Personal Illuminations: Imagination (Personal Illuminations) [Paperback]

James C. Christensen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2000 | Series: Personal Illuminations (Book 1)

Where does your imagination come from? How do you "think up" ideas? If life is a journey, what kind of boat are you in?

In this creative journal, Imagination, volume one in the Personal Illuminations series, James C. Christensen leads you on a journey to uncover your imagination and unlock your creativity.

Accompanied by delightful illustrations, this journal makes it simple and lots of fun to make notes and sketches, jot down ideas, and scribble thoughts, quotations, or memories. Some of the things you will learn to do in this journal include:
* Pick a color and notice it all day.
* Drive home from work a different way.
* Try something new: buy opera tickets, have lunch at a Mongolian restaurant, take tuba lessons.
* Use all your senses.
* Be curious; take a walk; daydream.

Major works of James C. Christensen are available as limited edition fine art prints and three-dimensional collectibles published by The Greenwich Workshop, Inc. www.greenwichworkshop.com

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Many adults see imagination and creativity as something reserved for artists, writers, and other "creative" types. But I don't agree with that. I believe that everyone has an imagination, everyone has the potential to be creative. I think that the process comes more easily to some people than to others, but with practice we all have access to imagination and creative problem solving, no matter where our interests and talents lie. Be brave and push yourself a little. What's the worst that can happen? You turn the page and start over!

About the Author

James C. Christensen was born in 1942 and raised in Culver City, California. He studied painting at Brigham Young Uni-versity and at the University of California at Los Angeles before finishing his formal education at BYU.

He recently retired from BYU after twenty-one years as professor of art. The artist has been commissioned by both Time/Life Books and Omni to create illustrations for their publications, and his work has appeared in the prestigious American Illustration Annual and Japan's Outstanding American Illustrators. Christensen has also won all the professional art honors the World Science Fiction Convention can bestow, as well as multiple Chesley Awards from the Association of Science Fiction and Fantasy Artists.

Christensen's fine art appears in limited edition prints and porcelain from The Greenwich Workshop. His books include Parables, with Robert Millet; A Journey of the Imagination: The Art of James Christensen; and Voyage of the Basset.

Product Details

• Paperback: 80 pages
• Publisher: Deseret Book Company (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1573458554
• ISBN-13: 978-1573458559
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #722,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #38 in Books > Self-Help > Journal Writing

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Your Creative Journal--The Ultimate Interactivity, January 8, 2001

By 

Donald Mueller (Wise, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Personal Illuminations: Imagination (Personal Illuminations) (Paperback)

Add to your "card catalog." That's the premise of the first volume in the "Personal Illuminations" series. Full of words and pictures designed as springboards to the imagination, this little journal delights as it teaches that everyone--not just "artists, writers, and other 'creative' types"--has the potential for creativity. Christensen provides the reader with tools to get more deeply involved in everyday (and not-so-everyday) life.

We may see ourselves in Christensen's fun and thought-provoking illustrations of fish out of water, burdensome attire, impractical mechanisms, and imperfect angels; but then the artist invites us to collaborate with him--to "write, scribble, sketch, paint, draw, scribble, scratch, mark, or paste" on the pages. If we respond to his invitation, we will certainly end up with a unique treasure.

But suggested activities go beyond the pages of the book. He also wants us to travel different roads, ask questions of family members, enjoy nature, observe architecture ("the boxes people come in"), combine the "cards" of our life in new ways, remember loved ones, visit museums, and use our senses (there are six!) to experience what we are, what we have been, and what we might become.

The journals in the "Personal Illuminations" series are books with a mission: to help us discover ourselves and inspire us to participate in our world. As a language teacher, I appreciate Christensen's rich, clear writing and effective use of quotations. Both visually and verbally stimulating, Christensen's books are consistently a worthwhile investment.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Imagination is beautiful., August 21, 2007

By 

Emily Writer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Personal Illuminations: Imagination (Personal Illuminations) (Paperback)

Alright. I admit it. Now I'm addicted. It's fabulous once you get going. The Personal Illumination books aren't what I expected. I realized that they were journal books, but I thought it was a journal supplement instead of an actual journal. Basically you plaster anything you want to anywhere in the journal. James C. Christenson helps your ideas get flowing, and from there on it's you. Very fun. I wish though that it was more of a full-blown book. I have tons to say.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful inspirational experience, January 4, 2011

By 

C. L. West "Sissalu" (Mesa, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Personal Illuminations: Imagination (Personal Illuminations) (Paperback)

This is a wonderful resource for getting yourself outside of mechanical, automatic, and mundane thinking. I have loved working through the pages. Anyone wanting to get in touch with their creative side will love this book if they simply follow the instructions. I return to it again and again, rereading the author's ideas and my own. It's brilliant!

I just pulled mine out of a box where its been for a year (after a move). I'm so inspired. It's amazing how my thoughts just jump out at me from all the things I had written before. What a valuable journal experience. This tells more of who I am than all my tedious daily journal writing. I wish copies were easily attainable for all my family!