A tiny triumph

In this week's newsletter: the importance of working every day, book recommendations, eye and ear candy, and more... 

In this week's newsletter: the importance of working every day, book recommendations, eye and ear candy, and more... View this email in your browser Hey y'all, Here are 10 things I thought were worth sharing this week:    Every time we make something, it's a tiny triumph.   Earlier this week I finished Olivia Laing's book of collected essays, Funny Weather: Art in an Emergency (her book The Lonely City was a favorite of 2016); Anne Truitt's Daybook; and the second Alice book, Through The Looking-Glass, in The Annotated Alice, which is quite excellent.    I'm currently reading John Berger's exploration of drawing, Bento's Sketchbook; an advance copy of Edward Carey's telling of Geppetto's time in the belly of the fish, The Swallowed Man (his novel Little was on my favorite reads of 2018); and Eleanor Perényi's Green Thoughts: A Writer in the Garden, one of my wife's favorite books, which I'm reading at the kitchen table. (I practice what I preach!)   I made it to 100 blind self-portraits.    Solid advice from Emerson: "Work and learn in evil days."   I celebrated Bob Dylan's birthday this week by writing about his songwriting process and artistic thievery.   Eye candy: penguins visit the Nelson-Atkins (wonderful museum), how to draw the Coronavirus,  an ancient Roman mosaic floor unearthed beneath an Italian vineyard, and a seed catalog from 1893 with illustrations that resemble my Pansy Luchadores!   Ear candy: Kelli Anderson hipped me to this 1982 album by Yasuaki Shimizu called Kakashi and I basically know nothing about it but I love it. Elsewhere: Robert Moog explains synthesizers (I want a Data DUO so bad!), Richard E. Grant reads a passage from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and making glorious noise with household appliances.   TV: My wife and I rewatched the entirety of the What We Do In The Shadows TV series. It's so funny, and it's a show that's essentially about the pain of having roommates for eternity, so, you know, super relevant right now. (The original movie, of course, is brilliant, too.)   A message for graduates. Thanks for reading. This newsletter is free, but not cheap. To show your support, forward it to someone who'd like it or buy some of my books.  If you're seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can read previous issues and subscribe here. xoxo,  Austin Austin Kleon is the author of Steal Like An Artist and other books. Subscribe to this newsletter   Copyright © 2020 Austin Kleon, All rights reserved. My mailing address is: Austin Kleon 1101 W 34th St Box #102 Austin, TX 78705 Please read this before sending me snail mail! You're getting this email because you signed up for it at austinkleon.com. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list. Amazon Affiliate links offset the cost of sending these missives. Support your local bookstore if you have one.