I did these sketches after I visited the North Tahoe Arts Studio Tour a couple of weekends ago. I felt inspired to move in a bit of a different direction. I'd like to work lar
ger...and remembered from a documentary I watched on Dale Chihuly that he sketches LARGE. And in color...
I got out a huge newsprint pad I have and did these. Don't know if I'll do anything with them, but they were fun. Need to try sketching in color next. Don't know what he uses in those squirt bottles of his...
Yesterday, I saw a piece I did a while back that's hanging at my dad's house. It's very different from what I'm currently working on. It's 2D, for starters, and utilizes collage, with fabric and mirror. The more I looked at it, the more I want to re-visit that vein. I used hardboard, which I bought, and I really don't like to buy stuff like that. I remember how hard it was for me to order that. I'd like to start with some "found" pieces for the base. Possibly the ancient-looking Chinese chest that I found at the thrift store and dismantled...because it was already falling apart...
Harry-Potter-reading-sessions aside, I've been thinking alot about focus, after reading some of Lisa Call's posts (see last entry). Sometimes I hear about another artist's way of doing things, and I want to be like them...but really, it's just about taking what you can learn from their process, and if it helps you, making some changes. I'm not like Lisa Call, from what I can tell. But I do appreciate her vision and focus, her drive, and especially her ability to scrutinize her process. As a former graphic designer, I can't afford to scrutinize too much; I know from experience that I'll scrutinize the life right out of my original sketches... But I would like to be more present with my own process, and get really good at what I do. I want to work at a higher level.
And I'd like to be more focused on my goals. I know the basic dreams I've had all my life. Sometimes, though, I try to push things through when it's not the right time...so there's that. How to stay focused on the long-term goals when it's obvious they're a ways off? Oh! patience, I guess...
On another note: when I read these posts over, checking for typos (yeah, I know about spell check; never use it!) alot of times they cease to make sense...does this make any sense to you?
This woman is focused: Lisa Call. Visit her blog for her post on what we sacrifice for our art. While I don't like the word "sacrifice", and I see it as more of a "balancing" of various elements of my life, I sure do respect this woman. Her focus and drive are phenomenal. It is making me think about my willy-nilly way, sometimes, of going about this thing I call my art career. And the attention to the details of her process makes me want to go into the studio right now, and really pay attention. And to really focus this blog.
I am somewhere between feeling inspired, and feeling unable to move.
I'm a blogging fool. I am also procrastinating heavily... (see my other blog post for today at the Underground Artists page...)
Anyway, I spent this past weekend looking around the area at some of the shops and galleries to see if any might be right for my work. (They're not.) It was somewhat discouraging, but two things made up for it:
1. I got to visit with my North Shore artist friends, Carole Sesko, Eve Werner, and Sara Zimmerman, who are all incredibly talented and cool and nice.
2. I met one of the three artist/owners of Riverside Studios, a beautiful shop/studio in Truckee. This was inspiring to me, not only because of the great works in leather, pottery and jewelry, but because these people weren't finding what they needed, so they created it. And also because of how that led to the next things in a very organic way: the potter became involved with some Sunset magazine projects and local eateries, creating pieces for them. She's very busy!
I envision a path like that for myself, which is hard, because when you don't really know what it is, how can you imagine it? What I do see is a career/life path that follows that general pattern: following my instincts and moving forward with a certain amount of trust. Events following organically, not forced or even planned, really...it SEEMS hard, but it should be easy, really.
Yikes.
Well, I'm finally allowed to make this public! Actually, it's a bit anti-climactic, because the site launched a couple of weeks ago, but I've been so busy that I didn't get around to blogging about in until now.... (You remember, I wrote about a big secret awhile ago? Well, this was it...I had a REAL photographer over here taking pictures of me. It was cool.)
ANYWAY, Becky Bell, a long-time Tahoe local and extreme back-country skier and mountain biker (she's nuts), decided the real Tahoe needed some representation, to promote the more authentic aspects of our town. Her purpose is to value the local culture by promoting local arts and businesses with her site, through content, ads, links, etc. And it is awesome. Good work, Becky...Becky? Well, she's out there somewhere, working on the site; poor woman never stops....
So, go to her site, Tahoe Arts and Mountain Culture. And support local Tahoeians. Tahoeites. Tahoers....er, local Tahoe artists and others who make Tahoe real, and a really, really cool place to live.
Oh, and she wanted me to say that I am the Inspirational Director for this project. I have a business card and everything.
Technically, I wasn't "tagged". But I was, indirectly, invited to do this:
The object of the game is to blog “8 Random Facts About Myself.” Here are the rules:
1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write in their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
So, here goes:
1. this is hard....that doesn't count as one...
1. Okay, I hoard chocolate. Or hide it; I guess that sounds less obsessive. My kids don't know where it is...I do this to the point that I will hide it in my purse as soon as I buy it, and they never see it again, if they saw it at all, and I rarely share it. I will only eat dark chocolate.
2. I hate computer and video games, and think of the Disney corporation as evil. (That's actually two things, but it came out as one thought.)
3. I like opera.
4. I am a really good speller.
5. Much to my husband's chagrin, I have very good hearing, so I can hear him mutter things under his breath.
6. I once had a huge crush on John Cusack, and have since fallen in love with both Ewan McGregor and Tobey Maguire. And Mr. Darcy. At times, I will obsessively watch movies with these people in them.
7. On a related note, I love going to the movies. I love that moment of anticipation when the theatre goes dark, the THX guy does his thing...and then the Columbia lady with the torch shows up...
8. I'm incredibly competitive when challenged by stupid things such as the other day, when my husband said that the English Beat wrote a certain song, and he was wrong, and I actually had to go find a cd so I could prove that I was right (which I was).
Is that 8 already? I'm sure there are other much more interesting things about me...like, well... hmmm. No, I guess that's about it. So they're random, but not necessarily interesting.
I'm supposed to list 8 people to be tagged to do this, but what I'm realizing is that I don't know 8 people who blog...
let's see...
Kristen, you're one. Actually, you're the only. Kelly? Becky? There's those Canadian women...Should I bug Luann, who doesn't really know me? This has an element of the ol' Chain Letter about it, and could be construed as annoying...
Well, I'll do what EH did on hers: if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged. And if you decide to play, let me know...
Catching up on email and putting stuff away...
Here's something I found in Molly Gordon's newsletter from a few weeks ago, on selling:
"Selling is not about taking money from your customers' pockets and putting it in your own. Selling is an exchange, a transaction that marks the movement of energy in the form of money, products, and services."
Molly Gordon, MCC. Copyright (c) Shaboom Inc.(r) 2007. All rights reserved. http://www.authenticpromotion.com
Probably due to the fire, among other things, the Tahoe Festival of Fine Arts was sloooooow, and I did not sell much. But I like the quote above, because looking at selling art, in that light, makes sense to me. I put alot of energy into my art, and when someone DOES appreciate that, we exchange energy; art for money. When I'm doing work I like, I can feel good about that.
I'm recovering from the show; more content and updated info soon! Plus, secrets revealed!
Big sigh of relief from over here...
e work, and pricing it before putting it back in the boxes, and I was dreading it. Make that DREADING it.
How much can we blame on Mercury being retrograde, really? And how much chocolate can one person consume before becoming, well, fat?
These things were on my mind this week as I was getting ready for the Festival of Fine Arts coming up this weekend. Along with the more obvious things on my mind: the Angora Fire, some Blue Turtle Seduction tunes that got stuck in my head, and the burning question "who are the idiots who toilet-papered our house yesterday?"
So you can see that there's alot going on, but I'm still focused on the work, and besides the roller-coaster of emotions, I think I'll be ready. I've got lots of new work, including a new line of necklaces I'm trying out. I've done the best I could do in the time I had, and since my friend Kristen Schwartz (illustrator extraodinaire) and I are doing it together, it's going to be fun.
We're looking at this as a learning experience, and I can see that I've already come a long way from the last time I did this show 2 years ago. That was my first outdoor show experience, and I'm still getting together the materials I need for this sort of thing. I'm not sure how much I want to do outdoor shows, or what are the best venues for my work. I'm just moving forward. And I hope that things will become more clear as I go along.
Although Mercury is still retrograde. Better make sure I've got chocolate on my show checklist...
