Makeup and Hot Glue Guns

Anyone like lichens?  This is what I've been drawing in the sketchbook lately.

Sketchbook, lichens, Krystal Booth, 2013

After years of drawing pads, sketchbooks, and journals, I have found my favorite one - Crescent RendR No Show Thru Paper Sketchbooks.  The one I'm working out of now is the hardcover 8.5x11" version.  In terms of my excitement about this sketchbook, it can be summed up by the audience member (Amy Poehler) at 2:39 of this Oprah's Favorite Things skit on SNL.

I watched a couple of Ryan Trecartin's videos online this morning and I was certainly entertained, horrified, and completely disoriented at times.  It was as if I was watching my brain's understanding of what went on in my early twenties or what a condensed bad acid trip would be like if there were endless amounts of makeup and hot glue guns.  Trecartin made my morning coffee time seem like an experiment of the mind.  Would my brain explode if I actually made it to the thirty minute mark?  Will I go insane and never come back?

In the end, it just made me want to go play with him and his friends with costumes and wigs overflowing.

If you want to be confused, overwhelmed, annoyed, and entertained, watch these:
http://vimeo.com/trecartin/roamie-view-history-enhancement
http://youtu.be/Z5nclmEYkqk

Gumption

gump·tion  

/ˈgəmpSHən/

Noun Shrewd or spirited initiative and resourcefulness.

Synonyms initiative

Do you have gumption?  I've been described as having it in years past - "That kid's got a lot of gumption!" but I don't really believe that it was gumption at all.  Instead, it was a concoction of naivety and hope.  It's easy to have gumption when you have ignorance as a dear friend.  I've taken unknown risks before and it was easy and exciting because it was just that - unknown.

But what about gumption when you are more aware of the risks?  When one is knowledgeable about the pursuit in front of them and is aware of the risks and decides to go for it, well, isn't that more what gumption really is?  After all, I would hope that there is a difference between bravery and foolishness, but then again, that judgement is all about point of view.

For instance, the more I learn about approaching galleries and dealers, the correct approach, the dos and don'ts, the more I have slumped away from it.  My posture has never been worse.

None the less, I am currently practicing gumption.  I used to have this down a bit better, but as time wears on all of us, sometimes we lose a bit of our feisty nature.  We can get comfortable or tired.  I've been both over the past year, but am not ready to give in just yet.  So courage and confidence are being worked on in preparation for things to come.  Small steps.

Through the Trees, 2013

Oil on panel, 16x12"

Krystal Booth

*Inspired by nature walk in Tualatin Hills Nature Park, and

my entry into the cover contest.

I have entered a cover contest for the Tualatin Hills Park and Recreation District Activities Guide for 2014.  They issue three of them per year.  While it is not as prestigious as winning the Turner Prize at the Tate, and I am sure that I will lose to a five year old's brilliant drawing of a sunshine landscape with smiling stick figures whose charm is irresistible, my work was submitted and I would love it to be one of the three selected images for the year.  It is definitely a step up from the Snoopy coloring contest won in the second grade.  

Surely, I did not send this paragraph along with my submission.

The submission was an attempt to get back some gumption.  Were there high risks?  Not especially - it was only a clicking of a button to submit it for their judging.  The risk is that it will not be selected and a kick to the ever-childish ego will ensue.  At this point though, who cares?  I'd rather fall on my face than not share my work.

I will be sending an initial Letter of Intent for a project grant this week.  The project is a great one for my local community and worthy of sharing.  Spoiler alert:  It is not cold fusion or time travel, but simply a series of paintings.

Hope you're enjoying the weekend and practicing the mastery of gumption in your lives too whether you know it or not.  Courage and Love to All - no form of these two are too small.

Gathering a View

I have spent so much time gathering, gathering, gathering...

House with a View, 2013

Ink on Vellum, 8x5"

Krystal Booth

I've been painting and drawing on vellum lately.  The semi-transparent quality of vellum makes it seem like it's lit from within.  The soft white sheets allow light to radiate through.  A gentle glow.  If heaven were a sheet of paper, it would be semi-transparent vellum.

There have been washes of color born on the surface, followed by charcoal, graphite, ink and more paint as I try to hone in on what works.  Instead, sometimes I find what looks horrid.  Sometimes I can turn a huge expensive property into a tie-dyed pleasure land sketch that beckons for a Grateful Dead sticker (see above).

But enough farting around.  I've been gathering visual sources for about a month or so.  Lots of photographs.  A ton of them.  My parents visited last week and so site-seeing ensued...though I believe site seeing for my parents could more accurately be described as being dragged around by their daughter and her fiance while being instructed to look at this and look at that.  I hope they enjoyed it.  Matthew and I did!

So tons of photos and a lot of writing.  Writing through ideas helps me understand my direction for the "Big Idea".  Now I can finally report to you that it is time to go for it.  I've hit the "Eureka!" state of how to use the materials for the approach, or at least enough to get going on it.  Time to raise that bar again and really push myself like I did while I was in college and then while creating the Huddleston Series.

I long for meaning and ambiguity my work.  The right amount of content and gray area.  Today I'm going to begin finding that by DOING.

Like a Ninja

Washington Park is for Ninja Drawing Sessions...

The Disadvantage of Low Rise, 2013

Krystal Booth

 

 

I felt that the second sketch needed such a title.  Low Rise jeans were invented for standing people who never want to sit down.  haha  But yes, Mom jeans are equally bad for opposite reasons.  Perhaps we are about to enter the Golden Age of Jeans, as Goldie Locks has tried both and is ready for the pair that is just right.

 

Ninja drawings sessions have been fun at Washington Park.  I try to stay undetected so they don't get self-conscious.  It's about getting them down on my paper as fast as possible.  It is an authentic real-life, real-time session of Figure Drawing on crack.  Hurry!  Hurry!  Get it down!  He's about to move - Fast - get down the angle of his arm!

Snail Mail

Good Morning from the Pacific Northwest! 

I found this little fellow on the tree outside on a tree outside our window...peeping Tom perhaps?

 

 

I've been busy working, sketching, reading, and researching.  The library has been very popular with us lately as the books pile up and I want to read them all simultaneously.  I hope all has been well with you and thank you for visiting.  I'll be posting more regularly again as I push towards the 100 Works goal and there may be another project in the works that would appreciate your input!  More on that in a little while...

 

Love to all!

 

Paint a Portrait

 

 

 

 

Commissioned Portrait (Awaiting title from Patron), 2013

Oil on canvas, 12x9"

Krystal Booth

 

 

 

It's obvious where I've been today - finally in the studio!  Hallaluiah!  It was good to get this portrait done and now I'm awaiting feedback from the patron.  It felt great to be painting this evening.  I highly recommend it!  Do what you love this weekend!

 

Love to all!

Metamorphosis

So I've been hiding out.  Really, I've just been busy.  Life has been shifting for the better, which I am so happy to report.  I'm about to switch from a part-time position into a full-time postion this coming week.  Also, last week I became a bit of a mechanic...real mechanics would laugh, but for me it was a big deal changing my battery.  I cringe everytime I see jumper cables, so yes, it was a big deal that I actually disconnected the old one and installed the new heavy black box of magical go-go power.  To my surprise, I did not get electricuted.  Hallaluiah! haha

As for painting, I've been working on a commission.  It's a portrait that will be finished by this Friday.  I'll be excited to share the result with you.  For now, here's a sneak peek at a small portion of it.

Sneak Peek of a Painting in Progress, Krystal Booth

 

 

Nothing has changed in terms of the one hundred works goal.  I know it will be more difficult with working more hours, but it's still on.  It's important to keep going.

So with the new full time position, I'm having to switch stores. I'm not wanting to say good-bye to my current coworkers, but it's happening. I'm hoping that we can all still get together every now and then because I am truly going to miss them. There will be a lot of phone calls to pester them. I'm looking forward to getting to know my new co-workers. Nervous and hopeful. Excited. 
 
On top of all of that, I've been trying to get my health habits on track.  Exercise, eat better, sleep, repeat.  I've been reading about alkaline and acidic foods and wondering how far I'm going to get into this.  It has been making me re-assess my coffee habit, so perhaps it's getting a bit more serious than I'd like to admit.  I've been eating mostly vegan/vegetarian since mid-December.  Documentaries on Netflix are all fun and games until you see the quotes about the pigs followed by the footage.  It was too too too much.  Now I'm trying to get more of an education about health and eating veggies from Kris Carr's Crazy, Sexy Diet. 

Right now, I'm just being open.  Trying to be as open as possible to new information and new opportunities.  Life is just changing a lot lately.  I'm holding on, and going with it where it leads the best that I can.  Cheers to change! 

Hope that the Spring season is being good to you too.  Love to all!