Taking Stock of 2007

Today I put on my "fat" jeans and waddled out to the studio...finally... I needed to get out there, but kept finding excuses not to. And the more I put off taking stock of 2007, the harder it got to walk out there. But I did, and it's a good thing.

I took Alyson Stanfield's idea of writing down one's accomplishments, and used her list as a guideline. The point being, it's overwhelming sometimes to look at all the things we have yet to do, so it's a good idea to take stock of what you HAVE done. I noticed, as I wrote this, that I kept wanting to add, "but I still need to...". I refrained. Here's what I came up with:

In 2007:

I PROMOTED MY ART by getting my website up, starting this blog and posting regularly, sending out two mailings, inadvertantly having two newspaper articles written about me, and by being in the right place at the right time as Inspirational Director for the Tahoe Arts & Mountain Culture website as founder Becky Bell promoted the hell out of it.

I ENHANCED MY ONLINE PRESENCE by writing lots of blog posts, opening an Etsy store, posting on the Underground Artists blog, hosting a Virtual Open Studio, and somehow, due to a local news article about my neighborhood , I'm turning up in all sorts of weird online places, which is actually kind of creepy.

TECHNICAL SKILLS: Hmm... not a lot of that, but I did learn how to add a YouTube video to my blog...

I added approximately 40 names to my MAILING LIST, but actually it's more; I had to delete some names too, as the people had moved or been abducted by aliens since I last bothered to do a mailing a few years ago...

Okay, this one was fun:
Who are the TOP TEN COOL OR INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE you met this year?
I won't list them all here, but I will mention the surprisingly welcoming art community in Truckee, and the fact that I met Liz Mamorsky, who is very, very cool. And of course my favorite British person, Shelley Hocknell, who, also, is extremely cool.

Moving on, I created NEW BUSINESS CARDS using an online service and some advice from one of Luann Udell's blog posts. I also created a seemingly useless promotional piece which can be used as a handy doorstop!

A MEDIUM OR SKILL MASTERED? "Mastered" is a strong word, but I know that I reached a certain level of comfort in working with the laminated recycled paper. I also feel I managed to create jewelry that other people seem willing to wear in public.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT that I attempted would be the Art Helmets (although they closely resemble the bowls, but upside down). But I did learn to use the epoxy resin with the paper forms (how else is a girl supposed to create horns?).

RESOURCES DISCOVERED? Huh? The hugest resource I discovered was the support of my art group. That works for me.

IMPROVED STUDIO HABITS - having a new, dedicated studio space made all the difference in the world (my previous studio was nicknamed "the Ice Cave")(for good reason). I managed to get out there at the same time most days, to stop working at a regular time (much harder) and worked at least five days a week, if you don't count my obsessive habit of thinking about art all the time...

SUBMISSIONS? Invited to participate in ClayNichols Annual Invitational Urn Show; accepted into the Artisan Shop by North Tahoe Arts; the art helmets were accepted into one of Riverside Studio's monthly themed shows; also accepted into Tahoe Arts Project's Fine Art Festival.

BUT THE SINGLE BEST THING THAT HAPPENED TO MY ART CAREER in 2007 was the founding of the Underground Artists, and my friends' willingness to start the group with me. Wait: that, and the new studio. I get two "single" things. Lucky me!

That was a little bit uncomfortable...feels too much like tooting one's own horn. But it was helpful...it did kick-start my memory a bit, and it does appear as if something got done last year. Good.

Next up:
Goals for 2008!

San Francisco Street Art / Graffiti

Yesterday I posted a link to Shelley Hocknell's "Painting a Day" blog, where she had posted a YouTube video. I thought that was pretty cool, even though I don't use YouTube much. But I wanted to learn how to do it. I'm posting this cool video as a sort of test. I live about four hours away from San Francisco, and have seen a few of these amazing murals... (even have a photo of myself in front of the first one shown) but it's very cool to see them all put together in this way. I love SF.

Ho Ho Homebody

Even obsessive artists need some time off. I took the last two days to visit my dad, and today to do pretty much nothing, except continue the choco-fest.

The cool thing about this blog is that people keep popping up to say that they've visited the blog; people I haven't heard from in years, including my ex-pat cousin. I love hearing that. (If you're one of these people, please try to register with Google to comment! It's really not hard and only takes a few minutes. I KNOW it's a deterrent to commenting, to have to register, but hopefully it keeps out spammers, and I really love hearing from you. Also, you can always email me to say hi, if you're having trouble with the registration process.)

I'm going to get back to work tomorrow; clean up the studio and get organized for the new year. In the meantime, here's a link to Shelley Hocknell's new blog: Painting A Day.

Yes, Yes I Know...Or, the Holiday Rant, 2nd Installment

Yes, I know it's Christmas Eve day, and I should get a life and not be blogging. But to be honest, there's a few reasons for this post. First of all, it's part of my greater scheme to keep myself from eating all of the chocolate in the house. There is a mind-boggling amount of it, between what was leftover from the Open Studio, the chocolate my husband always buys for stocking stuffers (it's hidden, but I'm sure I could find it if I needed to), the chocolate I always buy for stocking stuffers, and the famed Disappearing Butterscotch Marshmallow Brownies (which, although they are butterscotch brownies, they are nonetheless brownies, and therefore qualify).

But the greater reason is just that I enjoy posting, and with this break from the studio, I am still thinking art; maybe even MORE likely to post, because I'm not in the studio making it. This whole Christmas holiday just seems like an obstacle to being in the studio. I've turned to creative gift-wrapping, but it's not the same!

Anybody else share my frustration?

An Art Year: Shifting Balance

Happy Solstice, Art Fans!

It's seven degrees here, at 12:15 in the afternoon.

SEVEN. Degrees.

But that's not what I sat down to write about. This is my "end-of-year" post, partly because it 's the Solstice and partly because I'm just feeling that way today. As I sit here, my other computer is cycling through its screensaver photos, and I'm reminded of what a good year it was. In her newsletter this week, Alyson Stanfied wrote about using this time to focus on our accomplishments, in an article called "Celebrate Your Wins", that might help jog our memories. I plan on using this, either on my own, or with the Underground Artists (if they're willing!). Because I know that some days I feel like I've made a lot of mistakes this year, but with age comes at least a small bit of wisdom. So I want to focus on what I learned, and what I accomplished this year, before heading into the new one.



I live on Saint Nick Way, in a place called Christmas Valley, and a reporter for the local paper came by the other day to interview me for a piece she was doing on said valley (read article here). We sat down to talk in the studio and she asked me how long I'd been doing this work. I had to really think before I answered, because I've been at it since before my first son was born 13 years ago, yet it was only this year that the balance shifted between my responsibilites to my boys and my responsibility to myself and my art. And so I told her "a year". I've really been doing this with intention and a sense of commitment for one year. And I think it's been a pretty good one.


A frickin' great one.


In the spirit of gathering up myself for this new one, 2008, I feel myself being drawn to return to some 2D work. I sat down and did a quick piece on the morning of my Open Studio. It's a start. And it was fun. More to come, next year. For now, the work space will be transformed into a wreath-making, gift-wrapping station.


Happy Holidays, and stay warm!

Holiday Rant, the Christmas Version

I'm about delirious from lack of sleep; and it ain't from no sugarplums dancing in my head. Between preparing for the holiday Open Studios, and my state of denial about the actual holiday (quite an interesting fine line, wouldn't you say?) I managed to put off any holiday shopping until today, when I had, oh, about 3 hours of sleep. Being that we live in a resort town, the weekend before Christmas is a BAD time to be in town, so I forced myself out the door today (Thursday), with less-than-terrific results. (Thank GOD for Shelley and the tea and homemade mince pies! Thanks, Shelley!)

But, I've figured out something about the holiday:
to me, it's mostly about making this dark time a little bit lighter: some gifts, some lights, some sugar... that works for me. So I think I've got it handled.

If I can only stay awake...

And the Winner Is... I Mean, Are...

I'm exhausted. And I think I may have found my Chocolate Limit (admittedly huge). The Open Studio was a success, and I'm so grateful to all who came. More on that on the Underground Artists blog tomorrow morning; plus pictures.

I'm so tired that all I'd like to do tonight is post who won the earrings. It's not so simple though. First of all, I want to thank everyone who commented, and tried to comment. (Becky and Carole: I put your names into the hat because I know you tried to comment but had technical difficulties!) I really enjoyed getting comments on my blog; the feedback and conversations really made the blog feel dynamic this week! Thanks.

This morning I wrote that I'd take comments until 5:00 tonight, and then I'd pick the winner. Well, we got so busy towards the end of the Open Studio that I completely forgot to check the blog before I had one of our friends pick a name out of the hat. So that person will receive a pair of earrings. However, when I realized that there were new comments on the blog, I felt I had to honor what I'd written. Yet I didn't feel right putting the first name back in. So I added the new names and called my neighbor (otherwise known as the Best Neighbor in the World). She agreed to let me run over with my faux-leopard-skin-pillbox hat, so that she could pull another name.

So, two winners:
The first winner out of the hat was Sanoma Kellogg!
The second winner, due to my mistake, was Kristen Schwartz!
I'm sending a pair off to Carrie Cahill Mulligan as well: as soon as I got back from my neighbor's house, I realized that I didn't put her name into the hat for one of her comments made earlier today. It seems only right.

I'll figure out how I'm going to choose your earrings and get them to you tomorrow. Right now I'm so tired that my eyes are literally closing. Goodnight and thanks, everyone!