Lisa Call

Lines #7
©2008
4" x 4" – Mounted on stretched canvas
Sold

Exercise and Art

Sitting in front of a sewing machine for 22 hours in 2 days (like I did 2 weekends ago) is pretty taxing on a body, or at least it is on a body that is in it’s 40s. Without exercise I couldn’t pull off marathon weekends like that.

Yoga and walking are my current favored ways of moving my body and keeping my blood flowing. Walking clears my head, adds images to my idea store for future art no matter where I walk – in town or in the mountains. There’s always something to see to be inspired.

Yoga is truly magical and by far my most favorite way to exercise. Stretching, strength, mind body connection and relaxation all in one. Perfect way to prepare for a day of making art.

Daily Habit

These days I haven’t had done much of either of these. My floor is really gritty from the construction and many days there isn’t enough floor space and when the kids are home I wake them up if I do yoga early, or the construction works arrive and the saws aren’t very conducive.

So basically I just make a bunch of excuses and have fallen out of the habit of doing yoga daily. A year ago I went 3 months without missing a single day of yoga, now I’m lucky if I get in a few minutes once a week.

I’m craving the type of life where yoga is again a part of my routine. A perfect morning to me would be to get up at 5:30 for a half hour of yoga then a shower, some journaling, time in the studio, breakfast with the kids and then work (and since we’re talking about perfect that work would not be the software job – it would be the art career). Soon – yes soon.

I know it will be easy to reestablish the yoga routine the minute the builders are out the door. The walking is a bit harder. Sometimes I walk during lunch at work (my favorite is to walk to the nearest playground and swing on the swings). Sometimes I hike on the weekends. Sometimes I walk around my neighborhood and feel a huge appreciation for being able to live exactly where I want to live.

But nothing is habit and I quickly forget and then I stop. There is nothing preventing me from establishing this routine now so starting tomorrow I’m going to make it a higher priority to get out and walk at least 20 minutes, 5 days a week.

By end of february I’ll check in and see if I’ve got a habit forming. Time to add walk to my joes goals profile.

Why Exercise?

In addition to the obvious reasons – the physical ones – I find exercising to be almost vital for my mental health. I’m significantly happier if I’ve been exercising. Yoga and walking aren’t as strenuous as what I used to do but given everything else I’m interested in, it’s enough for now.

After my divorce in 2002 one of the first things I did was lose about 15-20 pounds via the divorce diet, which is really quite miraculous although I don’t recommend it, and by working out at the gym.

Then I started running, and that I believe, is what got me through all the mental stuff of the divorce and the first relationship breakup 1 year later. The negative voices ran circles around my head as I hit the pavement every morning training.

In 2003 I ran a half marathon and around the same time I found a lot of internal peace having worked out all of the crap out there on the sidewalk.

I ran for a while after that but not long, my knees objected and I didn’t have as much time as the art career had really started taking off and the need to get the voices out of my head diminished.

I would love to find the time to start running again, on a much gentler pace, as I think it’s an incredible way to keep myself in balance and happy. It’s such an excellent way to expend any negative energy on something positive.

We’ll see if that happens after the construction is over. It’s not a super high priority but I’ve got it on my list of habits to form if I can find the time.

 
What are you exercise habits? How do you think they affect your art?

Lines #7

Today I finally rephotographed Lines #7 with my better lens. It’s just amazing to me how different the color quality is between the 2. I suppose this might be obvious to a photographer but I’ve got 0 training in that area.

A big thank you to those of you that bought art today as a great investment since my prices are going up on February 1st. I think I have the best blog readers in the world.

Structures #72 detail

Time in Studio vs Art Career

Last week I wrote about looking for balance between making art and the business side of an art career. I’m still pondering the issues for myself and thought taking an informal poll of other artists would be interesting.

So I asked: "question for artists: On average – per week: 1) how many hours do spend creating new artwork? 2) how many hours spent on your art business?"
on both twitter and facebook. Below is the summary of the answers (art/business).

- 20/20
- Some weeks 40/0, others 0/40
- 25/30
- 10/30
- 10-25 / 20-30+
- 25-30 / too much time promoting and organizing.
- ideally..20/20..lately 5/15
- 5-15 / 15
- 6 / 10-12
- 7-12 / 2
- 30/20
- 2/3
- 0/0
- 1/2

I pulled out just the numbers and deleted the comments, which were quite interesting, but didn’t feel it was appropriate to repost them here. If you go to search.twitter.com and search on @lisacall you can read the full replies to my query on twitter.

The info I glean from this is that the business side of art is a major commitment. Now that I’ve made that commitment it is no wonder I’m feeling the need to readjust.

Thanks to all the twitters and facebookers that answered the question as it was most helpful.

How about you, blog reader? How much time do you spend in the studio vs. the office?

More PFD Fabric for Sale

I sold 220 yards of fabric but have a bit more Prepared for Dye Fabric (PFD) Pimatex Fabric I’d like to sell. I wrote a post about this fabric here: Kaufman PFD Pimatex Fabric . I’m selling this fabric to keep my account at Kaufman open (they have a minimum purchase amount per year to order from them directly – I’m very close to meeting that minimum).

I’m selling the fabric to those with US shipping addresses only for $4.50 a yard + shipping. Total cost for different amounts including shipping:

5 yards – $30
10 yards – $55
20 yards – $100
25 yards – $125

If you’d be interested in purchasing some fabric please send me email the amount you’d like to purchase. I accept checks and paypal.

Structures #73

In addition to a couple hours of art business work, I’ve managed to get in 3 hours in the studio today. The first time in months and months I’ve been so focused on art making on a workday. Woohoo. Course it’s an hour later than I would like to be going to bed but I’m making good progress with the surface stitching on Structures #73. It takes me about an hour per square foot so I have maybe 6 or 7 hours left.

The above photo is another detail show of the textile painting.

Butler Museum Show Opening

Saturday was the opening party for the show in Ohio at the Butler curated by Mary Lou Alexander. The show looks great, Mary Lou did an excellent job and I had a wonderful relaxing trip and am recharged and ready to get back to life.

I flew out to Ohio late friday evening and got into Akron around midnight so I went directly to a nice airport hotel and slept for many many hours. I got up late, soaked in the hot tub, went for a swim and finally made it over to the Youngstown area around 1pm. Perfect start to the weekend.

After helping Mary Lou with the flower arrangements (my part was to do absolutely nothing, which I’m sure was a big help) we went over to the Butler to deliver the last minute stuff and I got an early preview of the show, which, as I already mentioned, looked great.

Back to Mary Lou’s and more relaxing before heading to the opening party. I wore the same dress I have worn to every single opening the past 3 or 4 years. I might want to think about shopping again in a year or so.

The opening, and big party following at Mary Lou’s house, was great fun meeting new people and catching up with old friends. I knew most of the other artists in the show and we see each other around the country, although mostly in Ohio, as we go from show to show. Always fun to hear how things are going.

Sunday was spent doing pretty much nothing. Sleeping, reading the in sun, trying out Mary Lou’s endless swimming pool (very cool) and another trip over to see the Butler show for a bit. We also went to a gallery in Warren Ohio for an opening – crocheted pieces draped over wooden forms and hung on the wall. Absolutely stunning. A perfectly relaxing day enjoying the beautiful fall weather.

My desire/plan to spend much time reading, journaling and thinking over the weekend worked out great. The word authentic ran through my head often. Whatever balance it is I’m searching for must feel right to me or it’s just time management and not balance. I don’t have answers but I do have a renewed sense of what is authentic and what I need.

I flew back home this morning and put in a 1/2 day of work in the office before coming home to figure out what to cook for dinner for a kid that broke a tooth in my absence. Never a dull moment.

Now time to unpack and head to the studio for an hour. I’ll regroup tomorrow and figure out what is next up on the agenda for the art business stuff.

Images from the weekend:

My work in the show (click for larger image):

 
My other work in the show (click for larger image):

 
Flowers from Mary Lou’s garden:

 
The trees in Mary Lou’s yard. Her home is a paradise:

 
The sky was Colorado blue and the weather was perfect:

Structures #53    ©2006    41" x 66"

Busy

The last few months I have been doing a bunch of art marketing work. All of the art and scrum stuff really helped me get focused and motivated on that part of my art business. It feels great to feel all the resulting forward momentum. I’m in love with my art career and know it is going to work out great.

Previously I would often find myself busy doing stuff but not really accomplishing much. Doing things isn’t very productive if they aren’t the right things to be doing. I’d fall in the trap of filling up my time with activity that doesn’t move me closer to my bigger vision.

Space

I’ve also taken a lot of time off to relaxed recently. Spending time in the mountains with Jim and not doing art stuff. Long hikes, excellent meals, fun conversations. I could lose myself in doing nothing. It creates a space in my life that I treasure and Jim is wonderful.

Unfortunately with all this space and all the activity around the art career something had to give. And that thing was creating art. Yes I’m actively working in my studio each day but an hour a day only adds up to 7 hours a week. With the weekend away for my show I’ll end this week at 4 hours of studio time. Not much after years of working 20 hours a week on my art. I can feel my inner artist screaming "I want to make more art!"

As I work towards turning the art career into the main source of money in my life I know that means I will have less time to make art. Now that it is happening I’m feeling a bit of rebellion, which is probably natural. I need to process it and make sure it’s all going in a direction I’m okay with.

Balance

Basically I’m in search of balance. Course aren’t we all. I’m not one that believes that balance means that every day or week or month I’ve got it mastered and everything falls into place perfectly. I do think there is an ebb and flow to activities, but something has triggered my "you are out of balance" meter and I’m finding myself a bit on edge and in need of adjustment.

As a start, this morning I went and had acupuncture, which I absolutely love and find it does wonders to restore my sense of well being. Not to mention the huge physical benefits.

Next step in understanding my needs is to take nothing with me to distract me from myself on my trip to Ohio this weekend. I usually have a list of todos when I go away. I can’t help it sometimes. I’m a 3 on the enneagram and my natural state is that of doing and achieving. But even I can get sick of myself and all my activity sometimes.

So this trip there will be no quilts that need beads or other stitching. No papers to shuffle or magazines to get through. No todo lists to make or organize.

I am bringing one book with me to read, I Will Not Die an Unlived Life: Reclaiming Purpose and Passion by Dawna Markova, and my journal.

For those not familiar with this book it starts with this poem by Dawna Markova:

I will not die an unlived life.
I will not live in fear
of falling or catching fire.
I choose to inhabit my days,
to allow my living to open me,
to make me less afraid,
more accessible,
to loosen my heart
until it becomes a wing,
a torch, a promise.
I choose to risk my significance;
to live so that which came to me as seed
goes to the next as blossom
and that which came to me as blossom,
goes on as fruit.

I’m looking forward to seeing where I find myself at the end of the weekend. I don’t think I’ll have a lot of time to be alone, as there are many friends to see and the museum show opening, but instead of thinking I need to do something in the down time, I plan on doing very little so I come home rested and ready to get back to life with a better sense of what I want next

Structures #53 at the Butler

The above piece will also be in the Butler Museum show that opens this weekend. This is one of the first pieces I made with the very thin lines and it’s still one of my favorites. I will be on an airplane flying to Ohio to see it at the Butler Museum around the time this post appears on my blog. Can’t wait to see it in the museum!

And a Clock

As a final note, artist Paula McCullough from self taught artist is doing a fun promotion for her first 10 piece edition of her found object clocks. She’s got an ebay auction going with a chat box on her blog to follow along. Lots of fun to interact with an artist in this way. Check it out!

Paula’s Art Clock Auction

Paula’s blog is one of the first blogs I read when I see she has a new post. Her writing is wonderful and her honesty about her life as an artist is refreshing and informative. I always come away with something to think about after reading her posts.