Lisa Call

To celebrate the coming of the new year I want to first honor my accomplishments for 2008.

1. Selected Courage for my year to guide me through a year of big changes.
2. I smiled more in 2008 than I did in 2007.
3. I sold my house of 12 years in a single day for over my asking price.
4. I bought a new home in Denver saying goodbye to the suburbs.
5. I hired an awesome contractor to build my dream studio on the back of my new house.
6. I have enjoyed the first 3 months of construction of my new studio.
7. I spent 446 hours in my studio making art (that an average of just under 8 hours a week. I had a few months during my house sale and move when I made no art)
8. I spent at least 700 hours marketing my art. I didn’t track it as closely as studio time but it was the lions share of my art career in 2008 as it was something I could do while the studio was inaccessible during the moves.
9. I created 4 new textile paintings in the Markings series.
10. I created 13 new textile patings in the Structures series.
11. I started new series inspired by my new house, called Home, and created 8 textile paintings – .
12. I started a new series of small works mounted on painted stretched canvas and created 21 textile paintings in the series – Lines.
13. I created 27 new ACEOs.
14. The result: I created 73 new pieces of art this year.
15. I set a goal of writing and sending 4 studio newsletters in 2008 – I met that goal by sending the 4th newsletter on New Year’s Eve.
16. I ended the year with 431 newsletter subscribers, exceeding my goal of 400.
17. I wrote 174 blog posts.
18. I joined twitter.
19. I wrote 1588 tweets (in about 4 months).
20. I ended the year with 400+ follows on twitter meeting my goal of 400.
21. I became more active on facebook.
22. I ended the year with 201 friends on facebook meeting my goal of 200.
23. I had a solo show of my Markings series in Boulder, CO in February.
24. I had a solo show of a few of my Structures textile paintings in Lincoln, NE in April.
25. I curated a group show at the Lux Center for Arts in Lincoln, NE in April.
26. I gave an artist talk at my February show – and love it.
27. I exhibited 6 large textile paintings at the Butler Museum of Art in Ohio.
28. I attended the opening of the Butler Museum show.
29. I was juried into Form Not Function for 2009.
30. I was asked to exhibit art at the Danforth Art Museum in 2009.
31. I exhibited Structures #60 at Art Quilt Elements (AQE).
32. I sold 2 small textile paintings in the gift shop during AQE.
33. Structures #60 was mentioned in the review of AQE in the SAQA journal.
34. I participated in the Artist Breakthrough program with Alyson Stanfield
35. I did a podcast interview with Alyson for her online book tour – my first podcast.
36. I was quoted in Alyson’s new book: I’d Rather Be in the Studio.
37. I enjoyed Alyson’s series of artist interviews this fall.
38. I attended my second retreat with Christine Kane in November
39. I had a nice family vacation in Montana in July.
40. I signed up to go on a tour of Africa in 2009 with Nancy Crow.
41. I turned profit in my art business for the first time ever.
42. I sold 2 textile paintings to the Cleveland University Hospital collection.
43. I sold many textile paintings to supporters and collectors.
44. I received dozens of supportive and loving comments from fans.
45. I dyed a couple hundred yards of fabric in my backyard under a crab apple tree in my new house since I had no where else to do it. I didn’t just give it up for the year.
46. I set up a temporary studio in a small bedroom after leaving a 600 sq ft studio to continue making art while my new studio is being built.
47. I create a project and wrote a chapter for a crafters how to book to be published in 2009.
48. I participated in several online interviews.
49. I sold enough PDF fabric to others to keep my account open with Kaufman.
50. I created a webpage to sell my artwork directly to collectors.
51. My direct sales of art were better than I imagined.
52. I did yoga almost every morning for 3 months in a row. I am still following a 3-4 times a month routine (most of the time).
53. I journaled in the morning on a consistent basis.
54. I wrote a gratitude entry in my journal 5 or 6 times a week.
55. I went on some beautiful hikes.
56. I experienced the magic of an aspen grove near it’s peak fall color.
57. I had a wonderful relationship with Jim for a few months.
58. I recovered from the end of the relationship by focusing on Joy in December.
59. I visited the Denver Art Museum numerous time through the year.
60. I visited the Contemporary Art
61. I taught myself how to mount my textile paintings on canvas.
62. I bought a new laptop for my art business.
63. I enjoyed several wonderful meals and outings with my artist friends.
64. I started a rewrite of my website with a design I really love.
65. I defined what success means to me as an artist.
66. I applied agile software management techniques to manage my art business.
67. I sold work in the artfulhome.com studio sale in the spring.
68. I sold work in the artfulhome.com studio sale in December.
69. Structures #39 appeared in the artful home holiday catalog.
70. Three textile paintings were selected as covers for Myers Briggs Booklets.
71. I received good compensation for the use of my images on the book covers.
72. Participated in Christine Kane’s Great Big Dreams E-Seminar – twice.
73. Made an investment in myself and signed up for Christine’s Platinum coaching circle for 2009.
74. Participated in small art showcase.
75. Listed in Fine Art Department.
76. Wrote guest post on Christine’s blog about my choice of the word Courage for 2008.
77. Received innumerable wonderful, supportive and informative comments on my blog.
78. Maintained a daily photo journal of the progress of my new home and studio construction.
79. Donated and gifted 10% of my gross art income.
80. Became comfortable and defined my career to include selling affordable art in addition to having museum shows with my Big Art.
81. Worked a fulltime job as a software engineer.
82. Thoroughly enjoyed being a mom to my 12 and 16 year old kids.
83. Wrote a series of blog posts about energy, and why I get so much done.
84. Survived my Quilt National 2009 rejection (the first rejection from QN in 4 shows)
85. Ordered new business cards.
86. Spent a weekend in silence.
87. Completed one ink drawing – Lines #4
88. Purchased 3+ beautiful new works of original art by artists I admire.
89. Baked an amazing cake for Christmas dinner.
90. Gave away a good percent (30%? 40%?) of my belongings to move from a 4000 sq ft home to a 900 sq ft home.
91. Was interviewed for inclusion in a book about art quilters to be published in 2009 or 2010.
92. Spent time with some wonderful old friends.
93. Spent time with some new amazing friends.
94. Let go of some friendships that were no longer serving me.
95. Through the use of acupuncture, yoga and intention, quit taking advil and aleave ending a 20+ year dependence on the drugs for pain relief.
96. Bought myself a big box of See’s candy’s in an act of serious self care.
97. Gave street people money and didn’t worry about what they might or might not do with it.
98. Tried out some new bright colors in my smaller textile paintings.
99. Used a purple christmas tree for the topping off of my construction.
100. Dressed my cats up for the holidays with no serious repercussions.

When I first thought of this list I knew my studio time (~8 hours a week) would see so small compared to my prefvious years goals of 20 hours per week. And then I look at everything else I have accomplished and I wonder where I found those 8 hours plus the 12-13 hours a week for marketing my work.

Gratitude for all I have done this year feels like the perfect way to end the year.

Tomorrow – my words for 2009 – Expansion and Integrity.

Happy New Year everyone.

An Artful Weekend

Travel Diary, Saturday, April 5th:

1. Stayed up past midnight chatting and laughing with Pam. Notable topic of conversation was powdered sugar donuts, a favorite of Pam’s on road trips and her aliens (see her comments on her blog). Surprisingly we hear little noise from the high schoolers sharing the hotel with us as the evening goes on.
2. Earplugs in I sleep until 8am. Unfortunately the high school kids played a round of volleyball in the bathroom next door so Pam enjoyed the early morning taking great photos of the sculpture at the International Quilt Study Center.
3. After a yummy breakfast it’s off to galleries to see an exhibit of Michael James new work at Modern Arts Midwest. This work seems more saturated to me than some previous pieces. Could be my memory but I liked these richer colors better. My favorite was from 2006 and is not on either the gallery or artist’s website.
4. Next we went over to the brand new International Quilt Study Center and Museum to see a show of Nancy Crow’s work. It was good to see a collection of her work from over the years.



5. The building for the Quilt Center had some cool architectural features. Including a large reception area with very cool windows.



 


6. They also had a really cool mesh screen on wheels. Love the feet.


 

7. It’s my daughter’s birthday so I pack up and head back to Colorado for a 6:30 dinner reservation. The sharks are ready to hit the road.



8. Looking for something to do I phone up my friend Kelly and we have a 2+ hour chat as I drive down I-80. In addition to fabric dyeing the topic of powdered sugar donuts comes up as we were huge donut fans growing up. My car is in need of a gas so at a bargain $3.69 I fill up the tank and go inside in search of some fine pastries. I’m shocked and dismayed to discover there are no donuts and not even a twinkie in the entire convenience store.
9. Fortunately this is America so I drive over to the next store and find exactly what I’m looking for. I have a hard time deciding between the powdered sugar and those yummy plastic chocolate coated ones so select a package of both and head to the counter. The worker guy has just hit some magic button and the register is spitting out a very long tape of recent purchases and I’m told I’ll have to wait 5 minutes. Not wanting to look desperate I opted to walk out of the store empty handed.
10. All is well until I hit I-76, a stretch of road that makes driving across Nebraska seem exciting. It’s just me and a bunch of huge trucks and some tumble weeds. Realizing I’m darn close to falling asleep I stop and buy myself some sunflower seeds. Not being a caffeine drinker, food that requires effort to eat seemed like the next best option for staying awake. And really, why not, a pack of powdered sugar donuts ends up in my hands also.
11. The universe was clearly trying to send me a signal as there was a huge line at the cash register (in the middle of nowhere eastern colorado) – yes – it’s shift change and mr. manager is counting the pennies. I can hide my desperation no longer, I ignore the universe, and I stand there a good 10 minutes to purchase a pack of stale donuts. Happily I was in good company. It was kinda funny watching us. We’d look at what we wanted to buy. Look at the line. You can hear the wheels spinning "am I really standing in line to buy this?" Then we’d realize noone we know is watching – so yep – sure enough we did.



12. Yummy!
13. I was 20 minutes late picking up my daughter for our sushi dinner date. I blame it on the traffic.

May all your art adventures be inspiring and fun. And enjoy the donuts on the drive home.

Markings #1    ©2006    44"x62"

Cross Hatching

The idea for the Markings series began in September 2005 when I read an article on Danny Gregory’s blog, Everyday Matters, about cross hatching. His comments and images captured my imagination:

Cross hatching is quite miraculous. How is it that black ink lines on white paper have the ability to create an infinite number of shades of grey, to evoke all the colors of the rainbow and to suggest textures and materials and varied as silk and stone, glass and schnauzer hair?

I was hooked. I started drawing squares filled with lines in my sketch book.

• What if I could do that in fabric?
• Would parallel lines in fabric have the same power and beauty as that of a hand drawn line?
• Would it be interesting?
• Would it be technically possible?

Time to Play

Six weeks later I went to Sandpoint, Idaho, for a workshop with Nancy Crow where I spent 2 weeks essentially doing independent study. Although my focus was mostly on my Structures Series I took the time to do a small fabric sketch of my cross hatching idea:

After looking at this for a few days I decided to go for it and see what the idea would yield.

Markings #1

Having just driven across Wyoming and eastern Montana, with a stop at Little Big Horn, the grasses of the prairie were on my mind and I pulled out some soft golds and greens and dry grass colors and worked out my first composition. This is what it looked like before I started constructing the sections (I always cut all my lines and rough out my design on the wall before sewing):

 
The completed work, Markings #1 is at the top of this post and the detail image is below. This is still one of my favorites in this series as it brings back memories of the beautiful drive across Montana. This piece is included in the show Markings: Repetition and Pattern, currently in Boulder, CO.