Archive for February, 2014

getting caught up…

Tuesday, February 25th, 2014

The past month has been a whirlwind!

I finished, sold and installed the two Vineyard pieces with a new collector. And I designed two other small pieces including Keeping Up Appearances #6 which is a donation to the annual Arts Guild of Sonoma REPO fundraiser. The requirement is all artwork must be made of 75% recycled materials. Since I use vintage linens in much of my work that was not as much of a challenge as it could have been. The background fabric is a vintage handwoven cotton metallic tablecloth upon which I screen-printed text. The piece is 14″ x 14″.

I received word that Morning Smoothie sold through the Tasty! fundraiser at the San Jose Museum of Textiles and Quilts. And Currents #21, 22, 23 have found a new home in Sonoma.

I am about to start another small piece for exhibition while simultaneously reviewing my retrospective lecture for a gig mid-March. And then (drumroll) I will begin a new exciting and challenging collaborative project. More to come on that…

Meanwhile back at la casa…After procrastinating for well over a year I made a promise to self the end of 2013 to get on with the kitchen remodel. So I have spent most of this month shopping in person and online for appliances, countertops, backsplash materials, paint, etc etc etc. The decisions have been made, the contractor and subs are all lined up and I am feeling excited. Before now all I could focus on was the inconvenience yet now I am ready not only for the upgrade but for the clearing of the brain space that this renovation has occupied for far too long.

 

a good problem to have…

Wednesday, February 5th, 2014

It seems like forever ago that I started these two vineyard pieces for an exhibit. On Super Bowl Sunday I finally finished!

The challenge I perceived to be the creation of two identical pieces of a vineyard, one in spring and the other in fall. Instead I had all sorts of design challenges not the least of which one was slightly narrower than the other. Also I was going against my long ago learned lesson of creating work to someone else’s specifications and the muse was having none of it. Several times I nearly tossed the works in the trash but something, perhaps persistence pushed me through to each new problem. And then something completely unexpected happened. Someone saw them on the design wall, unfinished and wanted to purchase them!

This happened to me once before when I’d created two pieces for an upcoming exhibit. I was a member of an exhibition group then and had made these two pieces titled Summer in the City #1 and #2 about a hot summer day in San Francisco. I posted them on my website and they sold immediately. I had nothing left to exhibit until I thought…what a good problem to have!

I am never saying never again to the vineyards but if I ever do repeat I will go for a much larger format.