Lisa Call

Markings #12    ©2007    44"x 32"

Giving

One of the things we talked about in Christine Kane’s E-seminar in January was what she termed expansive giving. Sharing our resources because we are inspired to do so. It goes beyond donating money to charity and for some it’s related to tithing. Many that believe in the Law of Attraction have a bunch of rules about what constitutes this type of giving back to the universe.

I’ve always donated some portion of my income to charity each year but it’s never been a huge amount. When I made the decision to rearrange my life to make a living from my art I decided to build in the giving up front so it’s a part of my business.

At the end of each month I work through my art business finances and give 10% of my gross income to others. I’ve decided I don’t have any rules about what this might mean. Some months I’ve given the money to charities that support causes I believe in. Some months I’ve given the money to people that have helped me or inspired me. Some months I imagine I might buy something to support an artist or small business owner and then give the item to someone else. I can imagine all sorts of ways of giving back to my community and the universe without feeling trapped by someone else’s rules.

It’s been very fun the last few months to sit and think about where I want to give my money. And I’m thrilled to say that every month I’ve had at least of bit of income so I can give.

This month I sent a check to FINCA, an organization that provides financial services to the world’s lowest-income entrepreneurs so they can create jobs, build assets and improve their standard of living.

Courage

In many ways the point of expansive giving is about opening up and trusting that the universe always provides. That there will always be enough. It takes courage to not hold on to it all too tightly.

I know when I first make the big leap and quit my job I’ll be living a different standard of living. From software engineer to artist just starting down the road to being self-supporting. When I first thought about it I was pretty scared. Then Christine introduced the idea of giving away 10% of our income I thought "no way, I’ll barely have enough to live on". Those thoughts are about fear.

So I made the decision in January to commit a full 10% of my gross income to giving, sharing and donating. I don’t want to live my life being afraid. Courage is my word of the year and this is part of that. Trust and love are a lot more fulfilling than fear.

Moving Progress

I’ve had painters at my house all week painting inside and out. Everything inside has been draped in plastic for a few days as they were spraying the walls (I have an 18 foot high ceiling). So just like last week not much art is going on at my house. I’m out of the house all day and just home at night to sleep in beds in the middle of the room. My son thinks it feels like a haunted house in here with all the plastic.

This long weekend, it’s memorial day weekend here in the US, the unofficial start of summer. It isn’t going to be much of a holiday for my family. I’ll be working on small house and landscaping projects all weekend with the help of my kids.

We’re in the home stretch. I’ve now got a real estate sign in my yard that says "Coming Soon" with the goal of having that switch to "For Sale" the first week in June.

Markings #12 - Moving Sale

As I mentioned in my post yesterday, all of my artwork is for sale. The above piece is one of those pieces. It’s full retail price is $2500 and through June 15th it’s available for $1500.

For those curious about my pricing, it’s roughly $230-$260 per square foot based on the year it was made. I round up or down to reach an even number. If you are interested in purchasing Markings #12, or any of my available work please email me.

Structures #62    © 2007    33" x 19"

A Slow Reply

Eight or nine months ago Meagan asked me the following question on one of my posts:

Something a little off topic, but still related: How do you know when your art work is “good enough” to start marketing it? (Obviously this isn’t a problem for you, Lisa, since your art is amazing!) Previous commenters (Ed) have mentioned that in the beginning of their career, they sold stuff that really wasn’t very good. How do you know when your art work has reached that particular level?

I’ve had a draft of this question sitting around waiting for an answer ever since. As I wasn’t up to a dissection of my studio newsletter as promised, I decided to go back and deliver on an older unanswered query.

It’s about Growth

The article I wrote was about selling my artwork (click to read). My thoughts have changed over the years and today I will answer this differently than I might have 3 or 5 or 8 years ago when I was not looking to pursue an income generating career from my art.

Today my answer is: You are ready to start marketing your artwork when you are ready to take that bold step and put yourself out there. It’s a big leap as it comes with many risks but also many rewards.

Sure, five years from now you might look back and think "Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I tried to sell that junk." But that’s the future. What matters is right now, today, this moment. How do you feel about your artwork? Are you happy with it? Do you think it is good? Do you want to market it? Great - go for it.

And I don’t think that’s such a bad future, to be a bit embarrassed about your work from years back, because it means you are growing as an artist. This is a great thing. Maybe something to look forward to.

How Will You Handle Set Backs

Artists are often advised to ask others for opinions about their work. Is it good enough? Will it sell? While this isn’t bad advice I’m not sure I’d recommend that. I suggest just going with your intuition. If you have the desire and resources to market your artwork, then go for it!

What’s the worse thing that could happen? You might fail on first try. The question is, what will you do with that failure? Will you let it destroy your dream? If so maybe you aren’t ready. I think this is probably the single most important question to answer.

Sure you might never face rejection, but chances are good you’ll face more than a few "we aren’t interested" situations. As Christine Kane says:

SWSWSWSW: Some will. Some won’t. So what? Someone’s waiting!

[Read her excellent article about not taking things personally here]

Even if you do face failure you might learn something. You might get better and grow. You might find new ways to do things. You might meet people that want to help you over that hurdle.

When you are ready to fall down and get up and keep on going. That’s when you are ready.

I’m Finally Ready

I’ve been making art that I really love for the past 10 years. Yet I’ve never taken the leap to go after an solid income with my art. I always have an excuse:

• I need to build up cash reserves.
• The kids are only at home for a few short (18) years.
• This work isn’t quite good enough yet.
• No one buys art quilts.
• I could never replace my software engineering salary with an art income.

Well, no more. I’m doing whatever it takes to get rid of the day job and replace it with the art income.

First up on the list of to-dos is to sell the house that requires a really big income. If I wait until I have enough money from my art to pay this mortgage it could be a pretty long wait. So I’m short circuiting that problem and downsizing.

It’s a huge task and when I think of all that needs to be done to get this huge home on the market I freak out, which is the reason I’m still here. I thought about moving 6 years ago after my divorce and then again 3 years ago, but I didn’t have the courage to do it.

Now it’s the year of courage, which gives me the focus needed to work through all that needs done. I don’t think about the huge list of to-dos. I make short lists of easily doable tasks. Things I can accomplish in a few hours. I’m just focusing on each step, one and time, and steady progress is made every day.

In the meantime I’m not ignoring my art. I’m in the 7th day of Artist Breakthrough Program with Alyson Stanfield and it’s fabulous. I’ve made huge strides in getting my new website ready to go. Tomorrow I’ll blog about how I did with my goals this week and what’s up for next week.

And yes - at some point I’ll write about all I learned when doing my studio newsletter. Hopefully you will not have to wait 8-9 months for that answer.

The above image was the one I selected for this post 9 months ago, I can’t tell you why. It’s orange. Maybe that was it.

I Need a Better System

I’ve tried various plans for organizing my office and files but they generally don’t work for me and instead of filing I start stacking papers and eventually it’s completely out of control with years of papers piled up around my office. The result is forgotten deadlines and missed opportunities.

I’m great at making lists but I tend to have several lists going on different scraps of paper and some online and they are never complete so my brain spends a lot of time trying to remember what I need to do. I’ve decided it’s time for a change. I couldn’t deal with the clutter anymore and I was tired of forgetting important things.

Getting Things Done

I’ve read several organization books in the past and none of them really worked for me. Until this month, I finally read David Allen’s Getting Things Done.

I love it.

It’s about writing everything down so you can forget about it and relax. Everything has a clear category (can you take action on it or can’t you) so everything is in an obvious place. It’s probably not for everyone as he’s got a flow chart for how to determine what to do with a piece of paper, but I’m finding it extremely helpful. Once I got going it’s not as complicated as it seemed when I read about it.

One of the things I love about it is he’s not selling a day timer or electronic gadget. He’s just explains his ideas and leaves the reader to implement it in a way that works for them.

I spent the first week of March (the week before my kids came home) organizing my office. Tossing out huge piles of papers and redoing my filing system.

• I now have a real world in box and my desktop is cleared.
• My email inbox is at 0 at the end of most days.
• I don’t have stacks of papers without a home.
• At a glance I know all the balls I have up in the air at any time and which ones need action.

Important but Not Urgent

As a result of identifying all the projects I was working on and the next steps I needed to do on them I’ve made some big progress in completing some of the projects. Projects that I’ve always wanted to do but haven’t tackled because they aren’t the most urgent things in my life.

As an example I knew I wanted to get some limbs cut off of a tree so my garden would get more light but it never made it onto a list as it was never urgent. With this system I wrote it down and in a few free minutes at work I found someone to do the work on craiglist and they came out that day and did the job.

It feels great to be making progress on more than just the things with a deadline this week.

Ready for the Big Breakthrough

I’m now in a position to tackle a really big project and bring it to completion - getting a professional portfolio pulled together along with a rewrite of my website as I’m ready to start looking for gallery representation.

This is a pretty big project and instead of going it alone I’ve signed up for Alyson Stanfield’s Artist Breakthrough Program (on the classes tab, it starts in April). After taking Christine Kane’s e-seminar I know the value in having outside support. And I love the amazing benefits of group energy. I’ll be holding myself accountable to completing these projects by working with a group and setting some deadlines.

I’m excited about getting this work finished and moving to the next level with my art career.

Blog Book Tour

Speaking of Alyson, I’m going to be hosting her on my blog on April 1 as part of her blog book tour. I love her new book I’d Rather Be in The Studio and I was excited for the opportunity to interview her for the book tour. Although I’ve read Alyson’s blog for years and attended a workshop with her I still learned quite a bit from her book. I definitely recommend it.

Square Dance #1    ©1999    14"x 14"

Miscellaneous Stuff in Random Order

• This week I received Alyson Stanfield’s new book in the mail - I’d Rather be in the studio! It’s beautifully designed and full of tons of useful promotion ideas and strategies for artists. I definitely recommend this book, and not just because I’m quoted. I helped Alyson by looking over the chapter about having an online presence and she turned one of my comments into a quote. Okay she had me write a quote in relationship to something I said about blogging. Check out page 112 for my brilliant comment.
• Super talented artist Deidre Adams has started a blog. She photographed some artwork for me and in exchange I showed her how easy wordpress is to use. So now we can all enjoy Deidre’s Blog.
• Today the last of my 450 postcards to promote my solo show Markings: Repetition and Pattern arrived. I order from Vistaprint - in several small orders (it’s the cheapest way) so they’ve been trickling in the last week. Tomorrow I’ll print out labels and stamp them and get them in the mail. I’m very happy we now have self adhesive stamps.

Making Room for the New

I’ve been listening to Cheryl Richardson on CD recently and she reinforces something that Christine Kane talks about in her retreats and eseminars. That of getting rid of things to make way for creativity and passion. I made a detailed list (what a surprise) of all the clutter in my house and I’m slowly tackling each corner, ruthlessly purging piles of stuff that I no longer need or want or that drains my energy.

One thing I’ve decided to do is sell most my older artwork. Much of it is hidden in a closet and serving no purpose. I’d love for it to find a home in this world if it speaks to someone. I hadn’t hit upon how to go about doing this but the other day when photographing artwork for some reason I grabbed this piece and added it in. I think the universe was telling me to just do it and stop thinking I had to have the perfect plan.

Beads

I love all of the work I’ve made in my path as an artist. I used to not feel this way, and hence it’s hiding in the closet. Sure some is better than others but all of it shows my growth,choices and progress. There is nothing to be ashamed of and there are some really cool pieces lurking in there.

I went through a phase where I was obsessed with beads. Bought tons of them. Thought I’d sew them on all my quilts. Instead I made just 2 or 3 embellished pieces. I then moved to the next thing in my development

[side note - the last year or so I got back into some beading work and when I finish the piece I’ll post it. I still love the beading - I just love the type of work I do now more. That’s a topic for another day - why I choose to narrowly define my focus with my artwork.]

The piece here, Square Dance #1, was started in a workshop with David Walker many years ago. I quilted it and added the beads later, completing the piece in 1999.

Detail of beading:

 
I’ve thought about listing these pieces on ebay or etsy but decided to list them on my website for now. As I work on the redesign to incorporate them I’ll list a few here on the blog.

This artwork is for sale and is $50 Sold. It’s signed Lisa Leutenegger on the front (as are all pieces made before 2001) and I’ve resigned it on the back with my birth name (Lisa Call).

Structures #95    ©2008    52"x 34"

New Artwork

Publicity images were due today for my solo show at the Lux Art Center, Fencing In or Keeping Out, so I’m very happy to show this piece, newly completed and photographed. I sent off my resume, artist statement (newly revised), bio and images so I can check yet another item off my todo list.

According to my spreadsheet I started this piece in 2007, although I don’t recall doing much more than select the fabrics. I did most of the design and construction work middle of January. When doing this type of work, the design/creative stuff, I either keep my studio silent or I listen to music. No books on tape because it slows me down and distracts me.

Repetition

I get a bit obsessive at times with the music and I’ll put my CD player (no ipod here - I live in the dark ages) on repeat and listen to the same album over and over again. Or the same song. For this piece I listened to She Don’t Like Roses by Christine Kane, on her Rain & Mud & Wild & Green album, over and over again while constructing the composition. I love this song.

Over and over again, for about 6 hours one day. Repetition - it’s soothing.

When I do this the artwork becomes permanently linked in my head to what I was listening to. This piece will always remind me of this song, and the book A Version of the Truth, which I listened to while doing the surface stitching, a meditative repetitive process itself. The book was fun and felt like it fit the piece, as does the song.
 

Detail image of stitching:

Taxes!

Next up on my to do list are taxes. By end of this week I’ll have the packet in the mail to my account plus have budgets and spreadsheets for 2008 up to date and ready to go, for both business and personal. I actually like doing taxes and the financial stuff. I’m good with money and it’s fun to add up the numbers and see how the year went.

Markings #3    ©2006    74"x66"

Goals vs. Intent

In my last post I talked about setting intent and promised next to talk about how I hold that intent.

I know I have a reputation of getting lots done and when it comes to achieving goals I have some of this figured out. Although I don’t think in a healthy way. I’m great at setting goals and marching towards reaching them. Setting intent is a deeper practice and something I just started working on. I want to focus on intent with these posts but I’ll talk about goals also.

Unrealistic Goals

I have set an intent to have tremendous joy in my studio this year. I’m changing how I approach my studio time to honor the intent and to be an artist in a more healthy and positive way. It’s been an interesting process of learning to let go of the pressure to be in my studio but also getting things done. I’m only just beginning to understand how to do this.

With my solo show coming up in 4 weeks I panicked last week and made an insane schedule for my studio. A year ago I wouldn’t have thought it crazy. Just challenging. I spent the long weekend freaking out and doing just about anything other than studio work. I uploaded dozens of pictures to smugmug, I sorted through stuff in my basement to get rid of, I started reorganizing my studio, I photographed artwork, I cooked some yummy soup, etc.

I also saw myself falling back on patterns that don’t serve me. I didn’t go hiking and didn’t even get out for a walk as I promised myself, telling myself I didn’t have time. I ate junkier food. I surfed around the internet doing nothing.

I suspect I was rebelling against the ridiculous idea that I needed to make 8 new pieces in 4 weeks. Sure I could do it because it was a goal - I’m good and marching towards goals while letting the rest of my life become a wreck but it went completely against my intent for joy in the studio.

Realistic Goals

So I’ve shredded the schedule and decided I don’t need any more new work at all for my 2 solo shows. I have tons of excellent work that will make awesome exhibits. I started my Markings Series 2 years ago for exactly this show - I’ve got 19 completed pieces and room to hang only 12-15 of them. Of these 19 pieces only 2 have ever been in shows and most I’ve never even posted on the internet. Why would I need more? I don’t!

I have to give thanks to Christine Kane for helping with this realization. I recognized the unhealthy behavior (the first step in realizing I’m not holding my intent) and knew I needed to do something different. With her prodding I was able to take the necessary steps to dump the unhealthy behavior. I can’t recommend Christine’s eseminars enough for this type of self understanding.

Alignment

I’m back to my studio this week and loving it. I’m creating because I want to create not because I have to. One of the things I most love is making art, but the last year or two I’ve made it unfun in many ways. I’m now ready to embrace the joy again.

The goals I set need to be in alignment to my deeper intent. Then I know I can achieve both.
 

Materials Hard and Soft

The above piece is part of Materials Hard & Soft at the center for visual arts in Denton, Texas, which opens this weekend. Another of the juried shows I entered last fall. The runs through March 20, 2008.

Deanna Wood sent me an email the other day saying she had seen some of the show as they were hanging it and it looked great and my piece was up and looked nice. Yay - thanks for the note Deanna!

Center for Visual Arts
400 East Hickory St.
Denton, Texas 76201
Phone: 940-382-2787
Open 1-5pm Tuesday - Sunday
www.dentonarts.com

Structures #83    ©2007    12"x12"

Transitioning

My commute between home and office is a half hour drive each way. I spend this time doing various things: making phone calls, listening to music, getting annoyed at the traffic or listening to books on tape.

Being a "do-er" type person I like to accomplish things and doing stuff in the car, on the surface, seems to increase the amount of stuff I could get done in the day. Problem is most of these things are a distraction from what I find to be the best use of car time: transitioning and thinking about what comes next.

When I am not distracted and I get all excited on my drive home about working in my studio I find it effortless to just head right to it after dinner. If I’m on the phone when I pull in my driveway, and even worse still talking as I eat dinner, I am distracted and tend to end up in front of the computer reading blogs. I never took the time to think about how I wanted the evening to go so it goes no where, which is fine every once in a while but every day results in 0 hours of studio time for the week.

Too Tired

How tired I am has less to do with my studio time than my thoughts as I transition back home. Yes working all day and being a parent and paying bills and fixing cars and all those other things take energy. If I focus on how exhausted I should be on my drive home it is pretty much guaranteed I will do nothing that evening.

I had a friend that used to talk about how much I slept almost every day. I would generally say I was tired and worn out. I didn’t really think this but I used it as an excuse for getting out of things I didn’t want to do (which is a whole other issue - I should have just been honest). But sure enough I eventually felt tired all the time after saying it so often. I’ve since put an end to those conversations and amazingly I rarely feel tired or worn out anymore.

Sure there are days that are draining but I try not to focus on it and I rarely find this to be a problem. I’ve made getting 7-8 hours a sleep every night a pretty high priority. I go to bed around 9:30 every night - quite unfashionably early but since I get up at 5:30 it is really important to me.

Setting Intent

Now that I’m taking Christine Kane’s eseminar I have new words for this transitioning: Setting Intent. I also have a deeper understanding for how to go about it.

I protect my drive home time. I ignore the traffic (okay I’m still working on this - but I try not to let it bother me - it’s a fact of my current life choices - I accept that). I don’t listen to books on tape and I don’t make phone calls. I do listen to music some days but I’ve been embracing the silence more and more. I’m consciously setting my intent for the evening.

Morning Routine

I also have a new routine in the morning. Instead of rushing through a shower and then getting sucked into email and blogs I spend at least 30 minutes doing yoga, journaling and setting my intent for the day. It’s a much gentler way to start my day and I find myself much more relaxed and happy.

I’ve now done this 21 days in a row. So according to some experts this is now a habit and I will keep doing it. I’m not sure I’m buying that magic 21 day number but it’s no longer difficult to do this. At the beginning of the month I would have to force myself to stay in my bedroom and do the stuff. A few days I cheated and read email first but I went back and did the yoga and journaling. Now I just do this as matter of fact.

The real test will be when my kids return home from Europe in March and I have to be out of the house at 7am with them in tow. I fully intend on keeping this practice and by march it should be fairly solidly rooted into my daily routine and not a problem.

How to Set Intent

When I first started writing about my intent for the day I wasn’t really sure how to go about it or even what it meant. Being very goal oriented the first week or so it look suspiciously like a to-do list. Okay - it was a to-do list. That is a form of setting intent.

Now I’m looking deeper and leaving my todo lists for random scraps of paper about the house as I used to do. Here’s a bit of what I wrote today:

My thoughts create my world. If I think I’m going to be stressed and busy I will be. If I think I am going to be relaxed. I am.

I will pay close attention to my thoughts today. Looking to focus on calmness. To embrace effortlessness. I will be positive.

As I near the home stretch for my solo show opening in 1 month I am struggling with a rather long to-do list. I’ve had a few panicked times this weekend as I wrap my head around the work I want to do for the show. I’m working at approaching it with a lot less stress than normal, as the above thoughts indicate. It is really helping.

 
This is getting pretty long so another day I’ll write about things I’m doing to help me hold my intent. Learning to set the intent in a positive way is the first step. Actually following through is also important.

Structures #83

One of the activities I completed this weekend was to photograph a pile of new artwork. Structures #83 was a piece I made last fall while I was making the work for the Arvada Center show. It didn’t end up fitting in with the 9 pieces I selected so it got set aside. If you click to see the larger image you can hopefully see all the different thread colors I used to add texture to the composition.

I absolutely love the yellow in this piece. It’s so cheerful. I got the color pretty accurate on my monitor at home, which was another cheerful thing. I’m getting more courageous clicking on things in photoshop and my results get better each session.

On my todo list (now pushed back to March or April) is a rewrite of my website. I am going to put all of my small work on the website with prices. I thought I’d never put prices on my website but having the courage to admit to myself that I want to sell my art and that selling art is not a bad thing, I’m all for letting the world know it’s for sale. These small 12" x 12" pieces are $250 each, including the 9 pieces from the Arvada Center show:

Structures #90, Structures #86, Structures #85
Structures #87, Structures #88, Structures #81
Structures #89, Structures #91, Structures #82