Lisa Call

Making Progress

I’m a week and a half into my 7 weeks of intense studio time as I prepare for my upcoming solo show.

I have 4 large textile paintings basted and ready for quilting and a 5th in design. I’ve started quilting the first piece, the one I’ve selected for the show postcard, and things are going well. I’m mostly on track and think I will meet my schedule.

Things can become quite a mess when working this much, as is evidence by my work table above. I know, not really all that messy, but for me it is, as normally I keep table tops clear. When things are organized I’m more efficient and I think more creative. I don’t waste energy finding things so I can use it all for creating art.

Save The Date

My solo show will run Feb 17 – March 17 at Macky Gallery in Boulder. The gallery is only open 9-4 on Wednesdays and to ticketed patrons of the Macky Auditorium.

Best chance to see the show will be at my opening – February 21 from 1-4pm. I’ll be giving a gallery talk at 2pm during the opening.

Mark your calendars now and more information will be coming with directions and parking info.

Number 101

I intended to include on my list of 100 accomplishments of 2009 my winning of the award for The Most Gorgeous Mouthwatering (MGM) Studio of the Year from Making a Mark but somehow forgot.

Thank you Katherine for the award. I love my new studio and so glad you loved all the photos of the construction.

Making a Mark is the most amazing and mouth watering blog by Katherine Tyrrell – if you are an artist and aren’t reading this blog you are missing out. It is a huge honor to be included in this years award winners.

To celebrate the new year I want to first honor my accomplishments for 2009. Most of these are art related but not all of them as life and art are not possible to separate.

1. I choose Expansion and Integrity as my words for the year and found it impacted much more than my art.
2. I completed construction on my beautiful new 450 sq ft studio (not to mention the rest of major home renovation project). If you are in town contact me for a studio visit.
3. I spent a month in South Africa on an incredible, fabulous vacation.
4. I moved my mother to Denver so she could live near me.
5. I spent 388 hours in my studio making art (that an average of around 7.5 hours a week for the year.)
6. I worked in my studio 165 days in 2009, a huge number of days given the year I’ve had with other commitments.
7. I created 35 small textile paintings in my new Dream series, inspired by my trip to South Africa.
8. I created 12 new textiles paintings in the Lines series – these small works are mounted on painted stretched canvas.
9. I made the first 3 textile paintings in a new series – Ascending , I’ll explore this series in more detail in 2010.
10. I created 9 new ACEOs.
11. I designed 1 new textile paintings in the Markings series (it still needs to be quilted.)
12. I created 5 new textile paintings in the Structures series and design 2 additional compositions.
13. I added 1 new artwork in my Home series, as a gift for my mom.
14. Total I created 66 new textile paintings in 09. Most are smaller works but the Structures and Markings pieces are about 7′ square.
15. I spent an unknown number of hours marketing my art but it was a lot. I didn’t track the numbers this year as I had other priorities.
16. I sent 4 studio newsletters in 2009.
17. I set an intention to write a monthly newsletter and revamped my format to facilitate this goal. I’ll pursue this further in 2010.
18. I ended the year with 584 newsletter subscribers, adding 153 new subscribers in 2009 (you can join here).
19. I wrote 132 blog posts.
20. My blog exceeded 100,000 page views 3 of the 12 months in 2009 and traffic continues to grow even though this was the least number of blog posts I’ve written in a single years since I started blogging 5 years ago. Thanks to all of you for your support!
21. I continued to build a strong community on twitter.
22. I wrote 4180 tweets.
23. I ended the year with over 2500+ followers on twitter.
24. I became more active on facebook by creating a fan page for my artwork.
25. I sold 22 of the 35 textile paintings in the Dream series.
26. 15 of the Dream series were presold before I left for Africa to collectors that gave me great confidence in my artwork.
27. I sold Structures #39, which was featured in the 2008 Artful Home holiday catalog.
28. I sold 10 ACEOs.
29. I sold 22 additional textile paintings (mostly smaller work or older work).
30. Total of 55 textile paintings sold in 2009
31. I decided to sell my handdyed fabric for the first time ever.
32. I listed 25 yards of Handdyed fabric for sale and dyed an addition 21 yards for sale (that will be listed later this month).
33. I sold 14 yards of my handdyed fabaric.
34. I sold enough PFD fabric to others to keep my account open with Kaufman for the second year in a row (details here).
35. Structures #78 was juried into the SDA show in Kansas City in 2009.
36. Markings #22 was juried into Form Not Function for 2010.
37. I survived my rejection from Art Quilt Elements.
38. I did yoga every morning for a month with the help of my facebook friends’ encouragement.
39. I cut sugar out of my diet for a month, it made a huge difference in my sleep.
40. I wrote in my journal through out the year.
41. I spend a lot of time with my sister this year during the 3 months we were moving my mom and I enjoyed it tremendously.
42. I was able to visit with other family members this year (my brother, my step mom, my aunts and uncle, my nephews and brother in law, etc). I’m grateful for all time I get to spend with my family.
43. I visited the Denver Art Museum numerous time through the year and love how much closer it is now that I live in Denver.
44. I attended numerous artist lectures at the the art museum as part of the Logan lecture series.
45. I enjoyed several wonderful meals and outings with my artist friends.
46. I attended First Friday and local galleries several times through out the year.
47. I bought an amazing monitor for my art business to process my online images.
48. I took private photography/photoshop lessons to improve my skills in those areas.
49. The quality of my online images are greatly improved as a result of the above 2 items.
50. I participated in Christine Kane’s Platinum coaching circle for 1/2 of 2009 to move my art career and life forward.
51. I had 4 or 5 massages.
52. I had acupuncture (which is magical) 4 times.
53. I took a short but wonderful family vacation in New Mexicoin July where we ate a lot of green chile.
54. Participated in small art showcase and Fine Art Department again this year.
55. Received innumerable wonderful, supportive and informative comments on my blog, on facebook and twitter.
56. Maintained a daily photo journal of the progress of my new home and studio construction throughout the entire project.
57. I selected over 20 colors for the walls in my new home and now 8 months later I still love every single one of them.
58. Donated and gifted 10% of my gross art income (15% of the South African Impressions artwork).
59. Worked a fulltime job as a software engineer.
60. Moved into a project management role at the day time job
61. Thoroughly enjoyed being a mom to my 13 and 17 year old kids, as I do every year.
62. Purchased dozens of beautiful new works of original art by artists I admire, including some amazing arts and crafts from South Africa.
63. Met a man who’s company I very much enjoy and am exploring a relationship with him.
64. Started a new project called Make Big Art, to empower, educate and encourage artists.
65. Created a website for makebigart.
66. Started a blog for makebigart.
67. Wrote 9 long blog posts for makebigart.
68. Started a facebook fan page for makebigart.
69. Began a photo journal of my trip to south africa.
70. Loved living in my house during construction (now that is over I wonder how I did that but it was great fun at the time.)
71. Remained friends with my builder after the completion of my construction project.
72. Pampered myself with an expensive hotel room the 1 night I couldn’t be in my house during construction.
73. Gave a lecture, Social Media: Marketing Miracle or Waste of Time, at the Create Denver Expo.
74. Helped Alyson Stanfield with her workshop, A No-Excuses Art-Marketing Seminar, in Estes Park.
75. Had a wonderful time with Alyson and Cynthia in Estes Park.
76. Gave away Structures #83 to one of newsletter subscribers.
77. Revamped my prices and blogged about my reasons (one of my most popular blog posts to date). They used to be way too low.
78. After changing my prices, I revisited my decision and tweaked it a bit.
79. Returned to setting very specific goals and tracking my studio time after trying to wing it for a while.
80. Wrote a series of blog posts about building a studio, including an extensive look at studio lighting and electrical needs.
81. Wrote an entry about music in the studio for Vinyl Art’s contest: Storied Past contest.
82. Was published in Quilting Art: Inspiration, Ideas & Innovative Works from 20 Contemporary Quilters by Spike Gillespie. This is a fabulous book and more, much more, than I anticipated. I highly recommend the book.
83. My ACEOs (art cards) were published in the October 2009 Artist Magazine along with a few quotes. I was so busy during that time I never blogged about this but will eventually.
84. Completed Structures #100 – a huge milestone that I celebrated in my July studio newsletter (and with much dancing in the studio).
85. I was a featured artist on crafthaus in September.
86. I kept a sketch book while in South Africa filled with wonderful memories of my trip.
87. I saw zebras and giraffes and other very cool animals in Africa.
88. Went on an amazing hike in the Drakensburg (the mountains in South Africa).
89. I fell in love with South Africa and am looking forward to returning.
90. Helped my son select college to apply for as he’s leaving the next year.
91. I came close to making a profit on my artwork in 2009.
92. Created a squidoo lens with reasons why people buy art.
93. Created a squidoo lens for MakeBigArt.
94. Maintained my squidoo lens on Contemporary Art Quilts.
95. Worked with accountability partners most of the year to keep myself on track.
96. Gave away more of my belongings after I settled into the new house. Freeing up more energy for positive things.
97. Bought myself the worlds most comfortable bed as my thank you gift to myself for surviving the home remodel, of which no amount of money would have been too much. It’s luxury.
98. Ate much ice cream.
99. Laughed as much as possible.
100. I promised my kids I would get them a kitten. I haven’t fulfilled this promise but I will soon as life has settled down finally.

Creating this list is not an easy task. Reaching the magic number of 100 requires a lot of looking back. The goal is to look back and enjoy my accomplishments.

And to realized I did a lot this year. Because I spent so little time in my studio (only 7 1/2 hours a week instead of normal goal of 20 hours a week) I get discouraged. But building a studio, traveling to south africa, moving my mom to town and starting a romantic relationship – these things all take a lot of time and energy and they are all valuable and I no regrets.

It’s good to look back and be grateful, of which I am very much.

Tomorrow it’s time to look forward to 2010 and all I plan to accomplish and the word I will use to guide me.

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.

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.