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True Colors: A Palette of Collaborative Art Journals
Somerset Studio Presents True A Palette of Collaborative Art Journals
Reflective. Explosive. Playful. Heart Felt. Monochromatic. Riotous. No rules. No boundaries. No wonder the 16 extraordinary color journals black, white and all the colors in between burst out of their covers and into our imaginations.
Fifteen amazing artists wanted to see what they could do with a single color scheme. Each artist contributed a journal cover in her chosen palette and a page in each journal. The finished works are filled with page after page of techniques and mediums, including stamping, painting, sketching, fabric art, metalwork, transfers and layered texturing -- a wide spectrum of artistry and skill.
Somerset Studio brings you the remarkable artwork of this project in a one publication. True Colors features hundreds of photographs showcasing each journal and the spectacular effects created within a narrow prism of color. In addition, the artists will share their stories about the project and their own inspiration behind the colorful pages.
Reflective. Explosive. Playful. Heart Felt. Monochromatic. Riotous. No rules. No boundaries. No wonder the 16 extraordinary color journals black, white and all the colors in between burst out of their covers and into our imaginations.
Fifteen amazing artists wanted to see what they could do with a single color scheme. Each artist contributed a journal cover in her chosen palette and a page in each journal. The finished works are filled with page after page of techniques and mediums, including stamping, painting, sketching, fabric art, metalwork, transfers and layered texturing -- a wide spectrum of artistry and skill.
Somerset Studio brings you the remarkable artwork of this project in a one publication. True Colors features hundreds of photographs showcasing each journal and the spectacular effects created within a narrow prism of color. In addition, the artists will share their stories about the project and their own inspiration behind the colorful pages.
- GenresArtJournalingNonfiction
288 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
December 19, 2017
I think all people – especially artists – have their favorite "eye candy" books, that are just so engagingly beautiful to look at, that they pull them out to admire again and again, year after year.
True Colors: A Palette of Collaborative Art Journals
is one of those books for me.
A visual reference and compelling documentation of an all-women's (probably coincidentally though, as this is not emphasized) round-robin art journal project, True Colors was the brainchild of mixed media artist Lynne Perrella. For the better part of a year, spanning 2001-2002, she and fourteen other noted artists participated: They first created an art journal based on a color or group thereof (examples include: green, white, aqua, sepia, blue & ochre, pink & orange, metallics, and, imaginatively, the group of colors described by "autumn floor"). Then each journal was sent to a different artist, who had two weeks to make her contributions to it based on the given color scheme, before sending it off to the next artist on the list and receiving the next one herself. At the end of the project, the creator of each journal received her own original journal back, but now filled with the amazing artwork, custom-created especially for her by fourteen of her peers – and now friends. By the next year, arty publisher Somerset Studio (a division of Stampington & Company) compiled their stories, interviews, and of course, lots of photographs, into this glossy, large-format font of inspiration.
When I was just starting out in art, the artists represented in this volume are the ones whose art, blogs, and tutorials I was following online and in print – luminaries such as Karen Michel, Teesha Moore, Michelle Ward, Claudine Hellmuth, Anne Bagby, and project organizer Lynne Perrella. This book showcases their incredible range of both materials and imagination, and I cannot tell you how many times I referred back to it for ideas (even though it is more a documentary, not a DIY book, and provides no instructions outside of the artists' general descriptions) and just for my own general bliss!
That being said, as much as I love this book, it's a bit dated, as each of these artists' work has progressed so much in the intervening sixteen years, and so has my own. If I were to have picked up this book for the first time today, I would have only given it four stars, but because it was so groundbreaking and had so much influence on me at the time, I'll let its original five stars stand.
A visual reference and compelling documentation of an all-women's (probably coincidentally though, as this is not emphasized) round-robin art journal project, True Colors was the brainchild of mixed media artist Lynne Perrella. For the better part of a year, spanning 2001-2002, she and fourteen other noted artists participated: They first created an art journal based on a color or group thereof (examples include: green, white, aqua, sepia, blue & ochre, pink & orange, metallics, and, imaginatively, the group of colors described by "autumn floor"). Then each journal was sent to a different artist, who had two weeks to make her contributions to it based on the given color scheme, before sending it off to the next artist on the list and receiving the next one herself. At the end of the project, the creator of each journal received her own original journal back, but now filled with the amazing artwork, custom-created especially for her by fourteen of her peers – and now friends. By the next year, arty publisher Somerset Studio (a division of Stampington & Company) compiled their stories, interviews, and of course, lots of photographs, into this glossy, large-format font of inspiration.
When I was just starting out in art, the artists represented in this volume are the ones whose art, blogs, and tutorials I was following online and in print – luminaries such as Karen Michel, Teesha Moore, Michelle Ward, Claudine Hellmuth, Anne Bagby, and project organizer Lynne Perrella. This book showcases their incredible range of both materials and imagination, and I cannot tell you how many times I referred back to it for ideas (even though it is more a documentary, not a DIY book, and provides no instructions outside of the artists' general descriptions) and just for my own general bliss!
That being said, as much as I love this book, it's a bit dated, as each of these artists' work has progressed so much in the intervening sixteen years, and so has my own. If I were to have picked up this book for the first time today, I would have only given it four stars, but because it was so groundbreaking and had so much influence on me at the time, I'll let its original five stars stand.
March 20, 2007
Beautiful! Colors Colors Colors! An incredibly inspirational book for all sorts of artists. I refer to this book all the time.
May 17, 2022
Fantastic book of collage art and inspiration.
March 5, 2013
A great book for quilters, book artists, people who love color. Fifteen women artists collaborated on this book. Each one began a journal themed by a color or a color scheme. Then the artists had to finish a section of the journal using their own artistic bent and the overall color scheme. True colors includes the pages that each woman contributed as well as their observations about the collaboration and the color scheme. Really nice and inspiring.
September 19, 2013
An interesting visual foray into the world of “Round Robins,” the exchange of art projects between artists. This book provides a nice overview of the styles of the 15 different artists who participated in this art journals exchange, each choosing a color as a theme for her own book I personally don’t care that much for cute stories as the vehicle for vintage photos cut, collaged, heavily glued, welded, etc., with trinkets dangling from every page, but to each his, –err-, her own.
May 26, 2008
this book is an amazing creation and it started a trend of collaborative art that is still going strong!
January 11, 2011
What a cool idea! Fourteen women artists across the country working collaboratively on mixed media journals. LOVE this book, the ideas and the journals. Would love to see the journals "in person".
October 25, 2020
A classic. Every page is a joy.
June 3, 2008
eye candy!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews