Studio Friday - Perfect Art Book

This week's Studio Friday topic is "the perfect art book":

"As I was talking about books so much lately... if there was the ideal book for you as an artist on studios and life as an artist what would be the absolute most important thing in your eyes for it to have in it? What kinds of topics, elements, images would you love to have in it? A few words from your favourite artist as well? What would inspire you, what would support you, give you courage? Would you like it to be a big book with tons of pages or a small book?"

I don't recall ever seeing a book about life as an artist-- or studios-- so I have no idea what usually is in them... But I'll give it a go, anyway. ;o)

--My first thought is a big, flat book-- the traditional coffee table book-- but the idea of a small, fat book is very charming, so maybe I'd prefer that.

--It would need gorgeous, luscious photographs of artistic works in progress and work tables. I want to see the balls of clay, tubes of paint-- whatever the artist uses-- scattered across the table or arranged neatly in rows-- however the artist truly works.

--Overviews of the studio as a whole are nice, but what I really want are more detailed shots of work areas, projects at various stages of completion, material stockpiles, etc.

--Again, beautiful photographs of supplies, work stations, and "art in progress" would be the key for me, I think. When I see those things, I am inspired to create something of my own that is also beautiful.

--As for topics... I really don't know.

--The prompt mentions things that would support us or give us courage. Maybe it would help to know that even this artist has moments of self-doubt. S/he could explain how s/he deals with them. That might be encouraging. Or just someone simply stating what I already know to be true-- It doesn't matter if no-one understands your art. It isn't vitally important that you be successful with the art-buying market or with other artists. All that really matters is that you do something that you love. Try to just enjoy the process and not worry about anyone else. ...Of course, this works better if you're an "on the side" artist or hobbyist. If you're making your living from your artwork, you need to find someone who likes it, I guess... ;o)

I'm more of a project/technique book junkie than a "gorgeous studio book" fan, so nothing more than that comes immediately to mind. So that's all I'll write... (g) Gee, I'm awkward today!