Lisa Call

Home #55
©2010 Lisa Call
6″ x 6″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
$190 + shipping

Purchase Home #55 with a single payment:

Purchase Home #55 with 3 monthly payments of $64 each

New Art

I’m excited about Home #55 above, as in addition to sporting my newly rediscovered old hand painted fabrics, I did some free motion quilting on the textile painting. Something I haven’t done in years.

The free motion quilting I’ve done is called stipple quilting. You can’t see it in the photo above as it’s black thread on black (in the background) and the light in my studio isn’t very good in the evening for photos – so I’ll add a detail shot to my blog tomorrow when I have better light.

Stipple quilting is an organic line that meanders about the space, never crossing itself. I felt the organic quilt line in the back ground would compliment the print in the fabric nicely and it does look great.

What fun to revisit old techniques I haven’t used in years.

And chartreuse with black and white. What could be better than that?

I just finished this little piece and I also just finished quilting Dream #40 (photo of completed textile painting coming soon) so now it’s back to Structures #112 in the studio tomorrow.

Landscaping

Today I met with the landscape architect and we talk about a final revision I want in the plan. With this change (well – depending on what he does to the drawing) I think it will finally feel right.

I’m looking forward to moving on to phase 2 of this project – ie actually doing the work. Can you imagine? Getting to go outside of your house and sit down and enjoy the outdoors.

I’ve felt fairly trapped in my house because I have no landscaping. It’s not bad in the winter but during the summer it drives me a bit mad.

It’s help that this year I’m running – so I’m outside more. But I do need to get out and hike to enjoy more of the glorious Colorado summer. Maybe this weekend.

Home #54
©2010 Lisa Call
8″ x 8″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
Purchase Here

Hand Painted Fabrics

In 1998 I took a class from Natasha Kempers-Cullen to learn her techniques for painting and printing with Profab textile paints.

For a few years after the class, I spent hours and hours painting, stamping and eventually screen printing fabric with these textile paints. It was incredibly fun and the paints are non-toxic so I enjoyed this activity with my kids.

Our process evolved from that which Natasha taught, mostly in the direction of being very messy as I had a 4 year old helping out.

It was great fun.

It is also a very slow process, so I never did produce very much fabric. I eventually turned to dyeing vs. painting and this era of my surface design came to an end.

Black and White

Last night I was perusing the internet looking at art on blogs and came across some black and white artwork.

I thought now that I’ve completed my purple and orange exercise, it was time to make a black and white Home textile painting.

Solid black and white wasn’t calling to me so in the back of my mind I recalled I might have painted some black and white fabrics. And sure enough – I did:

It’s not much, probably about 1/2 yard total at most, but enough to make a few small textile paintings.

Home #54

So off to my studio I went. Last night and this morning I created the above quilt.

It was fun to use heavily patterned fabrics in my artwork and definitely new, as I’ve used exclusively solids for nearly 10 years now.

The pattern inside the house is from a rubber stamp I made. I never did know what I’d do with it but it makes for a lovely house.

I’m looking forward to make a few more of these before the fabric runs out.

Checking In

I haven’t written lately about how things are going as I move passed the depression I was dealing with a few months back.

I’m still going to acupuncture once a week. This week I didn’t have the familiar “glad I’m here as it’s time” feelings, which I consider big progress. I think I have definitely turned a corner the last few weeks and probably will start cutting down on the acuputure.

Not that I don’t’ love it but I still am not best friends with the needles.

I had a cold 4 weeks ago and just today I finally stopped coughing enough that I felt I could get back to running.

I had just reached a point in June, after 2 really good weeks of running, that I wasn’t struggling with the idea of booting myself out the door to run.

I figure the cold was just the universe’s way to test me – did I really want to do this? The answer is yes. The physical exertion is good for me. So I tied on my shoes this morning and hit the pavement.

Feels great to feel like me again.

Home #53
©2010 Lisa Call
6″ x 6″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
Purchase Here

Completion Quest

I’ve decided I have too many incomplete projects. Time to clear some up. So I’m on a completion quest – which you can read about in my new post over on my other blog makebigart .

The article is here: A Quest for Completion.

What to join me?

New Art

Above is some brand new art, hot off the iron/sewing machine/cutting table today.

I mentioned in my last studio newsletter that I was going to making some 8″, 6″ and 4″ Home textile paintings. This is the first.

A few days ago on twitter Nemo (I featured his art in my last newsletter – see the above link for more details) asked for someone to name 3 colors.

I suggested purple, lavender and yellowish-orange. He went with green.

So I went to my studio and made Home #53 with those colors.

Speaking of completion, clearly I’m not done making artwork in the Home series – I’m still very much enjoying the process. I’m still thinking about my home, especially with the landscape project in progress.

The outside of the house weighs into the same questions about What makes a house a home?

Misc Notes

My inspiration journal is going well and I have a custom URL for it: inspiration.lisacall.com . You can subscribe in an rss reader if you use one, or you can “like” my facebook art page as the images appear there also.

The first photos from Color Improvisations, which opened last weekend in Germany, are posted. Check them out here. The show looks fabulous and I feel like I’m about the only artist participating that didn’t show up for the opening. Bummer. Looks like a great party. Next time!

Details are still being worked out on how one can purchase a catalog from the show. I hear it is amazing – can’t wait to get mine.

Letting Go

The Artful Home studio sale began yesterday. My artwork for sale here.

I always have mixed feelings about selling my older artwork. Part of me thinks “better keep this around for when I’m famous and need examples of my early work” and part of me thinks “who would want this” and part of me is worried that there are a bunch of art rules about selling older artwork and I better figure them out and follow them.

And then the part of me that likes uncluttered and spare spaces says it’s time to clear the way for the new by cleaning out some of my older artwork. And so I select a few of my older works and offer them for sale at artfulhome during their studio sale.

This time I’m offering this art at significantly lower prices than I might normally. Probably has to do with the state of my mind at the moment – a real desire to make way for something new by letting go of something old. The upcoming college tuition bills that will start rolling in this fall might have something to do with it also.

Whatever the reason, I am prepared to sell some older artwork at the moment. Although not for long, as the sale ends July 29.

Older Work

Some of this artwork isn’t necessarily recognizable as my artwork. Although the Chairs series is clearly a precursor to my structures series.

Smiley faces – hm. Not exactly me anymore. It was made for a group challenge. We were to make a face. I wasn’t going there, so I went with smileys. I was never good at rules.

Lots of beads on some of this work. I still like working with beads. I have a piece almost finished that is encrusted with beads, but this type of work is pretty rare these days.

All of this work is part of my growth as an artist. And for that this is an interesting look at history if nothing else.

The Art

El Nino
© Lisa Call
19″ x 19″
Textile Painting (fabric, netting, batting, rayon and metallic thread, beads, buttons)
$395 (purchase here)

 
 

Smile
© Lisa Call
18″ x 18″
Textile Painting (fabric, batting, thread, buttons)
$175 (purchase here)

 
 

Chicken Quartet #1
© Lisa Call
12.5″ x 13.5″
Textile Painting (vintage fabric, fabric hand dyed by the artist, batting, thread, beads, buttons)
$295 (purchase here)

 
 

Chairs #11:Spring
©2000 Lisa Call
29″ x 46″
Textile Painting (fabric hand painted by the artist, cotton batting, cotton and rayon thread)
$960 (purchase here)

 
 

Chairs #8: Yellow and Blue
©2000 Lisa Call
32″ x 32″
Textile Painting (fabric hand painted by the artist, cotton fabric, cotton batting, cotton and rayon thread)
$840 (purchase here)

 
 

Chairs #6
©2000 Lisa Call
18″ x 18″
Textile Painting (Fabric, cotton batting, rayon thread)
$195 (purchase here)

 
 

Chairs #15: Cerro Grande – Canyons Burning
©2002 Lisa Call
29″ x 40″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand painted and dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
$960 (purchase here)

 
 

Insalada Caprese
©2002 Lisa Call
24″ x 24″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
$395 (purchase here)

 
 

Fractured Flies
© Lisa Call
23″ x 44″
Textile Painting (Fabric, cotton batting, cotton thread)
$195 (purchase here)

Chairs #15: Cerro Grande – Canyons Burning
©2002 Lisa Call
29″ x 40″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand painted by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
$1600 $960 + shipping

Artful Home Studio Sale

This weekend is the perfect summer weekend. Yoga, hiking, cooking, relaxing with a friend, hiking, hacking large weeds out of my yard to prepare for my upcoming landscape project. And of course studio time and making progress on art biz stuff.

Today’s project is processing images of older artwork to be included in the Artful Home Studio sale. I’m adding 5 new – older pieces to the sale this round.

I’m including 3 pieces from my Chairs series. Including the one above.

The sale will run July 13 thru 29 at the artful home website.

Cerro Grande

I hand painted/dyed the fabric in this textile painting in a workshop with Ann Johnston in the Spring of 2000 in Colorado.

This was during the Cerro Grande fire, a devastating fire in New Mexico that destroyed homes and many trees in and near Los Alamos, my home town. A very sad event.

Days after dyeing the fabric, I completed the design for the textile painting but didn’t add the quilting until a few years later.

This is the last of the large quilts in the Chairs series, as not long after completing this piece, I started on my Structures series, which now numbers over 100 pieces.

 
If you can’t wait for the studio sale, let me know and you can buy this piece from my website (I’ll send you a paypal invoice or you can pay by check, or you can even pay in 3 installments of $325, whatever works for you).

Selecting some fabrics for the next piece in the Dream series.

Dream #15
©2009 Lisa Call
4″ x 4″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
$125 $78 + shipping
Discounted prices good through January 2nd, 2010
Purchase Here

Reminder

Today is the last day for a discount on the Dream series. See all available artwork here: South African Impressions.

Later today I’ll put up my post with my 100 accomplishements for 2009. Running behind on posts as I’m working a lot in my studio and relaxing with my kids during their break.

Dream #14
©2009 Lisa Call
4″ x 4″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
$125 $78 + shipping
SOLD

Dream #30
©2009 Lisa Call
3″ x 3″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
$75 $46 + shipping
Discounted prices good through January 2nd, 2010
Purchase Here

Dream #10
©2009 Lisa Call
3.5″ x 2.5″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
$40 $28 + shipping
Discounted prices good through January 2nd, 2010
Purchase Here

A Blank Canvas

Now that the studio is finished I got to spend today creating art. Although before I could begin I had much preparation to do.

The art I’m going to be creating over the next 7 weeks is for a solo show in Boulder that opens in mid February. I’ve shown in this space twice before so I know it well and know exactly the work I will make for the exhibit.

Usually when I create the artwork tells me what size it needs to be. This is a lovely feature of not working with a canvas. But it can also be a liability when I am facing a deadline as I like to work BIG and I don’t have time to complete a lot of huge quilts.

Being aware that 7 weeks isn’t much time to create an entire exhibits worth of art, this time around I’ve prederminded the sizes I will make so they fit the gallery and my time budget.

Since I have huge white walls the first step in preparation is to mark off the sizes I am working with. My plan is 9 larger pieces, the first 5 fit on my design walls and are marked off below.

[They might be a bit hard to see and if so - apologies for the big white photos. But in each of these there is some very light colored yarn marking off the spaces to fill.]

The largest – 3′x8′ (this is on the design wall I just put up – woohoo!):

Two 4′x4′ square:

Two 3′x3′ square:

Once these 5 are completed I’ll design the remaining four 3′x4′ pieces.

Equipment Prep

Next up I needed to get the sewing machine ready. I wound a bunch of bobbins (the thread that goes in the bottom of the sewing machine).

And cleaned and oiled the bobbin case and put in a new needle. Now it’s all ready to go.

Home #10

And here is the start – Home #10 will be the 3′x8′ piece. This is likely all you will see of it before my show opens so the work is all brand new. Or maybe I’ll post a few in progress photos. We’ll see…

It’s yellow, purple and brown and turning out way cool (it’s much further along now). I’m most pleased.

The Plan

I have about 260ish hours of studio time needed to complete the work for the show (more show details later). I have 7 weeks in which to do this. So, well, I’m going to be busy over the next few weeks as I think I’ve got to continue on with the day job also.

I’ll post updates 2-3 times a week so stay tuned. And coming up soon will be my year in review and my work fro 2010 and the coming decade. I love writing those posts.

And while I’ve said my studio is complete I still need to fix this one small detail. The builder had to redo some texture – back in April or May and the wall has looked like this ever since. I need to hunt through my 20 paint colors and get this fixed cause I’m really tired of looking at it this way! Maybe I’ll go do that right now…

Dream #13
©2009 Lisa Call
6″ x 6″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
$275 $170 + shipping
Purchase Here

Project Completed

I’m very happy to announce that the South African Impressions project is completed. I love making this artwork and now I’m enjoying sharing it and very much appreciate everyone positive comments about the series.

You can see all 35 pieces of the artwork on this page: South African Impressions.

Everyone that prepurchased artwork has selected their their piece (except Karin – I seem to be unable to get ahold of you – please email me if you see this) and I’m in the process of shipping out the last pieces.

The remaining work (of which there are some of my favorite pieces in this group, like the Dream #13 above) is now available for purchase.

I’ve decided to keep them at their pre-purchase price until January 2nd so if you are interested in owning one of textile paintings in the Dream series now is an excellent time to purchase one.

The remaining 16 textile paintings:

Six Inches Square – Mounted on Stretched Canvas

Dream #2
©2009 Lisa Call
6″ x 6″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
$275 $170 + shipping
Purchase Here

Dream #24
©2009 Lisa Call
6″ x 6″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
$275 $170 + shipping
Purchase Here

Four Inches Square – Mounted on Stretched Canvas

Dream #3
©2009 Lisa Call
4″ x 4″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
$125 $78 + shipping
Purchase Here

Dream #5
©2009 Lisa Call
4″ x 4″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
$125 $78 + shipping
Purchase Here

Dream #15
©2009 Lisa Call
4″ x 4″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
$125 $78 + shipping
Purchase Here

Dream #16
©2009 Lisa Call
4″ x 4″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
$125 $78 + shipping
Purchase Here

Dream #26
©2009 Lisa Call
4″ x 4″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
SOLD

Three Inches Square – Mounted on Stretched Canvas

Dream #7
©2009 Lisa Call
3″ x 3″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
$75 $46 + shipping
Purchase Here

Dream #18
©2009 Lisa Call
3″ x 3″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
$75 $46 + shipping
Purchase Here

Dream #28
©2009 Lisa Call
3″ x 3″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
$75 $46 + shipping
Purchase Here

Dream #30
©2009 Lisa Call
3″ x 3″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
Mounted on stretched canvas
$75 $46 + shipping
Purchase Here

ACEOS (Art Cards)

Dream #9
©2009 Lisa Call
3.5″ x 2.5″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
$40 $28 + shipping
Purchase Here

Dream #10
©2009 Lisa Call
3.5″ x 2.5″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
$40 $28 + shipping
Purchase Here

Dream #20
©2009 Lisa Call
3.5″ x 2.5″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
$40 $28 + shipping
Purchase Here

Dream #22
©2009 Lisa Call
3.5″ x 2.5″
Textile Painting (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)
$40 $28 + shipping
Purchase Here

Dream #1 – Dream #35
©2009 Lisa Call
Textile Paintings (Fabric hand dyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread)

Done!

This morning I finished uploading the images for the South African Impressions project and created a webpage to display them: South African Impressions.

Feels GREAT to have accomplished this task and now comes a very fun part of the project – contacting the folks that pre-purchased some of the artwork so they can select the textile painting they’d like to own. I’m contacting folks in the order they purchased the art so if you bought a piece of art and haven’t heard from me yet, you will soon, so start thinking about which piece you’d like.

If you didn’t prepurchase one and now would like one there will be several available and I’ll let everyone know when prices are posted and paypal buttons are up. I’ve had several inquires – so thank you!

What’s Next

I have a bit of work left attaching the textile paintings to the canvases and anticipate I’ll complete that task in the next day or so. Then there is the shipping and paperwork that goes along with the creation of new artwork.

I have a few hanging sleeves to get on artwork headed to shows soon that I’ll tackle this weekend also.

Then the big studio clean up. I’m going to get the last design walls up, finish up some painting and in 2009 I will declare my new studio COMPELTE (for new readers – I built a new studio this year and the last 6 months I’ve stalled on the last 1% of the work – time to remedy that).

By middle of next week I will have things dusted off and the studio in great shape it’ll be time to start the new artwork for my solo show – which opens in February. Seriously tight deadline but I’m excited to get started.

PS – I’ll also be sending out my studio newsletter saturday or sunday as promised. If you aren’t already on the list you can join here: Studio Newsletter Signup