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One of my favorite art books is Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking (David Bayles, Ted Orland). It is not a how-to book, nor is a book about inspiration. It is about the work of making art. It explores the process of making art and why it doesn’t get made. And it addresses those voices in our heads-we all have some voices: –That is just bad. -Who do you think you are? -Her work is way better than yours. -Okay, so you made one good thing. You can’t make another piece that good. -You have no talent.…
I’m done, I’m done-my unpacking is done! I finished after 16 straight days of hard labor and it was worth it. I am shocked to report that everything I needed fit to into my Studio, with room left over. Which means that I probably over-purged. But dang, it feels good to have everything clean, organized and unpacked-from the garage to the bedrooms! What a feeling of accomplishment to see this hall cleared of boxes and shelves! And waaaaay down at the end of that hall, underneath the new skylight will be my SAQA gallery: I’ve collected these over the years from…
What a week! I have been working on unpacking 11 hours a day for 2 weeks now and I see some light at the end of the tunnel. I think I will be done in 2 more days. Then I will have to play catch-up with all the rest of life like groceries, errands, cooking and cleaning. Maybe, be still my heart, I could actually sit at the machine within a week!? I know I have made at least 15 trips for containers. I am trying to maximize the use of my cubic feet of storage, so I need just…
We have made the move into the “new” house, our remodeled old home. What a brutal task this is-the second move in 5 months! The move came in waves-the first was all of our things from the rental, followed 6 days later by our things in storage. I was able to get the rental unpacked before the second wave…except my studio. That’s another story. For a brief moment in time, my kitchen looked like this. And then the next wave hit. I have always been amazed at how much better your home can look in photos. Yes, my kitchen is…
We’re moving back into the house this week so I am writing this early for posting. I just made a pivotal decision this week: I submitted my entry to a gallery show for this fall, precluding me from entering the “normal” quilt shows like PIQF. This is a change in direction for me that I am going to try to see if I like it. I’m excited! I want to see my work in more art-oriented venues than quilt show venues. There’s a real trade off with this decision. My acceptance rate will probably go way down because it is generally much more…
If you can’t decide between a root canal and buying a new car, go with the dentist. I needed another car. My 10 yr old Acura MDX was in what I call The Second Stage, that stage where it needs multiple things that cost $2500 or so. I was okay with a leather seat that was so cracked that its innards were visible. I was none too happy that my phone could no longer Blue Tooth with my car but I could live with that. And I could get over the heavily stained floor mats. But when I hit that $econd $tage,…
Sometimes my travels to teach and lecture take me to new places. Travel is a major reason why I love to teach and lecture. It’s just plain fun to meet people from different places. I hope to be traveling internationally at some point but for now, I am excited to visit locales in the western US. Last week I traveled to Redding, Ca, located in the northernmost part of the central valley of the state. This was my first visit to Redding and about all I knew (before I did my research) was that it was HOT! Redding is at…
WordPress refuses to load my photos this morning so I’m doing a quick update instead. It’s been a whirlwind year for me so far. Yet there is so much more that I want to accomplish! But there is just not enough time for it all-I have to accept that. I definitely have a serious case of FOMO-Fear Of Missing Out. I want to do it all, but I am slowing realizing that I need to back off of some things. I had this crazy notion that I could finish a quilt, whose top is not even marked yet, in the…
It’s that time of year to create my annual donation quilt to one of SAQA‘s major fundraisers, the Benefit Auction. Artist members are encouraged to create 12″ square quilts that will be auctioned off starting Sept 16. This is an excellent time to get fabulous art to add to your collection. View the quilts here-there are already many gorgeous quilts and not all of them have been posted yet. My finished quilt-tada: This is a sateeen whole cloth quilt with wool batting and silk thread. The title comes from the number of visible “dots”. To me they look like an aerial…
I’ve only had a wee bit of time to quilt lately as my travel and teaching schedule has been insane for about 2 months. I had a moment to work on a few small projects and a realized that I use some tools/notions that are a bit uncommon. I want to share them with you-maybe they might be useful for you too. I use these “rolling rulers” to set grids and to create circles and oblong objects. I first saw them domo-ed at Houston and was intrigued. There is a You Tube here that is the. cheesiest. video. ever. You have…