Web Wisdom

Under the magnifying glass for a bit of stitching (aka DOing).

A bit Web Wisdom today...

Recently, I signed up for Lesley Riley's 52 Pickup. I have a button for it in the right hand column. It's 52 weeks of weekly emails from Lesley with words of wisdom, jump starts for creativity and multi-media. For those of you who don't know Lesley, she's been my art coach and mentor over the last couple of years. Her business is called, Artist Success and she's been a tremendous help to me. She motivated me to create my home studio, to start my newsletter and most recently to write and submit a proposal for a book.

Today, I received my first week of 52 Pickup. The theme was less thinking, more doing. I laughed because, of course, in the two years I've worked with her, this has been MY issue! There have been many times that I've thought and thought as a form of procrastination...instead of getting into the studio and doing and doing and learning through the doing. She also passed along a terrific quote from Martha Graham which is now hanging in my studio:

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares to other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open--Martha Graham.

Think about it...

After reading this I headed down to the studio for a bit of DOing!

200th

This is my 200th post! I can hardly believe it. I started blogging just over a year ago. Looking back at those early posts, I feel like I've come a long way...especially from that first posting the day after the remnants of Hurricane Isabel hit our area. The highlight (if you want to call it that) was my photo of a dead raccoon!

I have two people to thank for getting me a bit more up to snuff in the blogging world. One is Lesley Riley, my coach and mentor, who said that I needed to get back to blogging on a very regular basis. The other, is the woman I like to call the Blogging Qu(d)een. That is none other than Jennifer. She kindly answered my often simple and sometimes bizarre technical questions. She gently reminded me about blogging etiquette. And she has continued to be a cheer leader and frequent commenter on this blog. Thanks Jennifer for all your help.

 To celebrate getting this far on my blogging journey, I am offering a little gift. It is a Peace Flag. It was one of my sample flags from the Flags for Peace Project. I hand painted the background cotton fabric, hand printed the flag and added some hand painted details. The flag is ready for hanging with a little sleeve at the top (that was hand stitched). The size of the flag is 7" x 10". For those of you new to this blog, the symbol on the flag is a hamsa (sometimes called a Hand of Fatima). It's a protective symbol. This particular hamsa has great meaning for me as it was one I designed for a good friend, who recently passed away. You can read more about it here.

To win this special little flag, all you have to do is leave a comment at this post. I will be doing a drawing for the winner on Sunday, October 14th.

Thanks to all who have been following along. I've enjoyed your comments, observations and encouragement. It's wonderful to make new friends and to share what is closest to our hearts...art!

Now back to the studio to do some more printing....

Book Proposal First Steps

Printed with incised foam using different tools*.

 Just had my monthly call with my art coach and mentor, Lesley Riley of Artist Success. I've worked with her on and off over the last couple of years. She has pushed and prodded and I've sometimes resisted but have always come to the eventual realization that she is moving me in the right direction.

Printed with incised foam using different tools*.

My goal with her has always been to write a book. I wrote a rough draft of the book proposal and Lesley and I went over it today. She was really happy with it. I'll just need to do a bit of tweaking here and there. I'm nervous and excited! I'm looking forward to tackling the final proposal and getting it off.

Printed with incised foam using different tools*.

I know that this book will be a lot of hard work. I know there will be times when I'll wonder why I ever thought I wanted to do this. But I also know, in the end, I will be happy because it's been a desire of mine for a very long time.

Step one ...completed!

*You can read more about how I made these fabrics by reading the most recent issue of Julie B Booth Surface Design News. See the Newsletter Archives in the right hand column.

A Trip to Michael's

So...I was just going to Michael's Arts and Crafts to pick up one of those fabric marking pens that washes out. I'm about to start a new project for my group, F.I.N.E. (Fiber In Nearly Everything). Michael's is a surface designer's dream. I can't help walking down one of my favorite aisles...the one with all the craft foam. In case you didn't know it, I am in love with craft foam!

Craft foam (Creatology refers to it as Fun Foam) is a wonderful product to use in surface design. I especially love the adhesive craft foam. I like to cut shapes out of the foam, peel off the backing and stick them to either corrugated cardboard or thicker craft foam to create print blocks. I usually buy the package that has the  6" x 9" sheets that come in a rainbow assortment of colors.

I'm always on the look out for new products having to do with craft foam. Today I found a few interesting items. I found a color assortment of single 9" x 12" sheets of adhesive craft foam which will be great if I want to work on some larger designs. I also found something new...adhesive backed craft felt (also by Creatology). The adhesive felt came in a variety of colors but also in some textures.  I might not only be able to print with the textured version, but it might make a nice rubbing plate.

As I was heading toward the cashier, I came across a mish-mash of toy items on sale. And...there I spotted them...Lil' Gourmet toy rolling pins. Oooo...the possibilities I can imagine. I could wrap rubber bands around them or stick craft foam or craft felt shapes on them. I can add fabric paint and roll them across my fabric. Can't wait to give all these goodies a try.

I just got an email notification that an artists' site I bought a page on has just gone live. I have my cloth figures (made with my hand printed fabrics) featured there. I hope you will check it out: www.jccnv.org/artists/united-states/julie-b.-booth/?back=artists

Continuing along the Path

Stitched textile, 1992

Layers of blue glue gel resist, color washes, stenciling and printing, 2011

Do you ever have one of those days when your intention gets side-tracked? Well, I am having one of those days. My goal today was to get a workshop proposal together for a fiber association conference in 2013. It's my second attempt at proposing a class to an association but the first time to this one. Part of the proposal asks for a brief resume including my teaching experience. So of course I got hung up on that Shi-sha demonstration I did for the Textile Museum....when was that exactly?

Excavating through the old notebooks and there was the receipt...1992. Okay..so that was going a bit too far...but then I started reading some notebook entries. I started to realize that I am still asking some of the same questions, searching for some of the same answers and am still attracted to some of the same ideas. So strange to have that realization exactly 20 years later.

I found a stitched piece I was working on at the time...a sampler really and it sure reminded me of some of my resist work... Idea of textile-a rich fabric I want to hold/touch--rich colors/surfaces. Layers--many--yet sandwiched to form a fabric--a whole--that blends in spots and peels away at others...(1992) and ...my life as a textile--peeling away to reveal, covering up to hide...(1992)

I guess I'm still moving along the same path.

The "Reveal"

I decided to let my Exploring Surface Design students have a second evening of playing with the resists. I really think it was a good decision. There was a lot of experimentation going on Wednesday night. I'll be excited to see the final fabrics. I also got a chance to play. I added more layers of paint and resist to some of my pieces. Below are some samples...a before and after washing out the resists...what I like to call the reveal.

Uncooked wheat flour paste with scratched designs

After wheat flour paste is removed

Blue glue gel sampler with additional layers of blue glue, color washes and printing

After removing the blue glue gel

Blue glue gel sampler with color washes a second layer of blue glue, stenciling and printing

After removing the blue glue gel

I will be teaching an all day workshop tomorrow, Creative Fabric Designs Inspired by Nature, so I won't be posting. Planning to come home from class have a glass of wine and watch a movie with my hubby.

Petulance Pays Off

I don't normally post on Wednesdays but as the "juices" in my mind are flowing...I thought I would write today.

I've been re-working this blog with the help of Lesley Riley, my art coach. I worked with Lesley for the first half of 2011 when I was just starting the Conant Grant project. Her first words to me were, "You need a space of your own to work in." Well, I was dragging my feet as I thought about all the work it would require to get the space I'd chosen (a "catch-all" room) together as a studio space. I "hemmed"; I "hawwed"...I was petulant. How was I going to get rid of that huge old oak desk? But Lesley kept pushing...

A friend up the street mentioned "Freecycle". No sooner had I posted the desk, then I had a reply and off it went to a new home. Getting rid of the desk got me "unstuck". From that point on I was able to get rid of the clutter, get a contractor lined up to fix the ceiling and add better lighting, get a good working table together and add shelving. I have been grateful to Lesley ever since for her insistence and pushiness.

So back to the blog and to the "marketing"...

 Lesley says I need an online newsletter in addition to the blog. That I also need to get involved in "Pinterest"...that I need to be as focused on the marketing as I am on the art making. Well...I could feel the petulance swelling up in me last night! I was "ticked"! I was "pissed"! How am I ever going to get all this done? When am I going to make art? When am I going to write my book?

This morning I woke up with a new attitude. "Hey", I thought,"this newsletter thing might be okay. I've been focusing on the kitchen for my resists...I could be focusing on the kitchen for surface design in general".

I peered into one of the recycling bags this morning and suddenly it became a surface design treasure trove. I could see print blocks and stencils hiding in that brown paper grocery bag...heck...the grocery bag even had my mind spinning!

So now I will be sitting down and putting my thoughts on paper for the newsletter. It will be all about the surface design "treasures" hiding in the kitchen. I hope to have readers looking in their pantries, opening cupboards, gazing in the drawer with the plastic wrap and foil...and peering into the recycling bag!

I guess petulance does pay off!

In the Studio

I’ve spent the last week working in the studio. My husband was up in NJ all week. My son is back at college. So I was able to spend three full, uninterrupted days working on my grant project: “Kitchen Resists”—using common household materials as fabric resists. Since I’ve gotten through the black and white samples of about 60 resist recipes, I am now focusing on some color samples. I’ve been picking out some of the more successful techniques within each resist and layering some on top of the other. These are the 8” x 12” samples. I also plan to do more ½ yard samples or perhaps some scarves, in which I combine different resists. As you can imagine…I’m really “into” layering when it comes to creating painted and printed fabric. I’ll have more examples of layered fabric in future posts. In the meantime, here are a couple of photos showing how things are looking in the studio.

Some of the color samples in process

Organizing the resist samples in folders

I’m learning some important things from this project. One is that even though it can be tough to keep interest up in a long term project, I see that I’m capable of “plugging along” even when things have occasionally gotten boring. If it weren’t for the grant, I might not have explored as many resists nor taken the time to try as many techniques with the different resists. Another thing I've learned is the importance of being organized. My art coach, Lesley Riley (Artist Success) was a tremendous help with that in the earlier stages of the project. I’ve broken the project down into manageable steps; I’ve created a schedule that I’ve managed to stick to; I have all my samples in labeled folders and all the folders are grouped into resist “types” (see photo). I will soon be photographing everything for the grant presentation. So, more photos to come!