Lisa Call

 
Today I planned on blogging about the installation of my studio lights. But then the electrician canceled. So no such luck.

Instead here’s a preview photo of the lights.

They are 8 feet long – I’ll have two 16 foot runs and one 28 foot run in the studio.

They will be suspended 1-2 feet off the ceiling and the bulbs will point upwards towards the ceiling (the shiny side) – bouncing all the light indirectly into the studio. The white side points down with a few holes for direct lighting.

I have absolutely no doubt that they will be fabulous once the electrician shows up to install them.

Everyone please send positive thoughts for this to happen without a hitch on thursday!

Structures #38
Textile Painting
©2005
43" x 42"

How It Began

Four years ago on February 22 I made my first blog post. I had been thinking about blogging for a while but without a digital camera it didn’t seem like an art blog was going to get very far.

I think we got bonuses at work or some other money fairy visited in mid-February 2005 so I walked into a camera store and bought a Nikon D-70 without doing any research on digital cameras, 15 minutes tops and I was out of the store with my new toy. I had a N-70 and knew the lens were interchangeable and that seemed like a good reason to buy another Nikon.

With my new studio I’m going to have to buy another lens. I can’t take photographs of my largest pieces with my 50mm lens (room isn’t big enough) and my zoom lens has crappy color (in comparison to my very nice 50mm, which I use for all my art photography). So I’m thinking positive thoughts for the money fairy to come visit again.

We All Love Stats

According to wordpress I’ve made 600 posts (the first few months were on blogger – once I got serious about blogging I quickly moved to my own install of wordpress.org).

There are currently 3,940 comments and akismet has blocked 19,741 spam comments from appearing. The spammers have the real people seriously out numbered. Ya’ll need to get busy.

According to my website stat counter I had 104,821 page views and 26,713 unique visitors in January and my traffic seems to grow fairly steadily over the year. I had a pretty big drop last may-july during my move as I had nothing to say.

Construction

With my construction I suspect I’ve increased traffic by doing a daily photo log of the action even though the art content has slowed a bit over the last 4 months. The next three weeks I’m not likely to have much access to my studio as they are doing drywall/texturing/painting in the existing part of the house, meaning my kids bedrooms will be my studio for a week.

Then the hardwood floor will be refinished and I’ll install carpet – all of which requires a large amount of furniture shuffling.

The timing is interesting because the deadline for submitting photos for the large pieces I’ve been working on the last few months is March 1. I have about 2-3 more hours of sewing and then it’s photography time. My goal is to do that on tuesday – so guess I need to buy that new lens tomorrow.

Hm… Anyone want to buy some art?

Not much still for sale on that page, I think near top priority once the studio is done is to make some more small art.

Structures #11
Textile Painting
©2002
47" x 72"

Intuition

The last few days I was reading descriptions of some online art classes and it really struck me that I have no formal training in art. I rarely think about this but for some reason last night it really stood out.

This post is a rambling brain dump of some of my thoughts on the subject. Not a value judgment in any direction. Just thinking.

I tend the think it doesn’t really matter in the long run but there are certainly times I wonder if I’m missing something totally obvious. I just make stuff I like and seems to work out. There isn’t a formal art thought driving my artistic decisions. I just do what feels intuitively right.

So I wonder if those with a formal education make decisions based on color theory or thinking about some mysterious art theory I know nothing about. Or does all that training just become ingrained and these artists are just going with their gut also? Are you a formallly trained artist? What’s your take on this?

I don’t have any desire to get an art education, beyond my desire to go back to school just because it would be fun. I don’t think I need to know this stuff, I just sometimes wonder what it is I don’t know.

Harder or Easier or The Same

Would making art be easier or harder with a formal art education? Or maybe it’s the same.

Part of wonders if it would be easier because I’d have this secret artist knowledge that would make decision making obvious.

And part of me wonders if it would be harder because I’d know a bunch of rules and be afraid to break them. I have no idea if my art breaks rules I don’t know. Could be, but would it matter? Probably not.

Or maybe it’s all the same because in the end as artists we are just interpreting our world and no matter how many classes one has taken this is just a kick ass fun thing to do and all the rules don’t really matter.

Structures #11

I figured on a post about my pondering about lack of formal education I’d illustrate it with one of my most popular textile paintings. Clearly I’m doing plenty right – ha!

A few days ago my morning Thoughts from the Universe email contained the following thought:

Until the really “great” stuff comes along, Lisa, do the not-so-great stuff.

The not-so-great stuff always leads to the great stuff. Whereas doing nothing pretty much leads to nowhere.

And do it with a passion -
The Universe

And my initial reaction was that, yes, I may not be getting much done during construction but at least I’m doing some things, filing papers, some art, making dinner.

Then the obvious hit me – building my beautiful new studio IS the great stuff. Woohoo for me!

What Does it Mean?

So there it is – all of my life’s artwork in a pile on my bedroom floor. They are demolishing my kids’ closets thusday to give them both walk in closets instead. There was no other place to store the art as the studio closet isn’t done.

It’s now covered in sheets and well protected from the construction but it’s interesting to see it all piled up like this. Very neat and tidy, no lose ends of stuff about. It actually feels like it has great energy so I’ll sleep well near all this art over the next few weeks until it has a better place to live.

Have you ever piled all your unsold artwork up in 1 spot? How’d that feel?

Construction Updates

Most every night I put quite a bit of time into uploading construction photos and commenting on it. Occasionally I think about why I do this and best answer I have is it keeps the project real for me.

Every day progress is made and I get involved by photographing it. So when the house as it is right now, which is fairly unusable in most rooms given the dust and incomplete stuff, I don’t get too stressed about it. Because I see the progress daily and know it’ll change again tomorrow. Keeps it all real. And it’s pretty fun taking the photos and making comments.

Today’s photos (see what happens when you give a 16 yr old boy a sharpie and let him write on the walls): February 17 Construction Photos

New Hardwood floor has been laced into the existing floor.

The Power of Building

Just a few weeks left to go and the house will be done. Today all sorts of people were doing stuff, which is documented over on smugmug in my daily photo update: February 16 construction photos.

We’re in the phase of construction known as "totally in your living space". So every day I have stuff to move about so I can cook dinner. Yes – I know crazy to keep cooking but it’s in part my desire to not eat crappy takeout food that made it so I can afford this remodel in the first place.

I look at the hardwood floor and the nice cabinets and my amazing studio and know that not going out to eat very often or spending money on $5 coffees over the last 7 years is a large part of why I can do this. So I cook dinner and just get over it. It’s been a very powerful experience to build a house with money I earned myself.

There have been times when I started to question some of my decisions – especially since they are a bit out of the ordinary. There is very little closet space in this house. But I have no desire to have clutter and to store a bunch of stuff – so why build in a place to store junk I don’t need?

Takes much relaxing to realize this house is mine. Totally my power to do what I want, I earned it. And the best part is, if I change my mind in 2 years I can just change it. I have the power to do that also.

New Goals Update

I set some really excellent goals to work in my studio an hour a day and keep up with email and make forward progress on my other art goals through the end of the construction.

Some days I pull this off and some days I don’t. Most days I don’t. But I have made it to my studio more days than I haven’t so I’m still keeping that intention in mind each morning and seeing where it takes me.

This weekend I spent over 6 hours in the studio working on the final piece for the show that I cannot yet show everyone. I’m loving it and as soon as it’s done I”ll start something else and then I can post photos of my artwork again.

Between construction and the last couple months being about art I cannot share I’m amazed I find anything to write about at all. So thanks to all of you for coming back every so often to see I am still here.

Markings #22
Textile Painting
©2008
58"x 49"

Good Stuff

Some random thoughts about things I am grateful for this evening:

• I love that I have enough light in my new office that I don’t need desk lamps. I just put bulbs in the 4 recessed cans and it’s perfect.
• I’m very appreciative Jeanne Williamson included me in the show she curated at the Danforth Art Museum. She gave a gallery talk on friday and the this article, The Many Tugs of Fabric, about the show appeared in the Boston Globe 9see page 2).
• Tomorrow they are going to hang the lights in my studio.
• Only 4 1/2 more weeks and construction will be done.
• I hired the best general contractor out there – really easy to work with and really committed to doing a good job.
• I now have a single todo list (spanning 3 pages) as a result of much organizing of paper tonight.
• I have really excellent friends, in real life and on the computer.
• I’m sticking to my plan of working in my studio every morning for an hour before turning on my computer. Sets up a great energy for the day.
• I’m really grateful I finally thought of something I could post tonight. The art I’m making isn’t yet ready to be posted and other than that life is all about building a house, it’s a stretch to think of art things to say some days.

Construction Update

Thanks for all the input on the porch gable in the last post. We are working on a plan to fix it and I’ll post photos when it’s completed. I know what the porch rails will look like so I have a bit of inside edge in visualizing what will work. There is also still a window missing by the front door, which will help with the house looking nicer.

Construction photos from the last few days – mostly finish work but the big room (kitchen/living room) is so awesome – it’s big and open – I love it!

February 10 and 11 Construction Photos

Markings #22

I wanted to include some art in this post and pick this one cause I love love the colors, yellow and gray. I’d love to find a place to hang this one in the house when it’s done cause it’s so cheerful. Hm. Wonder if I have a spot it would fit.

Paint

Today I’m taking a pass on my great plan of doing art and business stuff because I didn’t get much sleep last night. But I did completed my office painting project for the weekend so yay for that. Dark reddish brown and an orangy peachy kinda of color.

All of today’s construction photo are here: February 9 Construction Photos

Time to Vote

 
Above is the current state of my porch gable. Someone (either me or Jim The Builder) thinks that another set of sunburst beams needs to be added to the gable cause the bottom empty area is too big. The other one of us says it’s fine.

I told the builder I’d get opinions from my blog readers on which way would look better (not that I won’t do what I like but everyone loves a poll).

Cast your vote – which do you like better: as it is in the photo or would you add another set of beams in the lowest sections?

I thought about figuring out how to do one of those polls on my blog but I’m too tired. So just leave your vote in the comments.

 
And since I’m way off topic today, Happy Birthday Mom!

Ascending #1
Textile Painting – Mounted on stretched canvas
©2009
8" x 8"
Private Collection

The Plan Pays Off

The schedule I posted in yesterday’s blog post has it’s first success, in my 2 hours of studio time this morning I completed Ascending #1. This is the first 8" x 8" textile painting I’ve mounted on a stretched canvas and it looks good.

If you compare the final version shown here with the in progress photo here you can see I’ve tweaked the top of the left hand ladder as it was bugging me the way it was before.

I’m definitely going to explore more of these ladders. I’ve had some 6" x 12" canvases for a while and now I’m know the perfect art for them – some tall vertical ladders.

Painting

Today in addition to 2 hours studio time, 1/2 hour on email and getting my January art paperwork up to date (I sold 24 textile paintings in January – woohoo – thank everyone!) I spent a very long time with tape, caulk, plastic and paint and now there are beautiful orange/peach/pumpkin walls in my new office.

It’s truly magical to take a white wall and add color to it. I have no idea why I lived in a big white house for 14 years. Why didn’t I paint the thing! The only white in my new house will be the studio, trim and ceilings.

Next up is to add some dark reddish brown to the office on the lower part of the knee walls and the wall in the hallway leading to the office. It’s a darker shade of the brown accent wall in the studio. Kinda like the color of Dreyer’s (Edy’s) chocolate ice cream. I know this cause I just ate a bowl of it. Yum.

Hand Felted All Wool Pebbles
© 2009 By Chrissie
Printed With Permission from the Artist

Five More Weeks

I sat down with Jim, my general contractor, yesterday and we went over the plan for finishing up the remodel/addition. Five more weeks to go. And pretty much right on schedule even with all of the things I added into the project. Having awesome weather really helped, plus the crew is excellent.

Although I’ve moved into my studio and new bedroom those rooms aren’t yet finished. I spent many hours today washing drywall off the floors as I’ve decided I’ve had enough drywall dust in my life. I’m far from done with this task but it’s good to get started and I think by end of the week I should have it cleaned up (just in time for them to come back and finish the new drywall in the existing side of the house).

I’m also going to start painting colors in my bedroom and office tomorrow and I’ll start moving my stuff into the laundry room cabinets and organizing my kitchen cabinets. (See the latest construction photos here: Feb 4 and 5 and Feb 6).

The Plan

With all the house activity there hasn’t been a lot of art or the business of art going on at my house, which is not okay with me. So extending the discussion from last month, habits, I’ve decided to create a daily plan for the next 5 weeks to keep me on track.

From now until March 13 I will be spending most of my non day job time on the house but I’m also including the following in my daily schedule:

Studio Time:

• M-F: 1 hour – first thing in the morning (before turning on the computer)
• Sat-Sun: 2 hours – first thing in the morning (before turning on the computer)

Art Business Time (not to include email – but making forward progress on other goals):

• M-F: 1/2 hour – immediately after dinner
• Sat-Sun: 2 hours – late afternoon before dinner

Answer Email (I did pretty good keeping up for 1 week but am back to a long inbox):

• M-F: 1/2 hour – 9-9:30pm
• Sat-Sun: 1 hour – after dinner

While it’s tempting to skip the art while I’m in the last bits of hour stuff, I know I’ll be happier if I make time for art. Plan starts tomorrow. Goal is to make 6 out of 7 days for each of these activities and these are minimums – more time on art is always welcome if I’m so moved.

I’ll report in a blog post each sunday how I did for the previous week.

Felted Rocks

The above photo is one of my most recent new art purchases. A saw a link to these amazing felted rocks via twitter and immediately had to buy some from the makeyourpresentsfelt etsy shop. Chrissie custom makes the stones for each customer (how cool is that) and her packaging is amazing.

I collect real rocks and these felted ones are a must have for my collection. They are even better in person then they look in the photo so if you a rock collector I highly recommend them (she’ll relist them in her shop if they are sold when you check – so just check back later – it’s worth the effort).

If you aren’t a rock person check out this really cool bracelet made with felted beads – if I wore jewelry I’d buy it myself. Love the colors and the felted beads are too cool.