Ideal Bookshelf

Ideal Bookshelf 298: TDN

Ideal Bookshelf 298: TDN
2011 / 8"x8" / gouache & ink on paper

Ideal Bookshelf 237: CC

Ideal Bookshelf 237: CC
2011 / 8"x8" / gouache & ink on paper

Ideal Bookshelf 207: THL

Ideal Bookshelf 207: THL
2011 / 8"x8" / gouache & ink on paper

Ideal Bookshelf 196: MAT

Ideal Bookshelf 196: MAT
2011 / 8"x10" / gouache & ink on paper

Ideal Bookshelf 186: LBM

Ideal Bookshelf 186: LBM
2011 / 8"x10" / gouache & ink on paper

Ideal Bookshelf 143: DHMMc

Ideal Bookshelf 143: DHMMc
2010 / 8"x8" / gouache & ink on paper

Ideal Bookshelf 102: Cooking

Ideal Bookshelf 102: Cooking
2010 / 12"x16" / gouache & ink on paper

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This set is actually a "Super-Ideal" bookshelf, in a sense. It contains all the cookbooks most often included in people's sets of favorites, plus a few of my personal favorites I couldn't leave out. You can buy prints of it on 20x200.

 

Ideal Bookshelf 85: NBM

Ideal Bookshelf 85: NBM
2010 / 9"x12" / gouache & ink on paper

RM commissioned this painting for her daughter, NBM. This may be the happiest looking set of books I've ever painted. The Girl Who Played With Fire was especially fun to paint. So was Let the Great World Spin.

Ideal Bookshelf 80: GW

Ideal Bookshelf 80: GW
2010 / 9"x12" / gouache & ink on paper

I consider George one of my best friends ever, even though we don't see each other in person very often, despite living in the same city. I value his opinion highly; whenever I start a new project of some sort, I wonder, "What would George think about this?" and often improve things based on the answer. We went to college together, where I dated his best friend and he dated the girl who would eventually become my first roommate in Manhattan (and would later marry Steve Martin). Later on George and his wife Jen and I all worked together at Bolt. Now he is the chef and owner of egg in Williamsburg, where the line for a weekend table stretches around the block. He and Jen and their two beautiful blond daughters also have a farm upstate where they grow much of the produce for egg.

These are the books he feels contributed to who he is today.

Ideal Bookshelf 82: EM

Ideal Bookshelf 82: EM
2010 / 8"x10" / gouache & ink on paper

EM lives in Torino, Italy and these are her favorites. I like that the color scheme and design of the spines feels very different even at a glance, before you realize most of them are in Italian. And I loved painting Barbapapa again, in a second language (the first was in German). He's a pink blob creature and family created in Paris but exported via TV and books all over 1970's Europe.

Ideal Bookshelf 78: SS

Ideal Bookshelf 78: SS
2010 / 8"x10" / gouache & ink on paper

SS is a chef and food blogger in Italy. Her knives were more appropriate than her books. Silver gouache paint doesn't scan well for the web, though.

Ideal Bookshelf 76:

Ideal Bookshelf 76:
2010 / 8"x10" / gouache & ink on paper

SA commissioned this as a wedding present for two friends, combining both his and her favorites. (I don't yet know their initials, but will fill them in when I do.) I really like the color scheme, and that edition of Lord of the Flies is in my top ten favorite books I've ever painted.

Ideal Bookshelf 54: CS

Ideal Bookshelf 54: CS
2010 / 8"x10" / gouache & ink on paper

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Ideal Bookshelf 52: SKM

Ideal Bookshelf 52: SKM
2010 / 9"x12" / gouache & ink on paper

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Ideal Bookshelf 49: IG/JG

Ideal Bookshelf 49: IG/JG
2010 / 8"x10" / gouache & ink on paper

Ideal Bookshelf 34: OBF

Ideal Bookshelf 34: OBF
2010 / 9"x9" / gouache & ink on paper

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Ideal Bookshelf 16: JMM

Ideal Bookshelf 16: JMM
© 2010 Jane Mount

12"x16" / gouache & ink on paper

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Bookshelf 39: MKM/CE, Oakland

Bookshelf 39: MKM/CE, Oakland
2009 / 8"x10" / gouache & ink on paper

Bookshelf 38: SKM, Atlanta

Bookshelf 38: SKM, Atlanta
2009 / 8"x10" / gouache & ink on paper

Bookshelf 32: SKM, Atlanta

Bookshelf 32: SKM, Atlanta
2008 / 8"x10" / gouache & ink on paper