Lisa Call

Home #2
©2008
10" x 9"
sold

The Economy

A portion of yesterday’s lack of confident, as related in my post Shaking Self Doubt, was related to doing a major home renovation project in rather shaky economic environment. It help trigger all sorts of negative self talk.

I think most everyone’s natural tendency in times like this is to contract. Time to pull back, withhold, grab on and hold tight. Doing otherwise is considered foolish, risky and gambling. I’m doing the opposite of the herd and when I listen the news I can get spooked and start thinking I’m foolish.

Then I remind myself that I bought this house knowing full well it had to be remodeled. Half of the windows don’t close properly, the bathroom is less than pristine (as in it’s pretty gross) and I have a washing machine next to my stove and the dryer is in a shed with serious mold problems due to a roof leak. I can’t do laundry when it is raining cause I’ll get electrocuted.

So when I think about what a home is I realize I am extremely lucky because many many people would consider such problems a luxury. If I want to live small I would suck it up cause other people have worse. Sure I could just live with the house as is until all was "safe". I’m not going to do that.

Instead it’s time to get out my word of the year, courage, and live the life I envision for myself.

Courage

I planned on this remodel. I budgeted it for it. So I’m doing it. And I’m not going to let fear stop me. I think a large part of what is going on out there is fear. It’s so easy to get hooked. I love Christine Kane’s post about the subject a few weeks back titled How to Stop a Recession in its Tracks.

Next time I get hooked I’ll just reread this article instead of doubting my art. Courage. I will survive no matter what happens. So best to do so with a nice big studio cause making art can get me through anything.

What is a Home

My definition of home includes some amount of comfort. I’m replacing the broken windows, putting insulation in the walls and getting a new heater so I don’t freeze. I’m building a laundry room that opens to my garage so I can get out of my car and walk into my house and not have to go outside. This luxury was near top of my list of nice to haves.

The cost of adding a second story under my studio in the backyard addition was fairly minimal so in addition to a new studio I’m also getting a new master bedroom suite, complete with big bathtub. There is even room for a small study so my computer doesn’t have to be in my studio or in my bedroom. This was something I didn’t realized was important until I lost it. Now I feel it is essential to my well being.

Art For Sale

It’s interesting the things we take for granted in our homes. I’ve learned a lot about what my home means to me living in such a small house the last 3 months. These thoughts are what inform my new series: Home. The first in this series was posted here: Home #1 with my initial thoughts on the houses and homes.

The second textile painting, Home #2 shown above, was completed this morning and is available for sale for $165. Please send me email if you are interested in purchasing the piece. Shipping is $5 in the US and $10 elsewhere. I accept payment via paypal or checks in US dollars. The piece has sold.

Coming Soon

I’ve already started Home #3 and today I photographed a lot of the artwork I made the last few months (took me a while to figure out the logistics in this place) so some photos of art will soon adorn this blog again. All the aspens and Colorado mountain photos are nice but time to show art also.

The big plan is to complete my studio newsletter and get it in fired off in email by morning. I figure if I say it here that will make it happen. So watch your email for the 3rd edition of my newsletter. Not subscribed? You can do it here: Lisa Call’s Studio Newletter.

Home #1

©2008
7.75" x 6"
Sold

A New Series

I mentioned a few weeks back that I was working on a new series. I’ve been doodling a lot of stick house pictures at work inspired by my move to a new home and now my immersion into the world of remodeling and putting an addition on to the new house.

I’ve wanted to try out some of my ideas in fabric and the above piece is the first textile painting in what I plan to be my newest series. This piece was really fun to make. As this is the first time out with these designs it took a few tries to get the look I was after and I’m very happy with the results. For a while I’ll be concentrating on smaller pieces in this series. I have ideas for some larger works, which will probably wait until I have a larger studio in which to work.

I’m excited to be doing something more representational alongside my very abstract series Structures and Markings, both of which I will be continuing.

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the title for this series and finally settled on something simple: Home.

What’s in a Name

I wrote the following in my sketchbook the other day when thinking about this series:

Home

House and Home

House as Home

Home as House

What role does a house play in making a home? Why do we put so much focus on making our houses nice? Why do we want them to be big? Is this energy misplaced or is it a necessary and valid part of what makes a house a home?

I have many more thoughts along these lines and will get into them in more detail as I explore this new series.

Art For Sale

In addition to giving me the chance to explore some thoughts I have around putting an addition on my little 900 sq ft home, this series will also help finance the new studio. There is something about that I find rather satisfying. Acknowledging that, yes, my art is an important part of my income stream and it is indeed necessary to build the studio I desire to make my art. The big dream is to have the art pay for the entire studio. It might take some years but I am sure it will happen. This is the start.

This piece is available for sale for $85. Please send me email if you are interested in purchasing it (I accept checks and paypal). Shipping is $5 in the US and $10 elsewhere. The piece is sold.

What’s Next

Really - I will get back to the Scrum posts. Haven’t had the time to really think through the order of what I will be posting yet. I am planning my art business goals for September using some of the ideas of scrum so want to give this a try then I’ll post about how it went.

I’ve been doing a lot of artwork lately so have much to post on that also. Structures #97 is essentially done and Structures #98 is now designed and ready to be constructed. So lots of art also coming up soon. I didn’t post much the past 3 or 4 months so I’m excited to be back and focused on my art and to have so many things I want to write about. Feels great to be an artist!