Three Blogs You Need To Read

Its been a while since I made a blog list, so perhaps I'm repeating myself, but I think some blogs are so outstanding that they could be shred more than once!

This time I'm focusing on the "art business" side of art and blogs with three that I think hit the nail on the head, content-wise.....

http://blog.lisacall.com/  there is so much I admire about how Lisa conducts her business and how upfront she is about the challenges that she meets-head on. I love how she shares her business planning and modeling, how she schedules her time and is sure to include the 'all important' personal time as well. I have heard amazing things about her workshops and hope that one day I can take one of them!

http://www.textileartist.org/ has it all together, they "aim to become the number one online resource and community for artists working with textile techniques as well as textile art enthusiasts. TextileArtist.org is a place to be inspired, learn from the best, promote your work and reach other creatively-minded people" (from their website) That sums it up pretty well and they do an amazing job of it......check them out!

 



http://www.artbizcoach.com/  Alyson Stanfield has written the most essential book for artists wanting to work in their studios instead of being in front of the computer (gulp). You really can't be without this book! Its called "I'd Rather Be In the Studio" and you can order it from her website. But Alyson's' blog is an essential read with varied, relevant content.

Plus, the fact that you're reading this blog makes me think you like it as well. Thank you for your support!

Studio Tour Coming Up!

I've been working hard getting more work ready for the tour, I hope you will be able to join up and see all the wonderful work from so many talented artists! I'll post more pictures of my work through the week.
Here's some information, if you would like it as a PDF, with all the addresses, just leave a comment or email me!
Don't forget, its next weekend, Nov. 30th and Dec. 1st, 12 noon-4:30. I'll have the apple cider warmed up for you!

New Work for the Oak Bay Artist Studio Tour!

I've been busy working towards my first Artist Studio Tour, finishing pieces, quilting, dyeing, mounting work on canvas and much, much more! It has been fun and creative work, but my main problem is that I'm not sure how much work to produce? I'm hoping to sell lots and have some pieces in reserve to put on the walls as others sell.....but how much?
Maybe you can give me some advice!

This is work that I've finished in the last week or so, I'm enjoying mounting them on canvas board, I like the look when they are hanging. What do you think?

So the first piece shows just the base fabric. It was a piece of soy wax resist linen, that I waxed and dyes, then waxed and dyes some more. It took several processes to get the depth of colour I wanted.

Then I traced, fused and cut shapes that echoed the design in the linen. I backed the linen with iron-on fusible interfacing to give it more stability.

Then lots of quilting with multi-coloured poly thread, trimming and mounting on board. I found a good YouTube video for finishing the corners nicely:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccaNqgje5lY

The next piece I made from fabric I had dyed on a wine bottle (more about that in another blog post) then cut, fused and stitched the cardinal tree and berries.

 

Finally, I used fabric that I had applied soy wax and dye on a pole, after washing, I screen printed the crows on and quilted bird foot prints.

Two Artists

I subscribe to Robert Genn's twice weekly newsletter and thought this lates issue would give you some thoughts about your work. Ask yourself: are you a Jack or a Jill??

"Jack" got a BFA and then an MFA from a Midwestern University. He's visited many of the major contemporary art museums and follows the work of several "important" contemporary painters. He's written articles on Philip Guston and others. He subscribes to several art magazines and is "the most knowledgeable art-guy in any discussion." After university he worked for a while in a commercial art gallery. He sometimes writes me long, well-informed letters. He's painted eleven large paintings (two unfinished) since leaving school. He's not represented by any gallery. He thinks you need to move to New York and "get lucky" with a dealer who "really represents you."

 
"Jill" took two years of art school and then quit. She pays little attention to other artists. She subscribes to no art magazines but has taken several workshops. Her hobbies include bowling and travelling. At one time she also worked in a commercial art gallery. On two or three occasions she's written to me. She's painted "approximately two thousand paintings" since leaving school. She's represented by four commercial galleries in four, well-separated mid-sized cities.

There's a great story in David Bayles and Ted Orland's Art and Fear. Here it is: 

"The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of the work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: On the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work in the "quantity" group: fifty pounds of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B" and so on. Those being graded on "quality," however, needed to produce only one pot--albeit a perfect one--to get an "A". Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of the highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busy turning out piles of work--and learning from their mistakes--the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay."

Best regards,

Robert

PS: "Artists get better by sharpening their skills or by acquiring new ones; they get better by learning to work, and by learning from their work." (David Bayles and Ted Orland)

 
Esoterica: Both subscribers Jack and Jill are thoughtful and enthusiastic artists. Art is central to their lives. And while success and "being able to function as a full time artist" may not be important to some of us, their current situations are quite different. Jack rents an apartment and makes $2150 per month (plus tips and benefits) as an airport porter. Jill works daily in her converted garage in a home she now owns. These days she's averaging $18,000 per month. She has "no benefits."

You can see more written by Robert Genn here: http://painterskeys.com/