The Nitty-Gritty Details of my Daily Creative Habit

My view when I walk into my studio

Every day I make a six-inch fabric art square. When I walk into the studio, I turn on the iron. I see all the fabric I might use for the current series laid out on a foam board right next to my sewing machine. I start designing directly by laying out fabrics to figure out a design I like. I keep it loose and have no preconceived ideas at this point except for general guidelines I already decided for this particular 25 day series. Once I decide what I like, I sew the fabric pieces to each other one at a time, ironing after each seam is sewed. Then I cut the square down to size using a square acrylic ruler. I take a photo of the square and post it to my Instagram account. The last step is to clean up the studio. All the small fabric scraps are thrown out. The foam board with all the fabric is put back in place next to my machine. The cutting mats are put in order. The rotary cutter is put in its basket. Iron off. Ready for the next day. 

These are the things that make it a creative habit. I do the same things every day around the same time. No matter what your creative endeavor is, you can make it a habit. When you make creating a habit, you will create more. Guaranteed.

I would be lying if I said this all came about easily one day. I have fine-tuned this creative habit for a year to serve my need for consistency.  The framework is simple, not unlike doing the dishes every day or making lunches for your kids to take to school.

Seeing creative habits as a regular kind of chore takes the drama out of the situation for me. Just show up. Every day.

The steps in my creative habit may be simple but I have a whole system in place to serve this habit. My creative habit needs inputs like inspiration and fabric and tools. Some days, I am inspiration hunting for my next series idea as I described in this article Capture Your Ideas and Evernote to the Rescue. Sometimes I am focusing on the supplies I need like my new Juki sewing machine. In other words, there is a lot of supporting work to be done to create every day, the grunt work or a nicer way to say it is, the preparatory work. This preparatory work lays the ground work for you to keep up your creative habit without missing a beat.

It all starts with a creative idea of what to create. These ideas do not just drop out of the sky. As I stated in the article I mentioned above, I first turn to my Designs and Color Ideas notebook in Evernote. I decide on the color palette and the design. To prep for a series, I first select a variety of fabrics I can use.  Currently, I use solid colored fabric in the Kona cotton fabric line from Robert Kaufman Fabrics. The goal is to have enough fabric to keep the 25 days interesting  without opening it up to "the sky is the limit" thinking, which can be overwhelming. I prewash all the fabric using Color Catchers to be safe and to capture any extra dye in the wash. After the fabric gets out of the dryer, I iron and starch the fabric that I will be using for the 25 days using  Best Press starch alternative. I have found that the fabric sews together easier if it is stiffer from the starch. It is like working with stiff cardboard rather than a flimsy wrinkled piece of cotton. Sometimes, I pre-cut some shapes of fabric to get me thinking.  I feel it is easier to improvise with smaller pieces of fabric and then I can see the geometric possibilities. I lay all the fabric out on a foam board so I can see it all and move it around easily. I also have to maintain my cutting boards, rotary cutters, and iron etc. This preparatory work is key to walking into that studio ready to go. It needs to be done before I walk in as part of my creative habit.
 
This creative habit helps me get squares made every day. But the next step for me is to make the larger square 25 day pieces. I sew all 25 squares into 5 rows of 5 squares which makes a final square of 30 inches. Then I add a cotton batting and a backing fabric. The next step is to quilt the three layers together on my Juki sewing machine. Bind the edges. Make a hanging sleeve for the back. Add a wooden slat with hanging hooks and wires. The last step is the quilt label. As you can see, there are a lot of steps to completing an art quilt.

Due to technical difficulties with my Juki sewing machine attachment used for quilting the three layers together, I am way behind in making the 25 day quilts.  Now this is fixed, I can move forward. As I said, the best way for anyone to get a lot done is to make a habit.  I need to take my own advice and add a habit for Operation Quilt Catch Up. Stay tuned for photos of the quilt completions over the next few weeks! 

Has this article got you thinking about the details of your creative habit? Share in the comments below.

FYI. All these products I mentioned are not based on any affiliation with these companies. My intent is to only give you the nitty-gritty details of what I do every day in my creative habits.
 

Why start a Creative Habit?

I could write five different articles about the benefits of creative habits because there are a multitude of benefits. I'm just going to focus on a few benefits in this article to encourage you to start a creative habit of your own. First, a habit is performed regularly without even thinking about it. It is non-negotiable like brushing your teeth. There is no deciding to do it or not. Non-negotiable. Second, habits reduce decision fatigue. After making many important and non-important decisions every day, it is easier to do the things that have become a routine, a habit with no need to recreate the wheel.

Someone commented on one of my Instagram daily photos saying, "You just keep doing it. #determination." At first I was a little confused. Why would I not keep creating every day? What is the big deal?  It made me think about how you can build any habit so it feels weird to not do it. I guess that is the definition of a habit. Something you do on a regular basis. For about two weeks over the winter holidays in 2015, I took a break and did not make my daily fabric art square. It felt really weird. I felt like I was floating without my creative habit as an anchor in my daily activities. My daily creative habit has truly become non-negotiable.
 
I want to have an impact on how people see their creativity and discussing creative habits is the most powerful way to easily start creating more. The term creative habit describes something that helps you and builds you up, not like New Year's resolutions which may have the opposite affect. The bonus of a creative habit is that creative self-expression can actually be relaxing and fun. It's not about being perfect. It's really about joy. 

Fabric selection for Fractured Blue Sky series, 2015.

The motivation behind starting a creative habit is to discover your creative potential. It provides a sense of purpose and a source of playfulness. It’s not what you do, how you do it, or where you do it. These are just details. The important part is the dedication to yourself, the commitment to yourself. Once you commit, you will figure out what you want to try and then experiment. Be curious. Momentum builds on momentum. Seven days to 14 days to a month to three months to year. If you look back, it’s has become just a habit.

A habit helps you create more because it reduces decision fatigue. So what is the deal with decision fatigue? After making a 100 decisions a day, it gets harder to decide on things. In this case, habits are your friends. Setting a habit means you have a set time and place to do an activity. You probably know what you are going to be working on. So many of the decisions have already been made. You usually have a habit trigger like after breakfast or after the children are in bed. You have your materials ready. You know how much time you have available. Just create. Then come back the next time and start again.

I have set up my whole system of the daily squares and the 25 day square pieces to avoid decision fatigue. The idea of an overall 25 day theme gives me a structure.  So many of these big decisions are made up front but it still allows me the flexibility to enjoy creating every day. Each day has some freedom and some constraints.

Selection of 9 daily squares for Fractured Blue Sky series, 2015. Notice the variety given the constraints of color and design.

I pick the fabric to use for the 25 day theme up front and have it all washed and starched. I pick the general outline of a design.  Every day I deliberately push the boundaries of these themes by playing with the designs and mixing up some of the design and color choices to add variety to the finished 25 day piece. I have my studio all set up so I can get to work as soon as I get there. I have routines set up to organize the studio before I leave each day. Clutter is not my friend when I am in the studio.

To make your creative habit stick, set it up to be non-negotiable and make as many decisions as possible up front to reduce decision fatigue.

If you want to run a creative habit idea by me, you can contact me here.
 

Capture your Ideas and Evernote to the Rescue

Every 25 days I need to come up with a new series idea. The last thing I want is to be at day 24 and have zero ideas. To help with this, I use an app called Evernote which you can use both on your phone and desk/laptop. I have zero affiliation with the company but have become a super fan over the past years. Evernote is basically a digital notebook system organized with individual notes in each notebook you create. You can add photos, text, even a digital recording to any note. It is the best tool for organizing my thoughts. I have a notebook for each activity I do: Creating, Teaching, Learning, etc. I have different sub-notebooks stacked into these broad categories. For example, I have a notebook labeled Artists where I add information on artists that inspire me under my Learning notebook. Many people have written different strategies for organizing your Evernote systems. Just google it and you will be amazed. How you organize it is less important than just having a "brain dump" place to capture your thoughts.


I keep an Evernote notebook filled with ideas for different design and color ideas. I used to have one notebook for designs and one separate one for colors. Now I just throw the photo or written ideas into a notebook called Design and Color Ideas. It was too arbitrary to separate the ideas because the two aspects color and design really feed off of each other with a synergy. So I find it is best to keep them together in a combined Evernote notebook.


Not only does this help me feel somewhat more prepared to come up with a new series every 25 days, it also reminds me that I will not run out of ideas. I have a notebook full of them. Honestly, some of the ideas are @#!^. I have many photos of bathroom tiles that I will probably never use. But 1 out of every 10 ideas will give me at least a thread to hang on to. For example, looking through my current notebook, I have the following items:

Photo of the front windows of the Lincoln Center in New York City
Photos of rocks and minerals from the Nikon camera small world website
Link to Textiles from the Denver Art Museum

Photo of a printer error from my home printer which will lead to a series idea some day

You may think you will remember all these great ideas that you may have.  But I guarantee you will not remember them. The iPhone camera is my best tool for capturing ideas. I take a photo and add it to my Evernote notebook directly from my phone. Sometimes I write down an idea on a piece of paper and take a photo of the paper. Whatever works. You just need a mechanism to capture all your ideas in one place. I know someone who uses a mini field notebook he carries around with him everywhere to capture ideas and to-dos. Some people use sketchbook journals. Just find a way that works for you. I am a digital girl because I think best with minimal clutter. Plus the ideas are as close as my phone. 


If you feel you are out of interesting ideas for your form of creative self-expression, spend time this week refreshing your interest. If you see it as a form of play and document what you find, you will have a record to refer to when you need a boost and have fun doing it. This also helps you get in the habit of refilling the well.  We need inspiration to keep creating.


Set a goal to capture at least one idea a day and record it with your chosen method (digital or handwritten) for this whole week. To help you be accountable, email me or leave a comment on the blog at the end of the week and tell me which was your favorite idea and what you are going to do with it. Ideas are great but the next step is to take action. 
 

Design Choices and Bringing It All Together

Last week, I wrote about Color Choices and Context. The next step in the creative process for me is choosing a design and bringing it all together. Actually the process is not very linear at all. Sometimes color choices come first. Sometimes design choices come first. Sometimes the idea arrives with both color and design choices fully formed at the same time.

10 Blues Series, 2015.  Day 253, Stained Glass. 10 inches by 10 inches. Cotton fabric wrapped around stretched canvas.

Some of my favorite designs start with an inkling and some daydreaming. When I approach the studio, I have a hazy vision of what I want to do. For example, the piece Stained Glass from the 10 Blues series was an idea that I had been kicking around for a while with bright colors in a free-form chaotic pattern in a narrow band across a solid square of charcoal grey. The design was foremost in my mind. I kept that idea light in my thinking and felt free to experiment in the studio. It was fun to make and I thought of stained glass windows with the strong contrast between the bright colorful light and a dark interior.

I liked this design so much I modified it for my first 25 day series of 2016, Bits and Pieces of 2015. The design for that series was simple. Use fabric scraps from all of last year's pieces for the Every Day Project and sew them within a square of charcoal grey fabric. No other rules. I loved the freedom and the series has loads of variety from square to square.

Sometimes the color ideas come first as in the Sun Corn series. Once I had the colors in mind, I remembered the traditional quilt design of a square inside a square. I was bringing it all together, the color and design choice. I decided the large squares could be all different yellows and the inside squares could be purples, oranges or grey blues like heirloom corn kernel colors. However,  I never want to limit myself too much but just the right amount to give some structure. Perhaps I may want to choose a rectangle inside the square or add more colors. I need to have this freedom of choice to make it more interesting in the studio every day. See my daily squares in this series in my Daily Instagram Photos gallery.


I have trained myself to make decisions quickly. Decisions is my word of the year. I think this is one of the most important things the Every Day Project has taught me.

Nine squares in the  Bits and Pieces of 2015 series, 2016.  6 inches square each. Cotton fabric.

Make a decision. Pick the colors, the design and move on. Trust your instincts.  Get creating. Spend some time planning but it is more important to just start.


You never know where an idea will come from. One of my dear friends from high school suggested a design idea last week. Take an iconic painting, like a Matisse or Monet, break down the artwork into abstract squares for the series and then reassemble them.  Of course, I would not do it in any way anyone would probably recognize them as the original. But it gives me a thread of an idea. She also gave me another source for color inspiration, the commercial seed catalog from Johnny's Selected Seeds. Flowers, fruits and vegetables are a never-ending source of both color and design ideas. I am grateful for her suggestion. 

Thank you to the commenters on the blog for offering other sources for color inspiration like the book Interaction of Color by Josef Albers and ColourLovers.com site. 

Looking for inspiration and sharing that inspiration with others is a great way to get out of your head and discover new ways of approaching your creative outlet be it scrap booking, photography, collage, interior design, zentangling, or watercolors, etc.


You need to tend the garden of inspiration to keep ideas growing.


Keep the ideas coming! 
 

Color Choices and Context


I bought the wrong green Kona cotton fabric at my local quilt store. I was going for chartreuse. And then I changed my mind thinking it was too bright and bought Peapod green. It reminds me a bit of the avocado appliance color from the 60s. I was not so happy as I looked at it closely when I got home. But then I realized I used this same Peapod fabric in one of my favorite series, Sunrise Over the Water. It just goes to show you.

Day 126-150 Sunrise Over Water, 2015. Peapod green is the light green color seen in the horizontal strips.

It is all about the context.

The Peapod green fabric looks great with the blue-greens of the water portion and the oranges and magenta of the sunrise section. It added the light value I need for this piece.

The same thing happened with the orange fabric I bought. I wanted a bright orange and I ended up getting a red-orange. Oh well. I know I can make it work based on the Peapod experience since it is all about the context. In the meantime, I'm going to play around looking for color combinations I think will work for both of these fabrics.

To get some color ideas, I often look at Instagram hashtags. People put hashtags in their posted photo descriptions so all those photos with that hashtag can be seen in one place by searching for that hashtag in the app or clicking on a hashtag when you see it as a live link. This is one of my favorite ways to explore on Instagram. A huge source of inspiration for me is the #abstractart where I hang out the most. I am drawn to the color combinations and the textures from the paint. 

Now, I rarely use the same colors I see. The point is not to copy. The point is to get inspired, to let your imagination wander around in the possibilities. Then I go off on my own tangent. 

Sometimes the most interesting ideas come from unlikely sources. For example, my current series Sun Corn is based on a photo I saw of heirloom corn seeds. I was drawn to the warm yellows and the cool deep purples. The article was in the New York Times about chefs buying heirloom corn directly from the growers which is helping this struggling crop economy survive.

Heirloom corn photo from a corn seller Masienda

So I imagine colors together by looking to outside sources for inspiration to get me thinking. Often times the best way to make the final color choices is to pull out the actual fabric and just "audition" it for a series. As I audition fabrics in context with each other, I am looking for contrast sometimes or peaceful harmony other times. It brings to mind nervous fabrics waiting in the sidelines hoping to be picked which seems silly now that I wrote that. No fabric will have to wait for too long. I have learned it is all about finding the right context for each fabric.

To make my color choices more fun this year, I have joined a fabric club where a quilt store in Kentucky called Quilters Square sends me Kona solid fabric every month for 2016 with each month focusing on a different color. I received 25 different yellow fabrics last month and look forward to receiving oranges and reds this month.  For someone who loves color this is all a dream come true.

If you are a visual artist, I encourage you to expand your color input. Look for unusual sources of color combinations from unlikely sources. Some of my "go to" color idea sources are:
Sundance catalog
Art Museum websites
Magazine ads
National geographic photos
New York Times articles
Bill Cunningham videos about fashion in the New York Times


If you feel stuck in a color rut, just start looking and you will get that inspiration to move forward again. 
 

Click the Spotify icon on the furthest right to access my music playlist Sun Corn I created for my new series. Mostly Los Lobos and Linda Ronstadt.

What I learned from writing an artist statement


In preparing for The Every Day Project Exhibit, I needed to write an artist statement which helps the viewer understand what the artist is thinking and makes them curious to look at the art with this knowledge of the process. Many of the conversations at the artist’s reception regarding the creative process which I wrote about last week would never have happened if I did not have an artist statement. As a visual artist, it may be tempting to think the viewer only needs to see your art, but words are important. I guess that is why I am writing weekly articles.


I found an ebook by Alyson B. Stansfield called "The Relatively Pain-Free Artist Statement.” I had read her blog years ago and knew this would be helpful because her advice is always practical and straightforward. The book includes journaling prompts and questions to delve into your creative past and present.


Some important questions for me were...


How has my art changed over the years?
The Every Day Project series allows me to loosen the grip on the need for everything to be perfect. I have started taking more risks because when you make a high volume of art, you are willing to have some failures. The point is to just keep making art and keep it interesting because then you will be making your best stuff and having fun doing it. One big change has been the ability to make quick decisions. As an artist you are making so many decisions, what design, what color, what size, and what technique. Practicing this every day makes it easier.


How is my art the same?
My love of the design process has always stayed the same. It has always been about the design work. I sew the final piece together to make the design tangible, but the real fun for me is in the design work.


How do I feel about my art?
My art has been a way to express myself and calm my mind. When I first started creating fabric art, I would day dream about designs and I still do. 


Why look back to see forward?  You can see patterns of what stays the same and what changes. Thinking about what has stayed the same gives you an insight into your creative constants. For me, it is about improvisational design, color and staying relaxed. Knowing this helps me have a home base but it still gives me the freedom to roam around.

Take some time to think about the creative constants in your creative work, your home base, and where you may want to roam around. Set a time for 20 minutes and write about it. You may be amazed at what you discover when you just ask these simple questions.

Top to bottom:  Artist statement, Wall label for the first 100 days quilts, and Artist bio. I printed the labels on my home printer. Then, The Great Frame Up glued the paper to a mat board using a tissue glue sheet. The final step was to cut the wall label to the square size.


I have included the artist statement I used for the current show below. You will see many of the themes I discuss above made it into the final artist statement.

THE EVERY DAY PROJECT, 2015
KATHLEEN WARREN


I started a daily creative habit in April 2015 to challenge myself artistically by creating a six-inch fabric art square every day. Fabric is my medium and I use it to explore geometric forms in solid colors with a modern abstract aesthetic.

I approach my art with an improvisational attitude towards color and design. Each day in the studio I begin with a new idea and then experiment. I work with a palette of bold bright colors balancing between warm and cool colors often in unusual color combinations. The daily designs are intentionally full of movement and energy. My designs evolve from observing patterns and geometric shapes in the world around me broken down into elemental forms such as chevrons for mountains, a horizontal line for the horizon or a vertical line for the tree I see outside my window.

This Every Day Project exhibit includes six large works from 2015. To make each piece, I sew 5 small six-inch daily squares together into a row and then sew 5 rows together into a large square that includes squares from 25 days. The daily squares are sewn together consecutively starting in the upper left to the lower right. I embrace the intentional randomness of the square placement as a visual journal of those 25 days.  

In the glass display case, I have included a series called 10 Blues which contains larger versions of the daily squares with the color blue as the cohesive element.  This series provides a balance to the larger pieces by focusing on the simplicity of a single square wrapped around stretched canvas.

I have learned many lessons from the Every Day Project that will affect my work going forward.  By creating a complete piece of art each day, I learn to make decisions quickly and let go of perfectionism because I am creating again the next day.  Doing anything consistently 250 days in a row can be challenging so I had to find ways to make it creatively interesting and achievable.  To do this, I decided to keep an open mind, trust my instincts and stay very relaxed.  This relaxed and playful attitude makes me want to go back into the studio every day.

The Every Day Project will continue in 2016.
 

What I heard at my Artist's Reception

My intention for the Artist’s Reception last Friday for my The Every Day Project Exhibit was to have good conversations about art and creativity. Happily, this happened during the whole reception and it was really FUN. I listened carefully to what people were saying for two main reasons. I want to know how my art resonates with the viewer. Sometimes your art is so close, it is difficult to see the "forest for the trees.” In addition and most importantly, I am always looking for article topics that you readers might find interesting. This is what I heard...

I gathered a gold mine of ideas but the most consistent conversation was how The Every Day Project inspired people to look differently at creativity, to either create more often or to figure out what to create that has meaning for them.  
 
People were attracted to the idea of the Every Day Project and having a routine of a regular creative habit. I think the desire to create is universal and that is why people are so attracted to this idea. It makes the process do-able. Once we figure out what interests us, we have an open door to a secret garden of our own making, a gift to ourselves to step out of time even for a short period of time. It may sound hokey, but it is true. 


Many people at the Reception have been reading my articles for the past year but several were new to my art. I was particularly interested in what resonated from my past writings and what actions people took because of what they read.

One person started using a goal setting app on her phone to help her commit to creating for 15 minutes a day. I love that she put no pressure on herself for what she is supposed to be doing for the 15 minutes. She could just think about creating and she could do whatever she wants in that 15 minutes. The freedom she has set up for herself will make her want to do this habit every day. This 15 minutes a day could be great goal for people who aren't quite sure what to do creatively or those stuck with a creative block.

Take 15 minutes to think about what you might like to do. These whispers and nudges come to us when we are quiet. 

One person talked to me a few days before the reception about setting up a regular creative habit for her art, maybe an Every Other Day Project. How often you create is less important than committing to a regular frequency. We discussed how to set up the project for success with many of the decisions about color palette and size decided at the beginning of the project making the daily creative process even easier.
Someone else discussed how she is inspired to think of ideas of how to bring a creative habit into her art routine to prepare for an upcoming art show. 
Another person is thinking about adding a daily habit of drawing to get back into the habit of creating when she graduates from college.
A fellow math and science person (like myself) who texted me before the Reception said she is opening her thought to what she might want to pursue creatively.
One person spent time looking very closely at the 4 pieces hung on the brick wall. He was very interested in the idea of a visual diary as I sew each day in consecutive order without rearranging the designs. 
Others were interested in the idea of a set time to create each day. I used to make my daily square in the morning at 9 AM but now I use my mornings for writing. I've moved my studio time to 1 PM. If I cannot make it at 1 PM, I make sure to set a timer on my phone for the revised time to make sure I get it done. 


One thing I learned over the years is you never know who will really connect with your art. Make no assumptions. As I talked to people, I realize my art resonates with people through both the color and design.  I find that so interesting because those are my two pillars for each piece I make. I decide on my inspiration and then ask two questions...what color and what design.  People are attracted to color. It makes non-object art accessible. The movement within the design is visually interesting and that is what this is all about. 


This show and my art are not about ego, my ego or your ego. This is about creating what lights you up and what brings you joy. Some critics in the art world could be howling about this democratic notion of the arts. But I don't care. I have seen people benefitted so much (me included) by changing their view of themselves to "I am creative." Talking to people at the reception about art and creativity encourages me to keep writing and talking about these ideas that I hope make a difference in people's lives.  


So create more and enjoy the ride.


Join the conversation. Sharing our stories does truly help and inspire others. Add your comments on my blog from my website. Share what you have been thinking about or creating. 

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So, tell me about your art? Um... Ahhhh...

I have an Artist's Reception this Friday evening at my art show The Every Day Project. I am thinking about how to answer the question, "So, tell me about your art?"  Right now, I imagine myself saying Um's and Ah's. This inarticulate response is not for lack of thinking about my art because I do all the time. The difficulty for me is to put a visual medium into words that convey the "spirit" of the individual piece or my art in general. 

When people ask, "So, tell me about your art?" there are the easy answers and the more difficult answers. The easy answers are about my process, the "What do I create and How do I create?" answers. My first answer would be that my color and design choices for my fabric art are intuitive in that I follow my instincts in the moment but based on 17 years of experience. I call this improvisational creating. My materials are Kona cotton fabric and cotton thread.  I make six-inch fabric art squares every day starting in April 2015 and continuing into 2016.  I sew each day of my 25 day series in consecutive order into a larger 30 inch square.  Some of the larger pieces are posted on my website gallery page.

However, the real discussion starts with the more difficult answers to, "Why do I create? Where do you get your ideas? Why do I create every day?"

Why do I create? I could answer like the famous mountain climber George Mallory's  response to the question "Why do you climb?" when asked about his attempt to climb Mount Everest in the 1920's. He said "Because  it is there."  I could say "Because I like to create." Like many people in the world, self-expression is a driving force in my life. People are influenced by things they have seen or heard and pursue that interest with curiosity. I knew fabric art was my "thing" when I started daydreaming about fabric art designs.

Another difficult question is "Where do you get your ideas?" I actively seek inspiration every day, kind of like "Inspiration hunting." I don't just wait for inspiration to arrive on its own accord. I let my imagination take over when I see a shape or color that interests me. I ask "What if I used this color or design with...?" I keep a digital notebook of ideas I might want to pursue.  Oftentimes, a design decision just clicks into place like cogs falling into place with interlocking wheels. When I feel that click,  I just go with it.  

Stephen King in his book On Writing talks about his Muse,  or source of inspiration.

He's a basement guy. You have to descend to his level, and once you get down there you have to furnish an apartment for him to live in. You have to do all the grunt labor, in other words, while the muse sits and smokes cigars and admires his bowling trophies and pretends to ignore you...It's right that you should do all the work and burn all the midnight oil, because the guy with the cigar and the little wings has got a bag of magic. -Stephen King in his book On Writing

I haven't thought much about what my Muse looks like. However, after reading about Mr. King's Muse, I am going to start thinking about mine.  As for now, my ideas communicate more through whispers and nudges. But I do know when a right idea appears and everything clicks into place. I can have an idea of what I am going to do and then a completely new idea comes up. I can drop the old idea and forge ahead with the new idea and feel, of course, this is the way to go now. I follow when I feel that click into place. I have learned this is not indecisiveness but just following the ideas. I listened to the whispers and nudges in designing my current 25 day series called Hot and Cold with all cold colors on one side and hot colors on the other side of a variation of a traditional quilt block called Log Cabin.

Day 30 of 2016. Hot and Cold series.

 

 

Lastly, Why do I create every day? Simply, I am happier when I take time to create fabric art. So I do it every day. If I didn't start sewing these ideas into my fabric art,  I would be very frustrated with the build up of ideas in my head.  

When you ask yourself "Why do I create?"  you might surprise yourself with your answer.

The answer may be as simple as "Because I like it."

To see my daily squares, follow along on Instagram @blueskyquilter.

 

 

What is your Artist Story?

Stories are important. It's how we as humans communicate with each other. We tell our stories of where we come from, what we do and why. Everyone has a story. We can learn about ourselves from other people's stories. I am sharing the story about how I started seeing myself as an artist to encourage you to think about your unique form of creativity and how you see yourself.

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines an artist as "a person who is very good at something.” When I see people cook wonderful dinners out of the ingredients they happen to find in the refrigerator or dedicated journal writers fill up notebook after notebook, I see them all as artists. Being an artist is as simple as expressing yourself in a way that has meaning to you. This isn't about having your art hung in museums or being famous, this is about valuing your creative expression because it brings joy and balance to our lives.

What is so important about claiming yourself as an artist? Seeing yourself as an artist helps you value your form of self-expression and nurture it so it will grow.

The story of how I became an artist is a simple one, but maybe an unexpected one. I was good at math and science as a child and studied geology in college. I did not consider myself artistic in any sense of the word since I could not draw. In hindsight, I realize this was ridiculous. My favorite part of geology was the bright colorful minerals and the patterns in the rocks I was studying. In my 30's, I knew I needed an activity that challenged me intellectually while I was at home with my young children. I was drawn to the idea of quilting and learned the craft through online tutorials and library books. Quilting combines both my love of color and math. But I soon realized it was more than just a hobby as I found myself daydreaming about fabric art designs on a daily basis.

Woven Kimono,  2010.

For several years, I made fabric art on a project-to-project basis, as gifts or to fill a space on the wall.  I started to see myself as an artist when a friend saw my piece Woven Kimonos on the wall in my house and declared, "You are an artist."  I slowly started seeing myself as an artist even more through teaching creativity classes about fabric art and spending more time in the studio sewing my ideas into fabric art.

Four pieces from The 100 Day Project.  Days 1-25.  Days 26-50.  Days 51-75.  Days 76-100, 2015.

In April 2015, I started the Hundred Day Project on Instagram sponsored by a Elle Luna and the Great Discontent magazine. This project caused a seismic shift in how I saw my art and myself.  I challenged myself to make art on a daily basis and it became more fun and playful, more complex and yet more simple at the same time. I found a process that works for me making a daily six-inch fabric art square and then sewing 25 daily squares together. I continued making art daily after the 100 days and call it The Every Day Project. I created 10 large 30" square pieces in 2015. By spending about an hour in the studio every day, I have created more fabric art in 2015 than I have any other year in the past 16 years. My work has become more bold and abstract as I challenge myself to work in a series and develop themes. This has led to my first solo art exhibit The Every Day Project currently showing 6 large pieces and 10 smaller daily squares throughout January and February, 2016.

Let’s invest in ourselves to get very good at something that we enjoy doing.  

Words have power. Our stories have power. Saying "I am an artist" has power. Everyone has their own Artist Story. Claim yours.

Very Relaxed


In 2015, I sent out a monthly newsletter to past students and people who asked to keep updated on what I was creating in the studio. The newsletters consisted of tips on how to think about your own creativity and I used some of the things I have learned along the way as an example. Now that I have a website, I started thinking about writing articles on a weekly basis. So in a way, this is a really a continuation of those monthly newsletters.
 
My commitment to you is to make the content both useful and inspirational to help you connect with your creativity more in 2016.

So wish me luck in this new endeavor. Here's to consistency.

I have struggled under the pressure of what to write for this very first article of Studio Notes. I had a huge case of perfection paralysis where I was reluctant to write anything because it was not "good enough". Then I remembered the most helpful ideas for my students in my classes were from my personal experiences. This was enough to allow me to think rationally and remember I had a whopping big life lesson this past December that may be useful to you.

 

The Every Day Project Exhibit at Congregation Solel, January- February 2016

I knew I had many things to do to prepare for The Every Day Project Exhibit at Congregation Solel starting on January 6, 2016.  I told myself I wanted to prepare calmly and not like my hair was on fire at the last minute!!  Even though there were many moving parts, I promised myself I would enjoy (or at least not complain about) doing each of these tasks.  Well, I tried to remain calm and then the deadline got closer.  Let’s say I never felt "scorched" but I had some mild moments of panic.  And then I remembered to just relax.

The lesson I learned was to be very relaxed.

This helpful reminder to be very relaxed came from Bill Murray, the actor.

"The more relaxed you are, the better you are at everything: the better you are with your loved ones, the better you are with your enemies, the better you are at your job, the better you are with yourself."  -from an interview with Bill Murray in the New York Times

It is hard to write about all the steps involved in getting ready for this show because there were so many. For each step, I tried to follow Bill Murray's words and just relax. I will write more on these steps in future articles, but here is a quick list.

  • Finish quilting the large pieces
  • Go to the local hardware store to get custom-cut wood and hanging supplies (Thanks to Craftwood in Highland Park, IL.)
  • Add the new installation design with wooden slats and hanging wire
  • DESIGN A WEBSITE…Yikes  It is done. kathleenwarrenstudio.com
  • Design and order artist postcards for the show (Thanks to the helpful staff at Office Max in Deerfield, IL.)
  • Design and order new business cards (Same as above.)
  • Create 10 Blues Series with 13” fabric art based on daily squares throughout 2015
  • Wrap 13“ square fabric art around a 10” stretched canvas
  • Go to local frame shop to finish the back of the stretched canvas with mat board, mini-nails, sawtooth hangars and double sided framers tape
  • Also make wall labels using mat board and tissue adhesive for the exhibit for my bio, artist statement and artwork (Thanks to The Great Frame Up in Northbrook, IL because they are the BEST!)
  • Write my bio and artist statement (I used Alyson B. Stanfield’s ebook The Relatively Pain-Free Artist Statement.)
  • Design a logo (Thanks to my youngest son Matthew who designed several logos for me to choose.)
  • Design quilt labels and print on fabric, iron on fusible web then iron on quilt back
  • Avoid RESISTANCE as described in Steven Pressfield’s book The War of Art
  • Last step…Hang the art and wall labels at the exhibit location Congregation Solel in Highland Park, IL.

One thing I particularly enjoyed was reaching out to local businesses for help in designing the postcards, business cards and professional-looking display materials for the wall labels. Creating art can be a solitary job sometimes. It felt great to have a supportive community of local business people at Craftwood, Office Max and especially The Great Frame Up.

I am exhausted looking back at all of these tasks but I can honestly say I did enjoy each task because I approached it from a standpoint of doing what felt authentic to me and being very, very relaxed. 

I find this simple reminder to relax and enjoy the moment has been invaluable during busy times.  

When you find yourself in a time crunch situation, think of Bill Murray and relax knowing it is the best thing you can do in the moment.