I started listening to podcasts a few years back when, stuck in a doctor’s waiting room listening to easy listening music for 45 minutes every week (while waiting to see if the allergy desensitisation injections I had made me explode, or something) I knew I had to do something or become a musak rage statistic.

First there were the knitting and crochet podcasts, then I found an excellent weaving one, and finally I discovered a few ones on art and design. (Look in the sidebar for my favourites.) In the latter category, my favourite is An Illustrated Life, a series of interviews with artists about their sketchbooks, which it turned out were featured in the podcaster’s book. Every time I listened to an episode I’m so filled with inspiration that I have to ration the episodes so I don’t simply put aside work, all other hobbies, eating and sleeping in order to satisfy the itch to sketch.

While looking for paper craft books on Fishpond recently, I found the book the podcaster (Danny Gregory) had referred to and decided to order it. It features many more artists than the podcast, so while it is great to see the work of the ones who were interviewed it’s also great to see so many diverse styles and read so many stories. I love this book. I love how I can pick it up and read an artists story and examine their work when I have a spare ten minutes, or spend longer leafing through the pages. I think I may have to relisten to the podcasts I’ve already heard, so I can look at the artist’s pictures at the same time.

I had also spotted a book that intrigued me. A big, expensive book that I admit I probably wouldn’t have bought if it hadn’t been 60% off. The Writer’s Brush is similar in format to An Illustrated Life in that each artist occupies a few pages only. But these artists are also writers – famous literary and historical figures. Some are better known as writers, some as artists. Some of the art is merely character sketches, some are beautiful paintings. It’s described as ‘a lifetimes’s work’ and my mind spins at the phenomenal amount of research that went into it – not to mention work gaining permission to print the art from so many sources. I am in awe of this book (even as I’m slightly smug that I’m a lot better artist than many of these writers, while also very aware that I’m nowhere near as good a writer as any of them!).