Northern New Mexico

Northern New Mexico August 2010 © 2010 Lisa Call
Love the lines in this photo
 

The Photos

I’ve uploaded my Santa Fe vacation photos to smugmug – you can see them all here: Northern New Mexico 2010. I’ve added a few to this post to entice you.

I love Northern New Mexico and having grown up there, I think it is the most beautiful place on earth.

The Activities

In addition to eating a lot and working and spending time reading and relaxing in our hotel room we also did some of the tradition Santa Fe things:

- A visit to the Georgia O’Keeffe museum
- Viewing the art at the New Mexico Museum of art (2 galleries were close and a 3rd had an exhibit I saw last May, so this was a short visit).
- A lovely walk along an arroyo in southern Santa Fe
- A beautiful drive up along the high road to taos
- Hanging out at the plaza
- Visiting galleries at the Railyard
- Hanging out at the park
- A shopping trip to Trader Joes (we don’t have them in Colorado)
- Thrift store shopping

The Food

These are the places where we ate this trip. All excellent restaurants and highly recommended:

- Maria’s New Mexican Kitchen
- Tuneup Cafe
- Blue Corn Cafe & Brewery
- Baskin and Robbins
- Pantry Restaurant (twice – because it was too late to have lunch at the Shed – bummer)
- Il Vicino Wood Oven Pizza
- Chocolate Maven Bakery & Cafe
- Jambo Cafe
- Dunkin Donuts (for nostalgic purposes)
- The French Pastry Shop
- Rancho de Chimayo

Northern New Mexico August 2010 © 2010 Lisa Call
Near the Plaza in Santa Fe
 

Northern New Mexico August 2010 © 2010 Lisa Call
Camel Rock
 

Northern New Mexico August 2010 © 2010 Lisa Call
The badlands in Northern New Mexico
 

Northern New Mexico August 2010 © 2010 Lisa Call
Truchas Peaks


Posted by Lisa in: art adventures
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Incomplete Projects

I mentioned in a blog post a few weeks back, that I’m working on completing a bunch of incomplete projects. Both art and personal.

I’ve been writing about this process on my other blog: MakeBigArt.

MakeBigArt is about

Empowering artists…

…to think big about their art
…to think big about their marketing
…to think big about their lives

With encouragement, tools and practical tips on Mindsets, Marketing, Motivation and Management.

To date there are 4 articles about completion with more to come:

1. The Magic of Completion
2. A Quest for Completion – introducing a plan on how to get there
3. Creating an Incomplete Project List – it was harder than expected
4. More on the Incomplete Project List – categorizing, prioritizing and more (new today)

Working Vacation

Today is the last day of my working vacation in Santa Fe. I’ve had a fabulous time with my kids and I’ve gotten a lot done.

Being in a hotel room, with no distractions, is a great way to make forward progress. I’m not tempted to go cook something, or run to the store, or hang out with friends. Every morning I’ve spend 3-5 hours working on my art business and on my personal todo list.

I then spend the afternoon and evening doing the vacation thing. My todo list is mostly checked off complete and I’ve eaten a ton of green chile, soaked in the beautiful scenery of Santa Fe and seen some fabulous art. It’s been an excellent arrangement and I think I’ll do this again soon.


Posted by Lisa in: Being an Artist
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An Artful Vacation

To Houston!

As I mentioned in my studio newsletter a few months ago, I’m rewarding myself for the hard work I put into Dwelling: An exhibit of textile paintings by Lisa Call, by taking a vacation to see some art.

I’m headed to Houston for the weekend to see art, most specifically the Rothko Chapel but I’ll be viewing a lot of other art also. And getting a massage and indulging in room service. It’s going to be a fabulous break from life.

To that end I’m not bringing technology with me, no cell phone, no lap top, no nothing. No interruptions – my intention is to devote this time to relaxing and exhaling.

(okay – I admit – I’m bringing a DVD of Bones as its a rare treat to have a TV about – I intend to spend more time reading than watching but a bit of brainless relaxation is also nice).

Letting go any residual stress from the show preparation because when I get back on monday it’ll be time to ramp up on the next project and get moving.

I’ll also post the photos from my opening.

Happy weekend everyone!

Small Art

There are currently only 3 small textile paintings remaining with the house theme – they are listed on my artist card page.

A while back I wrote some articles about how to display these small works of art – you can see them here and here. And check out this cool idea also.


Posted by Lisa in: Being an Artist
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Clarity

Cherry Creek State Park, Denver Colorado ©2008 Lisa Call

Cherry Creek State Park, Denver, Colorado
 

Clarity

When I have clarity of intention I’m able to focus my actions on the things that will bring about my desires more quickly. I believe I am responsible for my own fate and focusing on what I want will result in it transpiring. So best to be very clear about what that is so I’m happy with the results. Hence my previous posts on my artistic success.

When I sit down with my todo list I think about each item and if it will lead to one of the goals on my list. If not I try to get the thing off my list – delegate it, don’t do it, or do it quickly. This is one reason why being clear is so helpful. It allows me to align my actions exactly to the outcomes I most want.

Another thing I meant to mention in my twitter for artists post, but it flittered out of my mind when writing, twitter fits into my long term success strategy. The marketing piece is probably there and it will help me sell art but more immediately I see it as a wonderful community of artists. I’ve meant dozens and dozens of new artists the last few weeks and am going to enjoy getting to know them better through their tweets. If you are trying to decided if twitter is right for you, one way to make that decision is to think about if it fits into your long term vision for your career.

Where Do You See Yourself?

Violette Severin has done a series of artist interviews on her blog and I was asked to participate. You can read my interview here: Interview with Lisa Call.

One of my favorite questions she asked was "Where do you see yourself in 10 years?" I gave a fairly short answer on her blog as I wasn’t yet done working through my definition of success. The list of items from last weeks post, What Does Success Mean To Me, is the more clear answer to that question.

Some people might have a problem with defining success so another way to think about it is with this question. What do you envision yourself doing in the future?

Positive Day Dreaming

I’ve been trying out positive day dreaming and it seems most of the time it goes like this:

I wake up and get to spend the entire day in my studio making art. Then the next day I get to do the same. And the next and the next. I even toss in some marketing activities cause it’s fun now and of course eating good food, making the art in a beautiful studio and spending part of the time with the people I love.

Right now I can think of nothing I would like more than to spend an entire month making art and not going to work. Okay admittedly an entire life doing this would be better, but with the remodel I think I might be working for a few more years now. A tradeoff that will be well worth it.

Still – I think I’m going to figure out how to take a month off work and just make art the entire time. What a perfect use of my vacation time. It puts a huge smile on my face just thinking about it.

Studio Newsletter

It’s time again for my quarterly studio newsletter. I expect the September edition to be sent by end of the week if not sooner. As has become habit, I will have a few ACEOs for sale to my newsletter subscribers.

You can check out a sample here: Lisa Call Studio News.

You can sign up below for the newsletter:

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And of course, I will never share or sell your email address and will only use it for the purpose stated above. All emails sent will include a link to unsubscribe should you decide you are no longer interested.


Posted by Lisa in: About Me, Being an Artist
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Rocky Mountain National Park

Rocky Mountain National Park ©2007 Lisa Call

 
My mom has been visiting this week so we spent the last few days vacationing at a friend’s mountain home in Grand Lake, Colorado, which is located at the south entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. On monday we took a drive up Trail Ridge Road through the Park. As expected it was beautiful.

I love the colors of the dried grasses.
 

Rocky Mountain National Park ©2007 Lisa Call

 

Rocky Mountain National Park ©2007 Lisa Call

 
There wasn’t much snow, even at the top of the pass where they had the road closed for winter, just a few piles from the snow plows, which was all the kids needed. They have mastered making something from nothing.

Rocky Mountain National Park ©2007 Lisa Call

 

Rocky Mountain National Park ©2007 Lisa Call


Posted by Lisa in: Images
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