Lisa Call

Sienna Skies
Oil on Canvas
©2009 Nicole Hyde
12" x 12"
printed with permission from the artist

Trade

In the midst of selling a bunch of art last week I also made an excellent art trade with Nicole Hyde. In exchange for the above painting, custom painted for me in orange and gray for my new bedroom, Nicole is getting Markings #11:

Markings #11
Textile Painting
©2006
18.25" x 19.5"

Yay! About the time my construction is done the painting will be dry and I can bring it home and hang it on the wall (Nicole is also a Denver artist).

Trading art and acquiring gorgeous paintings like this one of Nicole’s is one of the fabulous things about being an artist.

In addition to her website Nicole also has a blog and she’s doing this very cool project: Finders! Keepers? Art Project.

Studio Progress

Today I had a friend over for dinner, in the middle of construction. Kinda funny but what the heck. I wasn’t sure how it would go when I got home from work and I didn’t have a working kitchen sink, but the guys are awesome and they hooked up my laundry room sink temporarily and all went well.

[Today's construction photos - I have an island!]

I did manage to get in an hour of studio time today in addition to packing up purchased art to mail and dinner and that day job thing. I think another hour and Ascending #1 will be finished and ready for it’s unveiling. It will be my first completed piece for 2009.

Lines #17
©2008
3" x 3" – Mounted on stretched canvas
Sold

What is a Painting?

I’ve been using the term Textile Painting for quite a while now and have gotten several questions about what it exactly means and why I’m using it.

After reading a post on Jeanne Williamson’s blog the other day I thought maybe I’d tackle the subject. From her post Definition of a Painter :

Andrea Myers considers herself a painter. You might not know it wandering through her show at Steven Zevitas Gallery. You’ll see ripped stacks of paper and fabric collages on the wall, piles of fabric on the floor and on a pedestal, but nothing you might immediately think of as a painting. That’s Myers’s point. The Chicago artist intends to push at the edges of painting’s definition.

A lot of Andrea Myers’s work is very dimensional (see here for photos). My intention is not to push the word painting as is Myers. Instead I believe I’m just using textiles instead of paint to provide my color and am indeed making a painting as most people think of a painting – an art object to hang on the wall.

Looking at wikipedia’s page on painting it defines painting as:

Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface (support base). In art, the term describes both the act and the result, which is called a painting.

Citing Merriam-Webster Online as the source of the definition.

Why Textile Painting?

That definition pretty much covers what I’m doing – applying color to a surface. I’m using textiles to provide the color and the surface are the back 2 layers of the quilt (batting & backing – see my definition of basting for what these layers look like).

With the smaller paintings I then attach the 3 layers to a canvas. Very much a painting – just a different medium provides the palette that is applied to the surface.

Why don’t I just call them quilts? Because that word is a loaded term and generally includes conjuring up images of grandma. I love traditional quilts but that is not what I make so if I say quilt I have to start qualifying it and it’s pretty hard to move off the bed with those that aren’t familiar with fiber art.

When I describe what I do I prefer to start with the word painting and expand that image as I find it much easier to describe what the artform is from this angle.

Both "quilt" and "painting" need a modifier to more accurately describe what I do – might as well pick the one that I think is closest to the intention of my artwork – a means of expressing myself resulting in a non functional 2 dimensional object that is hung on the wall.

ACEO #21
©2008
2.5" x 3.5"
Sold

Yum

Today’s joy is brought to you buy some delicious pizza the kids and I had for dinner. Yum. We sat and savored every bite. Except my preteen daughter, who was practicing staring off into space and ignoring me, which I must say was great fun to observe, especially when she couldn’t resist and would smile at what we were saying.

Friday dinner with the kids – priceless.

Construction

They did work today, I didn’t feel like taking photos when I got home from work. So tomorrow there will be an update cause they are working on the studio all through the weekend. I think tomorrow I’ll have windows.

I get to go shopping for stuff now, faucets and bathtubs and a bunch of other stuff that I have completely forgotten. Not being a shopper type this is going to be a challenge for me, but I am determined to have fun with it. How many times does one get to pick out a bathtub?

My daughter wants an orange one. I hope they don’t make such things. How could I say no? Think they have any resale value at all? Wonder if there would be a matching toilet and sink.

In the Studio

I’m in the middle of making a new batch of 3" square lines paintings mounted on canvas. I’m also working on a new piece with a color scheme suggested by a reader. I don’t do commissions per say but if there are some colors you’d like to see in a piece, I can see what I can do with them in your requested size. If you like it, you can buy it, if you don’t I’ll put it up for sale on my small art for sale website.

The above ACEOs was inspired by Structures #99:

Structures #99
©2008
33" x 39"
$7000