where i stand sunday

Rust and circles. Right there, out in the open, and no one paying it any attention. The patch is out of place, encased by lily white concrete, segregated. I imagine the person who laid the objects on this spot was thinking of how to counteract all that blankness, looking for a way to punctuate the blandness with some movement and color.

Where I Stand is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places I spend my life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. The ground we tread on has its own stories to tell. 

don't forget - voting for Fabric8 contest ends on May 15!

Several people have asked me if they can vote more then once. The answer is no. According to the official rules, multiple votes from the same person/IP address will be disqualified so they won't go toward the total number of votes received. So one vote per person please! :)

Okay, I know that I'm of a single thought line right now but I'm trying to cover all my bases. I apologize for beating the drum so hard about this but the timeline is so short that I don't really have a choice if I want to advance to the finalist round.

In case you've missed what I'm talking about - I entered a contest on Spoonflower in which the prize is to become a fabric designer for Robert Kaufman Fabrics. My design (shown below) was selected out of 750 entries for the semi-finalist round. There are 100 designs in this round and now it's up to voting. The eight designs that get the most votes will advance to the finalist round. Those designers will make a few more designs to create a mini collection and voting will re-open on June 3. At that point, whoever gets the most votes wins the entire contest.(My original blog post about the contest and all the details can be found here. )

Voting for the semi-finals round ends on May 15 so time is a wasting! :)

My design entry is shown below, "Geometry Test Cheat Sheet":

When you go to vote, they move the designs around so you'll have to look through the 100 semi finalists to find out but really, it's pretty quick.

If you like my design and wouldn't mind giving me a vote, I'd really appreciate it!

"The Creative Habit" read along - Chapter 4

The Creative Habit book by Twyla Tharp

 

If you would like to join the closed Facebook group dedicated to this read along to discuss the book in more detail, please send an email to Lynn at FibraArtysta@earthlink.net with your email address.

 

This is the third installment of the read along for "The Creative Habit" by Twlya Tharp.

 

Chapter 1 and 2 of the read along can be found in this post.

Chapter 3 of the read along can be found in this post.

Chapter 4 - Harness Your Memory

This is not my first spin through The Creative Habit. In the past, for whatever reason, I've not really found this chapter that interesting. I decided though, that maybe I wasn't giving it it's fair due and I listened to the audio version of it a couple of times this week.

Tharp talks about how we use our memory to not only influence the choices we make in our artwork but also to execute the actual act of creating.

 

I found this passage from the chapter especially interesting, she says: "If there's a lesson here it's : get busy copying. That's not a popular notion today, not when we are all instructed to find our own way, admonished to be original and find our own voice at all costs! But it's sound advice. Traveling the paths of greatness, even is someone else's footprints, is a vital means to acquiring skill."

I spent some time thinking about this because having my own voice in my work has been a high priority to me. I've even gone so far as to limit the number of classes I've taken in order to avoid becoming a clone. Has it worked? I'm not sure but I do know one thing, I'm at a place in which I feel as if I've got a strong independent voice and now I can continue to build on it.

I think the key is to copy to learn. It's the beginning, not the end. It's a means to start. Once you've acquired the technical skills, make it your own. That's sound advice, it makes a lot of sense.

I also find the idea of our personal memories driving the choices we make in our art. I'm a child of the seventies and I spent my kindegarten afternoons sitting on a burnt orange sofa in a small sunroom watching Mr. Rogers. The room was decorated in macrame and earth tones and had a very safe feeling. 

These colors show up in my work a lot. I strongly believe that they struck a chord with me when I was little and have stuck with me for various reasons. 

I've come to realize now that Tharp is 100% spot on - memory plays a huge role in the art that we create. Whether it's the memory of a skill we learned from someone else or the memory of a color we liked when we were a kid - it's all mixed into our voices as artists.

Do you find this to be true? Do you find that you are influenced by your memories when you make art?

Next week we'll discuss Chapter 5 - Before You Can Think Out of the Box, You have to Start with a Box.  Happy reading! :)

where i stand sunday

My addiction to patterning fabric forces my eye towards considering the mundane everyday surface alterations that we are all accustomed to passing by. Lime yellow on a deep charcoal grey, the shine from the rain pushing the base color to different tones depending on where I stand. Random marks of circles and thin lines creating a secret message. It will be gone soon, removed by the wear of nature, as temporary as this spring season.

Where I Stand is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places I spend my life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. The ground we tread on has its own stories to tell. 

I NEED YOUR HELP! please vote for my fabric design! :)

Edited to add: Several people have asked me if they can vote more then once. The answer is no. According to the official rules, multiple votes from the same IP address will be disqualified so they won't go toward the total number of votes received. So one vote per person please! :)


I got an awesome email this morning - I'm a semi finalist in Spoonflower's Fabric8 contest!

Why is this so exciting? Well, because the contest is run in conjunction with Robert Kaufman Fabric. The theme of the fabric is Geek Chic and here is my design:

I call it "Geometry Test Cheat Sheet." The background has math formulas and the pattern over the top is hiding them so the teacher won't be the wiser. ;-)

The prize for this contest is a contract to design fabric for Robert Kaufman. It's an incredible opportunity and the winner is determined by voting. Here's how the contest works:

There were 750 entries in the contest and the fine folks at Kaufman Fabrics choose 100 for the semi- finals round. I'm geeked (no pun intended!) that "Geometry Test Cheat Sheet" is among them! Voting on the fabric designs will only be open until May 15 and the eight designs with the most votes will become finalists.

The finalists will then put up a couple more designs for their collection and then voting will re-open on June 6. The finalist with the most votes will win the contest and go on to create fabric goodness with Kaufman.

So the short of it is that I NEED YOUR HELP getting to the finalist round! It's super easy to vote, just GO HERE and look through the seven pages of semi-finalists to find "Geometry Test Cheat Sheet" and if you like the looks of it, give it a vote. Just a quick note that the name of my shop on Spoonflower is Smudged Textiles Studio. That's my soon to be new business name so I use that there. So the name over the image reads "geometry test cheat sheet by smudged_textiles_studio.  (The designs show up randomly for each person so you've got to go looking for it, it's different for each voter that stops by.)

thermofax screen kits available through Interweave! :)

One of my secret projects was this one:

I'm super stoked to be able to offer two Thermofax screen designs through Interweave - a coffee cup and a tea cup:

 

  photo by Jackie Lams

They are included in a kit that comes in two varieties - Basic and Deluxe.  Both types include one each of the Coffee Cup and Tea Cup screens, my Print Design Compose DVD, six flour sack kitchen towels for creating a super cute towel set. The Deluxe kit adds to the goodness with four bottles of Plaid Simply Screen Paint.  

Click on over to snag a kit while you can!

There aren't a lot to go around so don't wait too long!

Want to see what the pile of screens looked like after Jackie was done burning them all?

   photo by Jackie Lams

That's a lot of Thermofax screens!! (Makes my heart go pitty pat!) Jackie did a real bang up job executing the order, it wasn't easy. But our determination to convert everyone into Thermofax screen printing addicts runs deep and strong! :)

I do hope you'll grab a kit and have as much fun screen printing your little heart out!!! :)

 

soy wax batik DVD giveaway WINNER!

 Wow! You guys really like soy wax batik! :)

I printed out all the comments and did an old fashioned dig around and draw a name:

And the winner is:

Congrats! Send me your name and mailing address at FibraArtysta@earthlink.net and I'll pop it in the mail to you.

And if you are considering buying the DVD, I really encourage you do to so. You can pick up a copy here. The cost is $35. For a 148 minute workshop that you can watch over and over and over and over again. It's really an incredible value - consider how much you pay when you attend a class in person and then you have to try to remember everything. With the DVD you can make Susan repeat herself a million times and she won't mind.

Happy batiking! :)

"The Creative Habit" read along - Chapter 3

The Creative Habit book by Twyla Tharp

If you would like to join the closed Facebook group dedicated to this read along to discuss the book in more detail, please send an email to Lynn at FibraArtysta@earthlink.net with your email address.

This is the second installment of the read along for "The Creative Habit" by Twlya Tharp.

Chapter 1 and 2 of the read along can be found in this post.

Chapter 3 - Your Creative DNA

This chapter is a personal one, it's about how you approach your creativity. How your work habits actually define your voice.

This one has really given me pause. Here's why:

Remnants Collage #17

Lynn Krawczyk

This is #17 of a series that has defined my artist voice. This is the way I have chosen to work that feels most like home.

It's anything but organized or clear. The meaning? I won't say what it means to me. It's meant to be undefined so that it can be whatever it needs to be for whoever is looking at it.

I've been struggling so much about how messy my creative space is. And while I'm not about to abandon my pursuit of making my studio better then it is, it makes me wonder if I need to be careful about how far I take it.

Clearly I create from chaos. I make from a place that thrives on layers and riot and simply just being. If I completely remove this energy from my studio, will I struggle? My method of working depends largely on reacting to my fabric. If I don't hit an instant emotional reaction to what I've chosen, I toss it aside and dig through the pile again.

There is a disconnect when I work, I just go, let overthinking go. Let the chaos build itself up in the composition.

Tharp discusses her own habit of detachment and involvement when she is working. She is aware that no matter how odd it might seem, she needs them both in order to work. I'm realizing that while the constant chaos that I work in feels overwhelming now, I need some degree of it in order to spark the collages. I need to have the layers reveal themselves to me as I dig through The Heap of fabric I'm constantly trying to organize.

Tharp has devised a questionnaire in this chapter called "Your Creative Autobiography". It's a list of 33 questions that lead you through an understanding about how you came to work in the medium that you do and the habits that you have that let you accomplish your work. It's a very illuminating exercise.

She says, "If you understand the strands of your creative DNA, you begin to see how they mutate into common threads in your work. You begin to see the "story" that you're trying to tell; why you do the things you do (both positive and self-destructive); where you are strong and where you are week (which prevents a lot of false starts), and how you see the world and function in it."

She's talking about your artistic voice. About all the tiny little decisions and preferences that collide with each other into the thing that defines your artistic style. As with most of the themes in her book, it's about knowing who you are when you step into your studio and start making. It was interesting to sit back and think about the habits I have when I approach my work.

Do you have a way of working that has contributed greatly to your personal style of work?

Next week we'll discuss Chapter 4 - Harness Your Memory.  Happy reading! :)

where i stand sunday

If you've hung around the blog for any length of time, you'll be familiar with this kind of post. If you haven't, let me explain why you're looking at a photo of my feet.

When I started my blog, I was eager for two things: (1) a way to build a regular blogging habit and (2) a long term project. My true desire was to (and still is) to have a daily project but I find it too difficult to keep up with - studio time is sparse during the week. So I settled on a weekly photo essay, one that focuses on slowing down and observing the word both through the picture and a brief piece of writing to explain the picture.

I chose to take pictures of places I stood throughout the week because how often do we really take a moment to pause and observe the ground we tread on? Not often. It's the thing that supports us as we move through our days, it seemed like it was time to give it it's due.

I did the photo essay for five years here on the blog and then felt as if I ran out of things to say. Life became more compressed and I was going fewer places and thought it had simply run it's course. Recently a friend asked me about it, had I considered picking it back up. In truth, I had been. I missed the writing, the habit of forcing myself to look where I was stepping through the week.

So I'm picking the project back up. Starting today. Each week I'll post a photo with a mini essay beneath it. I'm going to supplement it a bit, though and give an eye level view of where I stood as well if it offers anything interesting to look at. It feels good to be doing it again, to be looking where I step.

 The weather here in the mountains does not match the calendar, moodier even then my beloved Michigan. My feet have trouble finding purchase on the heavy packed snow and I grip the guard rail tightly, worried that even though the gap is narrow I'll somehow find myself falling down the side of the slope. I feel small here, truly insignificant in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. Their beauty is suffocating in it's immensity, a collaboration that speaks to my human nature in a most basic of ways.

View of the Rocky Mountains from Where I Stood.

Where I Stand is an ongoing photo essay examining the different places I spend my life standing. Too often we take for granted the everyday places we spend our lives walking on. The ground we tread on has its own stories to tell. 

soy wax batik DVD giveaway! :)

I love soy wax batik. I mean, love it. I haven't been doing a lot of it lately and it was on my mind that I wanted to pull out the pots and wax again when Susan Purney Mark announced that her new DVD on the subject had just come out:

It took me about a nano second to order it.

I've long been a fan of Susan's work, she has an incredible eye for color and I'm excited to be able to learn more about this technique from her. (Isn't it great how all you have to do is order something online and then it shows up in the mailbox and you become so much smarter? I love it, the world is so accessible now.)

Here's a preview of what's on the DVD:

Soy Wax Inspirations • Susan Purney Mark - Movie Trailer from Andrew Galli on Vimeo.

It. Is. Awesome.

And Susan very kindly sent me an extra copy to give away on the blog! So you've got a chance to win this incredible workshop for free!

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and on Monday May 6 I'll announce the winner. Happy commenting! :)

more Heap taming

I'll be honest. I had no desire to work on The Heap this past weekend. I'm brewing a cold and just felt like laying down and staring at the TV. But I made a commitment that if I was able to work on The Heap for an hour each weekend, I would. And in all honesty, the cold wasn't bad enough to take me down for the count so I set about my task.

This is where it was the last time we left it.

I set my timer to an hour and this time tried something different. I grabbed small piles and worked on putting the fabric on the boards while standing at my print table:

HUGE difference. So much easier to get them on there with some semblance of being straight and I found that I was moving quicker. The last time I just sat on the floor in front of the mess and scowled at it, I think the sheer volume of The Heap was discouraging. Simply not having to look it in the eye made the process more enjoyable.

I got far more boards done in this one hour session then the last time:

And here is a shot of The Heap as it stands now:

Progress is slow but it's still progress. (Not sure why this picture came out so grainy. Apparently The Heap even upsets my camera.)

Yes, there are little organizer bins beneath it. My plan of attack is to empty the clear plastic boxes and unearth the bins so that something can be done about the mountain on the left. That's the collage scrap portion of The Heap. I'm going to do an honest sorting of it. When I can get to it, that is.

Someone sent me an email and asked me why in the world I would be willing to share photos of this mess. Well, for a couple of reasons. One is slightly selfish, it keeps me accountable. Sort of like being on a diet and going to a meeting to weigh in. If I blog about the state of The Heap, I'll keep chipping away at it.

The other reason is that I hope it might inspire someone to tackle the mess that they are facing as well. The state of the studio drains my mental energy, which could be used for far more productive and enjoyable tasks like, oh I don't know...making art! So I need to clear the physical clutter to get past the mental roadblocks it creates for me.

It just plain gets on my nerves.

So there we have it. The Heap takes another hit. Score: Lynn 2, Heap 1349. At least I'm heading in the upward direction.

"The Creative Habit" read along - Chapters 1 & 2

The Creative Habit book by Twyla Tharp

If you would like to join the closed Facebook group dedicated to this read along to discuss the book in more detail, please send an email to Lynn at FibraArtysta@earthlink.net with your email address.

Here we are with our first installment of "The Creative Habit" read along. My posts here on the blog will touch on what is covered in the chapters read for a particular week and things I found interesting. They are not a substitute for reading the book but rather just a chat. This week we read Chapters 1 and 2. Both of which offer much to think about.

Chapter 1 - I Walk Into a White Room

This chapter is all about beginnings. The start of a project, the blank slate that offers so many possibilities yet so many challenges as well. 

As artists, it's this starting point that is the most difficult to push past. Twyla Tharp's white room refers to the dance studio that she enters to work. But we all have one - a blank canvas, a new page in a sketchbook, a print table with an unaltered piece of fabric laying across it, a sewing machine without a project. It's the place that we face down the start of a project every time, convincing ourselves that we want to move forward, to create.

I automatically think of my print table as my white room. A member of the Facebook group dedicated to this read along said that her white room was inside her head. We all have one - what's your's?

Tharp uses this chapter as in introduction to her philosophy about creativity. She says, "I will keep stressing the point about creativity being augmented by routine and habit. Get used to it. In these pages a philosophical tug of war will periodically rear it's head. It is the perennial debate, born in the Romantic era, between the beliefs that all creative acts are born of (a) some transcendent, inexplicable Dionyian act of inspiration, a kiss from God on your brow that allows you to give the world The Magic Flute, or (b) hard work.

If it isn't obvious already, I come down on the side of hard work. That's why this book is called The Creative Habit. Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is a result of good work habits. That's it in a nutshell."

And with that, we move on to Chapter 2.

Chapter 2: Rituals of Preparation

This chapter covers some pretty heavy topics: rituals, fears and distractions. All of which play a big role in a creative life.

Thap talks about rituals in a way that is really interesting. She says, "All preferred working states, no matter how eccentric, have one thing in common: When you enter into them, they impel you to get started." She talks about how the ritual itself does not have to be something grand and sweeping but rather, it can be something very common and small. A simple thing without pressure that signals it's time to start working.

For me, it's my morning coffee. Not the actual coffee itself, but the time it takes me to drink it. It's always an hour, no matter what my day is. I need those sixty minutes to sit by myself and let my mind go where it wants to, without agenda. It's the only portion of my day that is dedicated to daydreaming and I need it, it's how I begin.

Tharp also discusses fears and distractions. It was comforting somehow to know that many of the personal fears she listed were also ranked amongst my own concerns. There is something calming about knowing no matter how successful an artist is, they still have the same worries. 

One fear she mentioned in particular is always with me at the beginning of a project: "Once executed, the idea will never be as good as it is in my mind." I don't think this is a bad one to have. The day I start thinking perfection will just roll off my printing tools is the day I've lost sight of my artist self. Nothing will ever be completely perfect. It's a level of discomfort I've come to accept as part of the process.

The last item she touches on are distractions. These are the things that keep us from focusing on what we are working on. She talks specifically about needing to take away distractions while working on a major project. This is a habit I need to work on.

When I've found myself immersed in big projects this past year, I was most effective when I worked only on them. I didn't need to go to as far as she does when she lists the things that she cuts out but I did need to pull back from the Shiny New Project Syndrome. You know what I mean - taking on new things because of the high that comes with starting something new. When I didn't do this, I struggled. I fell into a loop of feeling overwhelmed and not moving along as I felt I should be. 

Focus. It's your friend. 

Tharp says, "It's a simple equation: Subtracting your dependence on some of the things you take for granted increases your independence. It's liberating, forcing you to rely on your own ability rather then your customary crutches."

It's these two chapters that Tharp uses to set up habits for preparing to work. One might be tempted to think that she is neglecting the spiritual side of creativity, the mystery and magic that we feel when we are in our studios. But that's really not the case. What she is covering is a companion to that. A means of active participation with your muse, habits that keep you present in your art making.

It's all about awareness.

Next Sunday, we'll talk about Chapter 3 - Your Creative DNA. Happy reading! :)

I've joined The Sketchbook Challenge! :)

Have you heard of The Sketchbook Challenge? If not, let me tell you about it!

It's a group of artists gathered together on a blog, every month a theme is posted, we work in our sketchbooks and show you what we made. Sue Bleiweiss organized the group in  2011 and it's been a hopping center of inspiration ever since.

I'm excited to now be counted amongst the artists that post to the blog. :)

There's a flickr group, prizes and all kinds of fun over there. Full details on how that all works can be found here.

April's theme is Spirals and I knew that joining this group would challenge me - I never do literal interpretations of themes. In fact, the work I produce from themed challenges really skirts the edges.

As a perfect example, here is the piece I made after working in my sketchbook for the Spiral theme:

For details on how in the world I ended up here, stop on by The Sketchbook Challenge blog! :)

"The Creative Habit" read along - will you join me?

Edited to add: I've started a closed Facebook group for this read along. If you are on Facebook and would like to become a member, email me with your name at FibraArtysta@earthlink.net and I'll add you! :)

It used to be that when I finished big projects, I took time off. I'd turn off the lights in the studio and close the door and let it rest for a few weeks. Getting back started was determined when I felt like it. But as my career progresses, I've developed habits in the studio that revolve around a very disciplined schedule. I've come to love the solitude and the strictness of it.

But I still feel...unbalanced sometimes.

It's the high of a project coming into complete being, sent away and then facing down the blank print table again. I find myself coming back to the best advice I've ever encountered concerning creativity, The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp.

 

I've read through this book so many times I've lost count. A couple times completely and other times in sections when I've felt the need to find the ground beneath my feet again. I've given copies as gifts and sometimes I've just carried my copy around for a sort of moral support.

The thing you need to know about Twyla Tharp is that she doesn't mess around. Her belief, and one which I agree with, is that if you show up, consistently, and do the work, you become a better artist. It's about discipline and knowing yourself and wanting to have a set purpose. This is a book about the kind of work that goes into being creative.

She's a dancer but that doesn't matter. The book is general enough that it doesn't matter your medium. While not all of it might apply - there are some parts I still tilt my head at - there is much to be learned from it.

It's become my rock.

So I'm inviting you to do a read along with me. I'm feeling the need to reconnect with it's entirety, I want to re-read the entire book. I'm not going to lecture you on what she says but what I'm proposing is that every Sunday we come here and talk about what we've read the previous week. If you want to get the book and join me, great. If not, my thoughts will still be here if you're interested in hearing them.

If you're joining me, grab the book and read Chapters 1 & 2 and stop on by next Sunday. Happy reading. :)

my worst studio habit - feeding The Heap

I've got many goals in the studio this weekend. I had decided not to dive into additional cleaning but rather just work my tail off beating my to-do list into submission.

And then I did it. I started to indulge one of the worst studio habits I have. I need to prep some fabric for a new project and the thought of wading through The Heap of fabric at the one end of my studio kicked my automatic response into action: "I'll just go buy a couple of new pieces."

No. Stop. Worst. Habit. Ever.

My goal with my upcoming studio overhaul, otherwise known as The Great Studio Reno, is to not only make my space functional for how I make art now but to break the habits that have contributed to me getting here.

So I stopped and said, "How long would it take me to go to the store and buy new fabric?" I estimated an hour given that it's a Saturday and there are more fabric addicts lurking about plus the store that carries the fabric I like is a little bit of a drive for me. Okay, an hour. If I'm willing to spend an hour of studio work time driving to go buy fabric I already have, then I can spend an hour working toward taming The Heap and locating the fabric I need for this project.

I approached The Heap with a big coffee and a somewhat surly attitude. "I should be working, not cleaning!" I kept thinking. But the logic kept kicking in saying, "If you clean you'll get the fabric you need to work and will have not spent a dime."

Okay, fine.

Here's where The Heap was at when I plopped down in front of it with my timer set to one hour:

See those white boards? I bought those at the Houston 2012 IQF. They are Fabric Organizers. Trick is, they don't organize much if you don't put the fabric on them. Weird, right? I sat there for a full hour and put fabric on them. Turns out they work like a charm when you do that.

This is what I had when the timer started singing it's song:

I decided not to get too picky about how I sorted the fabric. If it's a yard to half a yard, it goes onto one of the long skinny boards all by itself. If it's less then a yard but far too large to go into the scrap bin, then it gets folded up and arranged with a friend on a skinny board. If it's an unholy amount of yardage, it gets a fat board all to it's lonesome.

I want this to become a habit, using these. I know myself, if it's too much work to keep track of what goes where, I won't keep it up for long. This I can manage plus it gives me a quick visual of how much fabric I have in a particular color so I know which board to grab.

Here is The Heap after all my efforts:

Doesn't look like much change does it? Yeah, that's what I think too. And I instantly started spiraling toward, "Well that was a waste of my time!" But was it? Really? Reality is that it wasn't. I have more fabric easily accessible and I found what I needed for my project. Which translates into I didn't spend money on something I already have.

Sounds like a win to me.

I still have a lot of work to do and I need to figure out what in the hell I'm going to do with all my strips and scraps. I use these in my collages, I'm not hoarding. And much of them are printed pieces. I'll give that one a think, boards are not an option because the sizes of the fabric are manic.

I also need to address my little stash of commercial prints. I go back and forth on that one. Because while 98% of the time I do print my own fabric, I like to mess around with little projects that use commercial fabrics too. Point and case, my Secret Keeper Owls (previously known as Wishing Owls). I need to resolve the reality of what I will actually use and then deal with it.

The goal of the re-org is not give away everything and then end up re-purchasing it at a later time. It's kind of a fine line.

I did put the boards on the bookshelf I currently have for storing fabric:

Hate this bookshelf for fabric storage. Hate the color, hate where it sits in my studio and hate that it does absolutely nothing for me in allowing me to see what I have. It's on the hit list of things to change.

I've got a long way toward making this an actual habit. But it's a start. And for that, I'm happy. :)

view from the studio window

My studio is on a corner of the house. So I have windows on two sides, which I love because I get to watch the sun crawl across the walls.

This past weekend the light was having it's way with the tree that flanks the right side of the front window. It was odd and eery and breathtaking all at the same time.

I stood there and watched it and hoped that someday I could paint my fabric the same way.

Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Hop!

If you've hung around the blog for any length of time, you'll know the battle that I fight with my studio. At times it's been civil, at others I have considered lighting it on fire. There are a lot of things my studio space has taught me - about my art, my habits, my mindset. So when the fabulous Cheryl Sleboda proposed a Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Hop, I decided it was time for me to begin The Project that I've been considering for a couple of years now.

There are a few things you should know about what I'm about to post here:

1. I don't apologize for the amount of stuff I own.

2. I don't apologize for the messes I generate.

3. Truly cleaning your studio is a process that can rarely be completed in one session.

4. I'm not going to show you a compeltely spotless picture perfect clean studio at the end of it.

What I will do is this - tell you to STOP FEELING GUILTY about how your studio looks. Own it. If it makes you twitch, clean it. If it doesn't and there aren't any cockroaches sharing the space,  enjoy it. I'm tired of the people that judge artists who have messy spaces and for the guilt that creeps in when an artist describes what a trainwreck their creative space has become after a project. It's all a process, it will always get cleaned and messed up and cleaned again and messed up again.

Guilt over it is wasted energy. Period.

I am also going to share my Scoop and Sort cleaning method. This has helped me reign the studio in on more then one occasion. It does not result in a Martha Stewart magazine spread studio but it's the best system I've developed for keep my space workable.

So without further ado, here was the state of my studio before I began cleaning:

I discovered the "Panorama" option on my iPhone camera - now you can see my entire space in a slightly distorted shape. The mess, however, is not distorted. That's how she looked.

How did it get this way? Well, several ways. Lots and lots of deadlines but I can't blame it all on that. I've come to some very honest realizations lately (more on that in a second) that will require more long term work to overcome. But I've got art to make and this really is about as messy as I can tolerate. Not a single clean work space to inhabit. Time for Operation Scoop and Sort.

Essentially what Scoop and Sort is is a quick method of putting things back where they belong. You've got to have spots for items to make this work but it doesn't need to be perfect. First what you do is you transfer the bulk of the mess to a single spot. For me, that's my print table:

 Doesn't look drastically different does it? Look a little closer. Stuff is off my desk (where my laptop and monitor is) and stuff is off the floor. I get visually overwhelmed when the mess is crawling over ever single surface so I need to lump it into one spot. The fabric heap in the back does not apply to this step in the process, it will be dealt with separately.

Here's a closer look at my print table after the Scooping has occurred:

Now I Sort. And the way I do that is with some small baskets lined up on my now clean ironing board and some trash bags:

Slowly and honestly go through the heap you've just created. Throw out what needs to be thrown out. You can never convince me that you need to keep every scrap of what you have in your studio. I treat my stash like a pet that I love dearly but let's be truthful, some it is just trash. Pitch it. Move on.

I decided to take this opportunity to try out something new. I changed the position of my print table to see if it would allow me to work easier on my pieces.

This picture sums up why I changed it:

In the very first picture, you can see that I had my table with the long side against the wall. I have short little arms (I'm only 5'1") and could not reach past where the paint on my table cover has paint on it. Plus I could only work from one side. Does this reduce walking space? Yes, it's a small studio and not everything can be perfect. But I think this will make my table more functional and hopefully make working on larger pieces easier.

Here's how the studio looked after sorting and the table was moved:

Clean print table. Sorting baskets full but not bulging. Some items have wandered back onto my desk during the Sorting but they will be dealt with before this cleaning session is done. The thing that is making me truly nuts in this picture is the giant heap of fabric in the back.

So I sat down and started sorting that. Noticed I said "started". That right there is something that will take hours and I don't want to overwhelm myself by thinking I need to get it all done at one time. So the items in the baskets that were used for Sorting will be emptied by putting away the items in their approriate homes and then I'll use the empty baskets to help sort that pile.

Here's how the space looked when I finished:

Is there more to do? Yup. Without a doubt. But I can work, I can make stuff and not want to swear at inanimate objects or step on a quilting pin again.

I limit myself to 2 hour cleaning sessions at one time. For a couple of reasons. One is that my attention span after that amount of time seriously wanes and my version of cleaning and sorting quickly turns into "Shove this here and I'll deal with it later." Which just leads to a bigger mess for me to deal with later.

Secondly, it keeps my studio time balanced - cleaning and then I can work on stuff.

I've come to some conclusions about my studio.  Want to hear them?

1. It's small. I need to deal with it. It's a decent size but I have to stop comparing it to artists that have separate spaces that are the size of a small house. I can either make it efficient or stop making art. The second one is obviously not an option so that leaves me with figuring out how to make it what it needs to be.

2. It needs to be overhauled. All the way down to painting the walls.

3. I can't feel bad about this. The space needs to evolve as my work does and that's why I think it will truly never be perfect. Somehow that makes me calmer about the whole process.

4. Owning a lot of storage containers does not automatically make me organized. It's actually contributing to the clutter.

5. The things that I don't use anymore need new homes.

6. I need to change my habits of throwing things on other surfaces or the floor when I'm working.

7. I need help to pull this off.

I've got a vision in mind for the space that I am determined to bring into being. But it will be a big undertaking and I think there are a lot of artists out there like me so I plan to take you all along for the ride. Hopefully the process will inspire or help you with some issues you are having as well.

And remember that this is a blog hop so here is a list of the other participants who also agreed to show you their spaces before and after cleaning. Do stop by and say hello to them! :)

Cheryl Sleboda

Amy Wright Weaver

Judi Hurwitt

Jim Parrillo

Lisa Chin

Barb Forrister

Frieda Anderson

Happy Spring Cleaning and Hopping! :)

printing tip - my print table

Since the majority of my time in my studio is spent flinging paint at fabric in various ways, I have a permanent print table. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, let me babble at you about it. :)

When you do a lot of printing, you want a surface to do it on. It is inevitable that the paint or dye that you use when you're working will soak through the fabric and if the surface you are working on isn't properly prepped, bad things can happen. Complete opposite of Martha Stewart's "It's a Good Thing" mantra.

A print surface provides two major purposes: (1) it protects the table you are working on so it doesn't turn into a gooped up collection of paint marks and (2) it absorbs any stray fabric or paint so that it doesn't create back prints on the fabric you are working on.

When someone asks me how to make them, I always say to use three layers. The bottom layer is plastic, the middle layer is craft acrylic felt and the top layer is a heavy fabric like duck cloth or canvas. Magic formula, never fails.

The idea of the middle layer is that it adds some cushion for when you are printing. Which can be beneficial for a lot of different printing processes but after a couple of years of using it, I found I didn't really need it. (Discovered when I needed to change the layer out for a clean one and didn't have it.)

Many printers use a super thick middle layer like carpet padding so they can pin fabric down when they are working. Keeps it tight and secure, very wet printing processes need this. I've not found I need to pin fabric down so I skip it.

A print table doesn't need to be a spectacular piece of equipment. The one I put together is really simple. Want to see?

 

The actual table is this one from Joann Fabrics, it's the fabric cutting one. I got it with a 40% off coupon so it was a bargain and I tell ya, it's fairly indestructible. It has wheels so I can drag it about at will and since two sides are collapsible, it can adapt easily to when I need a bigger or smaller surface.

I sort of love it. :)

The layer on top is Multi-purpose Cloth from Roc Lon.

Judi Hurwitt sent me that piece that is across my table. It's the first time I've covered my print table in it and I think it's going to be a permanent addition. It reminds me a lot of curtain liner. Super absorbant and durable. (Doesn't like irons, though. Ask me how I know.)

I also like that it's wide enough to cover the entire table in a single piece. Seams in the top layer are a bad thing, they show up in your printing. Prior to the Multi-Purpose Cloth I used canvas from Joann's which also worked really well.

You'll notice there's no padding. My personal preference is that I don't need one. But it's really something you need to try both ways to know if you like it better one way or the other.

And the plastic I use is a trash bag that's been cut open and taped down to the table surface so it doesn't shift around. They last a surprisingly long time and are very easy to replace when the time comes.

So that's it. Nothing super fancy but incredibly functional. If you don't have space for a table like me, you can make portable table top version by cutting the print surface layers to the size of your work space. Pull it out when you need to work and roll it up to tuck away when you are done.

Print table bliss! :)

winner of thread giveaway! :)

As promised, I picked a winner today for the thread giveaway in this post. Or rather, I should say that the Random Number Generator picked a winner:

Commenter #13 is Candy - congrats and hope you enjoy the threads! :)

screen printing on Dura-Lar from Grafix

If I have one endless task in my art making, it's seeking out new ways to add layers to my work. Layered printing - that's where my paint obsessed little heart goes to every time I enter my studio.

Cloth Paper Scissors teamed up with Grafix and several artists (your's truly included) to see what we could do with the groovy items that Grafix produces. In case you aren't familiar with them, they produce a wide range of plastic products that are really useful in mixed media art. Do check out their website, it's got very intriguing things there.

I was particularly interested in their Dura-Lar, a semi opaque acetate:

In case you can't read the last line on the cover of the pad, it says "This unique drawing surface accepts pen, lead, ink, paint and colored pencil." Did you catch the magic word in that sentence? Paint. Paint!

I've actually been flirting with screen printing on plastic for some time now but haven't been able to find one that could handle it. It was either too flimsy or the paint slipped around on it and in all honesty, I'd sort of given up on it.

But Dura-lar is nothing like the stuff I had experimented on before - it's strong and since it's designed to accommodate all manner of printing goodness, I didn't waste any time. Out came the thermofax screens and paint!

And I printed....

And printed and printed and printed...

(That's the "Text Background" screen, one of my all time faves.)

It took the paint well. It's not nearly as fast drying as fabric (kind of a "duh" statement but worth noting) but once it gets there, it's stable.

I printed some fabric, attached it to a canvas and then cut out four squares from the screen printed Dura-lar:

I flipped the squares over so the printed side was against the fabric. I liked that it toned down the print (because the Dura-lar is semi opaque) and also it offered some extra protection to the paint.

Then I doodled some paint and added some buttons to build up the collage:

I kept adding details (always have trouble stopping myself) and I had so much fun working with it that I made it a couple of friends (you can see I added more to the one above in the photo below):

As a fabric collage artist, plastic is not the first item I would think to reach for but I have to say, it fits comfortably into my collages. The shapes that can easily be cut from it are endless and the transparency of it is intoxicating, I really love it.

I'm sure it will be making an appearance in more of my art in the future.

You can see better shots of these little collages in an upcoming issue of Cloth Paper Scissors along with work from my fellow co-experimenters. As soon as I know the issue it's in, I'll post it here. I can't wait to see how others used these great materials! :)


Edited to add: There have been several questions as to if you can stitch through the Dura-Lar. The answer is yes! I didn't stitch it onto the collages shown in this post but I did in another project that I'll be able to show soon. For the collages above, I glued it down using a very small amount of clear Aleene's Tacky glue. Here's the thing - when the plastic has been screen printed on or drawn on, you don't notice the glue. If the plastic is completely unaltered, you see the glue spots clearly and it doesn't look good (remember it's only semi-opaque so you can still see through it).

When I stitched through the Dura-Lar on my other project, I did it by hand and found it very easy. I didn't do anything extensive so I can't speak to stitching an entire sheet down but I can say I didn't find it difficult. Since my sewing machine and I have an uneasy relationship, I didn't even go there. But it would certainly be worth trying!

hand stitching thread giveaway! :)

I was rooting around through the thread stash today looking for just the right color to use on a new project and I found these:

Your eyes do not deceive you. Those are pastel threads. That were in my stash. Want a closer look?

Years ago I owned a brick and mortar store that specialized in hand stitching. I'm not sure if that is where these came from or if I purchased them at a quilt festival. I'm fairly certain they are hand dyed threads from Artfabrik but I can't be sure, I don't save a single label on anything.

At any rate, they are lovely things, aren't they? But I can say with absolute certainty that they will continue to age in the stash because they aren't a palette I use more then once every five years. 

So I want one of you to have them! :) They look to be in two colorways but in in both size 5 and size 8 perle. There are four skeins total. I've no idea how many yards there are but there are lots, I've cut the skeins how I normally to to stop myself from threading up a five mile long piece of thread to stitch with.

Leave a comment on this post by the end of week and I'll pick a winner on Saturday April 13 to send these pretties to. Just tell me why you love hand stitching and you'll be entered in the drawing! Happy commenting and stitching!! :)

paint tip - keeping paint "fresh" while working

I think I take for granted all the little tips that I have learned over the years when dealing with paint. It's sort of like when someone tells me they don't drink coffee, it takes me a moment to realize that there are people out there who aren't doing it.

So I thought I'd share some of my simpler tricks that I use when I'm flinging paint in the studio.

Here's an easy one that seems obvious but I learned the hard way:

I often mix color or mediums into my paint and that means they are sitting in an open cup. Now I only mix as much as I think I will use in a single work session, I've yet to find jars for storing mixed concoctions that I like so I've developed that habit. Which isn't entirely a bad thing.

But when I get moving, that means the cup and brushes will sit out on my work table - often with a fan running overhead. It doesn't take long for that weird gross film to start to form on top. I consider it the enemy.

So I just plop a cardboard or plastic cup over top of cup and ends the printing tools to slow it down. Does it stop it entirely? Of course not. If I left it out overnight or even for a few hours, I'd still get that film. But it keeps it groovy for while I'm printing which makes me a happy paint girl. :)

"e m b r a c e" fabric design available

e m b r a c e  fabric, designed by Lynn Krawczyk, copyright 2013

I'm one of those people that holds my wishes close to home. It's not until I can secure them that I even say the words, "I've always wanted to..."

Somehow I feel like I'm jinxing it if I give it voice before that. Which is nothing more then a superstition but it's a habit I've carried with me my whole life.

I'm learning that keeping my hopes close does nothing good for making them reality. And while I certainly don't expect them to *poof!* into being because I express them, I think there is something to putting them out into the universe. The energy begins, hopefully takes on a life of it's own and if nothing else, it's honored because it's seen the light of day.

I love making fabric - that's no secret - and I'd love to have it go out into the world so others can use it as well. But hand printed pieces are expensive - both for me and the buyer. I've flirted with offering fabric in my Spoonflower shop before but never really felt like I found my footing so I'm trying again. 

I'm starting a new series of fabrics with writing on them. The first one available is the one in this post  e m b r a c e. 

These will combine my love of making fabric and writing in a way that I hope speaks to others as well.  A single small step toward shedding light on a wish. :)

silk? really?

Here are some words I never thought I would utter: I bought three yards of silk.

It's raw silk and I spent some time staring at 4" swatches from Dharma before deciding which one to get.

In all honesty, I've no idea what to do with it.

I bought it so I could experiment with eco dyeing, figured why set myself up for failure straight out of the gate using cotton when everything I've read says silk takes the color much better.

But there's something about this one I like. It's rough like cotton, I like it's odd ruggedness. It's still much more drapey then I'm used to but I'm wondering if I should consider it for other things.

What about you? What do you do with silk?