Friday, February 27, 2015

Book Review - All Lovely Things: A Field Journal for the Objects that Define Us

I received a review copy of All Lovely Things:  A Field Journal for the Objects that Define Us by Lea Redmond.  The book calls us to explore our relationships with the objects we select to live with by making object-based portraits of the people in our lives.

I agreed to review this book because I found the concept intriguing.  I am not a person who accumulates objects generally, but I do have a collection of rubber stamps and scrapbook paper which I'm having trouble letting go of.  As I was cleaning out my collection of clip art, I began to wonder why some of the things that I no longer use much have such a hold on me.

This book is an easy read - only thirteen pages introduce you to the workbook pages on which you do your drawings.  Another five pages at the end of the book provide some additional guidance.

After the initial instructions, the book invites you to portray the important people in your life (including yourself) along with their objects.  (The people you choose can be dead or alive and may include famous (or fictional) people who you don't know but who you admire.)  Each double page spread is divided into 10 - 14 journaling blocks with prompts.  In the first three blocks you draw a picture of the person, name them, and write some notes about them.  The additional prompts are meant to inspire you to draw a small picture of the objects in the lives of the people being portrayed.  Several examples are provided to help you get started, and there is room in the book for you to examine about 80 people, so you'll have lots of space!

This book is due for release on March 3.  Unfortunately, I didn't receive my copy until just a few days ago, so I haven't had a lot of time to fully test-drive the workbook.  I admit that I don't quite understand how the portraits I do will help me understand the objects that define me, but the concept still intrigues me, so I'll give it a whirl and report back!

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