Lisa Call

ACEO #7
3 1/2″ x 2 1/2″
sold

ACEO #10
3 1/2″ x 2 1/2″
sold

 

ACEO #11
3 1/2″ x 2 1/2″
$21

Motivation Revisited

I wrote an article about motivation in my latest studio newsletter outlining 5 steps I take to stay motivated and on task to complete large projects (you can read it here - it’s the 3rd article: studio newsletter).

Another thing I do to keep motivated is to give myself rewards along the way and when the goal is reached. Nothing like getting something I really want to keep me moving forward. Sometimes it’s a simple as a container of expensive decadent ice cream or new art book to keep me plowing through a task. The best reward for doing household chores is a few hours in my studio.

Dell Studio 17

My big reward for getting my house sold and moving to my new home was to buy myself a new laptop. My old computer was 7 years old and not in the best shape. I upgraded the memory last year and that helped but it really needed to be put to sleep. In addition, having the big thing in my bedroom/studio/office was heating up the room and it was taking up way too much space.

So I ordered myself a "desktop replacement" laptop, which means it is big and heavy. It’s a Dell Studio 17 (17″ screen) with a fast processor, 4 gig of memory, beautiful high resolution screen and even a finger print scanner for security (okay - so it came installed - it’s kinda silly and I have no time to set it up right now but it’s still a fun toy). And best of all it’s orange.

I also bought my kids new laptops, also with 17″ screens, but theirs’ were Dell Inspiron 1720s and instead of an ATI video card they had nVIDIA. A few weeks after the computers arrived I found out that these graphic cards are probably faulty. HP has been offering extended warranties for effect computers but Dell is still dragging their feet. It looked like a situation I didn’t want any part of so I shipped the kids’ laptops back this morning and will replace them with Studio 17s with the ATI video cards.

Their laptops aren’t quite as nice as mine, but still way nicer than any kid might need. They were a big help during the move and deserve a reward also. I’ve also told them these laptops are their birthday presents, xmas presents and bribery for helping me move out and back in for the remodel. They grumble a bit with that comment but they are happy to have such nice computers they aren’t really complaining.

Markings #21 In Progress   ©2008

ACEOs For Sale

There are still 3 ACEO’s available for sale that I made last month to include with my newsletter. If you are interested in purchasing one (shown above) please send me email and let me know which one you’d like. They are $21 US and include shipping to anywhere. These 3 Art Trading Cards were all inspired by Markings #21,.

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.

Structures #58    ©2006    30" x 32"

 
For the second summer in a row I find myself being extremely productive in my studio while the rest of the world relaxes on the beach with a trashy novel and a beer. Last night I put the finishing touches on my 20th completed piece for the year, 7 of these completed in the last 4 weeks. I feel a bit out of sync with everyone else but I’m thoroughly enjoying myself.

I was thinking last night about why I am so focused.

This is what I came up with

• There is no morning rush to be out the door at 7am to get the kids to school. I still get up at 5:30am (with no alarm clock) but spend the time from 6-8am in my studio working before leaving for the day job. That’s an additional 10 hours in the studio each week that I don’t have time for during the school year.
• I seriously cut down on the amount of time I spend on my computer doing nothing. I’ve decided to check my email only a few times a day. I don’t check my email at home very often at all anymore and just a few times during the day at work. If I have art business tasks to complete via email I write down my list of items to do on the computer before turning it on. Once I complete the items I do my best to turn it off again right immediately. I’m stilling working on this but in the past few weeks I’ve really gotten much better.
• I’m slowly whittling down my inbox and my goal is to have no unanswered emails leftover at the end of each week. Shuffling through the same old emails over and over again and not answering them, as I normally do, is really quite silly. I unsubscribed to almost all of the large email groups I used to belong. Reducing the computer time not only frees up more time to do other things but it also frees up a lot of energy. I was feeling very bogged down by the sense of commitment I felt to the 60-80 unanswered emails that never seemed to go away. Over that last month I’ve slowly worked that number down, currently at 23, and by the end of this week hope to hit 0 for the first time in, well probably 20 years (I started reading email in 1984). It feels great!
• I have been to Arizona four times since Christmas, plus a trip to Kansas and the 2 weeks in Ohio in May. Right now I just want to be at home. I’ve had enough travel for a while and am really not envying anyone’s vacation.
• I’ve been listening to a lot of books on tape while in my studio doing the quilting portion of my art (I find it hard to listen to books while I’m designing the work but the quilting is a much more meditative process that doesn’t require a lot of difficult artistic decisions). I’m mostly listening to what I call modern american trash. The beach reads. They are fun and they keep me glued to my studio chair waiting to hear what happens next.
• I’ve started spending more time relaxing, watching movies, playing games, working in my yard and just hanging out. In setting aside some down time it has energized my desire to focus and work hard during the time I do have for the studio.

 
The above piece is one I finished last year. I have a few related pieces that I will show over the next few posts and then provide more of the story on the work.

I haven’t photographed the new work yet but it will appear once I get to that task.

Awaiting Photography

 

Awaiting ??

 
Paula had an interesting post the other day, What do you do with it?, about storing artwork.

The above images are 2 of the 3 places I store my work. The 3rd being on the walls of my home.

In that first image I have 20 quilts thrown over my 2nd floor railing all waiting to be photographed. I guess it’s been a while since I had a photo day.

Once a quilt is photographed it either goes on the wall or goes on the the pile of folded (yes folded) quilts. At some point I want to build deep shelves into my guest bedroom closet for the storage of my quilts but for now they are on a table in that mostly unused dark cool room covered with sheets.

When it’s time to ship a quilt I pull it from the pile and press the crease lines out of it and off it goes in perfect shape. I also refold the work every so often so the fold lines are never in the same place for long.

 
But all of that is the physical - here’s how I do it - stuff.

The more interesting part of Paula’s post was how to stay motivated making more work when it is literally just piling up.

I guess my answer is that isn’t a problem for me. I believe in what I’m doing and no matter how many quilts are in the pile I still want to make more and more. Maybe because I do not make the work to sell I don’t find the existence of a bunch of unsold work demoralizing.

I guess I believe when the time is right and I’ve laid the groundwork with my slow but steady progress on my art business goals that everything will just fall into place. The work will start selling and I will have a smaller pile.

But even if it never sells, I don’t care. I enjoy making the quilts too much to stop doing it. I don’t think I could stop making them, I’d be too unhappy.

 
Although there are times I wonder if I did try to actively start selling my work how would I react if it didn’t sell? Would I start questioning what I’m doing, why I’m making things that don’t sell? This certainly has me worried. I would be sad to see that happen.

Or even worse - what would happen if the work did sell? Would I stop pushing myself to get better and just make the same salable thing over and over again?

Tracy recently had a post with similar themes. It was comforting to read about how a successful artist dealt with these issues.

I struggle back and forth with the idea of selling my work. While the income would be a huge help I fear what the process of trying to sell would do to my motivation.

Can I keep the goal of making the work I want to make without regards to the marketplace while also turning to the marketplace to sell my work? The age old question many artists ask themselves. What exactly does it mean to sell-out?

Structures #68 ©2007 - In Progress - approximately 58"x45"

 
Monday nights are usually my guaranteed free night during the week when I can come home and work in my studio for the evening. The kids are with their dad at Taekwondo and my boyfriend is generally out of town. It’s the beginning of the week so I’m not too wiped out from a week of work and schlepping kids about so I’m able to put in a lot of work in the studio. Unfortunately things didn’t quite work out that way the last 4 months due to weird schedules, holidays and family stuff getting in the way.

But no more - Monday’s are mine again.

When I finished Structures #50 yesterday it meant I had only 1 older Structures piece to finish up and then I’d be completely caught up with 67 pieces finished in that series. My plan was to finish Structures #48 over the next week or so but I couldn’t resist.

I decided to start a new piece instead of finishing the old one and the result is above. You might recognize some ideas from #50 that I wanted to explore again.

I started the design last night but it didn’t go well so I got up before work this morning and moved a few thing around and it finally gelled for me. After work I was able to sew the quilt top together. I also sewed the back together and basted it. I’ve got the thread colors for the quilting selected and tomorrow I’ll start quilting it.

If all goes well this week this piece will be completely finished just 1 week after starting it. This is how I would like to do my work from now on. No more piles of unfinished quilt tops.

Problem is my favorite part of this art form is the design and piecing. While I love the quilting it also takes much longer so I get a bit impatient at times. For example the above quilt took 7 1/2 hours to design, cut, sew together and baste. I estimate it will take about 20 hours to quilt it. That’s a pretty typical ratio of 1:3 for design to quilting.

So I don’t actually expect for it to work out where I do 1 piece at a time with no backlog, but I hope to not get as far behind as I was 6 months ago when I had over 20 pieces to quilt.

I still have 8 Markings quilts and the lone Structures #48 to finish. But things are looking up.

 
I originally had planned to do some business work tonight but I’m counting blogging as that, which is really not okay because I’m a good 2 weeks behind on the business stuff. I really need to stop procrastinating and get too it. Maybe tomorrow night while the kids are doing homework.

Structures #28 ©2004 Lisa Call
84"x57"

In the conversation that followed this post [on the blog Art and Perception], How is an Art Patron different from a Gallery Consumer?, Karl asked me the following question:

Earlier you commented that you see no need for deadlines or contracts to push you to finish your work. Are you able to pursue a major work for six months, with certainty that there will be a buyer? And without changing directions (which is natural, because you grow in the process of working)?

Artist don’t need deadlines to paint a straight forward picture, but if you think of doing a major work over a long time period, a little external pressure can be a big help.

I’ve been thinking about my answer and wondering how my answer relates to what others might say.

First off, yes, Karl I have completed major work that has taken me six months to complete. The quilt above is such a piece. There are hundreds of 1/4"-3/8" strips of fabric each cut from the fabric individually and sewn together one at a time. It took about 6 months to complete. I suppose whether or not this is really a "major work" as defined by Karl is up for debate as I’m not exactly sure what he meant by that.

But I did it for no reason other than I thought the piece had promise and I wanted to see it through to the end. Whether or not I was successful with the work is another matter.

There was a certainty that I would not find a buyer for this work, and infact haven’t really looked for one. I don’t create to sell. I create because that is what I want to do.

Actually I liked the above piece but I felt it had flaws and I wanted to try it again. So I made a second large piece that is similar but addresses some of the concerns from the first piece.

I still have to quilt the second piece so it has been sitting and waiting for 18 months because I needed to workout how I was going to do this. I feel the quilting (the top stitching lines that cover the surface of the quilt and hold the layers together) was a weak point in the first piece. I’ve now worked out a plan for the second piece that came about as I worked through this issue on other work over the last year. Last night I basted this quilt and within the next couple months I will complete this piece also. And again - I have no show and no buyer in the works. I made it because I wanted to.

I don’t need deadlines or external pressure to make my work - I just do it because I want to. But it makes me wonder - is this the norm? Or am I an exception? Would most artists be better off with a patron to keep them motivated as Karl suggests?

How would you answer Karl’s question?

Last week I finally reached (and exceeded) my goal of working in my studio 20 hours a week since the first time since my vacation in mid August. It felt great to finally get things going again.

I finished quilting a large red piece (Structures #57 - photo to come later - I still need to finish it off with a binding, sleeve and label), so my walls were bare having completed all the quilts I had on my design walls at the beginning of the summer.

So I basted 6 quilt tops I designed earlier - 3 Markings quilts and 3 Structures quilts. Two of them finally being some pieces I posted a while back.

Structures #54 ©2006 - top only - still to be quilted:

and Structures #52 ©2006 - top only - still to be quilted:

 
I hope to complete these 6 pieces by the end of October. That would bring me up to 54 pieces completed in the Structures series and 7 pieces completed in the Markings series.

But still 6 unfinished pieces in Structures and 7 in Markings and a handful of other quilts. So right now I’m still hovering at 20 pieces that have been designed and pieced but not yet quilted.

 
I wish I could say this means I am totally focusing on the quilting as that is rather a ridiculous number of pieces of unfinished work laying about. But I had an inspiration this weekend and I designed and pieced the 14th quilt top for the Markings series. I’m quite pleased with it and I think once I get a few more of these pieces finished I’ll post a few on my blog. I’m slowly starting to warm up to this new series.

After working on just Structures quilts for 5-6 years the new series has been hard to reconcile. Do I like it, do I not? Is it any good? What am I trying to say? Have I succeeded? Is there enough there to really do a large series?

I still don’t really have answers to some of these questions, which is why I still haven’t posted pictures. When I can answer the questions I’ll be ready to show the work.

First, thanks to all of you for the supportive comments about my grandmother. She will be missed but I have some good memories.

It’s been a pretty unsettling month between my 2 week vacation, getting sick the day we got home, going to my grandmothers funeral 2 weeks later and then last week I got sick again (caught a nasty cold while at the funeral). So I have little to report on the art front. I only managed 7 hours in the studio last week. This week is going better, only 2 days into the week and I’m already at 5 1/2 hours.

I set aside the summer to really focus on my artwork and I accomplished quite a bit. But starting next week (I’m fudging the official start of fall coming this thursday) I’m going to get back to work on the business side of my art in addition to keeping up with 20 hours a week in my studio. I’m going to work on my business goals this weekend and will post my thoughts on that topic later next week.

In the meantime, these photos were taken just outside my front door early one morning last week.

Colorado Sunrise:

I was having a discussion with some artist friends about making art and a common thread through the conversation is that basically making art is a lot of work and it can be extremely time consuming.

So why do we do it?

After putting in 40 hours a week at the day job there are many many days I come home and think life would be so much easier if I didn’t care - if I could just pull a few weeds in the garden, make a nice dinner, go for a walk, see a movie or maybe plop down in front of the tv like 95% of the country. Why do I have a drive to have something more in my life?

But when I try not to focus on the art I’m so incredibly unhappy - it’s just so boring for me. Even though life is frenzied I’m so much happier when I devote time to my art. It’s the process of creating that keeps me going.

But how in the world can you explain this to someone else? Friends think I’m nuts. I think some times I’m obsessed and it’s a bad thing. But is it really?

Debra Roby commented on her blog about my posting last friday about trends in quilt making.

She made some interesting observations. In particular she made some comments about the need to create a large body of work. This is a topic that comes up often among quilters and for some reason it is controversial. From where I’m sitting I can no longer understand the controversy, as an artist I don’t see how you can succeed without a large body of work.

I made a decision several years ago to enter fewer shows and to concentrate on becoming more established. Prior to that I did work here and there trying out new things and never really focusing. I’d enter every show I could find and rarely had enough work to enter very many shows at a time, always lamenting I didn’t have enough work. I certainly never had enough cohesive work to pull together a solo show.

If you look at my resume there is very little on there between 2000 and 2003. The shows I was in during this time were mostly invitational or group shows that friends organized and I didn’t have to be juried in. In fact there are only 3 juried shows the entire period, 2 at the beginning of 2000 that I entered in 1999 and Quilt National.

I chose to spend those 4 years creating a body of work instead of being distracted with shows. Debra suggests in her blog that I’m now “established” and so I can ignore trends and do what I want. I think about it differently. I think that I’m more established (although I still think I’m an emerging artist) because I finally did start ignoring the trends in 2000 and instead concentrated on my own work.

It’s hard to step out of the rat race of the quilt art world and seclude one’s self. People forget who you are. It didn’t help that I also changed my name during this time so when I reappeared in 2003/2004 I was virtually an unknown. I loved Melody’s comment on my blog when she discovered my former name .

Putting on the blinders and ignoring all the excitement when people get into shows or have their work published is very difficult but I’m very happy I did this. In the end I think it has made both my artwork and my commitment to the artwork much stronger.

While I’m not saying everyone should stop experiementing and get on with a body of work, I do believe at some point if you don’t do this you aren’t going to get very far in the long run. I know the time I spent experimenting and finding my voice was very important. I took classes from a variety of people and struggled until I finally had that “ah-ha” moment and realized that I wanted to do pieced work exclusively.

This week Alyson Stanfield wrote in her weekly email newsletter: “There will never be enough time to do everything you want.”

I have a sign on my wall in my studio (right in front of my sewing machine so I see it daily, and often) that reads: “Everything changed the day she realized there was exactly enough time for the important things in her life.”

I think this says the same thing Alyson is saying but from a slighly different point of view.

For me learning to accept that there wasn’t enough time for everything was key to my happiness and success. I make sure my “important things” are identified so I make time for them to happen. In other words, just like Alyson recommends, I have to think about what my real goals are if I’m going to find time for them.