Blog | Christopher Stott

Eight Penguin Classics

Many of these Penguin Classics are the books that you should have read when you were in your teens, but probably wouldn’t have understood fully until you were in your thirties. It is available through the Elliott Fouts Gallery.

Giving these books a try early on in life is good but I have personally found that revisiting them later makes them way more relevant. These books are written by people who had a full spectrum of experiences and knowledge and I am only now finding that I understand where they come from. Read more

The Way To Win

I found this book, The Way To Win, and had to add it to my little late 19th Century library of books that reveal the way our people were thinking just over 100 years ago. The book is a very detailed, very long self-help style book from a John T. Dale.

The Way To Win Book I Painting by Christopher Stott — The Way To Win I / 18 x 36 / oil on canvas

After browsing through the chapters, I’m left to wonder if anyone who picked up the book in 1891 found success as they went chapter by chapter and tried to structure a meaningful, successful life.

The thing that I find interesting is how this book reads and seems so much like modern-day self help. It’s all here, published 125 years ago. You can find all of this being self-published on countless blogs or YouTube channels today. I wonder if John T. Dale would have found an audience if he was one of those numbers today?

ITOYA 2017 Calendar

Several months ago I was approached by ITOYA in Japan and asked to collaborate on a 2017 calendar featuring my paintings. ITOYA operates stationary stores and cafés, the calendar is available exclusively in Japan.

It was a careful process to select the right images, and the designer did a great job. The calendar turned out much better than I anticipated. It is large and represents my paintings well. It is made with high end materials and in limited numbers.

It is printed on a heavy weight, sturdy paper in full color – but I am only sharing black and white sneak peeks here.

If you are outside of Japan, try using tenso.com to get the calendar shipped to you. The calendar can be found here on the ITOYA website.

Christopher Stott ITOYA Japan 2017 Calendar

Tiny Collection

Over the years I’ve collected many objects – at one point things started to get out of hand and so I downsized, but I’m starting to run out of space again.

Luckily some objects are small enough to fit anywhere. My wife and kids have taken to gifting me miniature inspiration.

HB #2 Pencils & Nineteen Eighty-Four

HB #2 Pencils by Christopher Stott — HB #2 Pencils / 18 x 14 / oil on canvas

I’ve done a few more studies, although one could be seen as more of a reach back to around a decade ago when pencils seemed to figure frequently in my paintings.

These paintings will be included in the small works December exhibition at the Elliott Fouts Gallery.

Nineteen Eighty-Four Book Painting by Christopher Stott — Nineteen Eighty-Four / 18 x 14 / oil on canvas

I found a bunch of Penguin Classics that I’ll be featuring in some upcoming paintings — this painting is the first study.

Nineteen Eighty-Four is one of my favourite books. Although it is fascinating, I actually don’t fear that the world depicted in it is the one we live in. It’s more like the one we are afraid we live in, and the truth is we actually live in a Brave New World which seems equally as terrifying.