Lisa Call

To celebrate the coming of the new year I want to first honor my accomplishments for 2008.

1. Selected Courage for my year to guide me through a year of big changes.
2. I smiled more in 2008 than I did in 2007.
3. I sold my house of 12 years in a single day for over my asking price.
4. I bought a new home in Denver saying goodbye to the suburbs.
5. I hired an awesome contractor to build my dream studio on the back of my new house.
6. I have enjoyed the first 3 months of construction of my new studio.
7. I spent 446 hours in my studio making art (that an average of just under 8 hours a week. I had a few months during my house sale and move when I made no art)
8. I spent at least 700 hours marketing my art. I didn’t track it as closely as studio time but it was the lions share of my art career in 2008 as it was something I could do while the studio was inaccessible during the moves.
9. I created 4 new textile paintings in the Markings series.
10. I created 13 new textile patings in the Structures series.
11. I started new series inspired by my new house, called Home, and created 8 textile paintings – .
12. I started a new series of small works mounted on painted stretched canvas and created 21 textile paintings in the series – Lines.
13. I created 27 new ACEOs.
14. The result: I created 73 new pieces of art this year.
15. I set a goal of writing and sending 4 studio newsletters in 2008 – I met that goal by sending the 4th newsletter on New Year’s Eve.
16. I ended the year with 431 newsletter subscribers, exceeding my goal of 400.
17. I wrote 174 blog posts.
18. I joined twitter.
19. I wrote 1588 tweets (in about 4 months).
20. I ended the year with 400+ follows on twitter meeting my goal of 400.
21. I became more active on facebook.
22. I ended the year with 201 friends on facebook meeting my goal of 200.
23. I had a solo show of my Markings series in Boulder, CO in February.
24. I had a solo show of a few of my Structures textile paintings in Lincoln, NE in April.
25. I curated a group show at the Lux Center for Arts in Lincoln, NE in April.
26. I gave an artist talk at my February show – and love it.
27. I exhibited 6 large textile paintings at the Butler Museum of Art in Ohio.
28. I attended the opening of the Butler Museum show.
29. I was juried into Form Not Function for 2009.
30. I was asked to exhibit art at the Danforth Art Museum in 2009.
31. I exhibited Structures #60 at Art Quilt Elements (AQE).
32. I sold 2 small textile paintings in the gift shop during AQE.
33. Structures #60 was mentioned in the review of AQE in the SAQA journal.
34. I participated in the Artist Breakthrough program with Alyson Stanfield
35. I did a podcast interview with Alyson for her online book tour – my first podcast.
36. I was quoted in Alyson’s new book: I’d Rather Be in the Studio.
37. I enjoyed Alyson’s series of artist interviews this fall.
38. I attended my second retreat with Christine Kane in November
39. I had a nice family vacation in Montana in July.
40. I signed up to go on a tour of Africa in 2009 with Nancy Crow.
41. I turned profit in my art business for the first time ever.
42. I sold 2 textile paintings to the Cleveland University Hospital collection.
43. I sold many textile paintings to supporters and collectors.
44. I received dozens of supportive and loving comments from fans.
45. I dyed a couple hundred yards of fabric in my backyard under a crab apple tree in my new house since I had no where else to do it. I didn’t just give it up for the year.
46. I set up a temporary studio in a small bedroom after leaving a 600 sq ft studio to continue making art while my new studio is being built.
47. I create a project and wrote a chapter for a crafters how to book to be published in 2009.
48. I participated in several online interviews.
49. I sold enough PDF fabric to others to keep my account open with Kaufman.
50. I created a webpage to sell my artwork directly to collectors.
51. My direct sales of art were better than I imagined.
52. I did yoga almost every morning for 3 months in a row. I am still following a 3-4 times a month routine (most of the time).
53. I journaled in the morning on a consistent basis.
54. I wrote a gratitude entry in my journal 5 or 6 times a week.
55. I went on some beautiful hikes.
56. I experienced the magic of an aspen grove near it’s peak fall color.
57. I had a wonderful relationship with Jim for a few months.
58. I recovered from the end of the relationship by focusing on Joy in December.
59. I visited the Denver Art Museum numerous time through the year.
60. I visited the Contemporary Art
61. I taught myself how to mount my textile paintings on canvas.
62. I bought a new laptop for my art business.
63. I enjoyed several wonderful meals and outings with my artist friends.
64. I started a rewrite of my website with a design I really love.
65. I defined what success means to me as an artist.
66. I applied agile software management techniques to manage my art business.
67. I sold work in the artfulhome.com studio sale in the spring.
68. I sold work in the artfulhome.com studio sale in December.
69. Structures #39 appeared in the artful home holiday catalog.
70. Three textile paintings were selected as covers for Myers Briggs Booklets.
71. I received good compensation for the use of my images on the book covers.
72. Participated in Christine Kane’s Great Big Dreams E-Seminar – twice.
73. Made an investment in myself and signed up for Christine’s Platinum coaching circle for 2009.
74. Participated in small art showcase.
75. Listed in Fine Art Department.
76. Wrote guest post on Christine’s blog about my choice of the word Courage for 2008.
77. Received innumerable wonderful, supportive and informative comments on my blog.
78. Maintained a daily photo journal of the progress of my new home and studio construction.
79. Donated and gifted 10% of my gross art income.
80. Became comfortable and defined my career to include selling affordable art in addition to having museum shows with my Big Art.
81. Worked a fulltime job as a software engineer.
82. Thoroughly enjoyed being a mom to my 12 and 16 year old kids.
83. Wrote a series of blog posts about energy, and why I get so much done.
84. Survived my Quilt National 2009 rejection (the first rejection from QN in 4 shows)
85. Ordered new business cards.
86. Spent a weekend in silence.
87. Completed one ink drawing – Lines #4
88. Purchased 3+ beautiful new works of original art by artists I admire.
89. Baked an amazing cake for Christmas dinner.
90. Gave away a good percent (30%? 40%?) of my belongings to move from a 4000 sq ft home to a 900 sq ft home.
91. Was interviewed for inclusion in a book about art quilters to be published in 2009 or 2010.
92. Spent time with some wonderful old friends.
93. Spent time with some new amazing friends.
94. Let go of some friendships that were no longer serving me.
95. Through the use of acupuncture, yoga and intention, quit taking advil and aleave ending a 20+ year dependence on the drugs for pain relief.
96. Bought myself a big box of See’s candy’s in an act of serious self care.
97. Gave street people money and didn’t worry about what they might or might not do with it.
98. Tried out some new bright colors in my smaller textile paintings.
99. Used a purple christmas tree for the topping off of my construction.
100. Dressed my cats up for the holidays with no serious repercussions.

When I first thought of this list I knew my studio time (~8 hours a week) would see so small compared to my prefvious years goals of 20 hours per week. And then I look at everything else I have accomplished and I wonder where I found those 8 hours plus the 12-13 hours a week for marketing my work.

Gratitude for all I have done this year feels like the perfect way to end the year.

Tomorrow – my words for 2009 – Expansion and Integrity.

Happy New Year everyone.

Joy

I dedicated the month of December to Joy. After the end of my relationship with Jim and the upcoming holidays and the frenzy that can entail I felt it was a good way to keep things in focus and enjoy the festivities instead of feeling overwhelmed by it all.

At the start of the month I posted daily and truly had some joyous things to share. Intentially focusing on and looking for things to be joyful about was a big help in keeping things in perspective. I went through some rough parts towards the center of the month and by focusing on joy and gratitude I was able to move through it.

Towards the end of the month I no longer felt a need to purposely look for the joy as it had returned to my life as a daily fact and had a wonderful Christmas with my kids.

I even managed to write 22 blog posts in 30 days – definitely a record for me. I won’t be looking to keep up this pace of blogging but it was a great way to feel connected this month.

As the year comes to a close I want to again thank all of you for the joy your support and comments bring me. I really appreciate it when you take the time to share your thoughts and just knowing you are there is excellent.

Selvages

What is that wad of stuff on my floor in the photo you might be wondering? Those are the selvages, the edge of the fabric, from 20 yards of fabric that are going into my newest large textile painting. They are are usually a bit funky (tightly woven or fuzzy or full of holes) so best that they go away and I start with a clean cut.

Most of those that work with textiles just pitch these things in the trash. Not me. I keep them and I roll them into tight balls. I’ve got a pile of them somewhere, probably in storage awaiting the studio completion, and I’m thinking some day I will offer the balls for sale – cause they are pretty cool. I love to keep a few in bowls around my house. When I locate them again I’ll take some photos.

Welcoming 2009

In just 2 days we have a new year – wow – I’m so excited! Before I jump ahead too quickly I’m going to devote my post tomorrow to a review of my accomplishments for 2008. I’ve had an amazing year so I expect the list to be long and very joyous.

On January 1, I’ll share a post about my intentions for 2009, I’ve selected my words for the year to help guide me through my daily actions and will share those in that post. Yep, words, after weeks of pondering I was unable to select just a single word and have picked two. Yay! For those of you following me twitter you have a sneak peek as to what they will be.

On January 2, I’ll post some specific goals I’ve set for 2009 and will follow up through out January reviewing some work habits I’m developing to help me stay on task. I’m really looking forward to starting the year as I’ve got some awesome plans.

Lines #12
©2008
3" x 3" – Mounted on stretched canvas
Sold

Lines #13
©2008
3" x 3" – Mounted on stretched canvas
Purchase Here

Lines #14
©2008
3" x 3" – Mounted on stretched canvas
Purchase Here

Lines #15
©2008
3" x 3" – Mounted on stretched canvas
Sold

Lines #16
©2008
3" x 3" – Mounted on stretched canvas
Sold

Lines #17
©2008
3" x 3" – Mounted on stretched canvas
Sold
 
 

More Lines

Tonight will be a short post as I was convincing myself I was not going to get a cold the last couple of days. Then they blew insulation into the existing walls of my house today and the bug won. Or at least something, be it insulation or virus, is preventing much breathing.

My accomplishment for today was to get these 6 new Lines textile paintings photographed. I also repohotographed Lines #18-#21. So you can check out the post and see that they don’t really have shadows incorporated in the artwork – Lines #18-#21 here.

I have a batch of bright colored 3" square Lines textile paintings to mount on canvas and then I think I’m done with these small pieces for a while. I started some large large pieces over the weekend and I’m having great fun. I’m also thinking the time I have before my house is no longer conducive to the making of art might be fairly short.

Latest Construction

Today they insulated my studio. It really defined the space and I’m happy as can be. I am sure I will love making art in this space. You can see the latest photos here:

Construction Dec 29

For some fun you can also see how they got the big wooden beams in my attic so they can tear down the wall between my kitchen and livingroom. It was pretty clever:

Construction December 23 and 24

Studio Newsletter

I’ll be emailing my last studio newsletter for the year in the next day or 2 and selecting the winner of Structures #83 from my list of subscribers. So sign up soon if you’d like a chance to own this textile painting. You can sign up here: Newsletter Sign Up.

 

Structures #83    ©2007    12"x12"

Structures #67
©2007
33"x38"

Mixed Media Fiber Art

January 7- March 1, 2009

The Danforth Museum of Art proudly presents Mixed Media Fiber Art, guest curated by internationally-recognized fiber artist Jeanne Williamson of Natick, Massachusetts. On view beginning Wednesday, January 7, this contemporary show features works by thirteen artists with new approaches that “break the rules” in working in the fiber medium. The group of thirteen artists focus on innovative mixed media approaches to fiber arts using printmaking, painting and dyeing, as well as unusual ways of piecing and using appliqué and reverse appliqué.

The artists include regional, national, and internationally-known practitioners:

Deidre Adams
Elizabeth Barton
Lisa Call – Structures #67 shown above will be included in the show
Linda Colsh
Merill Comeau
Linda Levin
Dominie Nash
Angela Moll
Patricia Mink
Lori Lupe Pelish
Barbara Watler
Jeanne Williamson
Barb Wills

Danforth Museum of Art
Museum Hours: Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, 12 noon to 5 pm.
Friday and Saturday 10 am to 5 pm.

123 Union Avenue
Framingham, MA 01702
www.danforthmuseum.org

 
Thanks Jeanne for inviting me to be included in this show.

As a way of setting my intention for the year 2008 (thank you Christine Kane), I selected a single word to help guide me. The word I selected was Courage.

Last January I wrote a blog post about why I selected the word, which you can read here: Courage. I’ve written about it fairly often throughout the year in relationship to my art career and life in these posts.

Yesterday my guest post on Christine’s blog was published. You can read how my year of courage turned out here (maybe no big surprises for my long time readers but you will learn about my 37 year old icing frog): Lisa’s Courage Post.

It’s been an amazing year. Yay!

I’m still thinking about what my word for 2009 will be so stay tuned as I’ll soon be writing about it soon, along with my annual summary of my art accomplishments for the year. It’s good to look back and recognize and honor all the progress we make throughout the year.

 
 
Happy Holidays to all my readers. I wish for joy for all of you.

I’ll be back on the 26th or 27th.

Once a year the kids dress up the cats, it lasts about 2 minutes. This was maybe not their moment of joy but they are such great cats, they tolerate and I must admit we are greatly amused.

Lines #18
©2008
3" x 3" – Mounted on stretched canvas
Sold

Lines #19
©2008
3" x 3" – Mounted on stretched canvas
Sold

Lines #20
©2008
3" x 3" – Mounted on stretched canvas
Sold

Lines #21
©2008
3" x 3" – Mounted on stretched canvas
Sold

New Work

In between holiday preparations, parties and starting a new larger textile painting (the joy for the weekend – it feels great to be making larger work again), I’ve finished some new pieces in the Lines series. The first 4 are here. The remaining 6 (white, red and black with similar designs as these) will be ready soon.

Sorry about the bad photography, there is currently no place in the house to get good photos so I need to figure out another plan. I think I can rig something up in the soon to be new studio. Once it warms up!

Another short post. A new thing for me!

From The Adversity University Blog

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.

 
I’m very grateful for my job.
for my art.
for my children.

And for the dough for snickerdoodles in the fridge. My first batch of cookies for the season. Joyful yumminess!

 
Here’s what my kitchen looks like right now: An adventure in cooking!

 
 
Tomorrow look for some brand new art in this space! woohoo!

 
 
It took me 4 hours to find to find the right frame of mind to write this post. The day job hit a speed bump today and it took me a while to quit obsessing and just get over it. It will all work out as it should.

The trick was hunting through my future blog post ideas looking for something I could post. Found this quote. Realized it is completely my decision how I react to the incident at work. I’m choosing to view it as an opportunity for something new and better to come my way, which I am positive will happen.

Now back to the holidays.

I found this list on Karine Swenson’s blog and thought it was fun. In the absence of art content for today (didn’t sleep well last night and my brain is just up to deep thoughts) I’ve decided to go with this list.

It’s fun to do silly things once in a while.

I’ve put in bold the things I’ve done. I’ve crossed off the things I have no interest in ever doing. So that leaves me with 45 things left over. Most aren’t big goals of mine and I won’t be pursuing them but you never know!

[joy for today - I went to the see's candy store - yum yum yum.]

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity (I’m counting this but don’t like the wording)
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (I’m counting in the shower cause not interested in doing it in public)
11. Bungee jumped (very very fun! I want to do it again!)
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill (mental health days are so totally valid)
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon (did a half marathon and that was enough for me)
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse(maybe – I can’t remember)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors (nebraska rocks)
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied (since money doesn’t equal satisfaction I’ll count this as done)
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelos David
41. Sung karoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa (I’ll be going in Aug of 2009!!!)
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (I’m a vegetarian)
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury!
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Some day I will make a list of 100 things I want to do and work my way through it. I’m working on my top 10 list of artwork I want to see and top 10 list of places I want to travel.

Structures #25
©2003
8"x 8"
Purchase Here

Doing A Lot

My days have been packed full this week.

So I was happy today to see on my calendar I had a dinner planned with a friend. Yay! Time to relax. I was quite joyous she got held up with a client so I had 30 full minutes in the restaurant to sit and do absolutely nothing. It was wonderful. Enforced relaxing. Nice.

Although dinner was nicer – great conversation, much laughing and really really yummy thai food. I discovered another great place to eat only 5 minutes from my house. Yay!

The Market

Now that I’m selling my art I’m finding the market for my work to be interesting. Occasionally things I have that I think are really pretty awesome don’t ever sell. One example is Structures #25 pictured above.

This is a 5 year old piece, but it’s still one of my favorite smaller textile paintings I’ve done yet in those 5 years noone has ever been interested in purchasing it even though it has bee offered for sale several times.

Who knows. Just interesting. I suspect the universe has very specific plans for this small textile painting and we just aren’t there yet.

Construction

Not a lot of big splashy progress but a few photos of siding and things in the walls. I’m without much of a kitchen at the moment, not that this house ever had much of a kitchen, so there has been no christmas baking yet. I will remedy that situation this weekend irregardless of the state of my kitchen. It is not christmas without homemade cookies.

December 12, 15, 16
December 17