Instruction Books

From the day my 5year old daughter got hold of this book and "I can draw animals" she is stuck with these. She completed 4 drawings at one sitting and always wants to do more. The best part is the simple visual instruction that shows the way without any adult supervision. Great book!

I bought this book for my six year old daughter. The book has simple steps for drawing that were easy for my daughter to make. My daughter has gained confidence and feels great when she has to make drawings for her book report. I also enjoy these drawings. We recommend the book.

..but don't know what to draw. It is full of ideas involving people and is easy to follow for children who cannot read.

Hours and hours of fun! My 4 year old daughter and my 4 year old nephew received these for Christmas. They both use these books for hours and we also do it as a family. These (I Can Draw Animals, I Can Draw People, What Shall I Draw Today) are the only ones we have so far, but they are super. Not only are these books teaching my little girl how to draw, but reinforcing time alone drawing, group activity, sharing and "Please pass the yellow", etc... Every child should have these books.

I Can Draw People is an excellent teaching book for young children. It teaches them how to draw in simple steps. It is easy to follow with pictures kids love. This book and series helps children gain confidence in their art skills.

Why is this book so good? Unlike most books, Richards takes the time to explain why each of the example pieces are important, and what you should pay extra attention to. He also really holds your hand in the improvisation practices by suggesting notes (and explaining why the suggested notes were suggested). Also very good is the use of different keys in the pieces. Some blues books tend to stick to C or G, but in this book the keys are varied (and Richards suggests going back through the pieces in other keys, which is a very good idea).

My only wish is that Richards makes a sequel to this book. This does not mean that this book isn't completely jammed with material, or is too easy: no on both accounts. I found myself wanting to learn more of the advanced "cliche's" which make Blues sound like the Blues. Nonetheless, this book is the best there is on the market for blues or improvisation instruction.

This is, by far, the best blues piano book out there. Mark Harrison's book is also good, but more as a quick guide for those who already have some chops and some understanding of theory.

Richards' book is a full course in Blues theory and practice and as such, you have to work through it. I've been at it for 14 months now and have just finished the second chapter. The material is perfectly paced for a pianist of my level (about Gr. 2-3, RCM, 30+ years ago). The pieces are fun to play and jam packed with important ideas and blues cliches. I'm really starting to see the beginnings of true hand independence that works , not only when I play memorized pieces, but that I can invoke when trying improvisations!

If you want to play professional-level blues piano in a month, then this is not the book for you. If, however, you live in the real world and are prepared to work at it, this book will do more than show a few riffs or tricks. It will give you a deep and firm foundation in popular piano improvisation in general, and blues in particular. I estimate I'll be another couple of years with this book and I can't wait to get back to it!

This book is a work of genius. Thank you, Tim Tichards!

I'm an aspiring jazz pianist in Canada (I'm 32). I'm another one of the victims of the classical music education system that was taught to read the page and nothing else. I always thought that people who were good at jazz and could play by ear were born that way.

When I was in high school I wanted to play jazz piano. Someone recommended the Mark Levine book to me. I tried going through it but gave up because I couldn't even figure out what a II-V was from his explanation. I figured jazz was this impenetrable language. I was sick of classical lessons by that time and gave up the piano.

Fast forward ten years when I decided I didn't want all those hours of practicing (before school, even) to go to waste. I headed to a local music store and literally went through every piano book before I found IBP. It's pretty much been a revelation, from discussions of notations to chord types to ideas. I still suck at improvising, but before this book I wouldn't have even tried.

I've got Tim's other two books on my shelf, patiently waiting for me to get to them. Seriously, his books are phenomenal. If I had found IBP back in high school instead of Mark Levine's brick wall of jazz accessibility, I might be ten years ahead. I can't recommend it highly enough. Rumour has it he's working on a fourth book about Latin piano, too.

There realy are not many great methods for the blues out there, but Tim Richards is thorough and goes into the required detail to show you how each blues style works.

The examples are very playable, suiting more or less an intermediate level pianist. Richards is one of the few take-away instruction teachers to be concerned about fingerings, and takes the trouble to suggest good ones. His playing instructions work very well and add a dimension that you don't often get in these method books - he has a great insight into the chords, and the notes and the way they fit the music. The breakdown of theory is very well explained, if sometimes overdone. But he never floods you with scales without showing you how to apply them - that in itself is a good thing!

Richards' choice of music is impeccable, and calssic blues standards of af all styles are presented from boogie, to funk, slow blues, and some jazzy numbers. And he shows you music in a number of keys so you aren't stuck to one or two and get a work out in the other keys. I found the music very playable, and well sounding, although I didn't always find the improvising instructions that intuitive.

The historical background he gives is accurate and informative and the pictures of blues and jazz legends really make this book interesting.

My criticism of the book is that it should have stretched up to the more advanced techniques of the blues - where the top players are, like Oscar Peterson, for example. That is its dissapointment - a teacher as good as this who dedicated the time to work a out a progressive and different course in blues shouldn't have stopped at the middle level. He surely should have stretched us, his interested audience up to the highest level.

But this should not stop you from using this very useful and inspiring book - I Thank you sincerely Tim.

Now and then you run across a method book that makes you a better player and is great fun to work through. "Improvising Blues Piano" is one such book. It starts out very simply and steadily progresses to a pretty sophisticated level. The accompanying disk is well recorded and the author's playing, particularly his timing, is quite musical. On most examples, if you can make your playing sound like Tim Richards, you'll really swing.

Starting in "C" and moving on to other familiar blues keys, the author mixes theory and practice in a logical progression of "bite sized" lessons that are very complete and doesn't assume anything about the student. At first, the experienced player may find the pace a bit slow but each section builds smoothly upon the foundation of the preceding material and I think it's worth while to patiently work on your weaknesses. When you can make those first simple exercises sound really musical, you've learned something valuable.

The volume is accessible to beginners (this will take you a long way) while remaining useful for the more advanced because there is so much good content. I particularly like that he weaves in biographical information of known blues players along with examples of their style. The history of blues unfolds along with the student's expanding ability to play.

If you are interested in the blues, I can't think of a better learning tool.

I found these tapes very helpful in preparing for a trip to Japan. They were a good supplement to basic lessons since listening and repeating is the way we all learn language. I also liked the practice in being able to understand Japanese enough to formulate an answer. The tape gives you the opportunity to speak Japanese in response to conversation, yet still repeating the correct words and intonation. The price was great too. The only drawback was the somewhat limited selection of phrases used. I learned them well but got tired of asking and responding to "do you want to eat something ?"

This is worth doing if you dont have a lot of time and need some survival Japanese.

Quick and simple: I used over 10 different tapes, and these were the only ones that I could learn from. The tapes go through phonetic pronunciation as well as interacting with the student forcing them to think about the words and recall them when prompted. Pimsluer is THE BEST!!!

I'm a language teacher and I've sampled several of the Pimsleur basic courses. I've concluded that they're great IF: 1. You're a beginner in the language. If you already know the basics, the leisurely pace and frequent repetition will drive you up the wall. But for a novice, that's just what you need. 2. There aren't any subtle phonetic distinctions in the language itself that need to be explained in writing beforehand. For example, in the Cantonese tape, the word for "you" sounded like "lay" when the female speaker said it and "nay" when the male spoke. This needed to be explained. Fortunately, the Japanese pronunciation is clear and simple throughout. 3. You want a tape that you can listen to while driving or walking. These are perfect for that.

So far, I've found the Japanese tape to be the pick of the litter, followed by Swiss German, Haitian Creole, and Western Armenian. I couldn't stand more than a few minutes of German and Spanish, which I already know, but for someone else, they might be just the ticket.

Again, if you want a good place to start with Japanese, Pimsleur makes it a walk in the park.

I am taking a beginners level Japanese course and I found the Pimsleur Japanese tapes a great supplement to the classroom work. I think it does a great job in providing positive feedback and confidence for a beginner. In contrast with some of the critical reviews I've read, I found the tapes to be very good. Sure, after the four tapes you're not going to be a native speaker. You will be familiar with the sentence structure and some verb use in a very painless manner. It's actually fun! I'd like to do the entire course, but the price of the complete course is high.

Consists of 8 lessons 30 minutes each for 4 hours instruction. I spent 30+ hours listening and repeating each lesson multiple times in my car while commuting. I highly recommend this product as well worth the money. What it teaches, it teaches well. But, only 4 hours of lessons has its limits. The selection of phrases I am sure is good but still, limited due to the fact that it is only 4 CDs. I live on a tropical island and meet Japanese tourists every day, these lessons have been great but I still can't carry on a significant conversation. These CDs, which were easier and had me speaking better than a ... eight week class at the community college, gave me the ability to attempt a conversation with a Japanese speaker. I have just ordered the Pimsleur Japanese One 15 CD set ... . Wish me luck. My recommendation is, if you need to get comfortable speaking a few Japanese phrases like "My name is", "I'm an American", and "I only understand and speak Japanese a little", so that you are ready to go up to a Japanese person and say "Hi", order this product. If you are serious about and want to learn conversational Japanese, skip this product and go for the much more expensive Pimsler Japanese One.

this will teach you the fundamentals in creating your own voice in jazz guitar, instead of wriggling your fingers, now you can play interesting triadic lines and hip modern superimposed harmonies, thank you andrew green!

Very clever book, I never read the notions explained here anywhere else,
or maybe it was because it wasn't clear enough. The material is precisely
organized and the examples sound great. This gave me another way to hear
bebop, recognizing some structures.

You have a lot to work on this stuff to make it comes naturally, but the
challenge is really worthy, so good luck !

peace

This book, though limited to just a few melodic structures, gives a very good insight to what improvisation is about: telling your own story, using coherent and consistent melodic structures. It goes to the basis, and because it doesn't overwhelm you with all possible modes/scales/structures but just sticks to a few powerfull tools, enables you to understand and implement. A must for the advanced guitar player.

I have all of Green's books and they are uniformly excellent. Structures gives you a wealth of applicable information. Not scales, or licks, or weenie theory, but applicable ideas. Intermediate++.

This book has been the stepping stone I need to get to applying arpeggios all over the neck and combining different sounds with them. I've only gotten through the 1st section (minor arpeggios) and I'm not only more able to connect arpeggios over the neck but also able to substitute them in over other chords. For instance, before this book I didn't know how to substitute and play only minor arpeggios over a ii V I progression. Now I know multiple ways and can very the sound depending on degree of the chord I build off of. There is a lot of information and so much to get out of the book. The other sections that I haven't even gotten to yet covers in the same way how to use and apply major triad +2 and minor tetrachords.

The best thing about Andrew's two books I have (Comping is the other I have) is they way he presents things. The examples he gives allow you to understand the concept and then later know how to easily apply it. So many books give too few examples that are so easily applicable outside the book.

To get a better idea of the contents of the book, check out Andrew Green's website at www.[...]com. This along with his Comping book have been two of my favorite books in a while. Know that both of these books require reading skills (no tab) and they are not aimed at beginners.

i bought this book after seeing the sargent show at the met in new york. i have been studing it ever since. mr ormand, ms. kilmurray please hurry. you have brought the works of this great american master to life as no one has done before and i look forward in anticipation to vol 2.

i bought this book after seeing the sargent show at the met in new york. i have been studing it ever since. mr ormand, ms. kilmurray please hurry. you have brought the works of this great american master to life as no one has done before and i look forward in anticipation to vol 2.

This book is for Sargent lovers. His incredible talent oozes in these pages. I can't wait for Vol 2 of this beautiful production of Yale University Press. I got me a magnifying glass and have spent hours looking at the unbelievably grand flesh tones that Sargent commanded. You'll love reading the background data of these portrait commissions during Sargent's career. I would give it six stars if I could. See it to believe it.....if I could only paint like he did or anything barely close. One of my best of collection. Hurry up Yale and give us Vol 2.

By all means, buy this book! This is one of the most engrossing art books that I have come across. Each reproduction has crystalline clarity and the accompanying information makes for very interesting reading. You find yourself really interested in all the people depicted.
This is an excellent combination of art and text, without the book becoming a glorified textbook, but still being useful for research. I purchased the book mainly for the art and I am not disappointed! It's not one of those 'trick' art books that promise lush full color reproductions and actually consist of mostly black and white images. The only black and white included here depicts paintings that are lost. If you love J. S. Sargent's work, this is a great introduction to his earlier work and he only gets better!

This book is such a treasure, it is such a wonderful tribute to an American icon. The pictures are just amazing and the text highly informative. It is truly an amazing compelation of his early work. It is the first in a series of three and they are all consistantly good. If you are a fan of Sargent you will definitely what to possess all three. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an appreciation of great art from a one of the masters.

This book is pretty cool. It's like reading an encyclopedia of golf. I highly recommend it. The thing is, it only brings you up to intermediate level. If you want more help in deeper mentality of golf or simply play golf with more precision, read "How I Play Golf" by Tiger Woods.

Here is my suggestion: If you're new to golf but are excited to learn, skip Part 1 and jump to Part 2. Why do I say that? Simple. Part 1 talks about history, rules, golf courses and the "anatomy" of golf. They're good to know, but it can bore you from time to time and plus, it has nothing to do with the basics of golf yet. It's like reading soccer rules and how soccer is played. Knowing that can't improve your techniques. Duno also recommends hiring a professional & practice by going to the driving range. Personal preference: Everyone have their own way of playing golf and no one technique is perfect for everyone. If you read the simple techniques explained in this book, it'll get you a long way. Bottomline here is, save time and money by buying yourself a golfnet and turf and practice in your backyard or anywhere you have room to practice.

Part 2 is the perfect place to start if you want to swing that club! It's all about which clubs to buy, how to get good grips, aim better and understand basic swing fundamentals. It's my favorite part that is also worth reading it over and over again.

If you already know the basic fundamentals of golf such as golf rules and/or swinging a club but want to improve your short game, skip Part 1 & 2 and go on with Part 3. It teaches you how to master putting, chipping, pitching and hitting from the bunker. If that doesn't get your money's worth, go on to Part 4 (Become a Better Golfer) which talks about flaws to avoid, bad lies, hills, bad weather, etc.

Part 5 however is somewhat useless in my opinion. It talks about competing, differences between golf clubs, balls and what to do if you take a golf vacation. It's basically teaching you "what to do with your money once you're already a multi-millionaire." I mean, no-duh, everyone have their own preference how they want to take their golf game further. All in all, this book is worth reading and if you love golf like me, buy it just so you can read and reread it over and over again.

This book provided me with the basics of the game and the use of the tools, rules and other essentials and serves as a reference guide to this time. It is clear and simple and straightforward. It can help any new golfer to get into the game and help any duffer to refine his technique.
I recommend it highly.

I have only recently taken up the great game of golf. This book has been an indispensable aid. It explains all the basics of the game wonderfully, with outstanding illustrations and very clear step-by-step explanations.

Since I bought the book three months ago, I have probably read it at least five times - that many times I have gone back to it as a reference for the latest thing ailing my game. And I am sure that it will continue to assist me as my golf game progresses (hopefully) in the future.

I spent a lot of time at the bookstore comparing the different golf guides. This was by far the best book for the price.

This book is a gem. It is organized in a very practical fashion that allows you to focus on each aspect of the game. The range of topics is wide, going from the elements of the swing, the different shots, and all the way to strategy and conditioning for Golf. The book is written with practical summaries that allow you to keep key points in the foreground and get ready to play.

If you only buy one "how to" golf book, this should be the one.

When I wanted to get started with golf I picked up this book. Easy to understand, with simple instructions and explanations. It also has the clearest overview of the basic rules of the game that I've seen. Even the hardest part of any book on golf, the swing, is covered pretty well - I at least have the intellectual knowlege now to on swinging the club. Great book.

Mom or Dad would need an amazing vocal range to do justice the wide variety of material on this lovely collection. And it doesn't hurt baby to get an early introduction to good music.

These are not the optimal performances of the individual works, but it's a great start for a child's musical library.

Good if you would like to play lullabies, and the pictures are super. I like the tape of Golden Slumbers in the book section but its really songs, and better ones then are on Lullabies.

Beautiful, lovely book of lullabies and incredible illustrations. Wonderful for gift-giving to new parents.

This collection is a "must have" for anyone who believes that music enhances both learning and bonding experiences for children of all ages.

I purchased this book and accompanying CD for my 5 month old son. Four months later, he still loves the music. My husband and I sing a few songs to him every night as part of his bed time ritual, and then we play a few songs from the CD when we tuck him in. There are also a few livelier pieces for daytime play. As I expected, my son is still a bit young to appreciate the artwork, but the diverse illustrations will make a nice learning tool later.

BTW- If you're bothered by the fact that the song order on the CD doesn't match that of the book, save it to your computer's hard drive, convert the files to MP3s, and change the order manually. Problem solved.

This beautiful book has gorgeous slick illustrations from the Metropolitan Museum of Art as well as clearly printed piano scoring to accompany the lullabies. It is by far the best book of its kind I've seen. I send it to every new baby on my list and hope it never goes out of print!

A very enjoyable book. Just the high quality reproduction of the covers would make this a great book.
A richly savory festival of imagination, creativity, insight (cultural, sociological, philosophical, etc.) and, of course, delightful humor and splendiferous transcendental artwork. Lots of charming tidbits including photos, extra art reproductions, etc.
Thanks Frank and The Usual Gang for this inundation of funshine and good cheer!

(After you've seen the covers you'd probably like to peek inside). Check out: Absolutely MAD Magazine - 50+ Years

If there are better sight gags than those on the cover of Mad magazine, then I have yet to see them. This book is a collection of the first 400 covers and some of them had me hysterical with laughter. My favorite was the one where Alfred is holding a hard taco shell behind a Mexican dog that is straining mightily. Others were just as funny, although some did require explanation. The producers of the magazine were not above applying a little duplicity when creating the covers.
The only drawback for younger readers will be that knowledge of the current events of the time is a precondition if you are to get the joke. For example, some covers feature political figures, and if you don't know anything about them, the joke is lost. Other covers are spoofs of hit movies of the time, so the explanatory captions are a welcome addition. Having lived through those times, I understood most of them, but there were a few times when I didn't understand the joke until I read the caption.
This book is very funny and you cannot help but be impressed by the quality of the artwork and the zany intelligence that went into the covers of Mad. The producers of Mad constantly lampooned themselves as idiots, but they were without question geniuses.

this book is well designd and gives all the information about the covers over the years, including notes about the spacial covers.
i highly recomand this book to any mad reader.

I loved this book , mostly because Im a mad magazine FAN!!! BUY THIS BOOK!!!!!!!! GREAT BOOK

The first copy of Mad I saw was issue 29 in September 1956 (still got it too) and I was hooked. How could a magazine be so funny and be so spot-on with its satire? Easy, just employ the `usual gang of idiots' that's how. I kind of grew out of it when I discovered the National Lampoon, how could a magazine be so funny etc, etc. But I have always had a soft spot for Mad and this book of covers is a super addition to my back issues and other Mad books.

All 399 (up to November 2000) covers are in this well designed and printed book Mostly one or two covers to a page sometimes with Frank Jacobs' commentary and with a lot of the latter covers you get to see the preliminary cover roughs. As the years go by you can see how the covers changed from simple visual gags into ones that are much more graphic and busy because they have to work harder on the newsstand. The ideas are still very funny after all these years though. My favorite is issue 35 (October 1957) a wraparound that celebrated the fifth anniversary with a great painting from Norman Mingo showing a few dozen very famous American merchandising characters seated round a dining table, Alfred's at one end grinning. I would love this as a poster.

I think it is worth mentioning for Mad fans the seven CD-ROM `Totally Mad' set, every page from the issue one thru to December 1998, the interface is very user friendly and the discs have a lot of additional aural and visual surprises.

BTW, Robert Silver's photmosaic book cover, made up from the magazines covers, is stunning.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

A comprehensive survey of the artist's work, it covers not just his paintings, but also his posters, advertising and magazine and book illustration and the murals. Very well illustrated and with a comprehensive text it chronicles the artist's development and his vast array of work.

One of the most interesting chapters is that which explains in detail the methods Parrish employed to achieve his remarkable results. This includes his use of photography and the painstaking glazing techniques he employed.

A very interesting and useful publication; it is not one that sits idly on my book shelf.

The version of this book that I own is from the second printing (1974). What a beautiful book! In some ways Parrish seems to be the dreamy counterpart to Norman Rockwell. An amazing attention to detail and lighting. To reiterate a point raised in other reviews, this book would benefit from more color plates, but that is a minor criticism. While I have not yet purchased any of the other books in print on Maxfield's work...this is a fine place to start. There is a generous sampling of landscapes, product advertisements and magazine covers. Recommended!

Note: I made some immature person angry by giving negative reviews of books written to "prove the Book of Mormon." Rather than answer my criticism, this person automatically gives my reviews negative votes. Oh, well.

Your "helpful" votes are appreciated, and please remember that a short review is not necessarily a bad review if it leads you to a great book.

I love "Daybreak" (see cover) with a nude figure standing above a girl sleeping in a columned pavilion. If you like this painting, then check out different reproductions (the colors vary widely and change the nature and mood of the painting. Really change it.

"Twilight" is another great painting. For me, it is evocative of a great mystery. You want to step into that farm yard and explore the house and barn. No people are shown, but it gives me the feeling that ghosts live there (without being scary--in a dreamy sense).

"Afterglow" is also intreguing, showing a New England church as the stars come out.

The book is full of both color and black-and-white illustrations. I would love to see "Landing of the Brazen Boatman" in color. A robed figure is walking down some stairs of a strange temple while a boatman awaits.

What a gift of imagination Maxfield Parrish left to the world!

Highly recommended.

This book has always been the "essential" Maxfield Parrish reference for me. It contains page after page of information about the artist's incredible personal and professional life. It also goes into great depth detailing the illustrator's perfected (and tedious) technique of creating illustrations. From crafting meticulous miniatures for layout to the final process of layering oil glazes onto the canvas. It's all there.

I would highly recommend this book to Illustrators, art teachers, and overall art enthusiasts who want to expand their knowledge about illustration and a true master of the past. This book has been cited in other publications such as "Step by Step Graphics" for the depth analysis of his technique.

My only small criticism is that I would've liked to seen more color prints within the book. A few too many black and white reproductions of the artwork. That aside, I feel this book is of tremendous value.

I, like you, want to own Daybreak--perhaps more so than any other painting. Sometimes an illustration entertains, perhaps greatly. Some evoke admiration, even gaping admiration. In the case of several Parrish paintings, admiration is merely the aftertaste of a much more powerful emotion: the craving to be in the space the artist has created, to have or to be the characters therein. A desire to truly exit this world and remain in the other. The list of works that affect me in that way starts off like this: It's A Wonderful Life, Oz, Narnia, Harry Potter's magical England, Parrish's Daybreak & Land of Make-Believe & Air Castles et al., Robert Heinlein's Glory Road, ERB's A Princess Of Mars... We read or watch or view them over and over again in an attempt to ease the longing.

This volume satisfied that craving long enough for me to catch my breath.

The book is well written. I have been enjoying reading it. However, I can't give it 5 stars because the author takes drugs and writes about it. How about a kid reads this book? So, the kid will think is cool or ok? I don't think the author has the right to inspire people to do what he chooses to do with his body. The body is a temple to take care of not to abuse it and exploited in actions, words, thoughts or writing.
He also mentions the dark side of his nature that it's too personal and too dark. Almost evil to the point, that I felt he should have left it out. Nobody needs to know about this of his past. Only God should judge, and he knows all our sides including the dark ones.
If you are spiritually sensitive, you will feel the darkness of his spirit in the past while reading his words. Words are powerful and words can manifest.
Some parts of the book with these are repulsive!
The rest is excellent! He has great thoughts and ways to present his visions of art. The author can also inspired other artists.
To the Author, I would suggest asw a friend reader for him to see "The Secret." Hopefully, he won't repeat writing events of his inner demons. Sorry, but nobody cares...besides this should be in a personal journal or talked with a theraphist.
The author uses his writtings to heal and confess himself. The bible says, to confess to God only. If you don't want criticism like this don't exploit your past weakneses by writting to the world!
This book should not be given to kids under 25 yrs old. When you are 25 yrs old. your thoughts patterns are mature to make the best judgement before then your brain is still developing and is highly impressionable. This is a fact and one can google it too.

I bought this for my fiance and he ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT. I really enjoyed it too. My fiance is a HUGE Alex Grey and TOOL fan and if you are too you will love it too!!!

Soul Expression Can Be Visionary Artistry
Imagine, for a moment, the Creative Forces. How do you envision the Spirit of Life, as it expresses itself within you? When I suggest this meditation in my classes, people usually enjoy it. When I suggest to pick up a colored crayon or two and help the Creative Spirit express itself on paper, this second instruction creates more anxiety than pleasure. I hear the protest, "But I can't draw what I envisioned!" I might reply, "Just allow yourself to enjoy the process and don't be worrying so much about how you think it should look. Let it be easy, let the vision guide the drawing, let it do what it wants with itself."
After we have made our drawings, people share a little of what was experienced during the meditation and we get to see how it came out on paper. The drawings are so different, yet group members usually recognize the mark of the Creative Spirit in them. Their sheets of paper contain precious revelations. People remark favorably, of course, about those that are more "artistic." Some may denigrate their own work when comparing it with those that win the group's "artistic" award. I try to draw their attention elsewhere. It's not about being "artistic," but about honoring one's experience as best one can.
Alex Grey, author of The Mission of Art (Shambhala), writes that the purpose of making art should not be trivialized into a career path toward fame and fortune. The essential purpose of making art, he reminds us, is to honor Spirit, to make it visible, to make it real in this world. If we create also for the purpose that it might further awaken Spirit in others, then making art becomes a spiritual mission as well. If sufficient talent, dedication and hard work are present in the mix, then it can also be a profession. He calls the professional artist to a higher mission, explaining how to invite Spirit into the work. If the artist commits to bringing Spirit into the work, he claims, Spirit will collaborate with the artist.
Creating is an essential part of the soul's activity and thus belongs to everyone as their natural birthright. So he aims his book also at the rest of us, just as he does his painting. He writes, "When people are profoundly moved by art, they recall from their depths their own intuition of spiritual truth." Like Edgar Cayce, he would have us all involved in some sort of creative activity and wants us to appreciate the spiritual importance of doing so.
Even if you do not recognize the name of Alex Grey, very likely you have seen a reproduction of one of his visionary paintings. Best known are his stunning, anatomically correct renditions of a person with transparent skin, revealing the inner body as well as the spiritual energies flowing through that body. In his painting of the kissing couple, for example, you can see the spirit of the man and woman intertwine. His paintings show beautifully the truth of Spirit's activity in this world.
The fact that his stuff is extraordinarily good--dazzlingly good--doesn't take away from the fact that he is sincere when he writes that each of us is an artist. He urges us to recognize that our soul yearns to find outward expression in creative acts. Echoing the understanding of Edgar Cayce, he writes, "Seeing with the eye of the heart, the mystic eye, is seeing with the soul." Responding to the creative itch, taking the time to express it, in poetry, in cooking, in painting, honors the source. Allowing the imagination to become involved in our activities invites the soul's involvement in what we do.
I explain to my students that our doodling exercise is something of a sacred ritual. I note that we attuned ourselves to a very special inner reality, and then expressed it outwardly as honestly as we could. In other words, we gave testimony to our own experience of Spirit. By sharing our drawings, our spiritual intuitions made visible, we treated ourselves to witnessing several reflections of Spirit, expanding and sharpening our sensitivity to its qualities.
But the exercise was not without struggle. It took something akin to what Grey calls "egocide." We had to let go of notions of what the drawing "should" look like, and allow the expression of something greater than our own willful abilities." It requires turning our focus away from the ego's perceived "artistic" outcome and focus instead upon the authenticity of having honored our experience. In the back of my mind is one of my favorite ideas from the Cayce material, that the one of highest service we can give to one another is to share our experience of the Creator. I am also aware of his teachings about art being an essential path of spiritual experience. The purpose of our exercise is not to see who can make commercial art, but to enhance our connection with Spirit. We can not all be commercial artists, but by honoring the muse and being willing to share, we can all serve as visionary artists. [...]

Warp your mind and you just might see God. Haven't tried LSD. Have tried "Salvia Divinorum" (still legal as I write this in most areas) I don't smoke and rarely drink, and I've never even tried pot, something most who know me don't believe since my parents were hippies.

But, after being stuck in a 70 hour week overtime job for 3 years, I had an art block that made me feel almost suicidal. The flood of ideas trying to focus through that tiny speck of time I had burned me out.

So, against everything I'd ever done in life, I got some Salvia Divinorum after a lot of net research on anything "Psychedelic". And after a few trys had a hallucination beyond comprehension. Literally seeing God and his infinite love and creativity and how bright that burns in all of us, even as tiny and insignifigant the universe is in the greater universe beyond.

Reading this book I felt kinship. Someone who'd used a psychoactive and seen his true purpose.

I reccomend to anyone who wants to do art (with or without earning a dime from it) but feels limited or blocked by stress interferring with creativity to do this. Try a hallucinogen ONCE (or a couple times) and check out visionary stuff like this.

In The Mission of Art, Alex Grey shows that his prodigious artistic gifts are moored in intellectual depth. Grey discusses art history, aesthetics, mysticism, religion, postmodernism, and processes of art reception with equal facility. This kind of writing is a rare treat. Only a small number of American artists have articulated their ideas in writing and fewer have done so with as much skill and alacrity. Grey's writing is reminiscent of G. Albert Aurier, the French Symbolist critic who shared Grey's mystical inclinations and his views about the spiritual and moral potential of art. Grey believes that mystically inspired art can in turn inspire its viewers to transcend today's oppressive consensual values of materialism, utilitarianism, and consumerism, and become aware of more authentic spiritual realities. There are a couple of factual inaccuracies, perhaps due to exaggeration or oversight, as where Grey states that mystical art was virtually absent in late nineteenth century Europe (p.37) and that Van Gogh labored in "complete obscurity" (p.90). Many prominent artists of the late nineteenth century French Symbolist movement were deeply inspired by neo-Platonic mysticism. Though Van Gogh never achieved material success, he was well known and respected by some major artists of his time. Aurier praised Van Gogh's art in a published review shortly before the latter's death. As the world seems to plummet ever deeper into eco-devastation and strife, to continue to hold out faith in general processes of human spiritual "evolution" which are aided by art, as Grey does, appears to demand ever more credulity. In my view, one can now realistically expect mystical art only to be a source of some personal inspiration and an exemplar of humanity's highest but tragically failed ideals. Its ideals of spiritual perfection might still be realizable, or approachable, by the minority of persons and minds which are receptive to it, but it has been virtually impotent as a means of producing a generalized social-spiritual transformation. Indeed, our society seems to appropriate such art as a means of a repressive desublimation of mystical idealism. Mystical art might tend to palliate and pacify idealistic urges, lulling some viewers into complacency by its pleasant presentations of images of spiritual self-actualization, images which, as wonderful as they may be, are only shadows of real conditions of actualization. Our society allows access to these images while doing its best to restrict access to the kinds of experiences which might truly facilitate such an actualization, such as the entheogenic experiences which largely inspired Grey, and competent shamanic guidance. Nevertheless, such mystical representations of what might be more realizable in a better world may for some others highlight the differences between what is and what ought to be, inspiring greater efforts to close the gap. Mystical imagery, as a means of Bildung or of the cultivation of consciousness, is capable of helping to "magnetize" the minds of receptive viewers, helping to keep some minds freed from Plato's cave and aimed toward the light.