Author Archives: Sheba

Actionable Items

With my desire to make SMART goals this year, I have been hunting the net for tips and tools for setting goals that fit these parameters. In January’s EBSQ Zine, Amie discusses the topic of resolutions, goals and plans for the new year and she shares a list of questions to ask yourself that she found on ArtBiz Coach. Here are a few that I feel I can tackle.

What will you do to amplify your online presence? I have had an online presence since 1999, but I can’t say that I have much of a following… So my Actional Items to improve my online presence include:

  • Updating my art blog (with images) at least twice a week. Including articles that cross reference othe blogs and artists that I admire.
  • Participate in my online groups and forums more often by making weekly posts that are interactive with the members.
  • Visiting and commenting on other art blogs that I find inspiring.

What seminars/workshops/lectures will you attend?

What galleries, exhibits, or other venues will you submit your art to?

Questions I still want to consider…

  • What is the single thing you can do in 2008 that will move your career ahead the fastest?
  • How will you improve your studio habits?

(more at ArtBizCoach.com)

WIP: Medusa Doll and Peacock

4315This is a doll I started…. let’s see right after I made my freak show doll, so that would be August-September 2005. The body all went according to plan but then I got stuck with the head. I wanted to have some really detailed and movable snakes for her hair and I bought all kinds of different thicknesses of wire to try and make it work….

I am pretty sure my intention was to enter it into the Classic Mythology Show  Depending on the prospectus, I might take a new direction with the head/hair and finish her in time enter her in the Creation Myths: An EBSQ Juried Artists Exhibit later this year.

4330

This one was started 02/2007 for the Wild Birds Show But I didn’t get very far before life, work and other projects became more important. I really have a fantastic vision for what I want this to become, I have all the proper fabrics collected, I even have many of the pieces cut-out. Each peacock feather eye is a 5 layer circle of different fabrics cut, ironed on and then sewn together. I had all these laying on my ironing board and an early Spring had me opening the windows. In a brisk breeze, all my small little circles (not yet attached to each other) blew all over the studio. This quickly discouraged anymore progress!

I have entered these both into the EBSQ WIP show… and also plan to put them at the top of my “want to finish” pile.

WIPs or RIPs

This month EBSQ is hosting a “Work in Progress” themed show. The idea is to actually enter and ‘show-off’ your dusty, old, and abandoned projects that have lost favor in the studio. In fact they must be sitting stagnant for a minimum of six months.

While contemplating which ones I might dig up for this show, I ran across Sharon B’s blog “In a Minute”. She had just reorganized her studio in a take-everything-out-and-put-it-back-in-while-dumping-stuff technique when I found her blog. But apparently she has been documenting her WIPs for quite sometime now. She divides up her projects into a couple of categories, some of which I had heard before and others that were new to me.

  • WIP (Works IN Progress) This is a project that is CURRENT, being worked on in the here and now.
  • UFOs (Un-Finished Objects) This describes those projects you started with good intentions but that have been pushed to the bottom of the pile in favor of other things…. They may never see the light of day again, and if we were really honest with ourselves we would get rid of them!
  • WISPs (Works in Slow Progress) Different from UFOs in that they may have been worked on now and again, with continued but slow progress either due to the complexity or other projects that have more important deadlines.
  • PIGS (Projects In Grocery Sacks) I think this was on her blog, but might have come from some long line of followed links… but I LOVE this one. I admit I have some of these! YIKES! A bunch of supplies, stuffed into a bag that will probably be forgotten and become a UFO. My PIGS tend to be projects I take from a class or event and then it goes back and forth from event to studio with intentions of finishing, or even working on while travelling.
  • RIPs (Rest in Pieces)I am suggesting that perhaps there needs to be a new category. I have several of these and I don’t even think they can count as a WISP. The pattern that was cut out… and then NOTHING else has happened! It is just resting there in a box in pieces! But this might also be the category that I assign to things that just need to be buried and gone. Forget about trying to finish this, physically get rid of it and move on.

So like Sharon, I plan to start this new year with reclaiming, domcumenting and cleaning up the WISPs, PIGS and UFOS! Luckily EBSQ also inspired this with the current show! AND I really need to be on a craft/paper/fabric DIET for a while till my studio is more manageable!

Making Window Collages

So a few people have asked about how I make my window collages. A few years ago, I taught a workshop on how to do this technique on a smaller scale, some of the images shown here are from this workshop and NOT my artwork, but they show the process. I shared these steps in an online lecture at EBSQ. You can read more from that 2004 workshop at EBSQ.

The windows are a long PROCESS. And admittedly I haven’t taken on the task since I moved my studio to the attic some 3 years ago. I only have a little pull-down ladder access to my studio so hauling up big heavy windows from the basement hasn’t been a priority. I have been adapting this technique to fabric instead. But if they start selling at the gallery I will need to get back in gear with this style of collage. I still have several windows waiting for their transformation and even sketches from the hand series that I began. My paper collection has not dwindled by any means… but could use some reorganization. So this gallery opening has in fact been an inspiration and motivation to get back with it.

So here is how I create my window collages….

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Gallery Opening January 2008

What a great way to start the new year! I was amazed at how packed the gallery was and how many people we doing gallery walk. It was pouring down rain and traffic getting there was pretty scary with many violent accidents on the side of the road. But Josh and I arrived in one piece, found some free parking only 5 blocks away and headed over to the gallery.

Arriving damp but excited, I found the owner and let him know I was there, then search for my art and someone that I might know. Found the art. He select 4 great pieces including GREED my all time favorite. We tried to eavesdrop on people talking about my art, but I wasn’t brave enough to introduce myself to these interested strangers. People were interested and interesting!

We checked out all the artist loft studios above the gallery. Six floors of great little hidden spaces, many with interesting, beautiful, weird, and some ugly art. Josh was amazed at all of it. He was wearing his cool new top hat and fitting in well with the funky artist look.

Josh had a good time looking at and critiquing the art. I think he was also inspired. Overall, I was very impressed with the gallery and had fun! But I wish the owner had introduced me to some people… or had run into some people that I know!

Now I need to make some new art for the February show and cross my fingers that some thing sell!

Canvas Gallery

S.M.A.R.T. Art Goals and Reflections

WOW… I was just looking through the art I have entered into EBSQ Shows over the past 4 years (2004, 2005, 2006, 2007) and was really impressed with my consistency to make art based on the themes and even to win recognition a few times. This year I am setting SMART Goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and with a Time line) instead of just the standard resolutions. So I have decided on my SMART-ART goal for 2008.

I will create at least one NEW artwork (in any medium of my choice as is fitting for the theme) per month to enter into EBSQ Shows.

The shows that I am scoping out and thinking up ideas include:

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