My take on what's missing from the magazines or why Stampington will probably never have me in their magazines again

I thought I'd elaborate on my previous comment about why I am disenchanted with the $15 magazines that are out there. You know, the ones that I keep buying in the hope that they morph into something different.

It's not the quality (and it definitely ain't the quantity) of the magazines that is lacking. The photos are gorgeous. The artists are talented. The magazines are packed full of stuff. What's missing for me, is the substance. Wait. Don't get mad at me. Hang in there for a minute and let me finish.

The magazines are too formulaic.

Take, for example, Artful Blogging, each article is written by a different blogger. When you go to that blogger's blog, their voice sings loud and clear, right? Their style shines and jumps out from your reader at you. Well, why, when you read it in the magazine does every single blogger sound the same? I could look at the pictures for hours that accompany the text, but it's the text that is severely lacking.

Let's look at Art Journaling. I have mixed emotions on how each issue only spotlights a small handful of artists. Yes, it's good to focus on a small group and let their voices and styles shine through. On the other hand, it's an issue of static. The artists are all discussing technique, because that is what the magazine focuses on. Personally, technique doesn't matter to me when I want to learn from another artist. What matters most to me, is the why. Why do you want to work in a journal vs on canvas? What are you trying to say and why? What's going through your head as you approach a page? It's not a problem of a lack of fabulously interesting artists being published (though I do tend to roll my eyes when they focus on the same artists over and over as if no one else is creating journal pages), there are tons of people, worldwide pouring their hearts and souls into their books. It's not about making pretty pages to them. It's about something more and that's what's seriously lacking.

Last, but not least is Where Women Create. My question to you is, does your studio look like any of the ones in the magazine? Can we all yell a collective and proud, "Hell, no!" Why? Because we're artists and when we call ourselves working artists, our studios should reflect that expression. They should look loved, cherished, lived in and most importantly, worked in. Show us some messy studios, please!

I haven't given up hope yet. I keep faithfully buying the magazines usually because there's a small handful of artists in there whose work I love and new artists to discover. Yet, this faith won't last forever. Something has to change and it should change soon.

Comments

Angie in AZ said…
Preach it, sista'!

I want to gag every time I look at "Where Women Create". It's as if the world didn't have enough "let's be perfect" in Martha Stewart that now it has carried over to photographing STAGED art studios! While everything looks gorgeous, it's completely unrealistic. Even if my studio ever looked like those in the magazines, which it never will, I couldn't even work in something so perfect and neat. I'd be completely, creatively frozen. Muse checked out. I try to look for inexpensive, creative ways of organizing but, I can't even wrap my brain around "all pretty" because my studio is purely for function... and it's a MESS!
Linda Woods said…
I agree with you. I can't even distinguish one magazine from another lately!
yona c. riel said…
just say yes to the mess... haha.. sorry, but it's true!
Sandy said…
I would love it if Art Journaling would focus more on why and not how. So true. I quit buying Why Women Create awhile ago too.
LuLu said…
Howdy,

I sure do agree with you about the WWC mag. Could not believe the studios in the one issue I bought - made me feel like such a hick. I prefer to look at STUDIOS magazines.

But I've only seen one Artful Blogging and a handful of the Stampington mags. I really like those Stampington mags because at this stage in my art career I'm enjoying the eye candy...

meanwhile, I'd love for you to visit my blog when you have a moment or 2.

Peace,
LuLu
www.lulu-too-beaucoup.blogspot.com
Angelique said…
I've only flipped through, but never bought, any of the studio shrine type magazines. Honestly, I know I am SO very lucky to have space in my house devoted to artmaking, and I know those magazines would only lead me to feel that what is truly a great luxury is inadequate.

The repetition of names and styles in the more technique-oriented magazines has started to wear on me, as has the repetition of content from one magazine to another and the countless pages devoted to the publisher's other magazines. Once I started counting and comparing the pages of content vs the publisher's own advertising, I realized I was unlikely to renew for another year.

On the positive side, I have felt that Rice's interviews with artists have introduced people into the pages of the magazine whose work would otherwise not be seen there and whose work often doesn't fit the mold of the rest of the magazine's style.
Finally someone that says what I feel too! I want the whys too! The messys! The unheard of multiples of people! yes..thats what i want too!
cjaxon said…
I totally see what you are saying, but come on, most of our studios would qualify us for an episode of Hoarders, not a magazine spread. Lol
I love those magazines, but a lot of it has to do with the feel of them. Not that the better quality paper will persuade me to buy them instead of more supplies.
Elizabeth said…
I indulge in the guilty pleasure of purchasing most of those $15 magazines too. I rarely get anything from the content, however, I do look at the purchase as "coffee table" books. Used for inspiration and ideas. Even when I buy patterns, I rarely use them. I make said project my way and therefore am more comfortable with the process and the end results. Good insight from you though.
Debbi Crane said…
My question is: Why does it specify WOMEN? Why can't it be Where People Create? I refuse to buy it. I don't even poach an article or two in the bookstore!
Sharon W. said…
I heard Jo Packam (editor of Where Women Create) speak at Art is You in October, and she commented that many artists redecorate their studios after being chosen for inclusion!! The superpretty studios are puzzling, since the art shown in most current magazines is "messy", often aggressively so. Does noone work slowly to produce fine details? If they do, they are being ignored by these magazines. I find your comments spot-on: I wish Stampington would stop adding new repetitive titles ("WHere women cook"? Gag) and concentrate on showing the hearts and styles of a variety of creative individuals.
Anonymous said…
When I first got into Art Journaling, I found that mag and loved it. But I only needed the one dose. I am not saying I know all techniques, but move beyond the backgrounds! Also I never bought the studio one - it would just prove I am not a working artist, {smirk} (with the two different companies, I can't remember which mag belongs to which group!)
I do enjoy Cloth, Ppaer, Scissors though. Enough variety of materials and how they can all be used together. Very nice!
Anonymous said…
Funny, when I got the latest issue of Artful Blogging, I thought that it would be nice to see someone else than the "superstars" once in a while...

- Jazz
Emie58 said…
Raising hand here... I'm a book and magazine whore. There are some I just can't NOT collect. The one in-one-out rule seems to be a good one... but it's also like giving away your first born.
LOL, Emie
Sally said…
I agree with you, Kelly. I was a longtime devotee of Somerset Studio and devoured every issue. Somewhere along the line, it morphed into something else. I got so tired of seeing the same artists doing the same work (albeit presented beautifully). Then the explosion of all the other magazines. Like you, I kept buying my favorites (not all, though, because they are so expensive). I kept hoping that I would find an article of substance, something to make me think or give me some new ideas. But I have been so disappointed. I have found other magazines from other publishers that I am now enjoying more. I feel a little saddned by it, though. Stampington publications were a part of my art life for a long time.
Karen said…
You are so right, Kelly. Those mags actually make me feel drained and a little sad. Just too much perfection! I somehow feel like I am never "enough" after looking at them. Yet I am curiously drawn to them at the magazine display. I have rarely rec'd one bit of inspiration from them...they all look alike! Thanks for truth-telling!
TwoHeartsPath said…
Sooooooo True......Thanks for speaking your mind and being so real.....

Hugs Patti

PS Angie...well said......
Mary Dean said…
Kelly,

I agree with you. I want to read about how the artist processes the material, etc. What did she discover about herself from the pages she created? To me, art journaling is not just about "pretty pages," as you say. Yes, the substance is lacking in some of these magazines. I wish they would feature artists like you, Juliana Coles, Traci Bunkers and some others that have dedicated themeselves to this work and their students. It goes beyond technique.
apaperbear said…
Kelly! I totally agree with you! Another artist and I were discussing this very same issue yesterday. Talking about how all the pages are boring, look so much the same or are a very, very poor copy of another very famous art journaling artist. It is one thing to take a class from someone and work in their style but find your own voice. Change it up. I was so surprised in one magazine they used two artists who deal in face, I was flipping through and thought it was the very same artist! It was not until I read the article that I found it was two artists. I usually find one artist that Iove in the mags, but is it enough to keep purchasing? I think not.
Jonna said…
I could not agree with you more. I also find it is getting harder and harder to distinguish between some artist's work. They are all starting to look the same. I keep hoping to see new artist's but they never seem to materialize.
I agree... it all looks the same. I'd love to see a messy studio space... just like mine!
Amy Brinkman said…
Kelly,
I am complete agreement with you on every one of your comments. I am glad you are not afraid to voice your opinion.
Keep up your amazing blog and artwork! You are a true inspiration!
Amy
Amy said…
Kelly,
I am complete agreement with you on every one of your comments. I am glad you are not afraid to voice your opinion.
Keep up your amazing blog and artwork! You are a true inspiration!
Amy
Barb Smith said…
Ditto. Need I say more?
Peace & Love,
~Barb~
Desert Mermaid said…
My beef with Art JOurnaling is all the chronic, ongoing, ever emphasis on the ART portion, not the JOURNALING. When did words cease to be an art form, so so so de-emphasized? makes me crazy. When I journal, I write pages and pages ... guess nobody else does, I dunno. And it's the same artists, rehashed, reused (many times even the same bloody art work!!!) from one 'branch' of the Stampington tree to the next. Not that they aren't good - they are. So are the gazillions of other artists who never make it to the pages. Stampington has spread itself WAY too thin, in my opinion, and the quality across the board is suffering and has been suffering. And now the prices have gone up, as you mentioned ... when they were already pretty much at the ceiling of reasonableness. I'm taking my $8.99 and my $15.99 and buying materials to make my own art -- hell with it. I support the artists I love on line, via direct email or blog contact/comments, and always they lead me to new places, new artists, new discoveries, new techniques, new classes, and I'm building my community without killing MY profit margin so a magazine publishing outfit can fatten theirs.
debra cooper said…
I have to say that I agree with you. I have loved and bought Stampington magazines for 10 years but I've felt like lately I might be outgrowing them. (I haven't purchased Somerset Studio in 8 months or more and that has been a staple for, like I said 10 years!) I will still buy Art Journaling because its the only magazine like it out there and it is still very beautiful. But I do wonder why they don't have a broader group of artists--just take a look at 1000 Journal Pages or books like it and you'll see there are so many amazing journal artists all over the world with a wonderful variety of styles! But that has always been my biggest complaint about their magazines: there seems to be for lack of a better term certain "pet" artists that are always published and though most of them I love their work, it feels like the same old thing, especially when you can get on Flickr or other sites and find such a variety of artists for free. Also, I know exactly what you mean about the articles themselves and I have a theory that Stampington simply doesn't require the same level of artistry in their writing as their artwork. I can't completely complain about this because I may have not gotten my articles published if they had been more picky! But when I read a truly badly written article--and I often do!--it is a real dissappointment. Like style over substance. The other thing that irritates me--and its funny because just this morning I was composing a post in my head on this very issue!--is the overuse of certain imagery in the artwork. I swear, if you have a cute bird in your art, its going to be published! I've been voting against bird art covers for a year and nobody listens to me! ;-) This kind of meaningless repetition of popular imagery (houses, birds, pointy hats, angel wings, striped socks, etc.) just reeks of imitation and a lack of authenticity to me. But then maybe everyone else in the world still loves it and I'm the weirdo! Like you, I'm not ready to give up on my favorite magazines and I still think they are fabulous for beginning artists, I seem to be spending less and less of my money on them. Thanks for sharing your insight so boldly!
Desert Mermaid said…
I forgot to say that I would SO MUCH RATHER read Rice's blog, listen to her podcasts, than the articles that turn up in the Stampington mags because they're (probably by necessity) so condensed, and seem ... homogenized? Like the grit and real gristle of the interview and the interaction between artist and Rice gets very carefully edited? I could be crazy, but one of Rice's astonishing and wondrous gifts is her way of bringing out that little dastardly somethin' somethin' from the artists she interviews in podcasts and for her books ... that taste of GENUINE.
Terri Kahrs said…
Looks like you've really struck a nerve with this post, Kelly!!! Having subscribed to Somerset for years, I recently decided not to renew my subscription for some of the very same reasons you've mentioned. Although the artists featured are wonderful - there's a "sameness" to these issues. It's as though they've found a formula that they think will work, yet they're beginning to loose their "edge" and what "made" them so wonderful.

And totally forget "WWC"!!!! Waaaaay to staged and "too perfect".

Wouldn't it be lovely if the editors read this post to see what artists are really craving!!! Bravo! Hugs, Terri xoxo
Carmen said…
i like you a lot Kelly Kilmer
Carmen said…
forgot to add my link "where i create"

http://www.couragetocreatewriteandlove.com/p/where-i-create.html
Romilly said…
You probably don't need another "yup, me feels this way too!" comment but, well, I do. :)

Rice at one point gave away one of the $15 magazines, saying she couldn't bear to cut it up for collage after paying so much for it... I'm getting over that. :) my collection is heading for the scissors.

I used to LOVE Somerset Studio - back when it was mostly calligraphy with some paper arts and painting thrown in. Now that it's morphed into another "messy mixed media" magazine, I'm not even tempted any more... and the apparent idea that only women can make art or create these days... Oh dear. I feel a rant coming on!
"Somerset Studio" used to be so wonderful - but now unless you want to look at drawings of young women with tilted heads and see art from a handful of the SAME people over and over - forget it. A recent issue featured only a few pages of "Expressions" - and several pieces each by the few artists that were chosen. Hey people, bad, bad marketing if you're trying to get people to submit their work to be published. I've been published in SS several times, but in the last year or so, there seems to have been a continuing shift to whimsy and fluff. If it wasn't for Lynne Perrella's regular article, there'd be no reason to open it. I have not renewed my subscription and I really miss what it used to be. Thanks for blogging about this Kelly - I guess a lot of us needed to voice our thoughts also.
Erin
Margie said…
Kelly,

What an interesting post and I enjoyed reading the comments left. You obviously hit a nerve. I, too, purchase the ones you mention. I absolutely see what you are saying, however, I find myself still taken by their pages. For certain, not all of them speak to me, but usually a few from each issue do. Maybe it is partially because I so want to art journal, but have yet to take the step. I blog and take photos and write just about every day and adore doing so. I think your thoughts should be shared with S&C as they have to keep evolving to stay alive. You have some good ones. Hugs, Margie
Melissa said…
I've never seen a magazine like that, as I don't think we have them around. But I did win one on a blog and I can't wait to get it in the mail!

I wouldn't pay $15 on a magazine unless it was a really really good one.

I love seeing those pristine, freshly painted and super organized studios. I don't know why. I have this love for cleanliness even though I'm a messy person myself.

My "studio" corner right now is looking pretty shabby... my wood desktop is covered with paint splotches, glue and xacto blade cuts! Time for a sanding! lol
Anonymous said…
hahaha stampington still publishes some high quality magazines. last january i thought i had a déjà-vu because somerset looked like an issue from 5 years agao, inside and out. sad. the new one is OLD and cold tea alone on the cover. won't make me buy it. sad, how unspiring they can be. i loved jesse's article recently, but they were not courageous enough to put him on the cover. not mainstream and cute and romantic enough. it's all about money aka sales *sigh* but sometimes quantity doesn't make quality.
i wrote a diary as a kid and teenager and am not into rambling anymore. i am not interested in the whys because that is personal and private to me. everybody is different, i just want to play and have fun. play with paint, play with pens, play with my glue stick and scissors, play with my rubberstamps. and yes, personal things always flow into my pages. but that's more private. i prefer privacy.
never bought or even looked at wwc, not interested. i could care less. stampington also must compromise with what they publish, if they go bancrupt, we won't have anything! oh no!! and i think they try to improve and move on. i'm sure if they stopped some mags, nobody would notice though.
i rotate between several stampington publications from month to month, support a german vendor, and am enjoying them. still. after all these years. :)
so much for not rambling haha
Barbara said…
The sameness of them all started to get to me some time ago. Since I can no longer afford to spend the full price on them...as opposed to using a 40% coupon, I rarely buy them. I did like Greencraft when it first came out, but even those all look the same. I've saved most of my old Somerset Studios, so I have been revisiting them, and they seem fresh and new! I probably won't be buying any Stampington pubs. this year at all.
Monica said…
Someone mentioned Cloth Paper Scissors. It's just the same, you subscribe for a year or two, then its regurgitated techniques with newer expensive supplies and then everyone starts to use fabric. It appears to be almost the same artists, bird, vapid faces, pointy hats and wings! You start to feel their is an in group. Studio mag and the like are a laugh. Well maybe real for the OCs but folks in MY studio clear up and everything in its place HA HA. I'm there for cresting not cleaning.
Jami said…
You are SO right, especially about the studios they show in WWC!!! I mean, most of us just have a corner of a room or an area in the basement. I love that I have a space, but I don't (nor would I) go and spend the gazillions of dollars on furniture and accessories. It also bothers me that in Art Journaling, they use the same artists over and over instead of expanding into the millions of us who are untouched. I agree that they miss out on the Why of it all!
Jami
jamiosh.blogspot.com (Artelicious)
OMG! Your post made me laugh, thank you for that! :)
Everytime I see one of those studios I think those artists are not creating, they just simply like to have a "studio" Lol!
leslie herger said…
I really dislike stampington magazines. I used to get one of their other magazines back in the day and the feeling of them has changed. I bought the recent issue of Art Journaling because Paula, who I adore was in it. The rest of the magazine fell flat and frankly bored me.

To me art journaling isn't pretty. It's gritty, about emotion, the hard stuff in life, it's not about sticking the latest Tim Holtz product on your page. It's part writing part paint, part sticking sh!t to the page. Its raw, emotional and not always pretty. It is the antithesis of Art Journaling Magazine.

A bunch of my friends and I started a zine called Art Journaling: It's All Good We try to show some of the less slick stuff. We're working the kinks out, our website sucks but we're pressing on. When we do our "business" conference calls we specifically talk about making NOT slick, not like art journaling magazine.
donna!ee said…
as an ever on-going learning girlie AND doodling & journaling & fabric artist, i must say i enjoy the technique portion of art journaling & sew somerset mags...just like i learn & then experiment from all the wonderful bloggers out there willing to share their experiences & techniques... :)
ACey said…
well ... since you mentioned it ... in addition to agreeing to the letter with your post content and the comments it's generated I have my own point of frustration with Stampington publications. Especially Art Journaling which by virtue of its name implies some attention to, and interest in, words as well as imagery. In addition to feeling like I was stuck in an elevator with the same handful of contributors (and a monomaniacal focus on (a) gesso usage and (b) background layering techniques) over and over and ooooover again, I stopped buying this publication because there were always at least two times an issue (usually more)when I winced over something I call Editorial Aphasia. The *wrong word* was used in a way that's totally out of context for said word's actual definition. It's always been spelled correctly. And it generally has one or two syllables in common with the word that was *apparently* intended. But it's nonetheless THE WRONG WORD. Ack. This drives me absolutely bonkers whenever I let it even after all this time of going my own way.
Marcia Beckett said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Suz said…
I have to agree. Stampington's magazines have really lost the authenticity they used to have. Now their magazines sort of have this phoney Martha Stewart feel to them. So many articles lack any depth. I can't even stomach reading some publications like Where Women Create and Artful Blogging. It's very sad to see the direction they've gone.
laurie said…
i totally agree with everything you say in this post!!! (and it looks like many others do, as well.) i am willing to spend $15 but i want something more, something interesting. maybe you should start a publication....
diane.ca said…
Right on! I though I was the only one out there that had these thoughts. Thanks for writting about it.
Sarah said…
I see what you are saying, and strangely am finding my addiction to these magazines may be waning-but am going to buy the three I always get just to see-WWC, ADQ and AB. I remember how excited I was by artful blogging when I was new to it all and also to ADQ in the same way. Where Women Create has the air of an interiors magazine to me in the strange and unnattainable perfection of many of the studios featured. Having said that though, I found Beth Robinson through ADQ and Rebecca Purcell(her home was crammed with stuff just like mine-things in little boxes piled up everywhere and I love her book Interior Alchemy. The comment that did strike a chord with me was the one about pointy hats, wings, birds and stripey tights-I have had that thought before!
Beth Fuller said…
I totally agree. Last year one of those magazine contacted me about featuring me. How nice, I thought. And then I think they dove further into my blog and work and thought-eh, maybe not. The picture of my studio was taken at such an angle as to not show the piles of 1940's Girl Scout manuals strewn across the floor and the Buzz Lightyears hanging from my table lamp. A bit misleading:)
lynne h said…
hee! stampington should read these comments (and your words)!! xoxo
Rhonda said…
Awomyn!!!

Thanx for writing on this,I gave up a long time ago on the creative mass produced mags as they were tiresome and in my opinion the glam became tedious and same old.

My $15.00 can go towards supplies or taking myself out on an art date..
like anything magazines such as that have been written about here have a place,however in this artists life..I say no!!!!

more and more i unplug from the overdone and untouchables..

Art On!!

In Artistic Solidarity;
Rhonda
Beth Bardino said…
Oh, you are just so RIGHT...
Anonymous said…
Here in Australia, regardless of the fact that our dollar is now at or near parity with the $US, the cheapest I can buy these mags is $22. $7 postage PER magazine - I don't THINK so, Mr Importer!

So I was especially disappointed with the latest issue of Art Journaling - it was so samey as the previous couple.

I think you've put your finger on the problem - I want to know WHY as much as how someone journals.
Megan Warren said…
Totally agree with your comments and was then heartened to see Rebecca Ringquist post pics of her new studio mess and all
http://drop-cloth.blogspot.com/2011/01/messy-room.html?showComment=1296467772713#c5889271769112167094
ginatorkos said…
I totally agree with you. There is a market for a new kind of art journaling magazine, I hope someone out there is inspired by this thread and starts one. In the meantime, I am filling my magazine reading time with reading wonderful blogs like yours, I get very inspired and am very appreciative!
Anonymous said…
I have not purchased many publications(for several years)that have a $15 price tag on 'most' issues-- it is very hard to justify. I would think people are having to 'decide' between issues because of the price point.

I also like a magazine to have "new" content. When I flip through the ones you have mentioned I have "already" seen those photos, and those re-printed blog posts in most cases. Like you I want a 'glimpse' into something new.

I do not mind paying more for a magazine that has fresh content or offers me an 'inside view' of an artist, author or artisan.

I LOVE Uppercase magazine--frsh, new content. Very few ads and inside views. It does have a higher price tag, but I don't mind since it manages to surprise and excite me with each subsequent issue.

I think we need to support the magazine industry, however I am not a fan of regurgitation.

The internet has so much information and I want a magazine to be something fresh and exciting when I read through it.
HappyDayArt! said…
Yes. I don't buy many of them anymore and it's too bad they aren't as interesting to me as before. There's a glut of magazines from them I tell you!

And here's the funniest thing of all . . . back in April 2007 I sent in my birdhouse and bird necklaces AND a little project with shrinkplastic. They asked me for both. I waited for MONTHS for them to come back and I was hearing from friends that they had lost a few of their submissions and I was very nervous about it. Finally, after the magazine with the birdhouses was published they sent them back to me after holding them 6 months. The other project however had been lost.

You can imagine how surprised I was to get it back last week with the original letter I wrote dated 4/17/07 and a form letter with it as though I had submitted it in the last year. If only they had taken a moment to notice the date on my letter and that, since then, I had not submitted anything. Really I was so relieved that it wasn't the jewelry that was lost!

I also knew the moment the magazine "WWC" came out that my studio would never grace it's pages. My studio isn't neat, bare and tidy. My studio overwhelms me but in a good way. I could get lost in there and never come out and isn't that really what a studio is for?
Sue said…
Well said. I've actually broken down and started selling off those I've held on to all this time. Interesting that you wrote this - just a few days ago I blogged about my dissatisfaction with Art Doll Quarterly, too.
Randi said…
I bought an art mag put out by an art college - for 7.99! It had beautiful art work, really great paper, and fantastic photography. If they can do it at that price, why can't Stampington???? AND the art in it was totally different from anything I'd seen elsewhere - very exciting.

Couldn't agree more with all your comments, Kelly. Thanks for speaking for all of us.
Jeannine said…
Wow. So glad to have someone voice what I've felt for a long time. I recently bought a Stampington magazine and the issue, though current, looked exactly like past issues of four or five years ago. So disappointing.
PoetC7 said…
I stopped buying Stampington publication. I love the ones I have, but they started to all look alike, so I stopped purchasing them. I loved "Artful Blogging" when it came out and bought two years worth of issues. However, I'm running out of places to keep them, so that'll be the end of that one for a while at least. I agree with what you said and I hope you're right. I hope they freshen things up soon.
Kate Robertson said…
I agree with what you have said totally. You can extend that to all the mixed media books out there. There is nothing new, its all a rehash of old topics. I'd rather spend the money on Art supplies. I get my inspiration from other bloggers.
Diane said…
Oh my goodness---thank you for this post--I loved it.
I don't even bother to get Where Women Create anymore--or as I refer to it--the Stepford Studio magazine.
It just doesn't interest me!
I've had the same disenchantment with those magazines for a year or so now. Anytime I purchase the magazine and begin to read through it I feel like I've already read it. Month after month it's the same artists over and over and every article blends into the other.

and please, who's art studio's REALLY look like that? Except for a minority that keep it Martha Stewart perfect most people's rooms look like a cyclone have blown through it. I am not in the small minority, I tend to focus on creating not buying the perfect storage container. I put down those magazines feeling inadequate and depressed.

Popular Posts