Lisa Call

Markings #4 and Markings #11

The piece on the left is Markings #4 and it is next in line for my Markings quilts to be quilted. If you click on the image you can see the shiny safety pins from the basting in the larger image. The piece is approximately 58" square.

I made Markings #11 with leftovers from #4 and it was completed in 2006 and measures 18.25"(h) x 19.5"(w).

It was interesting to work in the 2 very different sizes and I really like the juxtaposition of the 2 together. I generally work very large (up to 8 feet wide) and I find that I have a hard time working smaller.

I prefer the impact of the larger pieces and when I try to work small I feel I don’t have enough room to say what I want to say. I just completed Structures #67 (photo coming soon) and to me it’s small - maybe only 36" wide - so I’m having a hard time getting excited about it.

I suspect this is just personal preference on my part because we have been discussing the size of work on The Fiber Connection mailing list recently and 36" is viewed by some as a large work. I’ve also had a conversation with Colin and he too prefers to work smaller.

I know I prefer the wide open spaces of the southwest and felt trapped and claustaphobic by the closeness of the trees and greenery in Virginia and New York when I lived there. Maybe I’m just hard wired to want to work large.

What about you? What constitutes a large piece in your artwork? 10"? 50"?

[Update 2-2-2007: Sorry - I had to close comments on this post due to an inordinate amount of spam it seems to generate - I wonder if it was the title!]

Structures #67 - Detail

I was asked to participate in an invitational show this coming spring in Ohio called Pieced Together. The deadline for getting images to the curator is Feb 1. The venue is more suited to smaller work and all my recent work is fairly large so my plans for January were to make a bunch of new work for the show. That didn’t work out so well with my unplanned trip to Kansas but I do have 1 new piece almost finished that I want to send.

I have another couple hours and I’ll be finished with Structures #67. The (slightly out of focus) image above is a detail of this new piece. Along with this I’ll send images of my latest pieces and hope they can find a couple that work.

 
This morning I installed an additional gigabyte of memory on my computer (it only had 256Meg originally because memory for my computer is expensive for some reason) and now I can run photoshop, firefox and thunderbird and my ftp client all at once. It’s most exciting. So I no longer need to buy a new computer. Hurray!

Markings #3 ©2006    74"x66"
 

Happy day! I think I found the problem with my computer. Not 10 minutes after my post on friday the darn thing refused to start up excel again. Arg. But thinking about the problems I realized it was always related to my machine hibernating. So I turned this feature off and haven’t had a problem since (and it was happening daily). Hurray - this means buying a new computer is no longer on my list of goals as I’m pretty sure everything is fine.

But that is the only art related thing I accomplished this weekend because I got the crazy idea to completely rearrange the furniture in my house, which of course required cleaning quite a bit of it. The kids are thrilled because we have reinstated my television (banished to a dark corner in basement storage 2-3 years ago). We can’t watch shows on TV but we can watch movies on DVD. New goal: I will not let the TV interfere with my art time.

And for those not glued to Denver weather, it snowed again today. I think we got about 8-10″ here in Parker, which is just sitting on top of the leftovers from the previous 4 weeks of snow. I can safely say I am completely ready for winter to be over. I’d like to just stay home tomorrow but I’ve got to get my son up to school because they leave for Mexico in the morning. I’m not looking forward to that drive. Although from what I can tell I’m not sure I can even get down my street at this point. Hm…

I promise I’ll get back to talking about art soon.

But in the meantime the above quilt was finished in the fall of 2006. It’s quite large, 6′ by 5.5′ and quilted just as closely as the other pieces in this series. I believe it took me about 36 hours to do the quilting, which is done with a walking foot with the feeddogs up for the quilters out there that wonder. And yes - I stop and turn the quilt at each corner. Maybe not the easiest way to do this but the way I enjoy. Here’s a detail of the quilting.

Markings #3 Detail

Markings #2 ©2007    71"x54"
 

Thanks everyone for the kind comments on my previous post. Fred was a really good guy.

I was pretty revved up before I left for Kansas and getting a lot of work done in the studio and in the office. I’m now rather unfocused and struggling to remember where I was. I’m sure my motivation won’t be long to return but for now I’m trying to not worry about it and just take it easy.

I did get my new external drive installed and my computer is backed up as it really has me worried. I’m now trying to decide if I should wait for Vista or buy a computer with XP. Right now I’m thinking circumstances (ie lack of motivation) might put off this decision until I don’t have a choice. So tonight I ran chkdsk and defrag’d the harddrive so I’m hoping things hold together for another 6 months or so.

I also just installed firefox 2 (previously I was using 1.5.x). One of the cool features of this new release is that spell checking is built right into the browser. I used to use a plugin for this so as I type in the text box of my blog or the comment boxes on other blogs I get instant spell checking - no need to copy and paste from word to the web. If you are using Internet Explorer check out firefox - you won’t regret it - tabbed browsing is great. And if you don’t have version 2 (click on Help->About and you will see your version) you can get it here.

 
And because posts are boring without pictures I decided it was time to post a picture of another Markings quilt. This one is quite a bit darker than yesterday’s springy Markings #1. I still don’t have an artist statement for this series but the idea here is to explore lines, specifically cross hatching and shading lines used in drawings. What I’m finding is that it’s also been a great way to play with color in a slightly different way than in the Structures series.

As you can kind of tell in this close up the entire thing is quilted in contrasting thread so the black and other background colors really changed as I quilted over them with yellow and orange and red. Someone told me they thought it looked like corduroy.

Markings #2 Detail

Yesterday I arrived home from another trip to Kansas. Last week my mom’s husband passed away and my family gathered to remember what a great guy Fred was and to hang out with my mom.

Fred was always very supportive of my quilting. He always had great plans. One of them was to win the lottery so he could pay off my mortgage so I could make art full time.

He will be much missed.
 
Needless to say I’ve fallen far behind on my email and blogging and life in general after another week away from home. I’ll get back into the swing of things soon but in the mean time here’s a picture a friend sent me of my quilt Markings #1 at Crafts Forms 2006:

Structures #66 ©2007    22"x31"

I mentioned last week that I was thinking about quilting Structures #65 with all black thread. I made the small piece above to test out how I liked that look as a sample before starting the larger quilt.

Experiment was a success (although I’m having a bit of a hard time with the black on the bright orange - these are so not my colors but I’m trying to expand a bit more).

Right now I’m quilting Structures #67 but when it’s done I’ll go back to #68 and finish it.

I mentioned in my goals a few days ago and I will be buying a backup for my computer when I buy my new laptop this year. But as Cynthia pointed out I really shouldn’t wait to back things up given that my hard drive is misbehaving and I have to reboot much too often for comfort. The other day my microsoft office program folder was corrupted, not good.

I back up my general files onto CD but my images are just too large to burn onto a CD (I have 10 gig of quilt images and another 11 gig of other pictures). So I checked out a service my dad pointed out to me for storing files on the internet called dropboks. And as we speak I’m uploading my raw image files of my quilts to the site. There is a limit of 1 gig so I can’t fit everything but these files are the most important ones to save at this point.

The interface requires selecting specific files to upload which I find a bit tedious (I’d like to just select a folder and have it upload everything in the folder) but I will be a bit less worried about my computer crashing with these files saved.

I know this isn’t exactly art related but it is certainly art business related as we all have files on our computer that should be backed up. Check out the service at http://www.dropboks.com/. They only ask for an email address and request a $5 donation (not required) when you sign up. You can read a bit about who they are and what they are trying to do on their blog here.

This morning I finished rewording my business goals. I’m now working on breaking down the big ones down into smaller steps and creating tabs in my spreadsheet for each month of 2007 and have started assigning the tasks out to the appropriate months.

I’ve rewritten the goals as if I have already achieved them (see yesterday’s as to why) and they are very specific and measurable. I’m very specific about the timing of many of these things so I can do some realistic planning on what to do when.

Art Business Goal - timing:

• I work on my art business 5 hours a week. This time does not include blogging and general email correspondence, which I continue to do as needed basis.

Marketing Tools (these are things I need in place so I can promote myself - generally once they are completed they don’t need to be redone, just updated once in a while):

• I put together detailed plan/schedule for meeting my 2007 art goals.
• I purchase a new Dell laptop (specific geek details removed for this post).
• I purchase a backup system for my laptop and back up my computer once a month.
• I organize my art business files on my new computer is a useful way.
• I update by blog by redoing the categories, adding technorati tags (if it seems useful), fixing the automatic update, adding a “how-to” grouping of posts in the sidebar and general clean up as needed.
• I update the structure of my website to accommodate more artwork, an archive for shows and an inspiration page.
• I build an email mailing list for my studio newsletter.
• I move the inventory of my artwork from my spreadsheet to the database I purchased for this purpose .
• I build a mailing list for press releases.
• I keep my snail-mail mailing list current by updating it 4 times this year in Feb, May, Aug, Nov.
• I devise a better way to keep track of art opportunities.I devise a useful way to keep track of all of the art opportunities that come my way.

Promotion (these are activities that use the tools above to get my work out there in the world):

• I obtain 3 new solo shows for 2008 and beyond, targeting university/non-profit galleries and museums.
• I send out 2-4 show proposals per month to meet the above deadline.
• I enter exactly 5 high quality national juried art/craft/fiber shows. I will not pay to enter any more juried shows that are for quilts only (with the exception of Quilt National and maybe Sedgwick).
• I update the artwork on my website 2 times in 2007, in May and November.
• I update the listing/news on main website 3 times this year, in January, May, September.
• I continue to regularly update my blog with my progress with my art.
• I start an online Studio Newsletter with 3 issues in 2007 in March, July, and Nov.

In a comment on my last post Mary Richmond wrote:

According to the Law of Attraction, if we read our goal as already a given, we will achieve it. This works for me so well it’s sort of scary and I have to be very clear about what I want. As they say, if you just say you want more money, a few quarters may show up– it may be more money but may not be the amount you had in mind! So be as specific about the computer and the workshop as you are about your other goals and you will attain them!

So I googled Law of Attraction and there were a lot of hits. So straight to wikipedia I went (the collective wisdom on the net is always good for an overview) and it says:

The Law of Attraction is an idea that is widespread in New Age and New Thought philosophy. It posits to never dwell on the negative, as the metaphysical principle of life is embodied in a "law of attraction": "you get what you think about, your thoughts determine your destiny".

I think there is a lot of merit to this idea and why or how this might be valid or work is covered else where on the net so I won’t go into it.

As I’ve mentioned before I have a fairly complicated method of writing and tracking my goals using a spreadsheet (see this post about goals and spreadsheets). My big goals, the career ones, the ones about where I want to be in 10 or 20 years, they are all written very specific and in the positive as if I have achieved them. And actually I learned this first from Alyson Stanfield. Check out her recent blog postings about writing goals and making them realistic - great stuff.

I think one of the keys to writing good goals is that they be measurable. If I write a goal that says “make more quilts in the Structures series” I can’t really be sure what that means - does it mean make 2 quilts or 20? That goal isn’t measurable. But if I say “make 10 more quilts in the Structures series in 2007″ I can be sure if I succeeded. By being specific with details and numbers and timing, goals can be measured.

I write requirements for large software systems as my day job so writing quantifiable and testable goals is something I have a lot of experience with. We have a Quality Engineering organization that writes test plans for the software based on my requirements so they must be measurable (and if they aren’t I hear about it and have to rewrite them). When I think about my art goals I’m not quite as strict but it is definitely always in my mind.

I was a bit rushed when wrote my goals on Monday, wanting to get back to my studio (I’ve completed 2 new quilt tops this year already - yahoo). So yesterday I started copying my goals from my blog into my spreadsheet on a tab for 2007. I’m rewriting them so they are more specific and as if I have achieved them.

I break my goals into categories - art, marketing tools, promotion and (new for this year) finances. I’ve finished the art ones and am working on the others.

Here are the reworded goals pertaining to art. They aren’t a whole lot different from before (I was already pretty specific about the art) but they are a bit different. The business ones will be a lot more specific when I’m done and I’ll post them soon.

• I design, piece, quilt and complete 20 new quilts in 2007 in my major series (Structures, Markings and Keys)
• I complete the 17 major pieces started prior to 2007 that are still unfinished: Structures #47, Structures #48, Structures #49, Structures #50, Structures #65, Markings #4, Markings #5, Markings #6, Markings #7, Markings #8, Markings #9, Markings #10, Markings #14, Keys #1, Keys #2, Circles #1, Circles #2.
• I design and piece 5-10 new pieces during a 2 week workshop with Nancy Crow in early May. I quilt these pieces in 2008.
• I complete 10 smaller pieces with hand quilting/beading including quilts in progress: Squares #5, Chicken Quartet #2 and Spirals #1-#4.
• I complete 6 new drawings in the Plains series.
• I complete the exercises in the book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.
• I draw and sketch several times a month in my beautiful sketchbook from my kids.
• I play with oil painting through the year both and without my kids. I learn about better quality supplies and tools for painting and purchase them.
• I play with water color painting through the year.
• I use my sketchbook for art ideas, plans, goals, etc on a regular basis.
• I work in my studio on my quilts 20 hours a week. In addition I spend time each month drawing, painting and experimenting with other art forms.

Art Goals:

• Design, piece, quilt and complete 20 brand new quilts in my major series.
• Complete the 17 major pieces started prior to 2007 that are still unfinished: Structures #47, Structures #48, Structures #49, Structures #50, Structures #65, Markings #4, Markings #5, Markings #6, Markings #7, Markings #8, Markings #9, Markings #10, Markings #14, Keys #1, Keys #2, Circles #1, Circles #2.
• Design and piece 5-10 new pieces during 2 week workshop with Nancy Crow. I will quilt these pieces in 2008.
• Complete 10 smaller pieces with hand quilting/beading including quilts in progress: Squares #5, Chicken Quartet #2 and Spirals #1.
• Complete 6 new drawings from the Plains series.
• Get back to sketching and do the exercises in Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.
• Continue to play with oil and watercolor paints on occasion.
• Continue to use my sketchbook for art ideas, plans, goals, etc on a regular basis.
• Work in the studio 20 hours a week.

Art Business Goals:

• Secure 3 new solo shows for 2008 and beyond.
• Send out 2-4 show proposals per month.
• Limit my juried show entries to at most 5 high quality national shows. I will not pay to enter any more juried shows that are for quilts only (with the exception of Quilt National and maybe Sedgwick).
• Buy a new computer. Last year this was a nice to have. This year it is a must have as my hard drive is going bad.
• Find money to pay for new computer and 2 week workshop. Preferably via some art related activity.
• Create detailed budget for art business instead of just watching the numbers add up.
• Keep business finances up to date instead of waiting until tax time to deal with them. Enter data into spreadsheet at least 4 times a year.
• Continue blogging about my art.
• Redo the categories for my blog so they are actually useful.
• Update website. While I’m not planning a major rewrite it needs some serious work to bring it up to date.
• Update listing/news on main website 3 times this year.
• Start an online Studio Newsletter with 3 issues in 2007.
• Create email mailing list for newsletter.
• Update my snail-mail mailing list 4 times this year. Add publications to mailing list.
• Inventory my artwork in a database vs. a spreadsheet.
• Put together detailed schedule for meeting 2007 goals.
• Work on art business 5 hours a week.

Last year I wrote this about my goals as I aimed to double my art output from 2005:

I think my goals are pretty darn aggressive and with little vacation time from work I’m not sure how realistic they are. But I’d rather aim high and miss than aim low and not challenge myself.

This year I’m looking to almost double again what I tried to do in 2006. So I think the same comment applies. I rose to the challenge last year and I am hoping to achieve my goals this year by doing a better job at this daily goal:

Spend significantly less time on the computer while at home.

And with that note it’s back to the studio to design some new work.