Welcome to week three of Shalloe Gallery Christmas, and time for my newsletter inspired batch of gifts to you.

If you’ve missed out on week one, you can find it here

9 More Previously Unseen Art Pieces

To start off this week, i’m sharing a curated collection of art work that has not been featured on this site. At a glance you can see each of the pieces are made of different mixed media, however due to the similar themes of colour and lines actually complement each other well.

Creating collages or mix and matching work can help highlight new themes and bring old pieces back to life. Choosing different formats and the placement of art can be essential in a display and how put together it looks.

8 Things That Inspire Me to Create

Every person runs into a situation when they struggle to feel motivated or are unsure of what to do next. A helpful tip i have found is to keep (and keep adding to) a gigantic mind map of things you like. Anything can be included, colours, people, movies, materials, ect.

Its easy to use as a reference point and a way to sort through some of your ideas, and think of ways to potentially combine the things you love. 8 things on my own mind map are:

Lanterns
The Sky
String
Garden Statues
Cold Weather
Coloured Lights
Collecting Rocks
Brightly Coloured Eyeliner

Sometimes after reviewing what you have put there you can use it to understand yourself more and make sense of some of the artistic decisions you have chosen.

7 Books To Pick Up

My Last gift of the week is 7 books you might want to read! i’ve got the common habit of reading until i’m tired enough to sleep (although a contradiction as i find myself staying awake to finish the book). But wherever you might read, travelling, in the bath or when you have spare time, here are some books you might want to pick up:

House of Leaves by Mark Z Danielewski, has to be my absolute favourite book. The layout of the book is incredibly astonishing, with it’s unorthodox format of text which makes it visually interesting to read and helps build up the suspense. This books follows the investigation of a family moving into a new house, where some abnormal things take place, it reads more like a personal journal with secrets you are never meant to know.
B Is for Bad Poetry by Pamela August Russell a comedic poetry book, full of lots of styles of poems. This book really helped me to think of the different ways you can express yourself and actually got me back into writing poetry.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman, Ever since i read American Gods i’ve been a fan of Gaiman and the way he manages to intertwine supernatural scenarios in a natural or realistic way. This book encompasses it perfectly with the way the main character, after a tragedy, reflects on his childhood and the more he gets into it, the more is revealed that things weren’t quite exactly as he thought they were.
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware, is a murder mystery thriller set on a boat, expect that the main character isn’t entirely sure what she saw was real as she was the only witness, but she knows for sure that something went down and she’s the only person able to investigate. Lo Blacklock is a relateably flawed character but with a strong back bone to keep pushing for answers.
Factual Nonsense- The Art and Death of Joshua Compston By Darren Coffield. For those who have been apart of the Shalloe Gallery Newsletters for a while will know that i enjoy the mysterious and complex life of Compston. The manic ability he had to create and motivate. This book is a brilliant piece written from words by the people who knew him best.
It Devours! by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor, set in the same universe as the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, where some wonderfully strange things happen, It Devours has a beautiful mix of comedy and sublime horror as it tackles the discourse between science and religion in a creative way. This book can be read as a stand alone piece, but is far more enjoyable if you are aware to some of the ‘lore’ of the Night Vale universe.
The Stone Gods by Jeanette Winterson, is a post modernist book. The story is set at a post apocalyptic time, with a ‘Big brother’ like government and hugely advanced technology. The book encompasses 4 different timelines, where you as the reader see that the civilizations get to a certain point and then history seems to be repeating itself.

I’ve tried to have a couple different genres/types of books in the list however i am sure you will be able to see the themes i tend to enjoy. It was difficult to choose only 7 books for this list, so here is a couple of honorable mentions (and my cheeky way of getting around the set amount).

All books by Gillian Flynn are stories to look out for, Full of dark complex characters battling their flaws. Each book filled with mystery and suspense to find out the truth behind situations, Luckily for those who prefer to watch TV then to read, her first book Sharp Objects has been adapted into a TV series while her 3rd book Gone Girl has been turned into a film.
The Trouble series by Stephanie Tromly, if you’re a fan of a detective series similar to Riverdale or Veronica Mars than this 3 part series is the one for you. The main character although suspicious of her fellow detective/Partner in crime, is seduced by the feel of adventure and solving mysteries so goes along with a lot of dubious plans as you find out the truth of an investigation that was left unsolved

So i hope you’ve found something from today’s batch of gifts that you enjoyed or might try out. That’s it for this week, but stay tuned for next Sunday where we will be celebrating the last issue of Shalloe Gallery Christmas sponsored by the Newsletter

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