Studio updates🌸

My last post on the Studio Notes blog was a year and a half ago. At that time, I reached out to let people know I started selling artwork at a local nature center, Brushwood in Riverwoods, Illinois. The next year Brushwood added an additional art market in the spring  for the combination of Mother’s Day, and Earth Day called the Mother Earth art market.  I’ve had the pleasure of participating in each of these art markets.

The Mother Earth art market is going on now, both online and in person. The online sale runs until this Friday, 5/12/23 at 5 PM central time.

Here is the link if you are interested in seeing all the artists in the show. The kind staff will wrap and ship your art purchases for you.

Click here for my art page specifically.

The past year and a half have included many ups and some downs. Sometimes I was too busy to create art, but I did find time to make new pieces for these art markets.

For this Mother Earth art market, I’ve been playing around with an inkjet printer making images on tea-dyed sheets and using them as a focal piece for the art.

BirchBark 1

In Birchbark 1, the actual birch bark I used in the printer was found in the woods. I kept the composition simple to highlight the printed bark. I added blue paint to silk for the sky, and painted green on old sheets to depict the leaves.

Lake Michigan + Northern Illinois

For some reason, I am always drawn to map or overhead views. I particularly love the Google Maps images in the car, especially when I drive near a body of water. That was the inspiration for this Lake Michigan and Northern Illinois artwork. People who live near Lake Michigan know this iconic shape of the lake. I liked thinking about ways to highlight the coast so I added white stitching around the shape of the lake.

Tree with Virginia Bluebells

In Tree with Virginia Bluebells, the image of the tree is the red bud in our backyard.  I wanted to focus on spring ephemeral flowers, in particular Virginia bluebells, which are light blue and dark rose colored. They are the first blooming flowers around here. I used hand stitching to blend the painted fabric and the printed fabric together, in particular for the blue sky.

The Mother Earth art market is online until this Friday 5/12/23 5 pm central time and the in person show, if you are local, goes through the weekend. They have a wide selection of artists and media, all displaying their nature based art. Perfect for gift giving of any kind.

As for now, I am thinking of ways to scale my work up until larger pieces. This will be my focus over the summer.

As for my Studio Notes blog, I’m still trying to figure that out. For right now, it’s a way to share what I’ve been working on in the studio. I am working on finalizing my new studio space. More details on that to follow.

If you have any questions or you just want to chat, feel free to reach out and respond to this.

Different but the Same and Holiday Sale 🌊🌲🌻

My current work may seem very different from my previous art, but the subject matter is the same. Nature. It’s just the techniques that are different.

 I make textile art that reminds us of how we feel in nature. On the water’s edge, forest trail or open prairie.

I live in the Great Lakes Region of the US and we have an abundance of natural areas to experience. Currently, I select a few of my favorite places in nature and create a series of art centered on that place and the feeling of being there.

I received some positive feedback about this new technique from friends. So I decided to enter my art into the Brushwood Center Nature-Inspired Holiday Art Market. I was ecstatic to be accepted into the Holiday Art Market.

Click on KATHLEEN’S SHOP to purchase art as a gift for the holidays (for yourself or others) and support a good cause. 25% of all proceeds go to support Brushwood Center and all their activities around art and nature.

The Holiday Art Market will be both online and in person.

  • Online Wednesday, December 1 to Friday, December 3

    • The online shop opens this Wednesday at 9 am and closes this Friday at 5 pm

    • Brushwood will combine all your purchases and mail them directly to you. Such a nice service.

  • In person Saturday, December 4 (10am-5pm)and Sunday December 5 (12-3pm)

    • This in person event will have artist discounts and giveaways including me

Brushwood Center is part of Ryerson Woods in Lake County Forest Preserve nearby where we live. We’ve been going to Ryerson to hike with our family for over 25 years. Our daughter’s butterfly artwork was in a show at Brushwood when she was in third grade. Click on MAGGIE’S SHOP to see her illustrations of birds and other animals. Now 15 years later, we will both have art in this Holiday Art Market.

Click Holiday Art Market. to see all the other local artists work for sale.

Fall Forest #5, 2021 Imagine walking in the forest seeing only bright orange leaves swirling in the wind

Most of the art in the sale are 5”x7” float mounted on mat board 8”x10”. Some are sold framed for your convenience and several are unframed so you can decide your own frame style and color. A few pieces are attached to a 6” square wide edge stretched canvas that can stand on their own. Prices range from $40-$50.

I have included images of all my artwork for sale at the Brushwood Nature-Inspired Holiday Art Market below to preview. It includes 3 series of work, Lake Michigan Shore, Fall Forest and Summer Prairie. However, to purchase this art, click KATHLEEN’S SHOP

Now you might be curious about my new creative process using painted textiles and thread and why I changed. I will explain the technique and how it evolved.

First, I use a seam ripper to take apart discarded clothing like jeans and old shirts. By taking all the sewing thread out of the garment you are left with holes, strings and ridges to use as texture in my artwork.

Second, I paint the fabric with acrylic paint and use several different mark making techniques like using a roller to spread paint, making lines with the end of my paint brush, spreading paint with a credit card etc. This process creates more texture for the materials.

Finally, I cut the fabric up, sew the pieces together and add thread embellishment by hand and sewing machine to create abstract landscapes.

Forest, 2018. Imagine you are standing in a forest looking up at the sky through the leaves.

In March 2020, I took an art class with Tansy Hargan @palimpsestparade called From the Sketchbook to the Wall. I’ve been following Tansy for years and was so drawn to her artwork. The minute I saw she was teaching an online class, I signed up immediately. No hesitation. Now this is rather out of character for me. For years I have decided to just do my own thing in my own way. I was sure wrong. This class was like opening a door into self expression in a whole new way. When I discovered all the steps involved with this new process I learned from Tansy, the interesting thing was that I had all of the materials already.

One of my favorite fabric pieces from the past is the Forest. Interestingly I have a new series called Fall Forest. I didn’t realize that til I started writing this article. They may look different, but the inspiration is the same. I am using the colors and textures of nature to re-create that feeling for the viewer of being in a forest, looking up and seeing the leaves and the sky.

It’s like this technique was just a natural next step. For years now I’ve secretly wanted to learn how to work with paint and watercolors. This new process really did bring together many interest into this new way of expressing my creative ideas.

As always, if you have any questions, reach out on Instagram @kathleenwarrenstudio or email kathleenwarrenstudio@gmail.com


Connected Covers #4🦋🦩

I am back on the blog after a long hiatus. Life happens. My first step back on the blog is to get back to the Connected Covers Project. Not sure what that is? Click HERE

This one is entitled “Blue Plus One.” It is 16” square and has an envelope style back.

To be more fair, I reconfigured the winner decision process. See below (not everyone is an early riser🌞and checks their email)

  1. Reply back to this email if you are interested in this pillow cover

  2. Everyone has 24 hours to get back to me by Thursday 8 am Central Time

  3. I will use a random number generator to find the winner

  4. I will email the winner, request their address and send it off in the USPS!

I’ve been organizing my studio and found some blocks from this year‘s 100 day project which I decided to sew together for a Connected Covers Project. They were destined to be part of a piece called Blue Plus One because I used several different blues and just one other color from the warm family, reds and oranges and yellow. The blocks alone would not fill out the 16” square so I added in some horizontal strips and the two black and white squares in the corners for contrast. Those two squares are from so many years ago I don’t even remember what they were from. It feels good to use bits and pieces of older projects for this special purpose of the Connected Covers Project.

As I said in my earlier post…

I am calling this project Connected Covers (Co Co for short). The title for the project reflects that we are all connected thru our humanity and shared home on Earth.

This project is a total mood booster for me. Even if you are not interested in the pillow cover, I have found this project great for my very short attention span in these unusual times. Perhaps it will inspire you to try a small creative project to make you feel a little better.

So what got me back into the studio creating again? In March I took two art classes which, frankly I have never done before. I’ve always thought things had to come from within me alone. That was a mistake. Both of these classes were very process driven where I just learned some new techniques and tools to use. I feel like a fire has been lit and I can hardly stop creating. Little did I know, this class would open up a door where I feel there are unlimited ways to express myself with the new techniques I’ve learned. So, finding these treasures cleaning out my studio has inspired me to put different things together that were not initially intended to be together.

More on all this in a future blog post…

Connected Covers #3

Connected Covers #3 is ready. This week’s pillow cover is called “Oreo” because I only used black and white fabrics. It is 16” x 16”. The fabrics’ ages span in time from my earliest fabrics ever bought in late 1990’s to about 5 years ago. The more bold abstract fabrics are most recent. I love them all.

Oreo 16” x 16”. Cotton fabric front. Brown Polyester back

First one to email me they are interested in receiving this pillow cover in the mail FOR FREE, gets the pillow cover. Please provide your mailing address. I mail the cover USPS in a wee little envelope.

EMAIL ME your mailing address at kathleenwarrenstudio@gmail.com

Tip: I love all the emails saying you love the pillow design. But please let me know if you are just being the sweet person you all are OR you want that pillow cover!!

So don’t be shy about emailing me back. If this pillow cover brings you joy, reach out. If you can see it on a chair or couch in your home, email me.

Background on why I am doing this Connected Covers Project…

I wanted to do something to help people at this time but I was not sure what to do. I realized I can sew colorful decorative pillow covers and then mail them to people for free.

I am calling this project Connected Covers (Co Co for short). The title for the project reflects that we are all connected thru our humanity and shared home on Earth.

This project is a total mood booster for me. Even if you are not interested in the pillow cover, I have found this project great for my very short attention span in these unusual times. Perhaps it will inspire you to try a small creative project to make you feel a little better.

For now, I am offering Connected Covers exclusively to my email subscribers. So look for these emails in the future. Sorry international readers, but for now limiting this to US readers to keep down postage costs.

I will reply to the first person who emails me. If you don’t hear back from me, better luck next time.

Because there will be a next time. I am going to keep making these pillow covers for fun and to remind myself we are all connected.

Oreo in a chair

I will be sending the first emailer the pillow cover folded up in a small manila envelop. So if you email me first, you will need to use an existing pillow insert, an old pillow itself, or buy a new insert. I found a really puffy pillow insert on Amazon. It comes in a variety of sizes and very reasonable.

Hope this Connected Covers project brings some joy into your life today❤️

Connected Covers #2

Last week I started a project called Connected Covers. I’m going into my old fabric stash to create pillow covers I want to give away to spread some much needed cheer.

Here’s how it works. It’s simple.

“Orange Crush” 16” x 16”. Kaffe Fassett on cover and Amish dress fabric on backing.

  1. I will share an image of the sewn pillow cover (which I am doing in this email).

  2. The first one to email me their mailing address will receive that pillow cover in the mail.

    Email me your mailing address at kathleenwarrenstudio@gmail.com

So don’t be shy about emailing me back. If this pillow cover brings you joy, reach out. If you can see “Orange Crush” on a chair or couch in your home, email me. This project is a total mood booster for me. Even if you are not interested in the pillow cover, I have found this project great for my very short attention span in these unusual times. Perhaps it will inspire you to try a small creative project to make you feel a little better.

This weeks Connected Covers is all about orange. So it is called “Orange Crush”. It measures 16”x 16”. It is made solely with Kaffe Fassett fabric. The cotton quality is so wonderful it feels almost silky. His autobiography is a great read. I just like the way this guy thinks. And his color combinations are unlike anyone else’s. I love how even with all the busy fabric it blends into one cohesive piece. The backing is a beautiful blue polyester fabric purchased from an Amish store in Indiana. The Amish women make their dresses out of this type of fabric.

Last week’s Connected Cover “Aquatic Batiks” went in about 30 minutes so it may be best to decide quickly.

A few more details from last week’s blog post…

During these trying times for everyone, perhaps a little cheer is in order. A reminder that we have more in common with each other than we may think. Like basic kindness.

I wanted to do something to help people at this time but I was not sure what to do. I realized I can sew colorful decorative pillow covers and then mail them to people for free.

I am calling this project Connected Covers (Co Co for short). The title for the project reflects that we are all connected thru our humanity and shared home on Earth.

For now, I am offering Connected Covers exclusively to my email subscribers. So look for these emails in the future. Sorry international readers, but for now limiting this to US readers to keep down postage costs.

I will reply to the first person who emails me. If you don’t hear back from me, better luck next time.

Because there will be a next time. I am going to keep making these pillow covers for fun and to remind myself we are all connected.

I will be sending the first emailer the pillow cover folded up in a small manila envelop. So if you email me first, you will need to use an existing pillow insert, an old pillow itself, or buy a new insert. I found a really puffy pillow insert on Amazon. It comes in a variety of sizes and very reasonable.

Hope this Connected Covers project brings some joy into your life today❤️



Connected Covers Project (Free Giveaway👑)

I decided to try something new this week.

During these trying times for everyone, perhaps a little cheer is in order. A reminder that we have more in common with each other than we may think. Like basic kindness.

I wanted to do something to help people at this time but I was not sure what to do. I realized I can sew colorful decorative pillow covers and then mail them to people for free.

Aquatic Batiks, 20”x 20” Pillow Cover.

I am calling this project Connected Covers (Co Co for short). The title for the project reflects that we are all connected thru our humanity and shared home on Earth

Here’s how it will work. It’s simple.

  1. I will share an image of the sewn pillow cover (which I am doing in this email).

    For your consideration, our first selection…Aquatic Batiks, a 20” x 20” pillow cover envelope style.

  2. The first one to email me their address will receive that pillow cover in the mail.

    Email me your mailing address at kathleenwarrenstudio@gmail.com


For now, I am offering Connected Covers exclusively to my email subscribers. So look for these emails in the future. Sorry international readers, but for now limiting this to US readers to keep down postage costs.

I will reply to the first person who emails me. If you don’t hear back from me, better luck next time.

Because there will be a next time. I am going to keep making these pillow covers for fun and to remind myself we are all connected.

I will be sending the first emailer the pillow cover folded up in a small manila envelop. So if you email me first and get Aquatic Batiks, you will need to use an existing pillow insert, an old pillow itself, or buy a new insert. I found a really puffy pillow insert on Amazon. It comes in a variety of size and very reasonable.

For this project, I am going deep into my printed fabric stash which I have kept for decades. I have Kaffe Fassett fabrics and many more batiks. As you know I have been using mostly solid fabric for the last 5+ years. It feels good to bring out the oldies.

More details on this week’s pillow cover...I made this Aquatic Batiks 20” x 20” pillow cover top using a crazy quilt technique with my old batik stash filled with frogs and turtles picked out by my then-very-young daughter. Hence the name aquatic. These fabrics date from the 1990’s to early 2000’s. The cotton quality is exceptional. How things have changed. My go-to colors were green, blue and purple as you can see here. I needed a contrast so I used the coral colored fabric. Not sure why I even bought that fabric but I like it in this pillow cover.

Hope this Connected Covers project brings some joy into your life today❤️




Studio Time Again 🌈

I went back into the studio yesterday after a 15 month hiatus. My dad passed away unexpectedly last May. The grief was all pervasive. Most of us have experienced grief. Especially during this unprecedented time. It can be like looking out at the world with foggy glasses. My Dad was one of my biggest supporters. I knew it was a big disconnect to stop creating, but I just couldn’t find the inner resources at the time. But that seems to have changed recently.

I went into the studio two times over the past months for projects I had envisioned, but the vision wasn’t strong enough for me to sustain and complete the project. A few weeks ago, I made an EcoMemory for my daughter’s friend based on where she got engaged, a prairie, how cool. I felt creatively good, in the flow, productive. But what really helped me get back in the studio yesterday was a question from a friend last week. She said “how is your work going?” I didn’t know what she was talking about. I talked about my job that I no longer had and she said she didn’t mean that work. In other words, she meant my real work. I had forgotten I was an artist. It is almost hard to believe when creating was something that consumed my thoughts and brought such joy for so many years.

This wake up call from my friend led me to start reading Austin Kleon‘s new book Keep Going. What perfect timing. Because this book is exactly what I needed at the exact time. So I assigned myself small daily tasks. Actually not that small. Going into the studio yesterday and writing this blog post today were not necessarily small or easy.

Returning to the studio on Monday, I had a vision for using a technique I find fun and playful using foundation fabric and sewing on scraps of fabric. Again it felt natural, in the flow. Basically the reason why I go to the studio in the first place. This series is ROY G. BIV 🌈I’m using wedge shaped canvases which allows the piece to stand upright and creates some really fun texture in a series.

For most people, your creative outlets have become super important during these challenging times. I would love to be inspired by what others are doing creatively big or small to help get through the days. You can email me kathleenwarrenstudio@gmail.com or leave a comment on Instagram @kathleeenwarrenstudio.

I posted my piece ROY on Instagram yesterday which was a not so small task I assigned myself after I created my first piece. Hopefully, I can resume actual small baby steps later this week. I posted G for the green piece today.

As for this blog, I am not sure if I will continue to write regularly. I am taking this one baby step at a time. I just wanted to write an update because of the silence for 15 months.

Three Bees

It started with a Call for Art Submissions for an exhibition at Brushwood Center highlighting the stress our pollinators are undergoing.

Call for Art

Keeping the Bees: The Importance of Pollinators

June 16 – August 25, 2019

Over 75% of the flowering plants on earth rely on animals and insects for pollination, including nearly 75% of our food crops. Without these creatures such as hummingbirds, bats, bees, beetles, butterflies, and flies, these plants would not be able to produce fruits and seeds, which would be devastating to people and the planet. Join Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods in bringing attention to the importance and plight of the pollinator in this group art exhibition. We are accepting work in all visual media and styles that feature or are in some way related to pollinators. See below for online resources for more information on pollinators.

I knew I wanted to participate and submit an artwork about bees. In fact, we had just ordered a pollinator garden set of plants from Prairie Moon Nursery to plant in our backyard. So this issue was important to me.

More information on pollinators from the Brushwood’s website:

https://www.fws.gov/pollinators/Index.html

https://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/animals/index.shtml

Three Bees, Kona cotton fabric, May 2019.

Three Bees, Kona cotton fabric, May 2019.

Here is an outline of my process for creating Three Bees:

Process photos of creating Three Bees.

  1. The first step was to think about the design. I knew I wanted to focus on bees and I wanted to highlight the pollinator plants that we were getting from Prairie Moon. So I mulled over some ideas and then started drawing on graph paper to layout the design.

  2. Next, I went into my fabric stacks and starting pulling fabrics for the project. I knew I wanted a variety of blues for the sky and greens for the prairie highlighted with the flower colors and three bees. I couldn’t decide on the perfect yellow for the bees. I had selected a very bright highlighter yellow but I wasn’t super happy about it. About a week later, I remembered the gold velvet from The Cloth Shop in London. It was perfect. Both the color and the fuzzy texture for the bees.

  3. Next, I started cutting and sewing. I started with the blue sky and cut long strips into the 5 blue fabrics. I added some Kona cotton fabric called Snow for the clouds. Working with the velvet for the bees was tricky because it sheds all over your cutting board and ironing board. Plus you are not supposed to iron it. I admit I did gently iron it at a low temperature. The results were so worth the effort.

  4. I added purples and oranges to represent the plants in our pollinator garden and interspersed them into the blue sky section to imitate the flowers standing above the grasses and plant stems on the prairie. Then, of course, the three bees are hovering over these flower tops all in a line formation.

  5. Next, my last section to sew was the prairie. I cut strips in a multitude of different greens to mimic all the different greens of the flowers and grasses in the prairie. I added in some flowers throughout the grasses as well. Then I sewed the prairie to the sky.

  6. The last step was to stretch the completed piece around the stretched canvas frame. I chose a 16“ x 20” frame to highlight the horizontal nature of the prairie with the three bees traveling along the tops of the flowers.


Now you know what I have been up to in the studio.

UPDATE

Three Bees was accepted into the Keeping the Bees: The Importance of Pollinators

June 16 – August 25, 2019

The opening reception is Sunday, June 16 1 - 3 p.m. at
Brushwood Center at Ryerson Woods • 21850 N. Riverwoods Rd. • Riverwoods, IL 60015 • 224.633.2424 • info@brushwoodcenter.org

Close up of Three Bees.

Time to share:

I am an artist groupie and love all news articles that give you a peek into the lives of the artists.

Here are two articles from the New York Times I thought were worth sharing.

One about Frank Stella:

The Surprising Tale of One of Frank Stella’s Black Paintings

One about Joan Miró:

Miró’s Greatness? It Was There From the Start


Simple Creative Habits and Jerry Saltz’s Lessons

I read an interview with Austin Kleon on the website called Extraordinary Routines. He talks about his creative habits, his routine. The interviews on this website are amazing. Here is a list of what Austin Kleon does every day. Write in his diary. Write a blog post. Take a walk. Read a book. I like the simplicity of those habits. He defines this as a successful day if all these things happen.

How would you define your successful day? Hmm.

I have thought about this for a long time. My fascination with daily habits started with the book Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey. A friend just reminded me about this book I read back in 2016. I think it is time to re-read it and see what I have learned in the 3 years since I originally read it. This daily ritual habit is the kind of thing that you work on for the rest of your life. Over the years, I have pared down my essential daily habits and then turned around and added more habits back into the mix. Right now, I’m using a Momentum habit tracker app to keep track of the 10 daily habits I am focussing on now. Honestly, the idea of Austin Kleon’s simple habits for a successful day is looking very appealing right now.

Studio update

Nine Daily sewn squares of 25 Days of Purple Irises

I am working on the completion of the 100 days of four colors first piece, 25 Days of Purple Irises. These pieces are like a visual diary. I remember some of squares very well, what I was feeling, what I was trying to convey with the design and contrasting colors (limited as they may be as all were purple). I remember being excited about certain designs.  Next, I am working with the color blue for 25 days as part 2 of the 100 Day Project.

Time to share

This past weekend, I re-read an article by Jerry Saltz, the art critic for the New York magazine, called How to Be an Artist. I read the article several months ago but wanted to re-read it with the intention of sharing with you. The article is long but well worth your time. There are 33 rules included in this article. You could spend a whole day thinking about just one rule or lesson at a time. I highly recommend you open the link just to see the photography where Jerry Saltz poses like famous artists. Perfectly done. Check out the Frida Kahlo one.

He has some creative exercises in Step Two: How to Actually Begin: An instruction manual for the studio.

I am going to do this one…

Exercise: Build a Life Totem
Using any material on any surface, make or draw or render a four-foot-tall totem pole of your life. From this totem, we should be able to know something about you other than what you look like or how many siblings you have. Include anything you want: words, letters, maps, photos, objects, signs. This should take no longer than a week. After a week, it’s finished. Period. Now show it to someone who does not know you well. Tell them only, “This is a totem pole of my life till now.” That’s all. It doesn’t matter if they like it. Ask them to tell you what it means about your life. No clues. Listen to what they tell you.

He has some great practices to get you thinking about what you like and don’t like. All these are tools for self awareness. Something that is important for all people who want to be more creative. Why do I do what I do?

Probably one of his most important lessons is to give up on envy. So let’s give up the comparison game. This is particularly important in our social media world where people curate just the best of their lives to show others as if hard work was not necessary and art magically appears to a chosen few. 

Lesson 26: Make an Enemy of Envy

Today!

Envy looks at others but blinds you.

It will eat you alive as an artist; you live in the service of it, always on the edge of a funk, dwelling on past slights, watching everything, always seeing what other people have, scanning for other artists who are mentioned instead of you. Envy erodes your inner mind, leaves less room for development and, most important, for honest self-criticism. Your imagination is taken up by what others have, rather than what you need to be doing in your own work to get what you want. From this fortress, everything that doesn’t happen to you is blamed on something or someone else. You fancy yourself a modern van Gogh, a passed-over genius the world isn’t ready for. You relinquish agency and responsibility. Your feelings of lack define you, make you sour, bitter, not loving, and mean.

Poor you. Too bad that all those other “bad artists” are getting shows and you’re not. Too bad they’re getting the articles, money, and love! Too bad they have a trust fund, went to better schools, married someone rich, are better looking, have thinner ankles, are more social, have better connections, or use their connections, networking skills, and education. Too bad you’re shy.

A secret: Almost everyone in the art world is almost equally as bashful and skittish about putting themselves out there. I’m unable to attend seated dinners. We all do the best we can. But “poor me” isn’t a way to make your work better, and you’re out of the game if you don’t show up. So grow a pair of whatever and get back to work!

One of the themes from this article is to hang out with other artists and “form a gang”. Quilters, improv quilters in particular, are very supportive on Instagram. One of my online friends is Jen Broemel of @twelveredchairs.

She has started this wonderful Twelve Red Chairs storefront adventure in Indianapolis to host classes and creative get togethers. She needs help to keep this going and has set up a Kickstarter fund raiser. Read more about her Twelve Red Chairs adventure. I donated and you may want to as well. 

Post script: Jerry Saltz is turning this article into a book.

Jerry Saltz’s Instagram is super cool.

One last thing by Jerry Saltz, a video called Picasso’s Guernica, Explained to Passersby in the NYC Subway

Hope you enjoyed these ideas and articles I have shared. Let me know what you think. Send me an email.

Time to Share

I’ve been thinking about why I started the Studio Notes blog two and a half years ago. The main purpose was to work out my ideas about creativity through writing about it. My thinking was I would share these thoughts with others interested in pursuing their own creativity to help people get excited about their own creative pursuits. Reflecting back, every Studio Note article has this goal of sharing creative inspiration to spark an inspiration in others. So while I often share my current projects writing about my design and actual sewing process, I decided to share things that have been inspiring me on a more consistent basis in hopes of helping inspire you readers. 

These words from an article written by one of my favorite authors, Austin Kleon, really stood out to me…

 My books are the by-products of the process of trying to figure out how to be a writer and an artist. When I write, when I publish, when I speak, it is in the spirit of being a fellow student. I am simply sharing the things that I am learning. I not only do not consider myself an expert, being an expert seems unbelievably boring to me. Becoming an expert, to me, seems like a kind of spiritual death. A kind of creative petrification. (As my friend Mike Monteiro recently put it, “the secret to being good at anything is to approach it like a curious idiot, rather than a know-it-all genius.”)

I agree. I want to be a curious idiot. Come join me.

So I will be adding a segment called Time to Share or another creative title that I have not been able to come up with yet.  I will share an article/podcast/image that got me thinking about creativity in order to inspire you to think about your creative pursuits in a new way.

Time to Share: Freakonomics podcast series on How to be Creative

I am starting out with one of my favorite things to do to learn about something. PODCASTS!!! I have been listening to podcasts regularly on my commute to work. It helps me get excited about a rather mundane task of driving. I have limited my podcast playlist to a few favorites. I use the Pocket Casts app to organize them. 

Nine daily squares of purple in 100 Days of 4 Colors

One of my favorite podcasts is Freakonomics. You don’t have to like economics to be interested in this podcast. The topics are interesting and so well researched and a little out of the ordinary in what you would expect to hear about. They recently did a series on How to be Creative. Click the link above to hear the various episodes. I am working my way through all of them. I love everything about this series of podcasts. It gets me thinking. It’s a real winner.

Studio Update

As for the 100 Days of 4 Colors, I am patiently creating a five and a half inch square every day. The first 25 days focus on the color purple. I had a few different titles in mind for the completed 25 day piece when it is all sewn together. My first title idea was Lavender. I love images of fields of lavender where that is all you can see far into the distance. However now I think I’d like to change the title to Irises because they bloom in early June and always remind me of my husband because his birthday is near the bloom time.

As I am every 100 days project, I am reminded that small steps every day can create big things which is a good metaphor for a life well-lived.

See the 100 Day Project in action on my Instagram page. Just Click.