perk up your summer shoes with Thermofax Screen Printing! :)

I bought new tennis shoes.

They were too clean and too plain. Thing is, I buy the boring colors because quite often my only other options involve glitter or strange buckles. But I got to thinking this time around, I've got skills. I could turn them into something far more interesting all on my own.

I admit I was a little apprehensive. I've never tried to screen print shoes before but I figured what the heck? What's the worst that could happen?

I thought I'd walk you through how I made them in case you're like me and find yourself wanting shoes with a little more personality.

Hope you enjoy! :)


Materials:

* Canvas tennis shoes
* Fabric screen printing paint
* Tiny & Teeny Spiral Thermofax Screen set
* 1" wide sponge brush

I have to say, the tennis shoes I buy are canvas. How "pure" fabric they are, I can't say. But they don't have a lot of coating on them so that's something to be aware of if you're striking out to buy a pair to print.

********************

Step 1:

 

Stuff the shoes with something so they are firm. (I entertained the idea of wearing the shoes while I printed them. But I decided nothing good could come of it and opted to find a better solution.) I had some acrylic craft felt laying around the studio so I used that. The idea is just to give yourself a firm surface to print on.

********************

Step 2:

Place the tiny spiral on the shoe in a spot where you want it to go. Hold it down with one hand and print with the other:

Brush the screen printing paint through the screen with a sponge brush. Peel the screen back carefully and repeat on different places on the shoe until you're happy with the number of spirals you've printed:

The uneven surfaces of the shoe make it a challenge to get a really clear print. So I decided to embrace the imperfect print and just go with it.

Repeat the same printing on the other shoe. Let these spirals dry completely before moving on to more printing.

********************

Step 3:

Repeat the printing process with the Teeny Tiny Spiral in a different color. I chose blue this time around.

Add as many spirals around the shoe as you like. Repeat for the other shoe.

At this point, things look pretty good:

You could certainly stop here. But I kept looking at my print table and at the shoes and then back at my print table. I decided I want to mimic the wonderful chaos of the fabric that covers the table and did some more printing.

I printed four more layers:

1. The BE Thermofax Screen printed in brown paint.

2. The Birds on a Wire Thermofax Screen printed in black paint.

3. Swipe Printing in purple.

4. Swipe Printing in yellow.

LET EACH LAYER DRY BEFORE PRINTING THE NEXT. (Yes, I meant to shout that.)

Why no pictures? Because I got carried away and forgot to take them. (It was a paint bliss fit, I take no responsibility for myself when that happens.)

But I will offer some explanation.

You can see that the brown and black printed images are really smudgey. That's because the screens aren't small like the spiral ones and trying to force them around the shape of shoe proved to be a serious pain in the you know where.

What I ended up with was really messy prints. I'm okay with it, I like the look but you need to be aware of it if you like clear neat prints - not sure you'll get them with the larger screens.

Once I realized I had gone the messy route, I decided to just go for it. I did Swipe Printing first in purple and then in yellow. What in the world is Swipe Printing? Dip the end of a sponge brush into paint, dab it twice lightly on a spare piece of fabric or paper towel and then quickly and lightly swipe the paint across the project you are printing.

Easy peasy. Adds color and depth. Plus it's a relief from the graphic nature of Thermofax Screen Printing.

I gave them a whirl in the dryer for about 20 minutes to heat set the paint. Ironing seemed like a poor idea. It was noisy but I'm pretty sure it did the trick. Watch the heat setting, I went the medium route. (You could also let the paint cure for about a week to make it permanent. But who has time for that?? Try the dryer.)

In all honesty, this kind of project is why I love Thermofax Screen Printing so much. I did it on the fly, in the spare seconds I had in the day and just rolled with it. 

If you're interested in future project suggestions like this one, please swing by the Thermofax Screen Printing Facebook page and give it a "Like!" so you don't miss anything. And if you print your shoes, please send me a picture at FibraArtysta@earthlink.net and I'll post it to the Facebook page for everyone to admire! :)

"The Creative Habit" read along - Chapter 7

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 sixth 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 of the read along can be found in this post.

Chapter 5 of the read along can be found in this post.

Chapter 6 of the read along can be found in this post.

* Posts will go up on Mondays from now on instead of Sundays. Thanks! :)

Chapter 7 - Accidents Will Happen 

This chapter is one of my favorites. It deals with the ideas of planning and serendipity. Tharp calls it "being prepared for luck."

She says, "The key words here are "prepared" and "lucky." They're inseparable. You don't get lucky without preparation, and there's no sense in being prepared if you're not open to the possibility of a glorious accident."

In other words, if you don't do the work and hone your skills, there's no chance that luck will show up and do the job for you.

I've always skirted this idea, not liking the thought of relying heavily on chance. I know some artists that do and it seems to work for them but for me? I need to at least lay the foundation before I let my creative energy wander off on a tangent. I don't want to burden it with having to do everything.

It's a fine line between planning and letting go. I'm a dweller, I like to spend 80% of my time on a project thinking and daydreaming and pondering and the final 20% executing it. It used to stress me out, made me wonder if I was simply a procrastinator. But the more in tune I became with my process, the more I realized that that is my process.

Letting go is not the simplest path. It's easy to get tied up in the way something looks in our heads and to want to force it to go that route. I don't know about you, but I've never had much luck when I try to do that. Those are the kinds of projects that get chopped up and used in collages. ;-)

How about you? How do you handle the balance of preparation and luck?

Next Monday we'll discuss Chapter 8 - Spine.  Happy reading! :) 

where i stand sunday

I noticed the little twigs gathering beneath the wreath on the front door earlier this week. One or two, then more, then tiny unexplained mud splatters on the glass door. It wasn't until a sharp twill from a worried bird that I thought to look upward. A perfectly engineered nest is snugged in between the front door glass and the decorative wreath - a sanctuary of hope in which new life can begin.

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 tipped my camera up, carefully so I wouldn't touch the nest, and managed to get a good shot of it's contents. It will mean not using the door as often, altering the way I go about my day. But it's life and the switch will be temporary, I'm happy to oblige.

good advice

Make it creative.

Make it artful.

No regrets.

collaboration with Lisa Call

There's only one thing I like more then printing fabric (and you all know how much I love flinging paint) and that's sending it off to other artists for them to use in new ways that I wouldn't ordinarily think of.

Last summer I talked with Lisa Call about doing just that and was thrilled when she agreed to collaborate! Lisa is a master at piecing and machine quilting textile paintings. I have tremendous respect for not only her artwork but also for her dedication to her craft, it shows through in everything she makes.

As is her habit, she took the fabric and worked magic on it. I printed a red piece of fabric with blue Thermofax Screen Printed circles and a purple piece of fabric with some hand drawn paint doodles on it. She incorporated them into her "Portals" series.

I love that she combined them with her own hand printed fabric! Here are a couple that I am just totally in love with:

Portals #35
©2013 Lisa Call
6 x 6″
On stretched canvas
$150

Portals #6
©2012 Lisa Call
12″ x 12″
On stretched canvas
$475

Her meticulous, perfect machine stitching is such an incredible contrast with the patterns already present in the fabric - don't you love the way they play off each other?

Lisa blogged about it here.

There is so much joy in putting fabric out into the world, I feel like I'm getting to be a cheerleader for new artwork. :)

where i stand sunday

I am a slave to the pattern, the never ending mark that can't find it's own beginning or end. It's the first shape I turn to when I put paint to fabric, an abstract kind of rhythm that never ceases to amaze and impress me.

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. 

The Creative Habit read along - Chapter 6

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 sixth 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 of the read along can be found in this post.

Chapter 5 of the read along can be found in this post.

* Posts will go up on Mondays from now on instead of Sundays. Thanks! :)

Chapter 6 - Scratching

I've been asked on more then one occasion where I get my ideas from. (I'm sure you have as well.) People seem to find me particularly curious since I do abstract work. They look at me like I'm something to be studied because clearly my brain takes a sharp left turn in the imagination department since I'm creating work that has no tangible relation to something real.

Truth is, I can't explain how I get from inspiration to product. And believe me when I say I'm always trying to define it. But it's one of those things that mostly comes down to wiring. I find this chapter of The Creative Habit especially interesting because Tharp talks about that odd zone where ideas are mashed around until we find the one element that we can grab onto and create something from.

Fact is, we often look to external elements in order to gain internal inspiration. Twyla Tharp calls that "scratching."

She says, "Scratching can look like borrowing or appropriating, but it's an essential part of creativity. It's primal, and very private. It's a way of saying to the gods, "Oh don't mind me, I'll just wander around in these back hallways..." and then grabbing that piece of fire and running like hell."

Ideas are something I'm generally not short on. My brain constantly churns and I have a list that I dump them all into just to get them out of my head. But when I look back at every idea I have, very few of them actually see the light of day and I've always wondered what in the heck the point was to recording them if I don't plan to act on them. (Aside from the obvious "Write them down for later so I don't drive myself nuts trying to remember everything.")

Tharp says it perfectly in this passage about good vs. bad ideas: "A good idea is one that turns you on rather then shuts you off. It keeps generating more ideas and they improve on one another. A bad idea closes doors instead of opening them. It's confining and restrictive. The line between good and bad ideas is very thin. A bad idea in the hands of the right person can easily be tweaked into a good idea."

But getting to the good ideas isn't always easy. So that's why we "scratch". It's the thing you do when you need the next big inspiration but it's not showing up on it's own. For me, I go to the bookstore. I grab a giant pile of books, sit down in an oversized chair and let the chatter of the coffee shop and people laughing meld into a white noise. I stick my nose into books on topics I've never considered before and just zone out. (I probably look a little bit like a deer in headlights.) And with any luck, something occurs. More often, nothing comes of it but when an idea hits that I do the little gasp over, I know I've hit the nail on the head.

I've always likened ideas to dating. Some of them are instant magic and others are one time shots with a side of loosing his phone number.

Not everything will be made. Not every idea will be good. The trick is to be aware of this and let them take their own course. Choose the ones that make your heart sing and leave the others on the sideline to just be.

How about you? How do you scratch?

Next Monday we'll discuss Chapter 7 - Accidents Will Happen.  Happy reading! :)

where i stand sunday

I set the cup down on the floor in front of me so that I can listen to the lecture, a conversation about where coffee comes from and how it's roasted and different ways to make it. It's a constant in my day, this simple liquid that ramps up my mind so that I can move through my tasks. I take it for granted, not realizing all the steps that it goes through before it comes to me. It makes me feel small somehow, knowing that I am the end of the journey and by far the least significant.

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.  


The lecture was part of Coffee Camp at Roos Roast in Ann Arbor, MI. An exceptional coffee company run by exceptional people. The enthusiasm and care they show for their business is incredible.

Roos Roast van featuring the logo for one of their most popular coffees, "Lobster Butter Love"

Newly roasted beans.

re-branding activities - Smudged Textiles Studio :)

Things are beginning to move swiftly for the new business name. I've got this incredible logo for the new website designed by Jackie and I finally got off my duff and got everything to Holly for her to start working her magic with the new website/blog. And I've got an incredible team to help make the business extra special and grand.

Having a pretty solid online presence, I knew that re-branding would be a bear. It means that I also have to switch over all my social media names and to be honest, that's a fairly terrifying prospect. But it's underway so I wanted you to be aware of it. Here's what's new:

Facebook - My personal page is the same but I'll be deleting this page at the end of the month. I've already put into place a new page for Smudged Textiles Studio  and there is a dedicated Thermofax Screen Printing page being designed as we speak.

Twitter - I've already changed my profile name to Smudged Textiles.

Etsy Shop - The shop name will change from FibraArtysta to SmudgedTextilesShop on June 13. Why not SmudgedTextilesStudio? Because Etsy shop names can only be 20 characters and SmudgedTextilesStudio is exactly 21 characters. Murphy's law, right? ;-)  If you have me marked as FibraArtysta, your links will automatically update.

Pinterest - I've already changed to Smudged Textiles there as well.

Instagram - No change there, my username is still girllovespaint. (I do.)

Blog- Eventually I'll stop posting here and will only be posting over at Smudged Textiles. But it's not ready yet, we're still at the beginning of the building stage and trust me, I won't be shy when it happens about letting you know.

I'd be lying if I said all this didn't scare me a little. It's a lot of change to take on. But it's the good kind of scary because it means that everything I've always wanted to do can finally begun to be built up.

So stick with me, I don't want to loose connection with any of you. We're trying to make it as painless as possible! :)

creativity + the day job

It's not something I talk about a lot here, my day job. Because it doesn't really have anything to do with my art life. It's creative in it's own way but a total 180 from fabric and paint and thread.

But I've been reading a lot online lately about some artists feeling as if they need to defend themselves because they hold full time day jobs in addition to their art careers. As one of them, I'm troubled by this. I wonder at the idea that one artist can feel that another creative isn't fully committed because she doesn't spend her day in her studio. (And for the record, I've never been "accused" of not being a serious artist because I hold a non-art day job. This post is a response to some chatter I've been seeing online.)

It's nonsense.

Choosing to live a creative life is just that - a choice. How we carry creativity through our days varies from person to person, the key being that we carry it. We hold it around us and let it creep into the forefront at every chance it gets. Day job, family, full time artist - it all waits for those quiet moments when we can connect fully.

Being a creative means seeing the details that make your mind churn with energy.

Like bowling balls in my favorite color:

Or the look of a full moon in the pale morning sky when I leave extra early for work:

Being creative means honoring that last half an hour of my day by shutting off the tv, the computer, the iphone and pulling out my worn out journal to write about whatever I feel like.

Being creative means that I am constantly searching for the new thing that will set my spirit spinning, wanting to make something new and exciting.

Being creative means being present in my life, not letting it just happen to me. But rather standing beside it in collaboration and going along for the ride as best I can.

It has nothing to do with how I earn my money.

No matter what your circumstance may be at this given moment, be creative. In your way. And know that that is all that matters.

now enrolling for the summer session of "The Written Sketchbook"

The summer session of The Written Sketchbook is now enrolling and I couldn't be more thrilled. Why? Because it's been revised and tweaked and made into something so special that I'm beyond excited to bring it to you! :)

Writing is an integral part of my life - whether it's her on the blog, in my journal, in my sketchbook, for articles, for classes. It's a sacred practice for me.

Because it's such a strong part of my life, it seeps into every part of it - including the visual art that I make. The Written Sketchbook is about tying the two together - it's about trying out different forms of writing as a means to inspire ideas and a deeper connection to your art.

If you want a closer look at what the process is about, please visit my post over on the Sketchbook Challenge blog. It's not about making perfect art - it's about MAKING art and working through ideas.

What this class IS:

1. In this class, you will use writing as a tool for self examination in order to feel a stronger connection to your artwork through a series of Prompts.

2. A practice to be learned and developed over time that can allow you to generate new ideas for artwork using writing.

3. A challenge to try something new in your art making process.


What this class ISN'T:

1. No art techniques or projects will be taught in this class. You will be drawing experience and working from where you currently are in your art journey.

2. This class is a tool to help you develop a practice, it will take work. It is not a magical formula, expect that it will take more then one try to get the hang of it.

3. This class does not offer technical writing instruction. The writing in this class is based on prompts that focus on a particular style of writing and your personal insights.

*************************************************************************

I *will* encourage you. I *will* show you how to use writing as a means of inspiration. I *will* challenge you to go outside of your normal writing habits (if you have some, they are not required) to think differently.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE A GOOD WRITER TO TAKE THIS CLASS. That’s not what this is about. Writing is a means of connecting with your awareness and offers you clarity to see what inspires you to create your work. You will be asked to write in your sketchbook and develop sketches (I’m a doodler, you don’t need to know how to draw) that relate to it.

No pressure. No stress. Open mind. Open heart. Willing to experiment. A pen. Some paper. That’s all you need to take this class.

To read about the types of writing explored and the delivery schedule, take a gander at the enrollment listing in the shop.

And to make it extra special, swag is now included. How about a hand screen printed pocket journal to keep track of inspiration?

And a pin to show off your flair? :)

I do hope you will join me. Class begins on Sunday July 21 and I think you'll love it as much as I do. :)

"The Creative Habit" read along - Chapter 5

 

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 fifth 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 of the read along can be found in this post.

* The read along is one week behind and posts will go up on Mondays from now on instead of Sundays. Thanks! :)

Chapter 5 - Before You Can Think Out of the Box, You have to Start with a Box

This short chapter is an interesting one. Tharp talks about how she organizes the research for projects she works on.

A plain simple box. Stored on scaffolding. Her choices reflect her creative mindset - her want of sturdiness and simplicty.

You all know the struggle I've waged with my studio. I'm calling in the big guns to help with that in a few weeks and it's my goal to have a resolution by the end of the year.

What I'm realizing is that I want functionality above all else. A way to simply corral projects easily and cleanly. But more then just physical organization, it's an insight into inspiration. All those little jumping off points that collide together to make a project a whole. But these are just things - the creating is up to you.

Tharp says: "The box is not a substitute for creating. The box doesn't compose or write a poem or create a dance step. The box is the raw index of your preparation. It is the repository of your creative potentional, but it is not the potential realized."

But she also stresses that the box can be a crutch. She continues, "We all know people who have announced that they've started work on a project - say a book - but some time passes and when you politely ask how it's going, they you that they're still researching. Weeks, months, years pass and they produce nothing. They have tons of research but it's never enough to nudge them toward the actual process of writing the book."

At that point she says to abandon it, move on and start something new. Sometimes we hit on projects that just don't have the momentum we want to move forward for whatever reason. There's nothing wrong with setting it aside and moving on. The idea being that if you've corralled all your research into one place, it will be there waiting for you when you are ready.

I find this happens fairly frequently. I have no shortage of ideas but not all of them have the steam to move on to reality. But I spend time on them and I put reasonable effort into them before sticking a fork in the whole thing and declaring it stalled. And I hang on to what I've done, it might be useful in another way to a different idea.


It's interesting to think of physical boxes as a means to corral not only research and materials but as a metaphor for releasing projects that just aren't working anymore.

How about you? Do you find that the way you organize your current projects is a direct reflection of your creative process?

Next Monday we'll discuss Chapter 6 - Scratching.  Happy reading! :)

in memoriam: Kathreen Ricketson

I wasn't online a whole lot last week, the day job was keeping me busy. So this morning I decided to sit down with my morning coffee and sift through blogs and found some very very sad news posted over at The Silly BooDilly.

Kathreen Ricketson of the incredible blog Whip Up has passed. And her husband is missing. The details of what authorities think happened can be found here. They leave behind two young children.

image of Kathreen and her family taken from her site

I never met Kathreeen in person, she lived in Australia. But we talked in email and it was one of those connections that would have never happened had the internet not made the crafting world such a strong global community. I was once featured in a blog post on her blog, Whip Up, and read it every day. She was incredibly kind and a gift to the craft world.

I wanted to pause. To pay my respects here. My regular Sunday posts will be caught up with during the week but today is for her, to remember all the inspiration she gave me. Even if you didn't know her, it's one of those things that takes your breath away. And this morning my heart is heavy.

They have set up a fund to help her children. If you are interested in contributing, go here.

bringing back an old practice

Long before I was a fabric and paint addict, I was a plant keeper. It was a slow, steady practice. It taught patience, persistence and to appreciate every small change that happens throughout life.

As life changed and evolved, I let the practice go. I didn't have the time, I told myself, and it was too much work. The truth is that I did have the time and it wasn't too much work but I let it go anyway. I'm not really sure why, being around plants makes me feel whole. My father was a gardener and more then anything else, keeping these little green fellows makes me feel connected to him.

I'm not an outdoor gardener, never have been. I prefer the indoor garden so this past weekend, I decided to fill that gap and brought these friends home to my studio:

They all need repotting and that fellow on the left desperately needs to be split into smaller plants. But oddly enough, two stops at home improvement stores did not yield small pots, all were too large. So in the meantime, I will water them and care for them as best I can. I want to keep the garden small but would like to add an african violet to the mix, they are my favorite flowering plant. I'll keep an eye out for one in my travels.

They also give me an excuse to use my more utilitarian pieces of my milk glass collection. They seem to approve. (And yes, that is a bar of soap in a bowl. It's grass scented and I often buy handmade soap to use for fragrance. The sun will warm it and it will give off a nice scent.)

I've been spending a lot of time in my own head lately trying to connect with the quiet side of my creative self. I've been running at full tilt and I have no complaints but in the back of my head, I kept hearing a small voice saying, "You need to figure out what the rest will look like. Now is the time."

I want to move into the future with a clear vision of where I'm going with my art. And while it sounds contradictory, it means I need to slow down a bit. I've still got plenty on the schedule to keep me happily busy (I don't sit completely still - not ever) but in tandem, self awareness is at the top of the list.

Somehow that activity feels complete with the return of an indoor garden - a small gesture to signal the recognition of a quiet pause.

helping Cart Before the Horse turn into a mobile art studio! :)

Do you know Cart Before the Horse? Outstanding artists and all around nice people. I have several of their dolls, can't express how much I love them. Very original, quirky and all kinds of personality.

They've been talking on their blog for a little bit about their plans to leave traditional house dwelling behind and create a mobile art studio to travel around the country and well, live in. It's such a great idea! But they need a little help raising the funds to make their dreams come true.

They've started a Kickstarter campaign to earn the money needed to make their mobile art studio/home a reality. Here's a little video showing their plans:

If you're not familiar with Kickstarter (I'm just learning about it myself), it's a site where you can submit a project to help raise money. If you back the project, you don't get charged unless the full fundraising amount is reached. In exchange for donations, the people running the project can offer incentives or thank you gifts. What you get is based on how much you pledge and let me just say, Cart Before the Horse does NOT disappoint. They've got really awesome incentives at every dollar amount. 

I think the site is great, it offers artists to reach out to others around the world to do really great things. If you're inclined, swing by the Cart's project and pledge to help them if you love them as much as I do. Roll on! :)

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! :)