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Did you miss our conversation with artist Marion Deuchars? Register here to watch the recording of this inspiring PRINT Book Club discussion and buy your copy of Make Every Day Creative.
You can’t teach someone to draw. But you can tell them to look. Creativity is simply an enhanced way to look at the world.
Marion Deuchars
The blank white page can be a terrifying place to start, but artist and illustrator Marion Deuchars has a hack: color it with tea or some other natural dye, or better yet, ditch the white paper altogether. (Her favorite is a black sketch pad and some white pencils.)
Materials are only half the battle, though. Most of us have a persistent voice in our head that tells us what we can and cannot do. Deuchars has an antidote for that, too: she thinks of artists she loves. For her, Philip Guston and Joan Miro, come to mind, artists who never seem to grow out of their childlike thinking. “If you push yourself into areas you are uncomfortable with,” she says, “that helps to undermine the logical voice that says what’s right and wrong.”
Screenshot from PRINT Book Club with Marion Deuchars (top left), Debbie Millman (top right), and Steven Heller (bottom)
All of the activities in Make Every Day Creative, she explained, are her starting points—a bit like rummaging through her desk to come up with ideas. “It’s a welcome mat to creativity,” said Steven Heller. The activities are ageless and timeless, and many only require the materials you can find in your environment, like carob pods, water, or colorful fall leaves (one of Debbie Millman’s favorites). Or, the birds out your window. (Her birds have great feet according to Heller).
Register here to watch the recording and buy your copy of Make Every Day Creative. Save the date for our March Book Club with Kevin Bethune! He’ll discuss his new book, Nonlinear: Navigating Design with Curiosity and Conviction, on Thursday, March 20 at 4 p.m. ET.
More links to explore:
Marion Deuchar’s website, including her fantastic stone series mentioned in the discussion.
Deuchar’s interview with the Royal College of Art.
The artist’s chat with OFFSET.
The post Banish the Blank White Page: Book Club Recap with Marion Deuchars appeared first on PRINT Magazine.