Lisa Call

Morning Aspens
by Stacey Peterson
Oil on Panel
9×12″
2008
reprinted with permission by the artist

Being Decisive

I think one reason I get so much done is I’m good at making decisions, meaning that when presented with choices I don’t spend days or weeks or months deciding what to do. I just decide. Then I do it.

When I decluttered my house at the beginning of the year I had no intention of moving at that time. But once the idea that I really could move came to me, I didn’t ponder it forever. I simply decided to move based on how that decision felt to me and within a week I had a Realtor lined up and got to work making it happen. I went from thinking "Hm, maybe I could move" to living in my new house in only 3 months.

One of my strengths is my intuition. I rarely sit down and make lists of advantages and disadvantages of doing something. I just listen to my feelings and pick the choice that feels right and move forward. I do journal and find writing (not list making) helps me listen my desires.

I don’t believe that every decision has a wrong and a right choice. I think there are pros and cons to all choices. So I focus on the positives of my direction and don’t let the negative aspects stop me.

This isn’t to say I don’t sometimes decide my choice wasn’t the best for me. So then I just change my mind and do something else. And once that decision is made then I just move forward in the new direction.

It’s hard to make forward progress and put energy anywhere if I don’t make a decision as to which direction to go. So step one is to decide. When I’m feeling low on energy I often find that I haven’t gotten clear about a decision that needs to be made. Making that decision releases all sorts of energy and starts propelling me towards my future.

If you are feeling like you don’t have the energy to devote to a project are you fully committed and have you truly decided that is the direction you should go? Maybe making a solid decision is the first step in boosting your energy.

Construction Zone

Tomorrow’s the big day - construction on my new studio begins. I spent a large portion of the weekend preparing my house for the event.

First up will be removal of the asbestos siding. Originally I thought I’d do this work myself. Then I decided that was a bit insane so I’ve hired asbestos removal people to do it. Once the siding is gone the builder can start and will begin by ripping the moldy shed off the back of the garage, which will create a pathway, through the garage, for the big digging thing to get to my backyard to dig a basement.

Pictures of the progress will start tomorrow and if things go as intended the artwork will also continue.

Morning Aspens

I love Stacey Peterson’s paintings of the Colorado landscape and have been saving up to purchase one for about a year. When she posted the photo of the above painting on her blog I knew instantly (there’s that intuitive decision making thing) it was the one I wanted and am happy to report it arrived at my house this week.

Stacey’s blog is one of my favorites. She’s my role model: she quit her technical job to support herself with her art and she lives in the Colorado mountains. Plus she’s really organized and hates clutter - my kind of person!

Depending on how messy it gets around here during construction the painting might have to live somewhere else for few months but right now it’s on the wall in my living room and I’m definitely enjoying it.

Now time to start saving up for the next artist’s work I covet.

Structures #10    ©2004    35" x 52"

Depth and Breadth: Six Quiltmakers in the 21st Century

The preview party for this invitational museum show, curated by Mary Lou Alexander, is Saturday, October 11 from 5-7pm at the Butler Institute of American Art/Trumbull. I will be in attendance so if you can make it to the opening please come introduce yourself. We won’t be doing artist talks but all artists except Jen will be in attendance and happy to talk about their work.

About the show, from the invitation (which I failed to send in mailing labels for - big oops cause they are nice invites):

This exhibit explores a variety of approaches to fine art quiltmaking today. The show features six accomplished, well established artists:

Bob Adams, Lafayette, Indiana
Lisa Call, Denver, Colorado
Jan Myers-Newbury, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
June O’Neil, Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Jen Swearington, Asheville, North Carolina
Kathleen Loomis, Louisville, Kentucky

Each artist will display works that illustrate the depth and variety of her/his work. Each artist approaches quiltmaking in a singular way, and each brings superb craftsmanship and distinctive imagery to her/his work. This exhibition was organized by the Butler and curated by Mary Lou Alexander.

Museum Contact Information:
9350 East Market Street
Howland Township, Ohio
330-609-9900

The show runs from October 12, 2008 - January 4, 2009.

My Artwork

I’m beside myself with excitement for having this first chance to exhibit a nice selection of my work in a museum setting. One of my big dream visions for my career is to have my work in permanent museum collections and this feels like a first good step in that direction.

I’ll have 6 large textile paintings in the show, including the 2 shown in this post, with work from both the Structures series and the Markings series.

I’ve rarely shown Structures #10 in public and until this year it hasn’t really been for sale. I’ve now decided it’s time for it to find a new home. This is probably one my best pieces and certainly a personal favorite. The quilt is about personal growth and my divorce and was started only a few months after my ex-husband moved out of the house and not completed for a couple of years. Much healing went into this piece of artwork. My hope is for the textile painting to find a home with someone that will love it.

Structures #33 was made during my days as a runner, training for a half marathon. These are the colors I would see each morning - gray sidewalks, blue sky and mountains, green trees and bushes and the pink sky of dawn. I no longer run but every time I look at this piece I think of my favorite spot on my running path through some willows.

Structures #33    ©2006    53" x 67"

 
Time to get packing and then to the studio

Structures #97 (In Progress)    ©2008

Structures #97

I made some progress on my latest textile painting over the week. Above is my first pass at roughing in all of the lines. After moving things around I came up with the version below. I’m liking the right hand side but the left still needs more work. Because my studio is now in my bedroom I can see the piece when I wake up in the morning and today I think I came up with a plan for improving it.

Structures #97 (In Progress)    ©2008

Weekend Plans

We’re still in our streak of record high temps here in Denver with yesterday hitting 104. Today is looking to be least 100 and Sunday a cool 97. Not exactly the kind of weather for doing much without air conditioning. I’m tempted to spend the entire weekend sleeping (or attempting to sleep in the heat) but that seems a bit out of character for me. The kids left for vacation with their dad this morning so I have 2 weeks to get some stuff done, so that’s of course what I will do.

In addition to working on Structures #97, I plan on dyeing fabric today, with the heat I should get rich vibrant colors. Tomorrow I’m headed to the mountains to cool off a bit after washing out all my fabric in the morning so the weekend’s not all work.

I also need to work on my house remodel plan. I’ve had my head stuck in a place where I think I have to design a house that will have good resale value and the result isn’t working for me. So I’m going to toss those ideas and just build the perfect house for me. A friend sent me a link to a really interesting book, The Not So Big House. Great ideas about building a house that is aligned with how I live my life instead of designed to impress others.

Structures #97 (In Progress)    ©2008

 
Some updates:

Art

I started a new textile painting (see above). Not very far along yet but I’m loving the funky greens. I’m just blocking in the background shapes and much will change before I start adding some thin lines that define my fence motif.

I find myself wanting to make much smaller pieces in my much smaller studio. Or maybe it’s the heat of summer. The thought of dealing with a really large quilt right now sounds too hot.

Studio Newsletter

I completed my studio newsletter and emailed it on saturday. If you think you are on the mailing list and didn’t receive it please let me know.

It took longer than I planned but I got it done. For a week I would say each morning "finish newsletter" and then evening would come and I’d find better ways to spend my time. I finally pushed myself to finish it by telling my accountability partners that I would donate $100 to a political candidate I didn’t support if I failed to email it by the end of day.

The ironic thing is the last article I finished for the newsletter was the one on motivation. Hm. If you aren’t a subscriber you can read the newsletter here: Lisa Call’s Studio Newsletter.

If you’d like to subscribe to receive my quarterly newsletter via email when it is first completed go here: Sign up for studio newsletter.

Heat

We have now had 16 days over 90 degrees here in Denver. Three more and we’ll have a new record, which I don’t think will be a challenge as the forecast is showing only 90+ as far into the future as I can count. Not the best summer to not have air conditioning.

Thanks to all of you for the concerned comments on my last post. Unfortunately my house isn’t equipped with electricity that will power an air conditioner. Only 4 circuits, nothing is grounded and if the refrigerator is on the microwave won’t work. All of this will be remedied in the remodel but for now we are jut pretending it’s 1955 (the year my house was built).

Although a few days ago I purchased a portable evaporative cooler (ie a swamp cooler) and if I load it up with lots of ice I can get my bedroom cooled down enough to sleep. I’m starting to feel human again but need a few weeks of 8 hours of sleep to starting thinking straight.

Remodel

The builder and I are working on the design for the new house. Not sure how long it will take, that will probably be determined on how many times I change my mind, but after that we have a month to wait for permits then the building can begin. Probably just in time for the cooler fall weather to arrive.

Studio Time

In my last post I wrote that one of my goals for the upcoming weeks was to continue to spend 5 or more hours a week in my studio while I’m working on some longer term business goals and getting my house on the market.

Laure responded with the following questions:

One question though, how do you define time in the studio? What is included as time in the studio - is it purely making art, is it prepping for making art, or a mixture of this and other stuff?

Great questions. Early this year I wrote a post about the logistics and reasons for tracking my studio time. That post doesn’t address what I define as "studio time"

My Definition

I define time in my studio as time actively making my artwork: dyeing fabric, cutting the fabric to designing compositions and stitching. I don’t do much prep work for my art. I almost never do any sketching (drawn or fabric sketches) and if I do I generally count it as studio time.

I do a lot of photography and hiking and other activities that inspire and inform my artwork. I never count this as studio time. I also don’t count extended cleaning and organizing my studio as studio time either. I view that more as maintenance of my environment. A quick straighting up of my cutting table probably gets counted.

I do count the finish work that is done on my art, such as finishing the edges, attaching sleeves and labels. Probably because I do these steps with needle and thread so it fits into the construction process.

It Doesn’t Have to be Exact

When I first started tracking time in my studio I was rather uptight about it. I tracked it down to accurate 15 minute intervals. This ended up generating unnecessary stress into my studio process. No doubt the engineer part of me taking over (not to mention the meticulous perfectionist side).

I got over the compulsiveness and now it’s just a pretty darn good estimate. The main purpose is to motivate me and spending time worrying if it was 1/4 hour or a 1/2 hour on monday isn’t very inspirational. So now I just make a good guess and call it good.

I think it’s all very personal, the definition of studio time, how accurately one might or might not track it. And even if you track it at all. I like keeping these records as it does help keep me on track and keep me motivated. When I see my studio time slacking off I look around for the cause and see if I need to adjust something in my life.