Lisa Call

Deb Kirkeeide wrote the following comment on my last post (the crazy birthday party weekend for my daughter):

I’m exhausted! How do you keep such focus? And when do you have time for fun and relaxation? I admire your fortitude.

Very good question Deb. Recently I listened to the book The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness by Dave Ramsey. He’s the debt free guy. While I don’t agree with all he says, nor do I like some of how he delivers his message (I think the belittling and sarcasm are way over done), he makes a lot of good points.

What struck me listening to this book was how his line:

Live like noone else,
so you can
Live like noone else.

applies to many of the choices on how I am currently spending my time. I am very busy with 2 full time careers and kids and a house, etc. I’m making choices today so in the (very near) future I can be a fulltime self supporting artist that doesn’t have to scramble for money. Those choices have me living today as very few people are willing to live: staying super focused and not having tons of time for just sitting about. I believe the pay off in the future will be well worth it.

The alternatives don’t sound very attractive to me.

1) Just work the day job and wait until I retire to make art (no way!)
2) Quit the day job and struggle for money (also not for me)

I wouldn’t object to finding a wealthy art patron that would support me but that sounds like a recipe for disaster as these types tend to have hidden agendas and I’m not good at being told how to live my life.

 
But not everyday is a day full of goals and craziness like last weekend. Today, I’ve got nothing on the todo list that I must get done. Just doing what I feel like doing cause it’s my birthday. Yay! Chocolate for everyone on me.

And next weekend – I’ve told the kids I will not drive them anywhere – I’m going to get in some studio time.

This is what a weekend looks like when focusing on 2 major goals (preparing my house to put on the market and redesigning my website) when four 12 years olds visit for a birthday party:

Friday evening:

• 4:00-4:05pm: Arrive home from work thinking that the weekend isn’t busy enough so decide to participate in community garage sale in the morning.
• 4:05-5:00pm: Sort through kitchen in search of something to sell. Fortunately garage is full of things needing a new home as they’ve been decommissioned from my life.
• 5:00-6:00pm: Cook nice dinner for kids
• 6:00-6:15pm: Plan menu for daughters sleepover birthday party. Head out the door to purchase food for party and discover wallet is in purse, which is still at my office.
• 6:15-9:00pm: Settle for plan B: work in studio an hour and work on new website design.

Saturday:

• 6:30-6:50am: Up early to hear answering machine message from sister that airplane tickets for family vacation over 4th of July have just gone up to $600. Wonder why I didn’t purchase them last week when they were under $300.
• 6:50-8:00am: Drive to office (~1 hour round trip) to get purse, buy food for party (they don’t have the required ice cream flavor so leave that task for later), return home as the garage sale is to start.
• 8:00-9:00am: Pull stuff out of garage and slap prices on it. Note it is really cold and windy (as is indicated by the lamp that keeps crashing over).
• 9:00-11:30am: Send kids off to teen court training (they are jurors) as I come close to freezing to death doing yard work during the garage sale. Few people show up, I make $50 and get my tree trimmed and start cleaning up rocks overgrown with grass in my front yard. The snow is not encouraging. Look at clock often wondering when kids will be home.
• 11:30-11:45am: Bring remaining junk in to garage. Label unsold dresser (with drawer that won’t close) and 40 year old folding camp table (that is less than stable) as free and head to yummy thai restaurant for lunch.
• 11:45am-12:45pm: Have yummy lunch and hope that when thai place reopens in a week in new location it is still as yummy.
• 12:45pm: Return home to happily see that the dresser is gone. The camp table is still on my driveway as I type. I’m sure my neighbors are pleased with me – my house looks like a flea market at the moment as there is also firewood, some PVC pipe, bags of tree branches and a big pile of rocks on my driveway. This is all against HOA rules I have no doubt.
• 12:45-1:00pm: Purchase airline tickets for summer trip into alternate location requiring a 5 hour drive on days other than originally planned no doubt messing up everyone else’s plans.
• 1:00-1:30pm: Try to organize house for birthday party starting at 4pm as I try to get son to figure out his plans (something 15 year old boys do not excel at).
• 1:30-2:00pm: Phone call with sister about summer plans. In the background son discovered his cell phone is out of minutes and he has no idea what is going on. Hang up phone recognizing I need to take action.
• 2:00-2:10pm: Turn circles wondering what I’m doing.
• 2:10-4:10pm: Go to store to buy more minutes for sons phone. Drive son way the heck downtown denver (60 miles round trip) so he can attend friends lacrosse game and escape sister’s party. Includes turning around and driving back to give him money after I drop him off so he can take bus and lightrail to another friends house later on (plans changed 2 seconds after I dropped him off – surprise!). Also stop and buy ice cream for party. They didn’t have the required flavors either. Glad I added a second shopping trip to the day.
• 4:10pm – Arrive home 10 minutes late for the start of party. One kid has already been there 45 minutes. Good thing kids are old enough to babysit each other. Discover daughter did amazing job decorating for party – looks great.
• 4:30-10:00pm: Hide in basement packing boxes and organizing as kids make noise during party. Cook dinner, let them make huge ice cream sundaes, be thankful house has not yet been cleaned or repaired for sale as 4 girls are making a mess. Plans of working on website fly out the window when I realize it is just not very quiet.
• 10:00pm: Send girls to room, hope they sleep then head to bed.

Sunday:

• Wake up at 7am to discover girls are already awake and playing Wii (borrowed from kids dad’s house). Wonder if they slept at all.
• 7:00-9:00am: Escape to basement again and pack more. There is always more to pack apparently.
• 9:00-10:15am: Cook breakfast and try to round girls up into car to go bowling.
• 10:20am: Finally get girls in car – wonder if we will make it there by 10:30 to get the cheap rates.
• 10:35am-12:45pm: Kids bowl. We got the cheap rates so I buy them popcorn and sprite and win mom of the year award for about 10seconds. It’s over when I refuse to buy more sprite but offer to get them a pitcher of water. While kids bowl I shuffle papers and redo all my todo lists figuring out what I can get done in the coming week. Also talk more with sister about summer plans. Drive back home (40 minutes round trip drive time)
• 12:45-1:30pm: Make lunch for girls.
• 1:30-1:45pm: 15 glorious minutes in my studio.
• 1:45-2:00pm: Round kids up to leave. Hunt for lost retainer (which was already packed).
• 2:00-4:00pm: Drive kids back home. Not a normal birthday party service but needed to help out another mom that had to work. Also drive in complete opposite direction across town to pick up son – it’s safe to come home now. Total miles – 70, Total time in car 2 hours. THIS is why I am moving to Denver.
• 4:00-8:00pm: Try really hard to focus and get back to work on website or packing. Fail at both. Hang out with kids and play board game instead.
• 8:00-9:15pm: Identify that I can complete an item on my weekly goals for the artist breakthrough program if I write a blog post as it’s the only thing I have energy for.

This must be why others have cable/dish – I’m sure even reality TV might seem okay right now.

Butler Institute of American Art, Ohio

I have been invited to participate in an exhibit at the Butler Institute of American Art this fall. My first invitational museum show. Yay. The show is being curated by Mary Lou Alexander, a woman I met several years back in an artist workshop.

Depth and Breadth: Quiltmaking in the 21st Century

Curator’s Comments: In an attempt to demonstrate the breadth of approaches to fine art quiltmaking today, I have invited five accomplished, well established artists to exhibit their work. Each is asked to submit 5 or 6 pieces that illustrate the depth and variety of of her/his work. Each artist approaches quiltmaking in a singular way, and each brings superb craftsmanship and distinctive imagery to her/his work. In this way I hope to inform the viewer of the depth and breadth of fine art quiltmaking as exhibited by 5 contemporary masters of the medium.

October 12, 2008 through January 4, 2009.

Participating Artists:
Bob Adams, Lafayette, IN
Lisa Call, Parker, CO
Jan Myers-Newbury, Pittsburgh, PA
June O’Neil , Cleveland Heights, OH
Jen Swearington, Asheville, NC

Priorities

In my series of posts on holding intent I’ve talked about some of the quotes I have on my studio wall. Here’s another related to priorities:

My Take on the Parts

What: I need to identify the specific tasks, or at the minimum the next task, that will get me to my goal. Without this breakdown of the parts it’s hard to identify the next action I should take to achieve a goal. Priorities imply that there are things to choose from, I need to identify those things.

I: There is only 1 person that is in charge of me reaching my goals – and it’s me. Taking responsibility for all of my choices and actions is a huge help in reaching my goals. It is not the internet’s fault that I waste time reading email and blogs, it was my choice. If I don’t like that choice and I can change it.

Doing: If I just sit around it’s unlikely my goals will be met.

Right Now: Worrying about the future or stressing out about the past isn’t going to move me forward. It’s when I stay in the present moment I make progress.

Closer: This is a process (and not a quick one), not a destination. Doing things gets me closer to my goals but I need to be patient and enjoy the journey, because without that the goal is rather empty. For me it’s about a life time commitment to living life one day at a time with the intention to be the person I want to be and living the life I want to have each day giving my situation in that exact moment.

Ultimate Goal: If I don’t know what I want and who I want to be, it’s kind of hard to make progress in that direction.

The Universe

On Alyson Standfield’s recommendation in January I signed up to get Notes from the Universe. I love these emails each morning as they make me smile and remind me that my thoughts do become my reality. Today’s was particularly relevant to my topic:

Where are you spending your time?

Structures #62    © 2007    33" x 19"

A Slow Reply

Eight or nine months ago Meagan asked me the following question on one of my posts:

Something a little off topic, but still related: How do you know when your art work is “good enough” to start marketing it? (Obviously this isn’t a problem for you, Lisa, since your art is amazing!) Previous commenters (Ed) have mentioned that in the beginning of their career, they sold stuff that really wasn’t very good. How do you know when your art work has reached that particular level?

I’ve had a draft of this question sitting around waiting for an answer ever since. As I wasn’t up to a dissection of my studio newsletter as promised, I decided to go back and deliver on an older unanswered query.

It’s about Growth

The article I wrote was about selling my artwork (click to read). My thoughts have changed over the years and today I will answer this differently than I might have 3 or 5 or 8 years ago when I was not looking to pursue an income generating career from my art.

Today my answer is: You are ready to start marketing your artwork when you are ready to take that bold step and put yourself out there. It’s a big leap as it comes with many risks but also many rewards.

Sure, five years from now you might look back and think "Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I tried to sell that junk." But that’s the future. What matters is right now, today, this moment. How do you feel about your artwork? Are you happy with it? Do you think it is good? Do you want to market it? Great – go for it.

And I don’t think that’s such a bad future, to be a bit embarrassed about your work from years back, because it means you are growing as an artist. This is a great thing. Maybe something to look forward to.

How Will You Handle Set Backs

Artists are often advised to ask others for opinions about their work. Is it good enough? Will it sell? While this isn’t bad advice I’m not sure I’d recommend that. I suggest just going with your intuition. If you have the desire and resources to market your artwork, then go for it!

What’s the worse thing that could happen? You might fail on first try. The question is, what will you do with that failure? Will you let it destroy your dream? If so maybe you aren’t ready. I think this is probably the single most important question to answer.

Sure you might never face rejection, but chances are good you’ll face more than a few "we aren’t interested" situations. As Christine Kane says:

SWSWSWSW: Some will. Some won’t. So what? Someone’s waiting!

[Read her excellent article about not taking things personally here]

Even if you do face failure you might learn something. You might get better and grow. You might find new ways to do things. You might meet people that want to help you over that hurdle.

When you are ready to fall down and get up and keep on going. That’s when you are ready.

I’m Finally Ready

I’ve been making art that I really love for the past 10 years. Yet I’ve never taken the leap to go after an solid income with my art. I always have an excuse:

• I need to build up cash reserves.
• The kids are only at home for a few short (18) years.
• This work isn’t quite good enough yet.
• No one buys art quilts.
• I could never replace my software engineering salary with an art income.

Well, no more. I’m doing whatever it takes to get rid of the day job and replace it with the art income.

First up on the list of to-dos is to sell the house that requires a really big income. If I wait until I have enough money from my art to pay this mortgage it could be a pretty long wait. So I’m short circuiting that problem and downsizing.

It’s a huge task and when I think of all that needs to be done to get this huge home on the market I freak out, which is the reason I’m still here. I thought about moving 6 years ago after my divorce and then again 3 years ago, but I didn’t have the courage to do it.

Now it’s the year of courage, which gives me the focus needed to work through all that needs done. I don’t think about the huge list of to-dos. I make short lists of easily doable tasks. Things I can accomplish in a few hours. I’m just focusing on each step, one and time, and steady progress is made every day.

In the meantime I’m not ignoring my art. I’m in the 7th day of Artist Breakthrough Program with Alyson Stanfield and it’s fabulous. I’ve made huge strides in getting my new website ready to go. Tomorrow I’ll blog about how I did with my goals this week and what’s up for next week.

And yes – at some point I’ll write about all I learned when doing my studio newsletter. Hopefully you will not have to wait 8-9 months for that answer.

The above image was the one I selected for this post 9 months ago, I can’t tell you why. It’s orange. Maybe that was it.

Studio Time

In my last post I wrote that one of my goals for the upcoming weeks was to continue to spend 5 or more hours a week in my studio while I’m working on some longer term business goals and getting my house on the market.

Laure responded with the following questions:

One question though, how do you define time in the studio? What is included as time in the studio – is it purely making art, is it prepping for making art, or a mixture of this and other stuff?

Great questions. Early this year I wrote a post about the logistics and reasons for tracking my studio time. That post doesn’t address what I define as "studio time"

My Definition

I define time in my studio as time actively making my artwork: dyeing fabric, cutting the fabric to designing compositions and stitching. I don’t do much prep work for my art. I almost never do any sketching (drawn or fabric sketches) and if I do I generally count it as studio time.

I do a lot of photography and hiking and other activities that inspire and inform my artwork. I never count this as studio time. I also don’t count extended cleaning and organizing my studio as studio time either. I view that more as maintenance of my environment. A quick straighting up of my cutting table probably gets counted.

I do count the finish work that is done on my art, such as finishing the edges, attaching sleeves and labels. Probably because I do these steps with needle and thread so it fits into the construction process.

It Doesn’t Have to be Exact

When I first started tracking time in my studio I was rather uptight about it. I tracked it down to accurate 15 minute intervals. This ended up generating unnecessary stress into my studio process. No doubt the engineer part of me taking over (not to mention the meticulous perfectionist side).

I got over the compulsiveness and now it’s just a pretty darn good estimate. The main purpose is to motivate me and spending time worrying if it was 1/4 hour or a 1/2 hour on monday isn’t very inspirational. So now I just make a good guess and call it good.

I think it’s all very personal, the definition of studio time, how accurately one might or might not track it. And even if you track it at all. I like keeping these records as it does help keep me on track and keep me motivated. When I see my studio time slacking off I look around for the cause and see if I need to adjust something in my life.

ACEO #6    ©2008    2.5"x3.5"
This card was inspired by Markings #3

Breaking Down the Work

For the next 4 weeks, throughout the Artist Breakthrough Program, I’m going to post my weekly goals. Both to hold me accountable to all of my readers and also to write some about how I get things done. Nothing like doing this in public to inspire me to actually do the work.

I break my larger goals down into small tasks. The more overwhelming the goal feels the smaller I break down the tasks. Sometimes down to 5 minute jobs that are super easy. Doing these simple tasks gives me a sense of accomplishment and the momentum to start tackling some of the larger tasks. Once I get going I get on a roll and can "do things" for hours.

Week One Goals

These are my tasks for this week, based on my longer term monthly goals from my previous post. These are to be completed by Sunday, April 20.

1. I work in my studio 5 hours this week
2. I do 3 blog posts
3. I upgrade my 2 wordpress installs for my website to 2.5
4. I complete the template for my website/blog. This is a multi step task – 4.1) I break this down into steps for what is still needed to complete the template and 4.2)I complete the identified tasks from 4.1
5. I define the structure of my website (which pages I will have, what will be on the pages, the menu structure to access the pages)
6. I identify 5 potential galleries for representation (at this point I’m just building a list with contact info)

The First 24 Hours

Yesterday I completed #3 and my wordpress installs are now ready to go. I love wordpress, I’m less enamored with having to manually update my install. I’m looking forward to the day they have a single click upgrade feature.

Today I worked on item 4.1 and have the list of changes needed in my template fairly well settled. I also started in on 5 and defining the pages I want in my new website.

And best of all, this morning I worked in my studio for half an hour before heading to work. The last 6 weeks my studio has been fairly well neglected. I’m looking forward to returning to a routine of making art on a near daily basis.

Oh and blog post #1 for the week is now completed. I know I said it would be about newsletters. I promise – I will get to that this week.

Update on Moving

Much of my motivation for doing this program is to keep me on track with my art while also keeping motivated with getting my house on the market. I spent most of the last week removing a very large amount of stuff from my house. Throwing out a lot, giving away tons and packing up things we can live without until we’ve moved.

I’m very picky about what gets put into a box labeled "I don’t need this for many months". I’m looking to eliminate the majority of these types of things from my life. So far most of these boxes are filled with either 1) my kids stuff (they aren’t as enamored with tossing things as I am) or 2) photo albums and scrapbooking supplies. This is one project I’m sure I will get to some day so I packed it all up and will move it. If I don’t do something with this stuff before the next move I think most of it will end up in the donate pile.

The unfortunate news is the contractor, general fix-it guy that was going to do much of the fix-it type work around my house bailed out on me. Had better offers so I’m left with noone to do the work. I spent much of monday being stressed out, pissed off and generally unhappy with the situation. I decided I needed some time to feel bad but gave myself a deadline of 9pm to just get over it and move on. Great way to experience the emotions but not let them take over my life. I’ve now processed the experience and am getting back on track.

Moving is a lot of work but I’m focusing on enjoying the process, keeping the tasks small and manageable so I don’t get overwhelmed. My morning yoga is a big help in keeping calm.

ACEO #5    ©2008    2.5"x3.5"
This card was inspired by Markings #12

Staying Focused

Tomorrow is the start of ABP – Alyson Stanfield’s Artist Breakthrough Program. When I originally signed up for this class I had no plans on putting my house on the market and had big plans for getting a lot done for my art business.

I thought about not doing the class then decided it was perfect timing. What better way to not lose focus on my art, during a rather hectic time in my life, than to have a group of people holding me accountable.

I’ve scaled back my goals for the 28 day program from my original plan and I’m confident I can complete my new goals, as long as I stayed focused. I’m still several weeks away from getting my house on the market and one of my #1 goals for that process is for it to be effortless and fun. Making sure I’m still thinking about my art will definitely help along those lines.

My ABP Goals

My specific goals for the next 28 days:

1. I work 5 or more hours a week in my studio making art.
2. I complete the rewrite of my website and blog and go live with them by May 12, 2008.
3. I update my resume to include jurors for all juried shows.
4. I create a complete resume for my personal use with every show in my career listed. This list also includes a list of which pieces were included in each of these shows.
5. I design a portfolio package to send to galleries (the package does not have to be complete but I identify all the parts and the format of the package)
6. I start a list of potential galleries to contact for representation. The list has 30 or more galleries listed.

ACEO #5

The Artist Card shown above is one of the 3 new Art Cards/ACEOs I sold through my online newsletter a few weeks ago. With my studio being a bit in disarray over the next few weeks (I’m going to be replacing the carpet before I put the house on the market) it is very likely I’ll be making some more ACEOs over the next month – small quick projects might feel just right.

This week I’m planning on blogging about what I learned with the newsletter as I promised. I got a bit distracted last week with the house stuff but after a weekend of doing house stuff I’m back and focusing on art.

 
ACEO stands for “art cards, editions and originals”. Originally known as ATC, Artist Trading Card, and are traded between artists. When sold to the public they are referred to as ACEOs. The primary rule for an ACEO or ATC is they be 3 1/2″ x 2 1/2″ – the size of a trading card. They are created in many different mediums and are collectible, trade able and affordable art for everyone.

O’Keeffe House, Ghost Ranch
©2008 Neil Myers
24" x 36"

Ghost Ranch Painting

First, the art. Arizona painter Neil Myers found the photo below on my blog and asked if he could use it as reference for one of his paintings. The wonderful results are above. You can see more of his amazing work on Neil’s Website.

I love that Neil contacted me and asked for permission to use my photograph and I’m even more thrilled that he will pay me a 5% commission when the painting sells for that use. Very cool. Thanks Neil and good luck with the sales.

Georgia O’Keeffe’s House at Ghost Ranch

Taking a Leap

Last week I made a big decision. I’m putting my house on the market. Selling my big suburban dream home and beautiful studio. I’m downsizing – smaller house, smaller mortgage, smaller studio, smaller commute. I’m going to leave the suburbs and move to Denver close to my kids’ school.

My word for the year is courage and this decision was a huge opportunity to use that word. I’ve been in this house for 13 1/2 years so moving is going to be a big change. Yet it all feels right. I’m excited about the positive changes in my life that will come about as a result of this move.

Giving up my large studio in the short term (I’ll likely move again in 6 years when my daughter graduates from high school) feels like the right decision. I know I can make art anywhere and I’m determined to keep pushing my career forward. So that is exactly what will happen.

An Artful Weekend

Travel Diary, Saturday, April 5th:

1. Stayed up past midnight chatting and laughing with Pam. Notable topic of conversation was powdered sugar donuts, a favorite of Pam’s on road trips and her aliens (see her comments on her blog). Surprisingly we hear little noise from the high schoolers sharing the hotel with us as the evening goes on.
2. Earplugs in I sleep until 8am. Unfortunately the high school kids played a round of volleyball in the bathroom next door so Pam enjoyed the early morning taking great photos of the sculpture at the International Quilt Study Center.
3. After a yummy breakfast it’s off to galleries to see an exhibit of Michael James new work at Modern Arts Midwest. This work seems more saturated to me than some previous pieces. Could be my memory but I liked these richer colors better. My favorite was from 2006 and is not on either the gallery or artist’s website.
4. Next we went over to the brand new International Quilt Study Center and Museum to see a show of Nancy Crow’s work. It was good to see a collection of her work from over the years.



5. The building for the Quilt Center had some cool architectural features. Including a large reception area with very cool windows.



 


6. They also had a really cool mesh screen on wheels. Love the feet.


 

7. It’s my daughter’s birthday so I pack up and head back to Colorado for a 6:30 dinner reservation. The sharks are ready to hit the road.



8. Looking for something to do I phone up my friend Kelly and we have a 2+ hour chat as I drive down I-80. In addition to fabric dyeing the topic of powdered sugar donuts comes up as we were huge donut fans growing up. My car is in need of a gas so at a bargain $3.69 I fill up the tank and go inside in search of some fine pastries. I’m shocked and dismayed to discover there are no donuts and not even a twinkie in the entire convenience store.
9. Fortunately this is America so I drive over to the next store and find exactly what I’m looking for. I have a hard time deciding between the powdered sugar and those yummy plastic chocolate coated ones so select a package of both and head to the counter. The worker guy has just hit some magic button and the register is spitting out a very long tape of recent purchases and I’m told I’ll have to wait 5 minutes. Not wanting to look desperate I opted to walk out of the store empty handed.
10. All is well until I hit I-76, a stretch of road that makes driving across Nebraska seem exciting. It’s just me and a bunch of huge trucks and some tumble weeds. Realizing I’m darn close to falling asleep I stop and buy myself some sunflower seeds. Not being a caffeine drinker, food that requires effort to eat seemed like the next best option for staying awake. And really, why not, a pack of powdered sugar donuts ends up in my hands also.
11. The universe was clearly trying to send me a signal as there was a huge line at the cash register (in the middle of nowhere eastern colorado) – yes – it’s shift change and mr. manager is counting the pennies. I can hide my desperation no longer, I ignore the universe, and I stand there a good 10 minutes to purchase a pack of stale donuts. Happily I was in good company. It was kinda funny watching us. We’d look at what we wanted to buy. Look at the line. You can hear the wheels spinning "am I really standing in line to buy this?" Then we’d realize noone we know is watching – so yep – sure enough we did.



12. Yummy!
13. I was 20 minutes late picking up my daughter for our sushi dinner date. I blame it on the traffic.

May all your art adventures be inspiring and fun. And enjoy the donuts on the drive home.