One Lump or Two?

The Time Traveler's Tea Party, 2011,

Oil on canvas. 24x36"

So happy to finish this!

Finally Published my Book!

Fragility: by Krystal Booth | Make Your Own Book

Hooray!  I can cross this off the list of goals.  This is only a few pages from the book (the book is around 38 pages) that can be purchased on Blurb if you are interested.  I'm excited about another opportunity to share my work with others.  Have a great weekend everyone and stay safe.

The End of Dumb Diary Wednesdays for now!

I'm going to stop doing Dumb Diary Wednesdays now that summer is drawing to a close.  It served its purpose of amusement, humiliation, and such.  I hope you enjoyed the entries.  I just feel that it takes this blog away from the intended purpose of an artistic journey.  Maybe it adds another layer, maybe it doesn't, but for now it's done.  I have decided to share more of my sketches in the future in its place. 

Instead of subjecting you to the unpolished and awkward tomfoolery of my old diaries, I will be subjecting you to the unpolished and awkward tomfoolery of my lines.  Love to all, and thank you for reading!

Monday Madness: What Statement Are You Making?

MONDAY MADNESS!

I scheduled an appointment with an eye doctor after performing a less than stellar job on reading the chart at the doctor's office (I swear there is a "7" on line 5).  Anyway, I realized that because I have been spoiled rotten over the years by not needing them, and I really haven't paid attention to the fashion of glasses.  I always loved my Mom's reading glasses that she is continually losing (though she will find them later on top of her head along with 2 other pairs).  She buys the fun ones with bold colors and fun patterns. My best friend always bought great pairs of eyeglasses as well that look amazing on her.  They reveal her fun-loving, and bold personality as they frame her blue eyes perfectly.

I feel like a pre-teen decorating my room.  I remember asking myself - what do I want my room to say about me?  How can I translate me into an enviroment and/or products?  It seems like it's a habit of living in a consumer driven culture.  We express ourselves through products, clothes, home decor, hair styles, purses, and cars.  It's shallow, and isn't my ideal situation, but it's true whether we like it or not.

I have never been much of a fashionista.  At all.  I don't really have that clothing thing down and on most days those people would probably describe me as a "hot mess".  "Hot" meaning "urgently horrible".  So now to pick out glasses essentially means that I am chosing one outfit to wear everyday.  It demands a commitment.  It is something people will immediately see when they meet you.  I don't want to accidently pick out the pair that says "My favorite pants are sweats", just as I don't want another to say, "I only have time for business."

So if you wear glasses, what made you choose the pair that you did besides price?  How did you make the decision or what did you want your glasses to say about you?

In the spirit of this, the following pictures of glasses are for your viewing pleasure.

Glasses say:  He's the mole.

Glasses say:  Senile, but conventional...if the moon were made out of cheese would you eat it?

Glasses say:  I will severely crush you.

Glasses say:  I am a Reverend.

Glasses say:  We still love MC Hammer and will go to great lengths to search for him.

Glasses SCREAM:  Elton John - The King of Glasses

 

   

Fear of Finish

Last night Matthew and I planned to paint.  He laid out his canvas, gathered his materials and began to work diligently.  I lingered and simply stared at my current painting from across the room in a silent trance.


Matthew:  What's wrong?  Why aren't you painting yet?
Me:  I don't know...I do this everytime I get close to finishing a painting.  I avoid it.
Matthew:  Okay.  Why?
Me:  Because it never seems to end up as good as I imagined it.
Matthew:  Think about what you always told your students, and take your own advice.


We smiled and laughed at each other.  He was right.  I did need to follow the advice I had given several of my students when they reached this point.  I can hear myself now - "That's alright - hardly anything ends up as we first imagined it would.  Just do your best, and push yourself through it.  If you can change some things to make it more like you had imagined, then go for it.  If not, that's okay - what counts is effort.  Don't let it intimidate you."


It can be so easy to give encouragement to others and then forget the encouragement when it comes to oneself.  Needless to say, I did put myself squarely in front of the canvas and began working. 


I've noticed that this has been a habit within my creative process.  I reach a certain point when it is so close to being done, and then I play the procrastination game.  The procrastination game is not easy - it feels terrible and with each passing day I feel stress building.  So why do I do it?  Why do any of us do it?


I have found that it is my own fear that gets in the way.  I'm afraid that I will disappoint myself with the outcome (not measuring up to what I have in my head), and it will end up being one big let down.  I think that's why a lot of people avoid their own creative work - it's easier to fantasize about the idea of great work than it is to try to achieve it.  But is it really?  Alongside that fantasy is the torture of regret.  The realization that one didn't do what one could have, didn't work as one should have, and never gave oneself a chance to achieve had one simply tried.


With that said, I'm getting to work.  Time to take my own advice and finish this darn thing once and for all!  Love to all!

Dumb Diary Wednesday

"July 1, 1990

Sun.

Dear Diary,

Guess what my

Mom read in "Parade"

the other day?  According

to High school students

New Kids are out!

They've got a lot of

nerve saying that!

Those nerds!

Love,

Krystal"

Monday Madness...on a Tuesday

Hello!

It's obvious that I've been caught up in something to make me miss out on Monday Madness.  My best friend (Samm) and I have began the great quest of trying to get into shape.  We've battled weight issues throughout our lives and after 33 years, it's time to do something about it.  We started a blog - http://www.fatisntfunny.blogspot.com - and this link will forever be listed under my Links list here on this site for your convenience or curiosity.

After a tough year, it is obvious that I need something more intense than painting.  I wonder how artists throughout history stayed in shape and remained so prolific.  Perhaps they were all flab and no muscle, or sincerely starving artists.  With such a sedentary profession, I wonder how so many are so svelt.  I hear about office professionals who make it a priority to workout of course, but one does not hear too many stories about how Da Vinci dominated on the courts, or how Manet was quite the runner.

I would love to hear about how artists today and in history have managed their health.  If you have any info to share, I would love to hear it!  I'm extremely curious about this -

In the meantime, here's a sampling of what you'll expect to find on the fat isn't funny blog, and a happy Tuesday to you!...and Monday.

***Also, on the video there's a typo that I can't fix...fat isn't funny is not a ".com" yet.  Oops!  It's a "blogspot.com".

A Hint!

Detail of my painting in progress:

The Dalai Lama wearing a Small Pink Cowboy Hat

This is a small portion of the painting I've been working on for the last couple of months.  It's still in "under construction" but I'm planning to have it done in the next few days.

I'm really excited about unveiling this one because it's a lot different from the "Huddleston Series" in that it is not such a serious and sobering image (some of that series can be seen in earlier blog entries and on www.krystalbooth.com).  Working through all of those paintings was an exercise of emotion and contemplation.  They became emotionally taxing to work on and I needed a release of laughter.  This current painting is that release.

Cheers to fulfilling the need to laugh, and balancing the heavy with the light-hearted.  Have a good weekend, friends!

Dig

Dig, 2011

Ink and Gouache over a page from

The Andy Warhol Diaries

Inspired by once being an Anthropology student and a beehive pattern that keeps appearing in my everyday life...I think it's stalking me along with the number 39.

Are You a Catalyst?

http://networkedblogs.com/lfOr5

The above link is a great article written by Isaac B. Watson on the site IHeartArt: Portland.

Are you ready to be inspired?
 

Dumb Diary Wednesday: Peeing my Pants without Peeing my Pants

"1-4-1990

Thur.

Dear Diary,

Today I had

my physical.  I had

to pee in a cup.

When I did, it

spilt on my pants!

Luckily I had a

sweatshirt on so

I could pull it

down over my

bottom.  Embarrassing

things always

happen to me!

Love,

Krystal"

I have to admit, this was a scarring type of incident - I have flashbacks everytime I go to the doctor and urine is requested.  I was absolutely mortified...and I remember vividly that I was wearing pink corduroys that day...I hated those pants so much.  They are the worst pants in the world for a girl with non-skinny thighs...especially horrifying to walk down empty hallways.  Whenever I passed a room, the students would look out into the hallway..."yeah, those are my thighs rubbing...my mom makes me wear these pants...sorry for interrupting your class."

The Artist's Way and Finding Water Book Reviews. Finally.

It's been months since I finished The Artist's Way and I finally feel that I can give more of an honest perspective of the book for all of you curious creative people out there!  (I also read her follow up to this book - Finding Water - which I will also describe a bit in this post).

Okay, so at the end of The Artist's Way I felt a bit like I was reading a verson of the song "This is the song that never ends...yes, it goes on and on, my friends..."  Because immediately as you finish reading it has yet another contract to sign about re-reading the book and doing it all over again for the following 90 days.  I stared at the page with an open mouth followed by a roll of the eyes.  Really, Julia?  But I just did all of it!  ....and this is my thanks?!?  I was a bit pissy about it to tell you the truth, but I understand the point she was making and why it would help someone who was creatively blocked.  The first journey through the book would be spent getting unblocked and then the second read through would be to really begin to dive into whatever you were working on.  Also, of course, a creative life is unending, and is a continual journey.  I get it.  It still didn't make me read it again though.  Not to say that I won't in the future.  I probably will, but at the moment all I was was annoyed with the new contract.

One of the questions I had upon finishing the book was whether or not I would keep doing the morning pages.  I did for about a month or so and then stopped.  It was stupid for me to stop, because actually they did help me quite a bit with just purging stressors and ideas out onto a page to clear the brain.  I'm not much of a morning person, so it took me an hour and a half on most days to write the morning pages (according to the book it should take around 30-45 minutes if I remember correctly).  Well, if my morning pages were honest free flow, my entries would have been consisting of a lot of "Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuhhhhh....more coffee,.....mummummum....pen, page, book, pen...duhhhh...".

Not exactly a groundbreaking mental exercise if I did it that way.  So it took a bit longer for me than for most people...I'm sure that other people were in the same boat as I was when it came to the morning pages.  They were great to clear a space in the brain to get going on creative work, and I really loved it for that reason.  It also helped me organize my time and establish a routine.  In fact, I think that I should probably start them up again, because they really did help.  I'm not sure exactly why I stopped.

The book was motivational and helped to examine my own myths about creativity, success, and money.  It was eye-opening at times.

Other times, things didn't apply, or seemed a bit hokey.  I just tried to get what I could from it, and it did help me push past a few items of false thinking that I had held onto throughout the years.  I would suggest this book to anyone, and I think that everyone could gain something from it, no matter where they are at in their artistic development or achieving creative goals.  It is especially geared towards people who are blocked or who let their artistic side go throughout the years and would like to get back to creating.

All in all, it was good and I would highly recommend it.

Instead of reading the book over again, I went on to the next book called Finding Water.  This one I found to better than the first book.  It was a great motivational tool and inspired me quite a bit.  This book doesn't have as much of that "hokey" factor, and I found it more useful.  It still continues the morning pages and was a great follow up to The Artist's Way.  I actually found it to be more relevant to what I was looking for at the time.  The only thing I found annoying was the way she talked about her struggles with alcoholism so much.  I understand the relevance of some of her anecdotes, but by the end of it, I wanted to shout "Enough already!  Shut up and Cheer up!"  Immediately, I would feel like a jerk for thinking that way and eat a bag of potato chips. (Just kidding, but seriously, there's just so much of the "I have such problems" mentality that I can take before my energy starts draining.)

But guess what?  I would still recommend this book. haha!  It makes one understand that they are not the only one who struggles to keep the fire going and it also helps one develop some gentle discipline.  I loved it for that reason. 

Your Voice on a Tape Recorder

Yesterday was a good day of painting.  I felt like I was making a breakthrough with the painting I refered to as the "defiant child" in my last post.  It seemed to be coming along, and making progress.

Today, not so much.  I stood back at the end of today's work session.  Everything about it seemed a bit off.  I had a completely opposing view of it than the day before.

It's amazing how your work can do that.  One minute you're thinking "Brilliant!" and a moment later you're thinking "DREADFUL!". 

I get annoyed with my own "style" that seems to be inescapable...kind of like when one hears his or her own voice over a tape recorder.  Your voice is your own, but it sounds all wrong, and there is no way to escape your particular quality of voice.  (I do have days when I can't stand my own voice without a tape recorder - those are the days when I quarantine myself to be able to not talk without feeling like I'm being rude.)

The marks I make are uniquely my own, and they just seemed overly clumsy today.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better session.

As it is, I'm guessing that this painting will be done within about a week or so.  It will feel good to have it accomplished!