Hit the Books

One of my favorite places to find creative inspiration is in art books. I, personally, have three that are always at hand: The Art Book, The 20th Century Art Book and Art USA: The American Art Book. All three are put out by Phaidon Press, which publishes a nice selection of art reference books among other things. There are 500 pieces of art in each book, so it's pretty hard to go through all of them and not be inspired by something, whether that is the subject, the medium or simply a certain color used in an intriguing way. The Art Book is the first one I turn to simply because it has a nice mix of both classic art and more modern works.