Things are winding down for my Rock Star senior (#2). We finished hand coloring the violin print, and she decided how she wanted her 18 prints paired up, and that was it. I'm going to stick with the same book model, but we're putting 2 prints in each envelope (the 2 prints will be bound together), which is why we're pairing them up.
Senior #1 is definitely getting in the groove with doing her watercolors. She finally made some progress with the piece that she's been working on, on and off, for the past 3 weeks or so. It's not necessarily 'progress' in that it's getting more 'beautiful' in the traditional sense, but I was happy that she was able to break through and decide what it was that she was after. She's been so indecisive. She's talkative again today, just like our last afternoon session. Either she just does better in the afternoon, or she's getting more comfortable with me.
On other fronts, made a lot of progress with the Portland Open Studios web site adding new content.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Lake Oswego Chronicles piece, day 13
Last and final revision. Photograph taken, shipped off to the Chronicles folks; I'm also using it for the Portland Open Studios tour guide.
It's not too different from when I last worked on it, I just reworked the bird's nest. It was way too bowl like before which was really bugging me. This image is also correctly white balanced so the colors are true. The last image was way more orangy than it really is. (Although your mileage on your monitor would vary.)
On other fronts, started back on the Portland Open Studios web site update, and started on my 2nd Marie Watt cameo.
It's not too different from when I last worked on it, I just reworked the bird's nest. It was way too bowl like before which was really bugging me. This image is also correctly white balanced so the colors are true. The last image was way more orangy than it really is. (Although your mileage on your monitor would vary.)
On other fronts, started back on the Portland Open Studios web site update, and started on my 2nd Marie Watt cameo.
A million little annoyances
As I sat in the Marjane Satrapi talk last night, I realized how funny all these talented artists are. She was funny, as was James Turrell; Orhan Pamuk was very, very funny. Not silly funny, but smart funny. I wonder if there's a relationship between their humor and sensibilities and their creativity. And I also realized that I'm not funny. I don't mean that I'm not funny in any way, shape, or form, I'm just not funny when it comes to talking about my work. Which is how these other artists are, they're funny when they talk about their work. Here, on this blog, where I talk about my work, I write in fingerstothebone dry style; and my artist statements and blurbs are pretty humorless, too.
Just in case that there's a connection between funny and creativity, I'd like to try for some funny. Maybe funny and creativity feed each other. Today was a perfect day for me to practice funny. As the title suggests, it was a day of a million little annoyances. No accidents, no illnesses, but lots of those annoyances that, in the hands of a funny person, could make a really funny post.
I realize that it would still not be funny about my work, but it would be good funny practice. All day I've been thinking about this, thinking how I could phrase things, present things, or highlight certain things. And I came up with...nothing.
And now I'm just too darned tired to think about funny. I think sleep trumps funny.
Just in case that there's a connection between funny and creativity, I'd like to try for some funny. Maybe funny and creativity feed each other. Today was a perfect day for me to practice funny. As the title suggests, it was a day of a million little annoyances. No accidents, no illnesses, but lots of those annoyances that, in the hands of a funny person, could make a really funny post.
I realize that it would still not be funny about my work, but it would be good funny practice. All day I've been thinking about this, thinking how I could phrase things, present things, or highlight certain things. And I came up with...nothing.
And now I'm just too darned tired to think about funny. I think sleep trumps funny.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
MiT, 1st senior, day 10, 2nd senior day 12
In my last few morning meetings with senior #1, she had not been ready; I usually found her in her bathrobe when I'd knock on her door at our appointed time. The activities coordinator suggested that we switch that around, so today I met with my second senior in the morning and my first senior in the afternoon.
That, worked out very well. In fact, my first senior was 15 minutes early this afternoon!
In the morning, my Rock Star senior and I looked at all the prints that she'd made so far (18 of them!) and picked out the ones that she wants to work on some more. There was the one verse with the spelling error that she wanted to correct (she decided to handwrite in the correction). There were two that she wanted to add watercolors to, so we hand colored 30 prints today. The rest we'll finish next time.
In the afternoon, my mercury senior was very talkative today. She's usually not so talkative, at least not in the morning; so she probably is more of an afternoon person. She clearly is very fond of the first watercolor she finished, and is lamenting that she hasn't been able to complete another one since. So we talked about what she could add to one of her unfinished pieces, and one of my suggestions was to add some ducks or geese to the water. We practiced making ducks and geese most of the afternoon, and I think she had a good time; although I think in the end, that's not how she'd want to finish the piece. But that's ok.
The highlight of the evening was the Marjane Satrapi (author of Persepolis) talk. Time goes by so quickly, it seemed like just a few weeks ago that I bought tickets to the Orhan Pamuk and the Satrapi talks, but these 2 talks bracket the 2007-2008 Literary Arts lecture series, so I know it's been a while.
One thing she mentioned — the book is not an autobiography, rather it's the telling of the events around her, as observed by her. By framing it in the first person's view point, it's much easier for people to relate to.
I don't know if that's the reason or not, but when I was watching the movie, I did feel as if it was telling my story. There are a lot of superficial similarities between our lives—I left home at 15 to go to school in another country, she at 14; we both grew up under repressive governments (although she had more awareness of that early on than I did); we both grew up with wars (hers was much more physically real, mine was more rhetorical); we both had to live within a dominant culture that knew nothing about our own cultures; we both went to live with strangers (my situation worked out very well, hers did not); we both had grandmothers who were strong presence in our lives; we both fell in love with guys who cheated on us (she was smarter, it took me a bit longer...what can I say).
She is much more of a rebel than I am though. I've never been a rebel, and I'm not sure if I'm sorry or happy about it. Exactly what does it mean to NOT be a rebel?
That, worked out very well. In fact, my first senior was 15 minutes early this afternoon!
In the morning, my Rock Star senior and I looked at all the prints that she'd made so far (18 of them!) and picked out the ones that she wants to work on some more. There was the one verse with the spelling error that she wanted to correct (she decided to handwrite in the correction). There were two that she wanted to add watercolors to, so we hand colored 30 prints today. The rest we'll finish next time.
In the afternoon, my mercury senior was very talkative today. She's usually not so talkative, at least not in the morning; so she probably is more of an afternoon person. She clearly is very fond of the first watercolor she finished, and is lamenting that she hasn't been able to complete another one since. So we talked about what she could add to one of her unfinished pieces, and one of my suggestions was to add some ducks or geese to the water. We practiced making ducks and geese most of the afternoon, and I think she had a good time; although I think in the end, that's not how she'd want to finish the piece. But that's ok.
The highlight of the evening was the Marjane Satrapi (author of Persepolis) talk. Time goes by so quickly, it seemed like just a few weeks ago that I bought tickets to the Orhan Pamuk and the Satrapi talks, but these 2 talks bracket the 2007-2008 Literary Arts lecture series, so I know it's been a while.
One thing she mentioned — the book is not an autobiography, rather it's the telling of the events around her, as observed by her. By framing it in the first person's view point, it's much easier for people to relate to.
I don't know if that's the reason or not, but when I was watching the movie, I did feel as if it was telling my story. There are a lot of superficial similarities between our lives—I left home at 15 to go to school in another country, she at 14; we both grew up under repressive governments (although she had more awareness of that early on than I did); we both grew up with wars (hers was much more physically real, mine was more rhetorical); we both had to live within a dominant culture that knew nothing about our own cultures; we both went to live with strangers (my situation worked out very well, hers did not); we both had grandmothers who were strong presence in our lives; we both fell in love with guys who cheated on us (she was smarter, it took me a bit longer...what can I say).
She is much more of a rebel than I am though. I've never been a rebel, and I'm not sure if I'm sorry or happy about it. Exactly what does it mean to NOT be a rebel?
Sunday, April 06, 2008
POS minutes and 23 Sandy show prep
OK, two more things off my list (almost), and I'm practically done with my list for the weekend. I'm still double checking the board meeting minutes against the recording. Since that was a 3 hour meeting, it's taking a while (I'm writing this while listening to the recording). Also wrote up the little blurb for the June show at the SideShow Gallery at 23 Sandy and sent in the image.
The only thing I didn't do was to photo the piece for the LO Chronicles show, and I still have another week to do that, so it's not an emergency. I do need to prepare for my meetings with the seniors tomorrow still, and we're staring early, at 10am!
Otherwise, it is a pretty typical Sunday.
The only thing I didn't do was to photo the piece for the LO Chronicles show, and I still have another week to do that, so it's not an emergency. I do need to prepare for my meetings with the seniors tomorrow still, and we're staring early, at 10am!
Otherwise, it is a pretty typical Sunday.
April newsletter and web site update
I finally put together the newsletter (with class announcements and such) and sent it out. And I sent images of Fatherland to Karen. That's only two of the five things on my list for the weekend, not good. The reason—I got really sidetracked and started updating the Prints & Artists Books section of my web site, which really needed updating. I also reorganized how each of the sub pages linked to the other pages. Hopefully, it's easier to use. Eventually, I'll do the same thing to the Paintings and Design sections.
Here are a couple of screenshots. Before, I was using arrow keys, which gave no indication of where you are in the collection of items. Even though you can't really see the content of the tiny squares, I think this is clearer. I thought about adding popup text when you mouseover the tiny boxes, but I think learning DHTML will have to wait for another day.
Here are a couple of screenshots. Before, I was using arrow keys, which gave no indication of where you are in the collection of items. Even though you can't really see the content of the tiny squares, I think this is clearer. I thought about adding popup text when you mouseover the tiny boxes, but I think learning DHTML will have to wait for another day.
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Ticking things off my list!
I'm done with MY part of the taxes! Yay!
AND I got my gocco class description done, updated the web site Classes page, sent Jeremy the information (which is now only 2 weeks late).
And, I'm sitting in front of the computer, doing paperwork all day, so yes, I was listening to Andreas Scholl all day. Although, now I've switched to Deborah Voight.
What's left for the weekend: images of Fatherland to Karen; image of the LO Chronicles piece to LO; contract for June show to Laura; write and send out newsletter; minutes for POS meeting, which is now 2-3 weeks ago! And of course, get ready to meet with my seniors again on Monday.
AND I got my gocco class description done, updated the web site Classes page, sent Jeremy the information (which is now only 2 weeks late).
And, I'm sitting in front of the computer, doing paperwork all day, so yes, I was listening to Andreas Scholl all day. Although, now I've switched to Deborah Voight.
What's left for the weekend: images of Fatherland to Karen; image of the LO Chronicles piece to LO; contract for June show to Laura; write and send out newsletter; minutes for POS meeting, which is now 2-3 weeks ago! And of course, get ready to meet with my seniors again on Monday.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Sewing Circle
Portland artist Marie Watt occasionally holds sewing circles to work on one of her projects. They're a great way to get a behind the scenes look at her work and to meet other artists. There was one today, to work on her piece for the Portland Art Museum's Contemporary Northwest Art Awards exhibit (this was what replaced the Oregon Biennial).
I almost decided to not go. I got a late start for the day, and didn't get to the taxes at all. And after lunch, I really waffled between the two; but in the end, indulged myself and went to the sewing circle. And I'm glad I did. I finished one of the 'cameos', which are not cameo sized but more like the size of a sheet of paper, and brought another one home to work on. Met Marie's assistants and Lisa, a friend and an arts consultant/administrator, who is very funny. So the afternoon passed quickly and with much good humor.
So much for taxes. (And yes, I'm still listening to Andreas Scholl...must get more CD's.)
I almost decided to not go. I got a late start for the day, and didn't get to the taxes at all. And after lunch, I really waffled between the two; but in the end, indulged myself and went to the sewing circle. And I'm glad I did. I finished one of the 'cameos', which are not cameo sized but more like the size of a sheet of paper, and brought another one home to work on. Met Marie's assistants and Lisa, a friend and an arts consultant/administrator, who is very funny. So the afternoon passed quickly and with much good humor.
So much for taxes. (And yes, I'm still listening to Andreas Scholl...must get more CD's.)
Taxes!
Yes, I did what I said I would do today! What a change. I'm not quite finished yet, but looks like I did better than last year, which isn't very hard, since I netted all of $500 in 2006. That was my worst year in all the years since I went full time with my art.
The Random Movie tonight was The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, a touching story about a young boy who suddenly found himself in the care of strangers, set against the 1970 World Cup games and political turmoil in Brazil.
The Random Movie tonight was The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, a touching story about a young boy who suddenly found himself in the care of strangers, set against the 1970 World Cup games and political turmoil in Brazil.
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Week of chores, catch up, and taxes
As always, we've left taxes until the last moment. So this week has been set aside to do taxes, plus I have a ton of loose ends to catch up on, emails to respond to. U. of Wisconsin is buying a copy of Fatherland, that was shipped out today; plus the AU copies of Pudding went out too; Portland Open Studios stuff; much needed errands.
And, I went looking for a small stereo or a nice boombox, so I can listen to Andreas Scholl in all the rooms I frequent. Otherwise, I'm sitting in front of the computer all the time just so I can listen to the music (like right now, repeatedly checking to see if I have more email coming in just so I can keep listening). The boombox in my studio doesn't do it justice, which is of course true of the Deborah Voight CD I just got too, and pretty much everything else I play in the studio.
OK, this will be the 3rd time that I've mentioned Andreas Scholl, so any time now, one of you could jump in and say, "yes, yes, he's an amazing singer! I'm in love too!"
And, I went looking for a small stereo or a nice boombox, so I can listen to Andreas Scholl in all the rooms I frequent. Otherwise, I'm sitting in front of the computer all the time just so I can listen to the music (like right now, repeatedly checking to see if I have more email coming in just so I can keep listening). The boombox in my studio doesn't do it justice, which is of course true of the Deborah Voight CD I just got too, and pretty much everything else I play in the studio.
OK, this will be the 3rd time that I've mentioned Andreas Scholl, so any time now, one of you could jump in and say, "yes, yes, he's an amazing singer! I'm in love too!"
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