Decision Making Time?

Some of my "shtuff"

This seems to be the time of year when people think of the future.  I don't think that's working so well for me right now.  I seem to be stuck in the past.  Most of my holiday moments are spent thinking about what was going on with my mother during those holiday moments of last year.

December is usually a slow art month for me.  My family loves loads of Christmas decorations, cookies (which I have NOT gotten to), advent calendars, beautifully wrapped packages, etc.  My artwork often gets pushed aside and I can deal with that for a few weeks once a year.  I'm really itching to complete a piece right now, but that will have to wait until the lighting gets replaced in the attic.  Hopefully that will be tomorrow.  My track lighting has been slowly failing, and now with the pesky winter clouds settling in, I need new lights before I can see to work.

By January, I will be chomping at the bit to get back into the studio full time.

Right now, I'm into collages and have been treating my fiber art much as a bad Disney stepmother would treat her stepchildren.  But, too often, I can't help wondering if I'm headed in the right direction.  I have been a fiber artist for 15 years.  What the heck am I doing?  Am I flushing it all down the toilet?!?  Am I showing my fiber art blogging friends complete disrespect?  Am I destroying my following?  How can I not show allegiance to "my brand?"

But the little voices keep talking.  They think that I should start putting together a portfolio of my new collage work and check into which art galleries would be appropriate vehicles for their sale.  Do I have to forsake my fiber art to do this?  Can I do both?  Do I want to do both?  I'm finding it a bit hard to take myself seriously as an artist while just exploring and doing little to sell.

I feel the need to make a New Year's resolution.  But I have previously resolved never to make any resolutions.

I'm just going to burn a few cookies, hang a few more balls and deal with it all later.

New Old Pieces, Part One

A few months ago, I removed my Ebay store. The goal was to quickly transfer all artwork over to Etsy. You see how quickly that happened, huh?

I've decided to pick up the pace. I have added the Midlife Crisis series to Etsy.

Actually, these pieces aren't so old. I just made them last summer. But in this age of rampant technology, everything seems aged after just a few days.

I have put together and photographed (in high winds) one of the pieces shown a couple of posts ago. This piece should go on Etsy tonight. Three other pieces have been put together and quilted and are awaiting their buttoning, beading and gluing. Hopefully I can get another new piece on Etsy this week.







Yes, I still love orange!!!

Women Singing

Astrud, Nina, Elis, and Janis (left to right).

Each 24 x 20".

I am going to be hanging a dozen or so pieces tomorrow at Happy Valley Optical in State College, PA. I will post the address and hours in a couple of days for those locals who wish to pay a visit. I am including a few "older" pieces. These four are from 2007. Practically considered prehistoric in the art world these days. I had forgotten how much I loved creating these pieces. I almost always work to music. When I am in doubt about beginning a piece, I'll consult my mood of the moment and select a handful of CD's, press the shuffle button on my CD player, and see what happens.

An unpublished article, from early 2007, hopefully explains the thinking behind these quilts.

A new art quilt series is in the works featuring female musicians and vocalists. The singer for the Getz/Gilberto songs, Brazilian Astrud Gilberto, inspired the first piece in the series. “When I listened to ‘Girl from Ipanema’, the first fabrics I reached for were teals and golds. I pictured Astrud singing in a 1960's-style lounge with teal and turquoise curtains and furnishings while wearing a gold damask gown.” The next piece was created listening to the powerful music of Nina Simone. The stronger, darker tones definitely reflect the strength of her voice and music. Elis Regina, another Brazilian vocalist popular in the 1960's, inspired a piece using gold, red and brown. The last piece in the series “Janis”, was the quickest to be designed. “One minute into Janis Joplin’s recording of Piece of My Heart, and a pile of fabrics was ready to be cut. Very few colors ARE NOT in this piece.”

After the show, I will be offering any of these unsold pieces on Etsy. I do think it's time to put a new little bird on there right now.

New Old Piece

Woodland's Edge, 16 x 16"

This is my newest piece, now for sale on Etsy. It is not officially a new piece, just a newly completed piece. This one has been sitting on a chair, under a piece of foamboard, under another unfinished piece on another piece of foamboard. Since I wrapped up everything before the Happy Valley Optical show and completely cleaned my studio, I figured I would rather finish up a couple of older pieces before I started something completely new.

I know that "Woodland's Edge" is not the most original name ever, but it burrowed into my head and stayed there and so it is now named. I LOVE these colors together. At last year's Arts Festival, a mosaic artist had a large, stunning piece comprised of nothing but browns and bluish purples. I had to do something with those colors. After the show, I did. And it sold. Quickly.

Here's hoping for a reprise.

Blah Blah Blog

This is Planting Seeds III. It is being donated for a silent auction at our local Quaker Friends school. I will miss this one -- it is my favorite color combination. Hopefully it's sale will cover the school's expenses for the next five years.

Right now I'm in between projects again. Number 11 in the New Orleans series is ready to be sewn, but I am not ready to sew it. Number 12 is barely underway. It is only underway because I feel 12 is better than 11 for a series. I think I should just get over that and clean up the mess from this series. I'm getting that compressed, cluttered feeling again. A spring cleaning is due.

Unfortunately, the garden is requiring a spring cleaning too. That will take up a great deal of time and energy, but maybe that is what I need right now.

And this blogging thing. I think it is wearing me down. I kind of feel like I am running into a wall over and over again. I have debated having two blogs; one where I say what ever I feel and one where I can try to be a professional artist. I don't know if two blogs would wear me down even more, or perhaps it would free me up to be able to say everything that I want. The artists wouldn't get offended by my rants or off-hand comments and the folks that enjoy the rants and off-hand comments wouldn't be bored with "artistic detail". Maybe it couldn't hurt to have two. If they don't work, I could just shut down the whole mess and get on with life.

Anyway, time to get on with my pacing and blog surfing for the day.

What to do with That Old Stuff?

I guess I shouldn't call it "old stuff". It thought it was great stuff when I did it. And there's still a lot more like it all over my house.

Should I put it somewhere on my website? I'd like my website to look cohesive, however. I'd like my collectors to think that I've been doing the same sort of thing and will continue to do it, and not run off and change my mind and media completely. Which obviously has happened before.

This is a piece from my Biological Clock series. From way back when I did collages. My collages are a mixture of fabric and paper. All backgrounds are from fabric, and often, a great deal of the content is from fabric. The collages were done on illustration board, then glazed to look like a painting -- all are ornately framed. It became so difficult to find fabrics with realistic flowers and fruits & my home became overrun with magazines for clipping pictures from.

So I haven't a clue what to do with them now. I can't just fold them and put them away in a drawer like I do my quilts. I hate to take them off of my walls, but I really do need to make some room for my newer fabric pieces. They just make me feel a bit guilty somehow.

What do other artists do in this situation? Sell them cheaply? Give them as gifts? Hold on to them as long as it takes to sell them? Post pictures of them somewhere and list them as not for sale -- perhaps that is the way to get people to really want them -- tell them they can't have them.