By Carrie Bloomston
We had a business for seventeen years, my husband and I. It wasn’t a scalable or glamorous business. It was just him and me in painter’s clothes working in houses one by one. We painted murals and did faux-finishes and generally painted and glazed all of Scottsdale a warm Tuscan gold or medium taupe.
I’m writing in my head all the time. Well, actually not in my head. In my body. Since I’m constantly urging people to turn off their minds in their creative practice when I teach art, painting, creativity, vision board workshops, I can’t say I’m writing in my head. More of the torso, actually. I feel the words in my shoulders and chest, roughly. Not the wrists. Not the root chakra. Not my heart, really. But in my chest. They collect like Luna’s fur does on our concrete floor. At first it doesn’t seem like much–she’s a German Shorthaired Pointer, after all, so it doesn’t seem like there’d be a lot of fur. But after a few days it’s like a game of miniature pick-up sticks–white dashes covering the tobacco colored concrete. When I sweep it up–there’s enough fur that it looks like a medium-sized gerbil. And that’s just after two or three days.
I’m so excited to share your new favorite book today! It’s called Playful Fabric Printing. Have you ever wanted to play with fabric printing or making your own cloth? This is the book for you. I’m a little biased though. My amazing friend, artist, textile designer, and activist, Melanie Testa, teamed up with Carol Soderlund to create the very first imprint of the brand new publishing house by bright light, Pokey Bolton, called Crafting a Life. And let me just say, if this first book is any indication of what Pokey is up to, prepare to be amazed.
It’s a party! I was thrilled to be included in the blog party and G I V E A W A Y in celebration of Amy Butler’s newest book, Piece Keeping! Amy is a gorgeous, inspiring human on many levels, not least of which is her generous soul. (Plus I learned to sew six years ago making her Birdie bag.)
Hello and happy summer. I hibernate in the summer–I take time to unplug from media and obligations, be with my family, and clean and organize the corners of my house. I did this long before I fell in love with Marie Kondo’s Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up (which I did last summer). If you haven’t read it, you might want to. So, I’ve been hibernating a bit. But I wanted to share a cool thing in case you haven’t seen it. I was honored to be featured in the Summer 2016 of the stunning, inspiration-fest that is Where Women Create magazine. They completely captured the depth of my artistic life and I’m honored to see myself on the pages of such a richly nourishing creative magazine.
If you read this blog, I just want to thank you and wish you happy holidays.
I honestly don’t know how to interpret backend blog analytics or to understand if my numbers of readers are good or bad, high or low. I’m kinda low-tech.
But still, if there are ten of you (other than my mom) who read this blog and support my work then that feels good to me. And if there are a hundred then that’s pretty awesome. And if there are 1,000 then that is amazing. But for some people, 1,000 would seem insignificant.
Are you ready for the new year? I’m thrilled and honored to be teaching at Craft NAPA in gorgeous Napa Valley, California at an incredible new retreat created by Pokey Bolton. She is bringing together many fabulous teachers for this event to get your creative juices flowing and help guide you into your creative passion. The teachers are textile designers, fiber artists, sewinistas, painters, mixed media artists and art quilters. During this three-day retreat, you will have the opportunity to master your skills in collage, quilting, sketching, printmaking, painting, art journaling, and mixed media, all the while enjoying outstanding cuisine and wine, too.
I’ve been making art a lot for a few months and that process plugs me into my essential nature. In that space we meet all the aspects of the self. All the biggies pop up when we head into the unknown land of our true creativity. (If you haven’t yet fallen in love with Jason Silva you’ll probably want to watch this. And then watch all of his Shots of Awe videos. But read my post first.)
Remember our Happy Flag Project?
A year ago we were heading to Birmingham, Alabama to see the Dalai Lama. My mom and I had spent the previous five months collecting handmade, artful prayer flags in honor of the visit. We led workshops in Alabama and Arizona. The whole city of Birmingham got involved–it was part of the University (UAB) curriculum in many departments. The Sculpture department created an installation with 1,000 flags.
Are you ready to live a passionate, creative life but feel scared to even say it out loud?
Do you sometimes feel sluggish, bored, stuck or uninspired?
Are you ready to do something for yourself?
November 12-15, 2015
Ignite your creative bonfire and come alive in the inspiring Sonoran Desert with creativity enabler, Carrie Bloomston, in Scottsdale, Arizona.
