Blog Interview #4 ~ Ruth Rae, Let the Beauty we Love be What we Do

Good afternoon all! Today we are talking to the lovely, the talented Ruth Rae about her blog. Hello Ruth, tell our readers a little bit about yourself ...
I've been married 21 years to a wonderful husband who brings me breakfast in bed on the weekends! For the last 19 years I have been afforded the luxury of being able to devote my days as a full time mother to my now teenage children. Over the last few years I have been busy much of my time creating art and writing books and articles for art publications about my jewelry and fabric art.

Wow. You certainly sound like a busy lady. So when did you start blogging?
When I first started to blog, (November 6, 2005), I had been doing a lot of art trades. I wanted to keep track of my artwork that I was giving away and a blog seemed like the perfect format.

You have a rather lengthy blog name: "Let the beauty we love be what we do" ~ How did you arrive at that name?
It's a part of a poem from my favourite poet Rumi. It encapsulates how I feel about life and art.

Do you blog with words, pictures or both?
My early blog posts were all about photos as I never considered myself very good with words but somehow over the course of 5 years of blogging I have found my voice and share both images of my work along with words.

I imagine you've met many people through blogging.
I have been blessed and have met many amazing people through my blog. My first book, A Charming Exchange came through an online charm swap and was a direct result of my creating a blog. Kelly Snelling was one of the participants in the swap and we became fast friends. One day Kelly called me and told me that she really thought that the swap could be a great book. I agreed and we proposed the idea to F&W Publications and happily our idea for the book was accepted.

Is there anyone else in particular you have really clicked with?
I would have to say the deepest friendship that I made through blogging is the one that I share with fellow blogger/artist Kristen Robinson. It was through blogger/artist Judy Wilkenfeld who happens to live in Australia. Judy was coming to visit California and was going to at long last meet up in person and she said to me in an email ... "You know I think that Kristen lives close by you" and low and behold Kristen lived about 15 minutes down the road! Kristen and I met for lunch one day and have been the best of friends there after. Blogging allows us to be able to make friends around the globe but it's a gift to be able to really connect and be able to spend time with kindred spirits over lunch and have great real life art adventures with!

Ruth, when do you think your art really started taking off?
In some way I feel that my art is just now really starting to take off as I have found my true voice in fiber art. However when I started my blog it was a way for me to keep track of art swaps that I was taking part in. I was very fortunate, around 2005 I was surrounded by many up and coming artists. Some how most of these girls have gone on to make strong statements with their art and have all become very recognized as art bloggers and most have been very privileged to have much of their work published. January 2006 [was the beginning of] an amazing Calendar Art Round Robin project that I was part of. Kathy Wasilewski organized this project. Twenty-four artists made up two groups. Each month in the mail we received a different calendar to work in. This project came to a close [at the end of] 2007. Those of us involved got to know one another through our art. I grew so much as an artist as each month came; I stretched a little each time just trying to keep up with the amazing artist whose art came before me in these altered calendar art journals. Through working in these books I wanted to create more with the group. This is how the Charm swap came to be that turned into A Charming Exchange book.

Do you ever blog when you don't "feel like it"?
When I first stared to blog I would post at least once a week any time I had something to share. But nowadays its hard as so much of my work is used in publications so it has to remain private until its been published but I make sure to blog at least a few times a month. It's important that we remain connected to our inspirations and that is what I try to remain focused on. I will share all aspects of my art but if I do not want to blog, I just don't do it.

Could you give us three words to describe your blog?
Sharing, Kindness and Inspiration.

Have you ever been featured in the Artful Blogging magazine?
Yes, i was featured in the second issue.

We're asking in these interviews about blogger counts. What's yours right now?
95,446

Plan on taking any interesting directions with your blog in the future?
I actually would like to do some video blogging in the future and also share more tips and how-to projects.

Is there anything else you would like to add about blogging in general, Ruth?
I have found that the blogging community is an extraordinarily supportive group. My art and I have both grown as a result of this interaction. Blogging is a great way to share your passion for whatever it may be. When you do what you are passionate about great things always seem to follow! It's amazing what a great social network blogs have turned out to be. As artists, we spend a great deal of time alone so having a blog is a great way to share what we are doing. Fellow bloggers offer words of encouragement along with vital feedback at the same time. So if you ever wanted to start a blog, I would definitely encourage you to take the plunge!

Thanks Ruth for talking to us today.
To look at Ruth's books, check the following:
A Charming Exchange
Layered, Tattered and Stitched: A Fabric Art Workshop
and stop by her website too: www.ruthrae.com