Jane Mount paints people’s bookshelves:
For a few years now I’ve been painting portraits of people’s bookshelves, because you can learn a lot by their grouped covers. Recently I’ve been painting “Ideal Bookshelves”: a collection of someone’s favorites, often around a particular subject matter.
I was honored when she asked if she could paint mine to the theme of “design.” While I zip through books, singling out favorites on a theme was tough. While people keep learning and changing, spines of books in the collective show a moment in time, a learning that took place or continues to take place. Ideal bookshelves itself is one of my favorites. See the originals or get some of your own.

