Now what?

Last month I finally finished "Slipstream Adventure." I was expecting to start a new job in outside sales that would be now taking up much of my time and creative energy. The job didn't materialize. Now most of my art friends are shouting, "It's a sign! Just do your art!" As much as I wish that was my only focus, the reality is that I spent much of 2006 traveling the country showcasing my wares and 2007 paying interest on those expenses. So I either need to do a whole lot more commissions, sell much of what I have already done, find other art outlets or... gulp... get a job. My work ethic is such that when I take on a job I give it my all. So I know I won't be creating my artwork on the level I have previously if I get a job--even a part-time one.... and NOOOOO network marketing is not the answer for me. Been there, done that, still got the mugs, platters, t-shirts, stained glass awards, etc.

I know that one of the key definitions of insanity is to keep doing the same thing while expecting a different outcome. On the other hand, I can't tell you how many bios I've read of successful artists, musicians, or writers that contain something along the line of--- "well if I had given up 2 weeks earlier I wouldn't be here." Certainly mixed messages from the universe.

I have never had a problem with persistence. That I have (as long as it doesn't involve deprivation.)

So my solution has several points. Like my annual goal setting- it reads more like a business plan than anything else.

1. Create work that satisfies me first. Right now this means large scale, intense pieces. It might also mean exploring more thoroughly surface design techniques. But I have found a voice I like with those darn circles.
2. Build up my shibori scarf wholesale business. I have a listing on Wholesalecrafts.com which reaches 16,000 retailers throughout the country. Update images regularly so my work stays near the top in "new work."
3. Plan on doing 2-3 wholesale shows in 2009 featuring the scarves. Schedule now.
4. Stay up to date in knowledge of color trends for fashion and commercial decor.
5. Get my Rebel Quilter Gallery up and open to the public before the spring tourist traffic hits the area. Get brochure done that can be handed out at the local tourist info sites.
6. Do a thorough inventory of existing works. Make sure they are all properly documented and whereabouts known. You'd be surprised how complicated this can get when you have over 75 created pieces that are at least 2 ft square.
7. Enter lots of exhibitions with exisiting work.
8. Send out exhibition proposals to non-profit galleries and museums for solo shows. Target is 3-5 solo exhibitions per year. Team up with others to promote small group shows.
9. Respond to requests for qualifications for large scale public art indoor projects.
10. Get more savvy in my internet news releases so "successes" are noted by the public on a larger scale and journalists seek me outas an authority on artquilts, surface design, and marketing.
11. Get those who have voiced an interest in commissioning my work to go ahead and let me get started. (I love commissions that let me do my style)
12. Schedule and promote a series of surface design classes to be taught in my studio.
13. Line up more teaching and trunk show gigs for pay.
14. Find a way to pay for a part-time studio assistant or intern.
15. Continue to make small framed works from remaining blocks of bigger quilts.
16. Assist my husband in his massage newsletter business target and secure more clients.
17. Be open to opportunities that come my way for a real "Job." My ego is strong enough that I'd want it to be a job that demands quality performance and high rewards. Outside sales is most likely since it would allow a more flexible schedule--allowing time off for my mother's health issues and my monthly artquilt group meetings which are out of town.
18. Keep myself open to finding a gallery or two that can handle my large-scale work and actually MOVE them.

I'm sure that list will grow.

I have started a new piece. I'll post in progress photos next time.

Done at last! Slipstream Adventure

The 2 left panels of Slipstream Adventure.
The 2 right panels. As soon as I get the REAL photography done I'll compose a single image that lines them all up. Right now I can't do that. This is the 4 panels hanging in my gallery at the front of the studio. As you can see I "wrapped" the third panel around the corner.

This is a detail shot showing the quilting as well as the foiling done with fusible thread.

I am so glad I did this huge project. As I was diving into it I was reminded of the whole house remodel I did in Florida several years ago. Each day it is just a matter of seeing where I was in the full scheme of the project. This project was started 6 months ago. I took off about 5 weeks overall. It's final size is 76" x 154" or about 6 1/2 ft x almost 13 ft.

There is a certain relationship one develops with a project of this magnitude. Understanding its parts and being able to break it down into those pieces is what makes it confrontable. Getting the sequence right is a bit trickier and involves being able to think several steps ahead of where you are. For instance-- I couldn't do the fusble thread/ foiling until I had already done the side binding because I wouldn't be able to press the whole piece once the foil was on it-- it would have melted back off and left a mess. Also-- thinking ahead far enough to tear off the side strips that became the facing before assembling the layers enabled me to have facings that matched the backs. This is something one learns from DOING.. as opposed to simply planning or thinking about it.

This project's inspiration came primarily from a vision I had of a coloration. On August 16th, 2007 I posted an image of a drawing I did with colored pencils. It was my initial vision of where this project was going. This isn't the first time I was inspired simply by wanting to see what happens when I put certain colors together. I'm not aware of other artists having this as an inspiration point. Perhaps it happens all the time. Maybe I'm just weird. I'm okay with that.

As I write this I am awaiting an offer from a prospective employer. I'm thinking my next piece will be along a theme of "When push comes to shove."-- which pretty much covers where things have been at. So I am thinking along the lines of the juxtapositioning of the desire to create art, the need to have an income and the irony that I've worked harder in the last 6 years than I have in my life and that none of those years count at all toward the needed credited quarters of "employment" that allows me to have earned the opportunity at 65 of using Medicare. I don't know about you-- I knew you had to earn social security. But I didn't know you had to earn Medicare. I thought you just paid for it every month. Seems like there is the potential for a social issue there. I never heard of someone not qualifying for Medicare--unless they were a foreign illegal or something.

Thanks for going the distance with me. I WILL have quality photos posted here as soon as I get them. I will include the backs as well. I love reading your comments and appreciate them immensely.

the big tease--Slipstream Adventure

Here is a photo of most of the third panel quilted. I have finished all the quilting on all four pieces--sigh. Make that YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!
This is a detail shot of panel number 2. You can still see my chalk lines for dividing and conquering the overall quilting. The circles with the winding threads goes through all four panels in five different colors. In each panel the sizes shift--getting larger and spiraling all the way.
Again you can see the winding circles plus still the chalk. It'll go away when I get all the steaming done. In order to get all four panels to be exactly the same size I am steaming, trimming and doing the vertical binding on all. Then I'll come back and do the horizontal binding-- more like facing actually.

Also-- I am going to do a little trick using the Charlotte's Fusible Web to add foil to each of the spiral circles. It is a neat little product from Superior threads my friend Marlene told me about. It is a thread form of fusible web. I'll stitch it in the sprials using it as a bobbin thread-- but it can't be done until all the steaming, ironing etc is done. Essentially this means I'll be finishing the whole thing and then coming back, stitching with the fusible web and then laying in the foil. It'll be a fairly subtle touch- I hope.

One of the aspects that most intrigues me is the journey of discovery as a project of this magnitude evolves. You may remember my initial colored pencil drawing-- go back a few months to see it. In August I started dyeing fabrics and began the assembly. I had NO idea then about anything other than the overall color flow. As it began to be assembled the story line about the "Slip Stream Adventure" came into play while listening to a Van Morrison CD. From that began a dialog with myself about how to create the imagery of a slip stream. So the back got the imagery and then I had to translate that to the front in the form of quilting.

To do that I first basted each piece completely so that I was stitching from the back. I stitched around each of the painted circles and outlines of the slipstreams using monofilament thread. This created landmarks that I could see from the front. Then I completely re-basted making the front my stitching platform.

The next step was to divide and conquer the overall quilting. I used an echo pattern but divided the surface into rough triangles of about 6". Then I stitched from the outer edge to the center of each and moved to the next. The circles and pathways between them were marked in chalk. After the overall quilting was done then I went back and did the circles, pathways and slipstream.

So all that is left is the facings and the foil. Hold your breath! It'll happen!

So --hope that holds you for a few more days until I figure out the photography thing.

I have targeted this weekend for final, total, no going back completion. Then I have to figure out how to photograph it! My plan is to shoot all four separately and then assemble them in photoshop. The next runway of learning raises its ugly head!!! (if you know the workflow for this please email me!!!)

Overall I am very pleased with this project. I started dyeing the fabrics in August. I took over 5 weeks off completely between trips to Canada and Florida and one miserable week sick.

You might wonder why I took on a projectof this scale. Besides being an eternal optimist... I have wanted do to large scale commissioned work for a long while now. The last large scale work I had done was in 2003. I was applying for a large scale project and wanted to make sure that if I got that job that I knew what I was in for. Since 2003 I have learned much and was able to apply it. Also-- doing this project with its grand scale had all sorts of logistical details that I wanted worked out before tackling an even larger project. Next week I'll finally hear whether my work is being considered for the Emerson Electric Auditorium Lobby. Fingers are mucho crossed. Their budget is extensive and it could make a major difference in how my next few months go artwise.

Thanks for taking the ride with me. It has been fun.

a brush with fame!!!

No that isn't ME! It is my friend and soon to be famous singer songwriter Emily Higgins, at her recent video taping for broadcast. She sent the photo to me because she is wearing one of my silk scarves.

I recently went through the jury process at Wholesalecrafts.com so that I can present my scarves to more than 16,000 retailers across the country. Hopefully this will provide the income foundation that allows me to stay home and create my art quilts. By spring you might see some of my scarves in fine craft galleries as you cross the country. If you don't see them.. ask for them by name! "It's a Floozie!". ( The name of my wholesale scarf division is "Floozie Productions")

Progress report on the giant quilt: I am about 50% of the way through the 3rd panel. I might even get through the 4th one before leaving town for the holidays. I am having oodles of fun and have just listened to the final Harry Potter book-- all 21 hours of it. Today I picked up my next book on CD to listen to while quilting. This one is David Baldacci's latest. Sure to add a different flavor to my quilting. Thankfully the librarian at our library has been listening to me beg for more listening material. Over the course of the last few years of traveling plus quilting I had listened to every book on CD they had. Some of you have wondered about the many hours I spend in my studio-- the books on CD are the answer. Like a secret lover they lure me to my studio even if I'm not really in the mood. Next thing I know-- the hours have passed and lots of work got done. And you thought I just had intense enthusiasm or strong work ethic... well I do, but the books on CD sure help!

Visions of Plenty-> progress

At last! I have finished piecing the four sections.

I LOVE the way the color moves across the piece. The redder section becomes the light sourcepoint and all the "imagery" will radiate out from there.
This is the back of the reddish section (section A). I am using freezer paper to act as a stencil for painting on the swirling vortex that surrounds the slip stream. The circles vary in size and are created using several silkscreens and are applied using acrylic paints.
Here are the a & b sections. They are reversed so they correspond to the fronts of similar color. That means the reddish one is on the right.
These are the c & d sections. The freezer paper is still adhered. I figured I'd surprise you with the full effect after I get them quilted. I am currently awaiting paint drying on section A back before I layer and baste before quilting. I'll be initially quilitng from the backside- so have to pin with the back up. First I'll be outlining all those circles in invisible thread and then the swirling vortexes. After that is done I'll flip it over and re-pin and quilt from the front. That way the circles will act as landmarks and I can quilt the design that is on the back from the front. Clear as mud? Feel free to ask questions.

I've been tagged!

This is a blogger version of a chain letter but with no downside.. and no threats. I'm supposed to list 7 things that are odd about myself and pass that along to 7 others. I am picking Mary, Suzi, Pat, Dee, Emmie, and 2 others still to be named ( I don't know that many who have blogs!)

Ok. So 7 odd things about myself.
1) If you have ever heard me speak you'll know I sound much more like Texas than anywhere else. Alas, though I claim to be Texan, I was born in Ontario... as in Canada. My family moved to Texas when I was 3 so I learned to speak from other Texans. That works, eh?
2) My grandmother started doing water color drypoint botanical illustrations when she was over 60 yrs. old. As I understand it, she taught herself while ministering to my grandfather who was sick for a long period. ( I have no idea what was ailing him) As an avid amateur botanist and birder she had a lifelong affection for nature. On our birding outings I got great joy by creating strange bird sounds with the bird whistle. She'd get so excited thinking that she'd heard a new bird for her "life list". Then I'd get the "scowl".
3) at 53 I have been married for more than 2/3 of my life. Jon and I married when I was 17 and he was 18. The first 5 years we stayed together mostly to prove everyone else wrong. After that we learned to communicate.
4) I have delusions of grandeur- I keep thinking that someday my art will be my ticket to the world and I'll be able to glide through.
5) I am a fabulous cook and love to entertain. Someday one of my parties will be featured in Southern Living or some such magazine. If I could just afford the groceries. But I do love the salvege grocery for finding odd ingredients. I'm still trying to figure out how to use coconut vinegar.
6) Until I was an adult, the only "art class" I ever took was after school in 6th grade. I took pastel and oil painting from Mrs. Lipscomb in her garage studio. She usually finished the "hard parts" of my artwork.
7) Though I am left handed and proud of it, my physical strength is in my right hand. I use the left for anything requiring detail and finesse. I use right handed scissiors- the usual way, iron right handed, bat right handed ( or at least I did in school).
There! Now I just have to figure out the blog addresses for those I have tagged myself!

Visions of plenty: slipstream adventure

Here three out of four of the panels have the rows pieced. I wish I knew how to move these photos around. The left side of the second photo is the right side of the first photo.

Overall I am very pleased with the color movement. I should have the fourth panel's rows pieced by tomorrow. Then I'll start the backs- dyeing of same.

For the quilting--I am picturing not only tons of bubbles but for them to be arranged to appear to be flowing out of a slipstream. That means they'll have movement to them and not appear static.

As you can see, the panels shrink as they get pieced. So they are aleady 6 inches shorter and 4.5 inches narrower. They'll get another 6 inches shorter as I piece the rows together.