Lisa Call

A Blank Canvas

Now that the studio is finished I got to spend today creating art. Although before I could begin I had much preparation to do.

The art I’m going to be creating over the next 7 weeks is for a solo show in Boulder that opens in mid February. I’ve shown in this space twice before so I know it well and know exactly the work I will make for the exhibit.

Usually when I create the artwork tells me what size it needs to be. This is a lovely feature of not working with a canvas. But it can also be a liability when I am facing a deadline as I like to work BIG and I don’t have time to complete a lot of huge quilts.

Being aware that 7 weeks isn’t much time to create an entire exhibits worth of art, this time around I’ve prederminded the sizes I will make so they fit the gallery and my time budget.

Since I have huge white walls the first step in preparation is to mark off the sizes I am working with. My plan is 9 larger pieces, the first 5 fit on my design walls and are marked off below.

[They might be a bit hard to see and if so - apologies for the big white photos. But in each of these there is some very light colored yarn marking off the spaces to fill.]

The largest – 3′x8′ (this is on the design wall I just put up – woohoo!):

Two 4′x4′ square:

Two 3′x3′ square:

Once these 5 are completed I’ll design the remaining four 3′x4′ pieces.

Equipment Prep

Next up I needed to get the sewing machine ready. I wound a bunch of bobbins (the thread that goes in the bottom of the sewing machine).

And cleaned and oiled the bobbin case and put in a new needle. Now it’s all ready to go.

Home #10

And here is the start – Home #10 will be the 3′x8′ piece. This is likely all you will see of it before my show opens so the work is all brand new. Or maybe I’ll post a few in progress photos. We’ll see…

It’s yellow, purple and brown and turning out way cool (it’s much further along now). I’m most pleased.

The Plan

I have about 260ish hours of studio time needed to complete the work for the show (more show details later). I have 7 weeks in which to do this. So, well, I’m going to be busy over the next few weeks as I think I’ve got to continue on with the day job also.

I’ll post updates 2-3 times a week so stay tuned. And coming up soon will be my year in review and my work fro 2010 and the coming decade. I love writing those posts.

And while I’ve said my studio is complete I still need to fix this one small detail. The builder had to redo some texture – back in April or May and the wall has looked like this ever since. I need to hunt through my 20 paint colors and get this fixed cause I’m really tired of looking at it this way! Maybe I’ll go do that right now…

Home #2
©2008 Lisa Call
10" x 9"
Textile Painting – Fabric handdyed by the artist, cotton batting, cotton thread
Private Collection

The Title and Theme

I announced a few months back that I have another solo show coming up at the Macky in Boulder on the University Campus. I’ve been contemplating what the theme for this show might be and this morning it was obvious that it is to be based on my Home series.

So much of my life this year has been around houses and homes and transformations and it all just fell into place as I transitioned from sleep to wakefullness this morning.

• My recent move and house remodel
• My trip to South Africa and experiencing their houses and homes
• My mom’s upcoming transition in her living situation
• My friends’ stories of their view of house and home

.. all this and more will inform the exhibit.

The title will be What Makes a House a Home?

Action

It feels great to have settle on the theme, next up is to work out how much artwork I need to produce. The sizes, numbers, etc. And then the simple task to make an entire exhibits’ worth of work over the next 4 months.

But first I’ll complete my South African Impressions work. I have papers full of designs (a rare thing for me but I found myself a bit stuck and needed to sketch out my ideas before picking up fabric and scissors) and next weekend I’ll get to work with the fabric.

For the next week I have house guests (and so my daughter is living in my studio – and loving it just a bit too much) and early next week I will be traveling to Kansas to bring my mom back to live near me. Another decision reached.

I’m excited to have her close by and to help her adjust to her new life in Denver, it’s going to be a fabulous time for all of us.

Housing in Soweto

Yesterday I mentioned we went through Soweto and the only photo I took was of the shantytown. While a large population does live in these conditions the majority of that area is houses. Most are smaller houses with 4 rooms but there are also very wealthy areas with homes costing over a million Rand.

There are also some smaller multi family homes called elephant houses that were very interesting and usually quite beautiful. On each end was a 2 room living space and in the center is a 3 room apartment. Most often each of the 3 families painted their section of the house a different color, resulting in some beautiful homes. I haven’t seen these anywhere except in Soweto so far. (Here’s someone else’s photo)

There are also buildings that look very much like condos in the US (although much more interesting colors) and single gender hostels (long desolate buildings with single rooms that aren’t as inviting and often without electricity – a photo).

Housing Shortage

Our local tour guide gave an interesting talk about the housing situation in South Africa and the gist of the situation is they cannot build them fast enough. They have programs to give government homes to those that have no income and prorated mortgages for others. There are just not enough houses as of yet.

Since the first democratic election in 1994 the government has build over 2 million homes but they estimate an addition 5 – 7 million backlog. They have large numbers of immigrants from neighboring countries that adds to the housing crisis.

Houses

I find the 4 room houses interesting. I love the simple lines and have taken a zillion photos of them – mostly from the bus as it goes down the highway so they aren’t the best quality.

I suspect I’ll be taking many more house photos as the weeks go by and occasionally I’ll post a group of photos of them.

Page From My Sketchbook Used to Track Studio Time (click to see larger image)

Tracking Studio Time

I wasn’t planning on writing tonight but I want to write this down while I still remember the thoughts I had today thinking about the post I wrote last night and some of the comments that were left.

I mentioned several times on my blog that I track my studio time. The posts I wrote early in 2008 ( This One and Another One ) are very interesting reads.

These posts indicate a change I made in tracking studio time. I went from being very systematic about it, to taking a more laid back approach. It was all part of the search for who I wanted to be.

I’ve since decided that is a bunch of crap-ola. Yep – I’m going back to a definite plan for how much work I want to get down in my studio.

It Didn’t Work

I discovered that trying to take the "Oh, It doesn’t matter, I’m more floaty and creative if I don’t put rules around it" approach to studio time resulted in my getting significantly less done.

In Jan-Mar of 2008, right after I devised that crazy scheme, I did basically nothing in my studio. My kids were in Europe – I was home alone – there were no excuses or distractions. It was simply me being less systematic. As a result I would often say "I’m tired" or "I don’t feel like it" and stuff like "I’ll do it tomorrow".

None of that stuff really results in things getting done. Instead it’s a good way to get nothing done but have a lot of lofty reasons for why I didn’t.

Like "self care is just so much more important than making art". Hm – NOT! Making art is the #1 thing I say I want to spend my time doing. Not avoid doing.

Why Does A System Work?

So I’ve thought a lot about why my old way of doing things, with rules and precise tracking, worked and I think the answer is it is basically the same thing as setting a timer.

There has been tons written about boosting productivity by using a timers (check out these google results). I think my old plan was essentially that. I timed myself.

When I walked into the studio I trained myself to look and the clock. That was it – timer was running. I didn’t stop working until the time was a even increment of 15 minutes. And then I wrote it down.

Because the timer was running I wasn’t tempted to run off and do other stuff, like check email or do my laundry.

When I left my studio the timer was off – I wasn’t racking up minutes. So I’d hurry back to get the timer going again.

I know this sounds kinda crazy but after seeing it in action and reading all the timer and productivity stuff (my favorite person that write about this is Christine Kane) I’m convinced – it really works. And not just for studio stuff. I now use a timer for my writing and planning art business stuff now also.

I have been spending 15 minutes each morning entering addresses into my snail mail mailing list. Fifteen minutes isn’t a lot but over time it adds up and with no big drama effort, I’m going to have the last 18 months of avoiding this task whipped into shape.

Going with No Goals

In my attempt to be more floaty I also gave up setting goals for how many hours I would spend in my studio each week. I decided to just let it happen. As I mentioned – it didn’t.

What happened is the emotional side of me got all excited and it had a field day. Woohoo – we get to run the show and stop her from doing what she wants.

I only made art when I felt like it. Or when I magically had time.

Okay – really – I work full time as a software engineer. I’m a single mom every other week with 2 teenagers constantly wanting stuff. I own my home, have to pay the bills and do all those house things that need done. There is the yard (okay there was the yard – it’s now dirt). Family, friends, quack quack quack.

I don’t have time to put in 20 hours a week in my studio so of course if I give myself an out I’m going to take it. There weren’t any goals so it didn’t matter. No disappointment so why bother doing it.

Thumbs Up To Goals

So forget that no goals thing. I’m now setting my goal to 15 hours a week. I’m making it lower than before because I also plan on doing a lot more art business stuff than I used to.

By setting goals I have something to aim for. I may not always make that goal but by identifying it and writing it down I have a much better chance of making my goal than without writing it down.

By setting goals I am no longer giving the emotional side of me free reign to do what I want. I get scared or worried or anything about what I’m working on. Great – recognize the feelings – but I’m not going to let it stop me from pushing forward.

Eventually those feelings realize they aren’t in control and they get a little less loud.

By setting goals and being systematic I’m significantly more creative and make much more art than when I’m all new-agey. Trying to be like those non-driven people I sometimes think I should be like, who always seem more creative and spontaneous and fun, didn’t work for me at all.

I need structure and systems for my creativity to work.

My Office

Focus

The past few days I have been intently focused on getting moved into my house. Last week I tried to unpack and settle in and also do some art business stuff. The result wasn’t real productive. The old proverb that says something like “If you chase 2 rabbits both will escape” pretty much applied.

When I’d try to sit and do some writing the piles of boxes around me would start distracting me and I’d start to unpack. Then I’d feel guilty for not doing the business stuff so jump back to that. Ack – totally 0 forward progress.

So now I’m just unpacking. That’s enough along with work and kids and all the other stuff I normally do. Few more days and I should be done, which means I’ll be able to take my final ‘after’ photos of the remodel.

The house is 99% done. They have promised to finish up the punch list this week. So soon it will be time for a house warming party. My daughter said she saw that on the Sims but didn’t know people did it in real life. Guess she’s about to experience a computer game in real life.

Art

This weekend I decided it was time to get art on my walls as the furniture was all in place and I’m just about finished with that process. It’s amazing how many hours it takes to sort out an art collection and choose homes for each piece and then fill in the empty spots (admittedly most of the space as my art collection isn’t very large yet) with my own textile paintings. Hours and hours – very fun hours.

I have 2 or 3 more pieces to go up and I’ll be done, for now. One of the last pieces will be Markings #12 but first I have to fix it so I can hang it right side up. Long time readers might recall it hung upside down in my last solo show and it wasn’t until I posted the images on line I figured it out.

In the photo above you can see Markings #15 hanging in my office. Below it are my very cool pencil holders made by Paula McCullough. They are just perfect on that shelf over the desk.

I don’t have local gallery representation yet so my house gets to be my local showcase of art.

Slides

This blog post is a way to avoid the chaos currently surrounding me in my office. I’m in the process of organizing and moving in but I’ve hit the ‘it’s a huge mess in here what should I do next’ part of the process and tired.

The big white bag in the middle of the floor is a trash bag – full of 90% of my slides. Tossing them out. I am keeping 1 slide of each textile painting so I’ve only tossed out the obvious ones and later on I’ll do more sorting. Five of the notebooks on the shelf are slides and I suspect I can get that down to just 1. Then I’ll put it in my basement and not look at it again forever.

I was pretty ruthless when I moved and tossed out and gave away a ton of stuff. I’m being even more picky now and have a big mound of things I will be getting rid of over the next few weeks. One of them is my slide projector and screen. No slides, no need for a projector. Anyone want it? I have a spare bulb and a few extra carousels also.

I have to say, I really prefer this digital world. Keeping track of images and entering shows is much easier for me now. Yay for technology.

Home #9
Textile Painting
©2009
8" x 8"
NFS

The Cabin

My family spent quite a bit of time at our cabin in the mountains of New Mexico when I was growing up. It was up near the pecos wilderness area so we also did quite a bit of backpacking in the area.

I have many many fond memories of the place – no running water, no electricity, a wood burning stove – it was pretty darn cool. Nothing is better than burnt pancakes cook over a fire.

My mom asked if I could make a house textile painting that looked like our cabin with fake redwood log siding and bright green trim. Home #9 is the result of that effort and also her birthday present (sent only a month late – not too bad given the construction).

Happy Birthday mom!

Home #3
©2008
10.5" x 8"
$550
Purchase Here

TUT

Today’s Notes from The Universe:

No one ever regrets raising the bar, Lisa, ever, ever, ever.

Scare yourself,
The Universe

I love these daily emails – they make me smile – and think, good thoughts.

Fear and my Purple Paint

I thought about my choices for the paint in my bedroom when I first read the email this morning. I was choosing the lighter purples because everyone always says to pick lighter colors for paint and etc etc. So I was following rules but when I did, it so was not what I wanted.

I want a really deep dark royal purple – so scare myself I did by daring to go with the darkest purple I could find. I’m sure I’m going to love the room. Sometimes I have to ignore everyone else’s voice and just go for it to get the results I want.

Raising the Bar

When I first starting writing about my studio addition I wrote about adding on a small studio and living small. Somewhere along the way I raised that bar and went for the studio I really wanted.

Sure there have been a few scary moments along the way (mostly when I get hooked by the fear around the stock market) but it is quickly put at bay because I know this is exactly what I need and want. Absolutely no regrets here.

Same story on raising my art prices. I finally owned my success (to copy a phrase from Christine Kane’s latest teleconference) and it feels great!

 
Where do you need to raise the bar in your life?

Home #8
©2008
6" x 6" – Mounted on stretched canvas
Sold

Pricing Art

Pricing always seems to be a difficult topic for artists. Are we charging too much, too little? Are we competitive? What about the economy? Etc.

Our artwork is personal and pricing it is very personal. Putting it out there to sell takes a leap of faith. Putting it out there and declaring it has $X value is really putting oneself on the line. Rejection is never fun.

Last year I finally jumped in and started selling my art, leveraging my word of the year courage.

This year I looked at my word expansion and did a bit of math. Selling art at the prices I was selling it ($30 for a small piece that take 3 hours to make, market and ship makes for an income of less than $10 an hour if I include overhead) and realized that my art would never be my career if I didn’t start taking ownership for its true value.

New Prices

The time has come to expand and get serious about the art career. On February 1st I will be increasing the prices on my textile paintings.

I’ve spent many hours working out the details and final pricing. Encouragement from my mentors, my coach, artist friends, folks on twitter, and the thoughts in this article: The Art and Science of Pricing helped me solidify my thoughts.

I’ve also spent much time wondering how to roll out this change. Quietly or with a big splash? What do I say? Do I have to justify myself?

I looked at my other word of the year, integrity and decided to go with authenticity. Simple words and a heads up for those that have expressed interest in the work.

The prices are going up, not a little like 10%, but a lot to reflect the real value of my art, which is unique, powerful, gorgeous and to boot – it’s extremely well made. To give you a feel for what to expect, the above piece will be $350 on February 1.

A Good Time to Buy

If there is a piece of art you are interested in now would be a great time to purchase. Not only do you have a beautiful new piece of original art to enjoy you will have an excellent investment as it will appreciate practically overnight when my prices go up.

If you are still saving for a specific textile painting let’s chat and I can set up a payment plan. I’d love for you to own the artwork you have your eye on. Please email me with any questions.

Here’s a link to my small artworks for sale website if you’d like to browse my currently available small works: Small Textile Paintings For Sale.