I am haunted by waters.

This five word ending to the book, A River Runs Through It, was author Norman Maclean’s way of summarizing the importance a river from his youth played throughout his life. Anyone who grows up with a body of water close to their development, understands the significance of that revelation.

I share Maclean’s confession.

Big Pine Creek was the foundational boundary of my life growing up in mid-west Indiana. Though I’ve not lived on the banks of Big Pine Creek in over 35 years, I awake each morning to the movement of its temperament, its pulse and its memory.

Not troubled by waters, but fed and nurtured by their existence, I am of Big Pine Creek.

Living on a small farm in rural Indiana, with the woods and waters of Big Pine Creek, I was immersed daily in the reality of rural living. Interaction with nature, wild and domestic, served as my companion, mentor and formation of a number of lifelong guiding principles. Those who are more urban in their formative surroundings have difficulty relating to this description, but I dare say it’s a sweet savor to all who were raised rural.

It is within the very nature of rural that my guiding root takes sprout. Real, utilitarian, dynamic, seasonal, dependable… these are words descriptive of my formative years in the cradle of those waters.

School was an enigma of confused relations. I loved the learning and social contact, but deeply resented the institutionally imposed division between me and my beloved Big Pine Creek familiarity. The same can be said for the typical mentality most often promoted in our society through the workplace. Though I have been successful within such employ, I am definitely not cut out for the factory floor, office pool or the 8 to 5 regime: real or imposed.

As a creative person my ‘canvas’ is both factual and figurative. Creativity comes by envisioning what can become common, then finding ways to make the vision a reality and work to see it to completion.

Creative Design, in my personal universe, is not primarily about fine art for appreciation, it is about making, utilizing, monetizing and improving the work, the designer, the environment and society.

For me, creativity is the maximizing - through positive effect - upon the affected environment with the least disturbance to an already well established harmony. This delicate balance - between an acceptance of excellence and a willing push for perfection - is the world in which I function, thrive and succeed at my best.

My professional creative journey has traveled upon a series of currents within the ebb and flow of my life path. This journey took Genesis in many small streams of interest, before flowing into the rivers of experience, that form the sea of knowledge I currently sail.  Eventually evaporating into the system - generating the continuum of life experience to recycle once again. Each successive cycle ads value that becomes understanding and correction. Each current presenting new opportunities, adding to a more valuable pool of experience.

As I benefit from each successive cycle, so too, do the recipients of my efforts.

I may well be haunted by waters.  If so, my efforts are better for it. So too, are the recipients of those efforts.

J. Leslie Booth