Distinctive Directions postcards

March 24, 2008

Postcards are going out for our Distinctive Directions show that opens at the Lux Center for the Arts on April 4. The cards look sharp — lucky we have Deidre Adams in our group to design them!

The DD show and Lisa Call’s solo show at the Lux open one week after the grand opening of the International Quilt Study Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, so if you wait until April, you can see Nancy Crow’s show and Quilts in Common at the IQSC and our shows at the Lux. A double dip trip!

Filed Under exhibitions, media | 5 Comments

Back in the Groove

March 21, 2008

Nice monitor huh? Got for my birthday, and it plugs into my laptop to give me two screens for drawing and looking at reference material.

Drawing for quilts is different than just drawing, because I have to remember that eventually it will be used as a pattern, and that I have be able to construct everything that I draw.

Thanks Grace Matthews for this post which quotes Faith Ringgold, “Underestimation is a psychological tactic for artists. When you employ this tactic you convince yourself that the upcoming project is not really so big or so bad, that it will not take much time and that in fact it’s a piece of cake. This method of trickery helps you to tackle the biggest of projects and makes the project less daunting and more manageable.” This is a great idea and has helped me getting started tackling some projects I’ve been worried about.

But most important, little friends and good music help oil the creative machine. Right now I’m listening to Lemon Jelly.

Filed Under Inspiration, drawings, studio, technology | 7 Comments

Twitter

March 20, 2008

Lisa asked me why I signed up for Twitter, did I see any value in it? Not really, I’m just intrigued by the idea of disembodied quotes floating around in cyberspace. It’s like a mini-blog, but there’s no commitment and no images, you can just pop in and out whenever you feel like it.

I also like the idea that tweets must be less than 140 characters, kind of like haiku of the internet. I often get inspired, sometimes even visual flashes from unusual word combinations, in poetry, in written words translated from other languages, and in my own emails that I try to make inventive. So Twitter kind of forces inventive ways of writing because of the limited character count.

And I like the interface, and there’s different tools you can get to manage it. Anyone else out there on Twitter? Almost forgot, here I am on Twitter.

Filed Under technology | 3 Comments

The Art Cart and Drawing a Blank

March 18, 2008

Arrgh, going nutso here. I haven’t gotten any good drawing done for quilts since my drawing room was exploded last year. Last December I loaded up this cart with drawing and painting supplies so I could wheel it into whichever room I wanted, but still can’t get settled anywhere. I feel like an unwanted candy striper at the hospital.

Still trying to find a quiet spot to work, I moved some of my stuff back into my old office even though the floors are still not finished and the bare concrete is cold and hard on my legs. You can see a bit of my new glasses. I was getting a lot of bizzarre reflections inside them, took them back to the shop and had the edges sanded off. Now I have a whole new view!

Filed Under studio | 6 Comments

Never Ever Do This

March 11, 2008

I should know better than to take the lid off the coffee grinder before the blades stop spinning.

Filed Under disaster, drawings, mixed media | 9 Comments

Whose Idea was This?

March 10, 2008

Daylight savings time, arggh! It was awfully dark and hard to get out of bed this morning…

Filed Under uncategorized | 9 Comments

Dog Cookies, Psychic Readings, and Snowmen

March 8, 2008

Either I’ve been reluctant to post lately because of a lack of images or because I’ve just been plain lazy (more likely). To make up here are a few tidbits from my neighborhood. There’s a new pet store in town, and they have dog cookies that look better than people cookies! This is also the place where Mochi got her new pink-polka-dot collar and leash, so that will probably be appearing in a drawing soon!

One of my favorite landmarks on the drive to our studio has closed, and I’m regretting that I never got up the courage to go inside, although I was sure it would make excellent material for some art. Don’t let the “open” sign fool you, there’s no one there anymore. As Russ says, you’d think they would have seen this coming?

I did however stop to take photos for future reference, and maybe if the building doesn’t sell soon and it gets warmer outside, I can do some drawings through the windows.

And best of all, we had a lovely snowfall this week — which was a nice reprieve from all the ice storms lately. We even got home early enough to build a snow man next to the sculpture in the front yard.