aforementioned wood engraver Andy English, who is sending this my way:


This is the final state of my first bookplate, printed by Andy from his meticulously engraved block.  He has trimmed all the bookplates by hand.  Each measures three by two inches.  I couldn't be happier, I love it so much!  His engravings of animals, birds, books, and landscapes have charmed me for years and when I suggested that a hedgehog with a palette and brushes was what I most wanted for my art books, this is what he created for me.  Besides being an engraver he is also a painter, and had this small painter's palette on hand to sketch the design from.  I have one too, just like this, hanging on the wall in our living room here at home.

Second bookplate design to follow, soon.  I have the final state and am savoring it.  I feel so greedy, ordering two, but that feeling is akin to book-greed, and therefore not something I feel bad about in the least!  Rather, deep happiness.  I look forward, and hope that a hundred years from now, someone will come across one inside the cover of a book, in a used book shop, and experience that feeling too.