Why You Will Fail

Larry Smith

 

I just finished watching an amazing TEDx talk of Larry Smith titled "Why you will fail to have a great career" on YouTube uploaded by TEDxTalks.   WOW.  If it is not a smack in the face to wake up, I don't know what is.

 

My best friend called last night and it wasn't long before he asked what number of work I was on for the year.  He cares and is holding me accountable, and I absolutely love that.  My reply was an apologetic, "Not much from when we last talked...I'm on number 16 now."  He gave encouragement by saying, "Think of it this way, that's probably 10 more than you would've done by this time."  He's absolutely right.

 

I've been thinking a lot lately about longevity.  The fact that I'm still painting seven years after earning my BFA is a good thing - a great thing.  I was talking to one of my college pals the other night and we talked a bit about having the motivation and determination to keep going even when it gets tough.  It has been tough for both of us in the last seven years, but we still create.

That in itself is an accomplishment, though I don't necessarily think that it is praiseworthy.  Art is just what I do.  It keeps me sane and I need it.  It is the only way I feel myself, and the only area of expertise that I can confidently say is an expertise after so many years of studying so many different aspects and the long history.  Without it, I would be a hollow shell...what's crazy is I don't even think I'm being dramatic.  I think without it, my zest for life would be gone completely.

Some of our peers have fallen out of love for creating as they once did.  It doesn't turn them on anymore, or they found other interests that became passions more powerful than what they had for art.  Others still enjoy visual art, but maybe are doing other things such as curating or writing about it.  It's not that those of us who are still creating art have any more determination than our peers that are now going in different directions.  I'm hoping that it's just due to their finding other interests and passion in other areas that didn't occur to them before, or are just now getting the chance to pursue.  Other opportunities may have resonated more.

I remember being warned in the first year of college that we would be weeding ourselves out through the years there and the process would still continue out in the world.  Only a small percentage of us would actually graduate in the Fine Arts field (which turned out to be true), and an even smaller percentage would actually still be creating after the diploma was framed upon the wall (which is turning out to be true).  I remember one of my favorite mentors telling us that if you could be successful and happy doing anything other than art, than do that instead.  He was warning us of the difficulties, and preparing us for what we need to have a career - consistancy and longevity.  A brew of passion and determination -  you really have to love it in order to have the diligence to keep at it through the years.

My little prayer to the universe is that we all find our passions and have the ability to pursue them.  What a wonderful and different world this would be.

Love to all! 

The Temporary and the Eternal - A New Work

For now it's untitled...

 

Movement of flesh, metal, the temporary and the eternal...

 

Oil on paper, 24x18"

Krystal Booth, 2013

 

The first of the big idea...hoping it maintains my attention and I can dig deeper to what it is I'm getting at -

 

This was definitely influenced by the music I've been listening to lately - old Smashing Pumpkins, Fiona Apple, and Radiohead (as always).  My hope is that it speaks to you in a way that I haven't yet communicated.  Attempting to find my visual language for the messages...

 

Sneak Peek

I refilled my coffee cup and am looking at the painting in process.  Here's the sneek peek of what's on the easel today.

Painting in Progress, Krystal Booth

Oil on paper, 24x18"

 

So this is what I have to work with so far - it's not a bad start, but yes, there's work to be done.  It's very crude right now, but there are some areas of poetry to work with if I look close enough...straining my eyes and mind, but it's there. haha

 

I think I've stumbled onto an idea.  A big idea.  One of those good ones that I've been dying to get for years now.  I've been circling around it for ten years now when I look back at previous works.  I'm getting closer to what it is I am wanting and needing to paint - at least it feels that way.  That feeling is progress in my book, since I've been grasping at other ideas that don't seem to hold my attention for much longer than a few works.  I am hoping that this is indeed different, and if my intuition is right, it is.

 

Cheers to big ideas - it's time to work, work, and work.  RESEARCH. Do some digging.  Tackle it down before it sweeps up into the universe again - I don't want to wait for it to cycle around again.  So today, I'll be in the studio with music playing and probably a cat on my lap as I try to get it down.

 

Love to all!

Damn it, it Happened Again. Spring Cleaning.

Time for organizing the studio again...good grief it's a mess.

 

There is something delightful about looking at a mess - it's more interesting to look at than just a minimal white surface.  It offers more color, shapes, and shadows.  Too bad this doesn't quite convince me that I shouldn't clean today.

 

It's spring again, and spring cleaning is due.  I found a great cleaning list that's particularly fast and easy on Real Simple:  Daily Quick Cleaning Checklist .  It's helpful and should take someone about a half an hour to complete and is just a daily routine to keep things under control.  It's maybe not as fast as what they claim on some of the tasks...the first time I did it, it took me about two hours.  haha!

 

I find that on this blog I write and talk a lot about cleaning and organizing.  Maybe it's because I blog most often on my days off and the regular household chores that go neglected are ready for my attention.  Another contributing factor could be that I make a lot of messes.  When I'm in the act of creating I just zone out and make a mess, or contribute to an existing mess.  I suddenly wonder who has made the mess, and what forces left scraps of paper about, how did they get on the floor, why is there charcoal ground into the carpet, and why is my cat covered in paint?  Then I move my fist about in the air waving it forcefully at the gods, and refill my coffee cup.

 

I then find myself in the corner facing a computer screen, writing about the cleaning I intend to do and inevitably get sidetracked with interesting news and fun to be had online, all the while ignoring it the mess.

 

Success.

...

...

...

This isn't quite working either...you know where I'll be for the hour or so.
 

Make New Friends

Okay, so I have a confession to make.  I didn't create last night.  Instead, I did the next best thing and that's laughing.

I've been on bluecanvas.com for a few years now.  Most of the time the extent of communication is an exchange of verbal applauds and thank you's.  There is, by the way, some absolutely amazing artists on there.  Never have I had so much fun on that site and it's all thanks to a couple of new friends on there - thank you to Dustin Parr and Kevin King!  Absolutely fantastic artists who have fantastic personalities!

I spent most of the evening drinking coffee, reading, typing, and laughing with Kevin.  You will see why if you read his artist biography on his wix site here.  If ever there was an artist bio worth reading, this is most definitely it.

It will also explain to you why I was laughing so hard that at times I was sweating.

Here are their blue canvas links so that you can enjoy their amazing works:

Dustin Parr:  http://www.bluecanvas.com/dustineparr (to be enjoyed with hostess baked goods and supersoaker)

Kevin King:  http://www.bluecanvas.com/kevinking (to be enjoyed with a cigar and coffee)

I hope you have had a great weekend with lots of laughs too!  Love to all!
 

Riding, Driving, and Drunk Bycicling

 

What is so much fun about using the Elmonica Max stop is that sometimes you get a special surprise of a fresh empty train coming out of the train yard to begin its day.  It's strange being the only passenger in the entire car, but it allowed me to get several photographs for possible future reference without having to offend anyone.  There were no shouts of "How dare you take my photo!"

 

Last night I had a blast going out with my coworkers and their significant others at a Mexican restaurant in Beaverton called Pepitas.  The decor screamed that it was an acid trip version of Mexico with so many bright colored objects displayed upon the vivid walls of mirrors and multicolored lights.  Absolutely insane and fun place with great food.  We all had a good time, or at least I definitely did as the strawberry marguarita led to a Corona and then another.  One topic of conversation was that bicyclists could get DUIs here in Oregon.

 

I had no idea.  Where I'm from that is precisely the way that drunks traditionally travel.  That seems hilarious to me - I can't imagine getting pulled over while I'm on my junky blue cruiser on the sidewalk for drunk driving.  SO FUNNY!  It does make sense since out here there are far more bicyclists than in Indiana...I could see where there was a possible need for some law out here, but to give a bicyclist the same DUI as you would a driver seems hysterical!  Good thing I don't drink very often, and am now in the know without having to get pulled over first.

 

So when I arrived home, I listened to a forgotten band that I liked in highschool and shortly after - Garbage.  I was looking up music and there they were.  It is so weird how music can make one remember how it felt to be younger, the experiences, the feelings, the routines, and the events as if it just happened yesterday.  One can close their eyes and it as though their bodies remember what it was to feel so young and what they were doing then.  It took me to a nightscape of driving alone on 200 West and Buck Lake Road in Angola, Indiana with the music turned up in my '81 red mustang (I think it was an '81).  I named it Lucifer due to everything about it being red - red exterior, red interior, and even the lights on the dash were all red.  Something about all red seems very devilish, so Lucifer seemed to apply. 

 

I loved driving on those particular roads that led out to the lakes from where I lived.  They had cornfields, old houses, new houses and on Buck Lake Road there was an old abandoned farm house that was dilapidated.  My friends and I decided that it was haunted, but really, I am doubtful of that now.  It certainly did look creepy at night.  Just beyond that was my favorite part of the road - where the trees bent over the road to form a canapy of branches like a tunnel of webbing during the winter months and comforting arches of cool green shade in the summer.  Granted, when driving through it the awesomeness of that certain part lasted about 6 seconds going at 35mph.  It wasn't exactly a long enjoyment, but at least it was.

 

Coming back into the now, this afternoon I spent time redesigning the banner for this blog, etsy and my facebook artist page.  What do you think?

 

I'm about to clear off the drawing table and create a mess again by doing possibly four small paintings simultaneously.  How's that for overachieving? haha  Really, my main goal of doing it like this is to experiment with different views of the same subject with the same palette.  We'll see if it works, or if it becomes a complete disaster.  It will be fun either way, so cheers to that!

 

Hope you enjoy your Saturday night too!  Thank you for reading and whatever you do, don't drive drunk - not even a bicycle.  Love to all!

 



 

An American Woman

The finished work -

An American Woman, 2013, Krystal Booth

Oil on paper, 18x24"

Etsy Listing:



http://www.etsy.com/listing/127026313/original-oil-painting-18x24-woman-at

(Detail)

 

 



(Detail)

For this piece, I wanted to bring back some narrative and share what I've been feeling and thinking lately.  I've tried to ignore my feelings of isolation in public places, and alienation in our culture in terms of my gender, but decided that it is worth sharing in this form.  I feel very revealed, but at the same time, I don't want it to be a concrete "this is the way you should read it" type of narrative.  I hope that it allows for the viewer's individual experiences to influence it's content.

Today I will be applying gesso on some more paper to get ready for oil painting.  I should have done this yesterday, but after waking up so early and working, I couldn't do much but sleep when I arrived back home.

As for the 100 works goal, I'm not too far behind.  I'm about to begin on #15 for the year.  I slipped a little over the past couple of weeks.  I have 286 more days to create 85 more works.  Looking at it in terms of days makes me realize that it is completely possible.

This is the first day of Spring - a rejuvenation after a long winter.  I'm ready for it, aren't you? 

Love to all, and thank you so very much for reading and allowing me to share my work with you.