Different parts of the brain. Or is it?

 As I have been sewing since I was ten (thanks to mom!) my upcycling work doesn't take a heck of a lot of conscious thought.

 Hunting and gathering skills, yes.  a sense of proportion and form, yes. But analytical thinking? Not so much. Happily, it is play in the process.  (I just realized in posting these photos I have made three changes while pinning.)

 And meditative in the hand stitching process.  I am still more cognizant to my brushwork when I am painting- painfully aware of when a stroke goes where I don't want it to go so fabric is a solace. A mental break and something that refreshes so I can go back to the challenge that is art making to me.

 I know there is a HUGE war about the different between "art" and "craft". I find it somewhat ludicrous.  I see art in a fine seam and exquisite craftsmanship in an oil painting.  Both feed my soul. One is no better than the other.

It's like saying an engineer is more important that a plumbing. Hmmm, wait a minute.  We DO say that.  No disrespect to our engineers, but I can't imagine living without a plumber. Or a cute skirt.

Sea Change Revisited

"Constance" part of the Sea Change series

sea change

/ˈsē ˌCHānj/

noun

1. a profound or notable transformation.

   synonyms:

   transformation, change, alteration, modification, variation, conversion, revision, amendment, metamorphosis, transfiguration, evolution, mutation

Individuals can only make decisions for themselves but when they gather together to affect change - profound things can happen. A sea change can occur. Over the last year and a half I have been painting a collection of resolute women are examples of the traits needed to affect change. Buried within the contemporary mixed media portraits are scraps of ephemera that harken back to a time when women didn't have a voice in public.  It's important to absorb the past to illuminate the future.

After a solo show last year of resolute women of all shapes, sizes and colors I am expanding my Sea Change series to include more faces of valiant humans that want to change the world for the better.

I believe the next generation sees the world in an entirely different way than I did when I was in my teens and twenties. Talking to my kids and their friends I am thoroughly encouraged by their fierceness, intelligence and despair of their cynicism and stoicism. I do believe that they will be part of a sea change that will make the world an entirely different place when they are in their mid-life.

As a encouragement seemingly from above, this weekend one of my series paintings "Constance" took the blue ribbon at the 2nd annual juried show at Gloucester Arts at Arts on Main in Gloucester, Virginia. This honor came with a cash prize and a solo show at the gallery in 2020.  I am thrilled with the concept that these voices, these faces, these ideals that inspire me will be able to be shared with you in this wonderful space. 

The best part of the evening was speaking to curator Jennifer Morningstar and listening to her thought process on how she picked the award winners for the evening. Listening to someone tell you how and why what you made with your own two hands moves them was very special. I will never forget it. 

If you would like to follow the progress of the work please visit my art website here. There you will find social media links, photos galleries and an online shop for originals, prints and cards.

  

Small town traditions

 Nothing better than a small town festival. Today's Gloucester Daffodil Festival is famous for its parade but our favorite part of the Magnificent Mutts Dog Show.   Check out the porcine interloper below!

 This year there was the added attraction of a beer garden at gourmet purveyor Kelsick's market- complete with Virginia brewed beer, a band and creative vendors.

 Our local blacksmith was doing demos- I was so fascinated I forgot to take photos while we was working!

 Virginia's Museum of Fine Arts brought their mobile art gallery to the festival.  It was a forty foot trailer full of original art work from Virginia natives. It was a complete multi media experience complete with recorded interviews, an interactive game for kids and very charming docents.

Such a sunny, fun event on what was a pretty darn gray day! Hope you are having a GRAND weekend.

Why a prosthetic leg is like a toaster oven.

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While people are seemingly sympathetic to the average amputee they are seldom aware of the daily indignities and inconveniences the average amputee faces.

My husband generally walks just fine with the modern miracle of his prosthetic leg but he needs to park in a handicapped spot.  Why? Because he can't get OUT of the vehicle unless the door is completely open as his leg doesn't doesn't cant or twist, it only moves forward and backward. It is like trying to exit a car in a total leg cast.

When my beloved is in a suit you might notice he walks with a limp but you wouldn't guess he was missing a leg.  Small children and little old ladies generally run him over at wedding and in church lobbies!  When we are in crowds I cajole my husband to wear shorts- people are much nicer about not crowding him and giving him room to walk.  These bad boys don't turn on a dime you know.

So about that toaster oven.  We had an old Black & Decker toaster oven for over twenty years and it worked magnificently.  Toasted, "ovened" and everything.  Only design flaw was it had a sliding toggle switch to turn it on. This wasn't an issue until "somebody" in the house tossed a load of groceries on the counter in a politically incorrect plastic bags and, you guessed it, leaned into the toggle switch, melted the bags and the groceries and nearly started a house fire. That led us to get rid of the said toaster oven and get a new one.  We have been the proud owners of 3 toaster ovens in 5 years since then because they have malfunctioned , broken or just plain don't toast.  In these days of planned obsolescence they are not repairable either.  We have given up and reverted to a slot toaster.  Our back - up is a nineteen FORTIES toaster that still works.

My husband lost his leg 12 years ago from complications from a blood infection.  After he was healed enough to wear a prosthetic he was awarded a truly spectacular top of the line C leg. It had a computer microprocessor that mirrored his gait and aided his gait.  It was amazing.  After almost ten years it started to die.  Not unlike and old laptop.  It would give out while he was crossing the street leading to over 60 recorded falls.  Insurance fought us for 1 full year before they replaced it with a mechanical "foot on a stick".  As this is better than falling in the street, he made do.  And then, it broke. Weeks out of warranty.  So we are battling for a new leg.  What does one do in between you wonder?  One's helpful prosthetist gives one a "loaner leg" or loaner knee, or loaner part. Whatever you need until your paperwork comes through and you have a piece of equipment you can use to get back to life. Oh, and the visits to the clinic have eaten up six days of work in the last six weeks.  Thank God for an understanding boss and flex hours.  Others are not so flexible with their employment.

So after in the last 2 years my husband has had FOUR legs or loaner legs.  And last week he fell down again.

We want the Black and Decker back.

PS - Having an amputee in the family is cause for a lot of dark humor in our family.  Lots of "one foot in the grave" comments among friends.  Once w
e rinsed off Bob's shower leg and left it, naturally, in the shower to drain.  Our poor middle schooler house guest went to take a shower and screamed to her mom - "Mooooooommmmm, there's a LEG in the shower and it has a CROC on it. We were not sure if she was more upset about the leg or the Fashion Disaster that is the Croc.  Be warned, if you come to visit, it lives in the downstairs closet...

I want to be my daughter when I grow up.

art history minor schooled me telling statue ages by hairstyles!

I wasn't one of those girls that dreamed of what my family might be like when I grew up. As someone who didn't date in high school I couldn't fathom a husband, let alone a family. Fast forward a couple of decades and we have the dollhouse version of a nuclear family: mom, dad, daughter and son.

not just a sculptor and cad designer but a screenprinter also!

 Moving all the time (7 schools in 12 years) and a nerd (before it was cool, plus being six feet tall and not athletic) it took me until my thirties to gel. So I was determined when I had kids that they would own them selves in all their goofy splendor and know that home was not a place but where love lived.

cum laude and employed 

The teenager that didn't study Sociology in college because business was more practical grew up and gave birth to a son who is majoring in Psychology and wants to discover the root causes of anxiety and depression. 

art school aluminum casting selfy

The woman who wouldn't lay claim to the title Artist until her forties gave birth to a daughter who graduated with a BFA from a Division I school. 

make a neckpiece that is not a necklace, they said.

 I thought I was supposed to teach my daughter and instead she teaches me:
to be bold, creative, loving and centered.

"mom, turn your hat sideways and rock the mohawk at Gold Cup!"

Happy Birthday Beautiful One! Love, Mom

July 29, 1929 - Dear Albert,

I love to use vintage ephemera in my art. I scour thrift shops and flea markets mostly. I am also lucky enough to have friends that gift me with stacks of paper goodness. I use them for backgrounds and cut them up for texture like the hair highlights in this work in progress.

But sometimes things come across your table that you just can't take scissors to.  I was gifted a pile of old papers and in this piles are some amazing letters. Frustratingly there are single pages of some sassily provocative correspondence.

Read this!

I need to find page 2! And how about these pages?

Who are Dotti and Albert? How could someone let these go?

I have no letters or papers from my family.  Even though I doubt they could compare with Dottiotoski!

The 100 day Challenge

I am an all-or-nothing type of girl. I either exercise everyday or sit on the couch for 6 months. I eat well daily or it's Fritos for a weekend. I create everyday or I don't walk into my studio for a week. 

People say "do the most important thing first" but that's hard to really do, isn't it? After all one can't exercise first, make art first, call your mother first,  clean your house first,  etc.  

A part of the creative journey of becoming a working artist is recognizing the fact that, although I like to do my personal chores first so I am mentally clear to create, I don't have to. If making things is my job then I'm allowed to go to work even if there are dirty dishes in the sink. 

That might not sound exactly sound like rocket science to you but it was a big epiphany to give myself permission to put my personal and professional efforts first. 

 I find writing about things clarifies them in my head which is why I am challenging myself to post a daily note as part of the hundred day challenge.  

I'm notorious for writing and then abandoning my entries again and again. If you look back over the last year you will find me saying that I am starting again. Yet again and again. I'm hoping by publicly saying I'm attempting this challenge it will help me to create a new habit. How about you? Is there a new habit you'd like to establish?  If you'd like to challenge yourself also you can read more about this annual project  here .

#day1of100

#stifel100dayproject

PS- Day 1 efforts nearly didn't happen.  First I thought I would try to be slick and dictate into my phone and forgot to save my post (apparently the phone app doesn't auto save like ti does on your laptop. Secondly, I re-entered my post and then saved the logo and it jammed the app so it would save as a draft but would not post, So I then printed out my phone draft, dictated it into an email and cut and pasted this paltry post into the blog on my laptop. I am about to hit the publish button. Pray for me. Pray for me now and in the next 99 days that I can solve my technical ineptness and share something you want to read.

PPS I made the Day 1 deadline - it's 11:52 - WOOT!

I'm not the only one...

After writing yesterday's post I opened an email (admittedly from over the weekend) from The Rising Tide Society with a headline of 
"We're going to come right out and say it: January 14th is the new January 1st."  That made me feel ever so slightly clever about my "beginning again on January 15th with my writing efforts pretending it's the new year today".  You can see their goal setting guide here.  

Monday's challenge prompt was: Decide what matters and what doesn't. What's your big picture? #BESTGOALS2019⠀⠀⠀

I have decided first that I am not going to be legalistic about starting on the same day as everyone else.  Because after all this is not school, there is not only partial credit but full credit for effort. Am I right?

tools of the trade 2018 tw stifel

What matters?  For me it's

Time spent creating

Time spent with family and friends 

Transparent relationships

Good stewardship of resources

Becoming fit

Staying healthy

Flexible schedule to accomplish these things

Pensacola Sky - Commission 2018 TW Stifel

So by process of elimination this means 

events and actions that don't contribute to these things need to be minimized or go by the wayside. 

Seems too simple doesn't it?

Next Step: pondering what that looks like.

Family Dinner - Christmas 2018

New Year's Resolution- Just Show Up

It is said that most New Year's Resolutions are broken by January 15th. And that most people make the same resolutions or none at all. So I am amused that my resolution of writing regularly is beginning again today, January 15th.  There.  I showed up! 

On trend the past few years is the selection of a Focus Word of the Year. Watching other people carefully choose and be guided by their year seems laudable yet something entirely foreign. I seem to have spent the last couple of years completely in reaction mode. Philosophical thinking has been dulled by fatigue.  I tend to be an extremely concrete person (make this call, do this deed, fight this fight) and less of an abstract thinker. Perhaps that is why I have not been drawn to the word of the year concept.

"Throwing Down" Commission 2018  TW Stifel

 Status Quo would have defined 2018.  2018 was a year of maintaining and healing.  Lots of health problems in the family.  Lots of treatments and thank the Good Lord and modern medicine, lots of successful outcomes. Sometimes you don't realize how much strain there is until it is lifted.  2018 was a feel of feeling stymied and frustrated while all the while counting daily blessings.  2018 was a year of waiting. Sitting with and realizing that some decisions could not made but that circumstances had to unfold. (This is so NOT how I normally live, breathe or plan.) But you know that old adage "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger?"  I DO feel stronger and ready for what the future holds.

"Armada Blue" 2019 TW Stifel 

  2019 feels lighter, more optimistic with plots and plans percolating. I was helping someone clarify her goals for the coming year and it reminded me of goal setting bigger than to-do lists. Grander than weight loss goals (although I have those too).  Real life style goals.

Sunrise Over the Bay 2019 Mother Nature

What has been your grandest life goal to date? Did you achieve it? Still working on it? Did you abandon it? I will share some of mine next time.

The show went up, the show went down, other kinds of painting going on...

Nothing much to see here, right?

 Nothing to see except the neutralizing handiwork of two out of shape, middle aged people who painted all the woodwork of the main floor of a cottage spurring on by said middle aged woman who had wanted to do this for 20 years and decided her "birthday getaway weekend" was when she could talk her husband in to doing the work. you know, as a present!

 Gone with the bright blue and yellow eighties sponge painting. Gone are our backs and knees. In is our pride in doing a good job, TOGETHER.  And, of course, we painted to put it on the market.  NOte to self: do the darn projects on the next house so YOU can enjoy them.  You can see our handiwork here.  Tell your friends. Please.

 My other big "self care" event for my birthday weekend? Got the car washed! #lowmaintainence

Maybe not so alone after all.

Being an artist can be a solitary business.  Some folks do well creating in public. Weirdly I have no problem doing my collage work with an audience but am really uncomfortable with folks looking over my shoulder when I paint.  But I love sharing my process.  Maybe I should say being an artist can be a little mentally fractured...

I must confess I love, love, love the work I have been doing lately. Please don't take that as bragging. Sometimes creating is a struggle and sometimes it is pure joy and this series has been that.  So it's really exciting to get words of encouragement from friends, family and fellow artists. Makes me feel like I am connecting both with myself and others.  That's a good thing.  It also help assuage the feelings of isolation I have with my present nomadic life.

In my last post I wrote about going it alone.  I must say it's been a great couple of days for my ego when I see reactions to a post like this-

Feeling the love!

Thanks friends!
Get all the details for my show "Sea Change"  here.

Leaving a Legacy

Pick One:
One of the hardest things about running a creative business is
+it can be solitary
+ business tasks takes more time than creative effort
+it's hard to stay focused artistically when you are trying to make a living
+it's tricky to know if you are making an impact

Leaving a Legacy 1 of 2 My caring, creative, empathetic daughter.

How about all of the above?
One way of addressing these issues is to connect with people online. Following artists on social media inspires me to get back to my own art and subscribing to various business of art newsletters compels me think proactively.

I was reading art business consultant Maria Brophy's newsletter this morning and was struck by her blog post on leaving an art legacy.  Funnily enough this article did NOT spur me to wonder how I was going to be a success artist myself.  It did make me think about all of the people I have helped get started in business. Whether in my twenty year career as a headhunter or in my ten years as a gallery shop owner I LOVE(d) to help individuals articulate and realize their goals. Being a small part of others success is a huge source of pride for me. Especially when people circle back and tell me how impactful I have been in their lives.

Leaving a Legacy 2 of 2- My intelligent, kind, droll son.

Ironically I have realized I made a career of that because I was too chicken to represent my own  goals beyond a collective. Weird to consider edifying others a crutch. The joy and satisfaction I get out of helping other is true and pure. It is also true that it takes my time away from understanding my own creative aspirations and goals.

Stripping my business back to just me is very revealing. Down right naked in fact.  Can I survive without the support of a group? What happens if I put all of my efforts into an endeavor and I fall flat on my face? Am I even capable of leaving a legacy on my own?

Color Ways & Observations

We knew when we bought our Retirement Although We Are Not Retired House that the area we were moving to was far less ethnically diverse than where we moved from in Northern Virginia. But then I noticed something interesting.

8 version of the same groovy vintage linen make for a fun pillow. 8 kinds of people make a fun friend group.

When I went to the grocery store up on the "corner" near the highway and I saw folks of various flavors doing their shopping.  But when we would head to our favorite watering hole it was all white. Then we would head out to buy some goodies for the house and the clientele would be predominantly black. Then we would head to a different restaurant and the entire staff was Latino.  It's almost like everyone is running in packs as opposed to working and playing in multicultural groups. I think I notice it more given today's high feelings and charged political climate.

It's awesome when vintage buttons find a home.

Maybe it will be different when we make some new friends and meet true "groups" of people.  The tricky part is we zip down to the house when we have a couple of days free so we really haven't made any new friends yet. Really haven't found a new church yet. Really haven't explored much beyond our neighborhood yet.  What we have found here in the Tidewater area is that EVERYone is friendly and very willing to help you and answer the stupid questions you don't the answer to when you are the "new guy".  Just like people were so welcoming when we moved into Falls Church over twenty years ago.

Pay no attention to that big mess on the shelves!

I was thinking of how people are all the same basically. We want love, safety, food, home, and laughter. Even if we are different shapes, ages and colors. I was looking at this designer fabric sample I was playing with this evening and thinking that all these samples were like people.  All the same, all different.  And wouldn't it be nice if it was as easy to sew us together?

My mission going forward is to start and COMPLETE projects leaving no scraps. For my next project I am planning to incorporate the fabric into the canvas that I painted , um, 3 years ago and make something wonderful using only supplies from my studio.  This will NOT be hard to do! Stay tuned...