Daybook: The Journal of an Artist

A classic work for artists about reconciling the call of creative work with the demands of daily life, with a new introduction by Audrey Niffenegger. Renowned American artist Anne Truitt kept this illuminating and inspiring journal over a period of seven years, determined to come to terms with the forces that shaped her art and life. Within its beautifully written pages, you will come to know a woman whose range of sensitivity-moral, intellectual, sensual, emotional, and spiritual-is remarkably broad. She recalls her childhood on the eastern shore of Maryland, her career change from psychology to art, and her path to making sculptures so finely painted that they would "set colour free in three dimensions." She reflects on the generous advice of other artists, watches her own daughter's journey into motherhood, meditates on criticism and solitude, and struggles to express her vision. Resonant and true, encouraging and revelatory, Anne Truitt guides herself-and us-through a life in which domestic activities and the needs of children and friends are constantly juxtaposed against the world of colour and abstract geometry to which she is drawn in her art. A rare window on the workings of a creative mind, Daybookshowcases an extraordinary artist whose insights generously and succinctly illuminate the artistic process.