Structures #97 and Weekend Plans
Structures #97 (In Progress) ©2008
Structures #97
I made some progress on my latest textile painting over the week. Above is my first pass at roughing in all of the lines. After moving things around I came up with the version below. I’m liking the right hand side but the left still needs more work. Because my studio is now in my bedroom I can see the piece when I wake up in the morning and today I think I came up with a plan for improving it.
Structures #97 (In Progress) ©2008
Weekend Plans
We’re still in our streak of record high temps here in Denver with yesterday hitting 104. Today is looking to be least 100 and Sunday a cool 97. Not exactly the kind of weather for doing much without air conditioning. I’m tempted to spend the entire weekend sleeping (or attempting to sleep in the heat) but that seems a bit out of character for me. The kids left for vacation with their dad this morning so I have 2 weeks to get some stuff done, so that’s of course what I will do.
In addition to working on Structures #97, I plan on dyeing fabric today, with the heat I should get rich vibrant colors. Tomorrow I’m headed to the mountains to cool off a bit after washing out all my fabric in the morning so the weekend’s not all work.
I also need to work on my house remodel plan. I’ve had my head stuck in a place where I think I have to design a house that will have good resale value and the result isn’t working for me. So I’m going to toss those ideas and just build the perfect house for me. A friend sent me a link to a really interesting book, The Not So Big House
Posted by Lisa in: Making Abstract Contemporary Textile Art
Tagged: air conditioning, art in progress, artwork, remodel
Jackie said,
August 2, 2008 @ 5:48 pm
I don’t rememebr where I found your blog but I do love your work. Do you hand stitch the pieces together or machine?
Tina Mammoser said,
August 3, 2008 @ 3:13 am
Sounds awful (the heat) but I hope you get some wonderful colors out of it at least! :) Definitely interested in that book you mention so thanks for that. You can’t live now for what other people might want later. I’m currently covetting some of these: http://www.tumbleweedhouses.com/houses/ Talk about only what you need! At the moment I’m thinking a solution would be to buy land and then build two - a home and a studio.
cynthia said,
August 3, 2008 @ 1:59 pm
We’re just back from a weekend in the mountains and all I can say is, “Help me, I’m melting!!!!”
Sheesh, hot is hot and doesn’t matter if it’s a dry heat or not.
I’m a huge fan of Sarah Susanka and read her book when we did our remodel.
Definitely build your house for yourself and not for somebody else.
Y C Branchflower said,
August 3, 2008 @ 3:57 pm
Lisa, 12 years ago I got to design the floorplan for our new house. That it is a joy to live in did not happen by accident. I made two lists, one for what we loved about other homes we’d lived in or visited, and the other for what we hated about them. Those two lists sucessfully guided all of our decisions.
Barbara J Carter said,
August 4, 2008 @ 1:03 pm
Right after my husband and I designed and built our dream house (a major gut/remodel/addition meant to be our “forever” home) and moved in, our marriage dissolved and the housing market crashed. Sometimes life, as the commercial says, comes at you fast. Moral: don’t totally ignore resale value.
Lisa Call said,
August 4, 2008 @ 9:21 pm
Jackie - Thank you and welcome to my blog. The work is stitched by machine.
Tina - those houses are amazing!
Cynthia, YC and Barbara - thanks for the comments on the house. I’ve gotten a lot of good advice. Tomorrow I’m going to sit down and write a list of all the primary activities that I do in my house and the spaces I’d like to do those things and see what I come up with.
Judy said,
August 4, 2008 @ 10:04 pm
Hi! Lisa,
You have been busy!
Seems to me house desings are notunlike art work, if you design for your needs others will be attracted to it when resale time comes. Good luck with it.
Kyra said,
August 5, 2008 @ 5:58 pm
Your structures painting is gorgeous! Reminds me of a quilt. Thanks for sharing!
Kyra
http://www.BlackThreads.blogspot.com
cher said,
August 6, 2008 @ 7:38 am
I have been doing the workbook from The Not So Big Life-same author-glad you were referred to her book as she shares a similar vision as you do towards your life. I support you in remodeling your home as your dream home. We have been doing the same with our home, each step of remodeling bringing us closer to our dream home -our goal is to retire in our current home so these steps are mini goals reached.
Minka said,
August 27, 2008 @ 5:01 am
I love all the “Not So Big House” books and her website.