nobody girl

this past weekend i seriously accomplished the huge list of things i needed to. it's amazing what a deadline can do. it's even more amazing that i didn't have to work until last night. having had a whole lot of time, almost ninty six hours worth, to paint, print, package, hang, distribute, meet&discuss and recover all that i originally thought was lost in my head. when you have thought about something for so long and then it actually happens or gets close to happening, it can be a little overwhelming and boy oh boy what a relief.
i am super excited about what i have to share and show at clothesline and can't believe that we're about to do it all again. the second in my television trees (above) is a serious departure from my paper quilts, even from my previous trees, but all in all these are the trees i've been thinking about and feeling like lying underneath. and of course there's nothing about them that is symbolic, it's my personal interpretation on graffiti, on a soft world of graffiti that is.

on saturday i finally got to the printers and on sunday picked up sixty brand spankin new card sets of my six paper quilts. this go around i wanted to spruce them up a bit and am pleased as punch with their new rounded corners-ahhh and envelope seals!

on one hand i wish i could say that after clothesline i'd get a little bit of break but on the other hand, i'm eager to start the next in line project(s). my next "meet the deadline" is october first. i have in the recent months been asked by aaron robbs, lead singer/gituarist for coral castles to design:make the art for their newest album:ep. on sunday we had the opportunity to sit and and discuss, surf the www and speak openly on subjects of design, art, creativity and the like. i am thrilled to pieces about this and can barely contain my thoughts on this tip.
i think i mine as well just post about my next deadline. i'm hestitant because there all kinds of things that i have to do first, plus a publishers approval and all, but i'm excited and thought if i told you all about it you could keep me in your thoughts and "cross fingered" prayers.

i have been contacted by someone who would like me to submit my paper quilts for a diy book to be published at the beginning of next year. it is going to be a whole lot of work but i feel incredibly blessed to have this opportunity and to share it with my friends, family and readers here. it seems like it maybe an encouragement to you as you travel down your own creative paths. i will definitely keep you updated as i approach december one and january one of twothousandeight.
i've started my next to last piece for the clothesline show, pictured below and hope to have it completed by tonight or tomorrow. again what's with the rounded corners? this will be my third twilight trees (a warm colored one for the record books) and then a fourth (a cooler one in blues and greens and turqs) hopefully will be completed by thursday night-friday afternoon at the latest. unga.

i have no idea if i'm leaving something out or not. if it weren't for the holiday i think i might have gone bonkers. thanks labor day!

thinking about ryan adams, can you tell?

not impressed

i guess you guys weren't impressed enough. well then we'll leave it at that and move on. i worked at cvs this weekend and worked on this, my latest piece, television trees. i scribbled about on a piece of paper over at matt's house and came up with something along these lines. it pays to scribble or sketch. it's been my source of new material, as of late, that's for sure.

i am fairly pleased as pie with my television trees. i am going to start another one tonight, another, different rendition of sorts. and hopefully i'll get the little things i see wrong with this one, right with the next one. i almost like the photo better than the original. man oh man i just want to make art that looks like graffiti. but not so much like graffiti, you know? i have also been terribly inspired by josh bennett's piece, ninja life, let me remind you. do you see?

i am also super excited about the new news from my brother ethan and sis n law mary in regards to their official adoption of caleb b. collier. soon a new little nephew will be home. yeah yeah yeah!

i think other than that. i'm off.

Twilight Trees II:i am not my own

it will take a miracle, a miracle beyond all. to the form or shape of what, i'm not so sure. to complete enough work for the upcoming clothesline show. in the mean time i have finally finished the second installment in a twilight trees series, which may have started here...or here. maybe i'm misgiven, it's less of a series and more like a forest i think and write about when describing all of the trees i have been painting. lately i have forgotten all about the grove of trees i have hanging at fitness together and can't imagine what they might all look like hanging out together. i suppose that if i'm unable to accomplish my goal of four more new pieces, i could show flea market:beehive tree and the freezing trees, but they're not so new, but they've not ever really been seen in a show/exhibit forum. one last thing, i'd like to have cards made of my paper quilt series. it's seriously all going to stretch me, mentally, physically, and probably financially, and artistically yes, but it is growth after all. yikes!

in the eye of my small little storm. i'm realizing how little i am my own at this point. it's how the tide has turned and i am more of my art than my art is apart of me. it is living and breathing, sleeping and eating my art. it's about being emotionally tied up, bound to sleepless nights of planning and rehearsing the hours and days to come. and i need to be thinking about my health too? goodness. i believe it will all be alright. it will all come together in the end. until then i'll keep you afoot of the details. and please think of coming out to our show in september. it has been a thrill to see how all of the lose ends are coming together and i'd be so happy to see each of you there. thanks a mil:)

.up.to.no.good.

two a.m. rolled around and you'd think i would have had enough sense to lay the paint and brushes down. i just couldn't help myself. knowing and feeling the mad dash crunch is all it takes. the late nights haven't seen the last of me. unfortunately i have only a few more last touches to put on my spacetree painting, but i'm stonecold out of motivation for the finishline. it was dragging me down so i decided over the weekend to pick up a new canvas and after some foundational sketching i started a new perspective:rendition on the twilight trees. it's my remixed version. *with the spacetree painting i intended all along to recycle a previous painting. i meant to leave the seagulls and the majority of bluesky, but i continue to struggle. i have the smaller circles in the trees to paint. i'm leaning between an orange red or a lighter green. i also am leaning toward applying a tad more paper to the piece, but i'm uncertain about it all and know i probably won't be showing the spacetree piece in the upcoming clothesline show. i'd rather have it hanging at fitness together with the rest of my growing forest.

twilight will make an unseemly sorching hot or frigidly freezing day feel redemptively magical. at the close, a comforting quiet and coming together of all that the day held in ups and downs. twilight illustrates a time when starlings fly in unison above my city and collect themselves simultaneously on highwires. a small moment of deepening bluesky and some slight breeze, i can breath. i'm not saying i can even come close to painting what i invision twilight to be. my trees aren't really the trees i see on a daily basis, but they warm me, or at least my heart. i still struggle inbetween twilights fantasy and it's alterego, reality. the reality of it all is that i hope above all that something inside of me comes out on the canvas and warms other people's hearts. i know my style is off and cursive in nature, i know my lines are crooked, but they are purpose driven as all of twilight reaches out for darkness and the silence of night.

sometimes i feel like i beg for attention, i struggle with phantomcrimes and hide what i really want and that is recognition. foolish and corrupt as it may seem it is true that i wish to be discovered and that i want my art to find it's way into the minds, homes, and thoughts of little children who want someday to make art. i would love to see my art in beautiful/decay or juxtapoz or my local but now chicago based mule. and inbetween these thoughts i am struck, as if with a fly swatter, that there is a beautiful community of women artists here in my city, my friends, who have lifted my spirits and pushed me further. and i am reminded of how they are my audience, a small part of a larger community, but still. and thankfulness for this "clothesline" community is really all that i need. afterall if i had any more than what i've got i'd have to quit my jobs and begin to live in an art world. a world of many too many 2 a.m. nights of artmaking. alas, it isn't that time yet in my life. if that time came i'd be just as scared, so i'm left in peace about what my responsibilty truly is, it's to share and hopefully gain some perspective with phantomcrimes, here. i'm off to up to no good:)

underneath:belief

words can feel like combinations of symbols that often times barely scrape by, defining little physicality or emotion. an understated disclaimer of how meager my words feel when i am writing them out. desperately searching word after word for relevance, truth and mostly purity. so if i say i had a fairly nice weekend, i myself am bored with the phrase. in regards to the real deal, the underneath it all sort of stuff, it is going to have to playout.

one thought repeats itself over and over in my mind. a tentative nagging. to say we saw ethan and mary off to kazakhstan isn't all that true. honestly i wish that i had told them each how much i love them. and now i am wondering, have they made it, are they making it alright, are they safe, excited, scared? are they homesick already, do they miss us? i know i am missing them so soon, already, yes. on saturday evening i made my way to their home and literally folded ethan's shirts for him. it's not like he is gone eternally, two months might go by and i might not seem him anyway, even with the both of us in one city. but he's on the other side of the world now and even if i wanted to i couldn't get to him. laurie and i helped mary pack gifts for caleb's caretakers, nurses, and doctors. we packed caleb's little clothes and socks and toys. we packed medicine and a even a baby bjorn. i helped pack their shampoo, soap, and shoes, and still i feel like maybe i should have hung out just a little longer.

my belief; and to say the least i'm excited and overflowing with anticipation. i can't wait for the first email from mary. my joy is hope. can't wait-ing to see caleb's face for the very first time in september. unga!!! i can't wait to begin posting news, at: calebtochatt.

in order: any foundational drawing here is for the sake of new art. trees are on the horizon. new trees. and a friend of mary's gave her a book that she had published with blurb. i'm thinking i might have a book:portfolio made, or i could use flickr's qoop.
peace.

barely wip&flickr stickers

on one hand this week has absolutely flown by. my bicycle injuries are healing more quickly than i thought they would. my emotional monday and tuesday feel like weeks ago. two days on sunday, mary and ethan are leaving for Kazakhstan to get Caleb. in a mind boggle: a year and a half ago we thought it would take this day forever to get here. any ebb in time has now dissipated and we will all be trying to catch up, stay close, and in touch with one another as time plasters and propells us forward in this new family adventure. we are fortunate and grateful and i for one know the value of time in these moments. it is everything.
up until yesterday i had been becoming increasingly worried that time seemed to take it's time when it came to the delivery of my flickr mini moo sticker book. and then in my box in a white envelope they appeared. a minor important pick me up of inspiration. and now i have no idea exactly what i will do with them. i think i will have new cards made of the paper quilt collage series to sell at our september clothesline show. i may just use the stickers as an envelope seal sort of thing. it's not that important. just 9.99 for an assortment of 90 stickers, that's all.
and of course my weekend plans and project ideas are piling up only because i am inches away from finishing my spacetrees:eyeball flowers piece. wanting to move on and forward. as you can see i've stretched a canvas and the tissue paper is going down with modpodge. the next and first for the clothesline show. i want to have a lot to show and tell by next week. wish me motivation and a plentiful wealthy about of minutes and hours.


if you'd like to know more about kasakhstan check it!!!
have a very nice weekend friends. take advantage of the time and benefit. more love.

moo&wip

this morning i took a few quick photos, though really not that good, of the new mini moo assortment that i received in the mail yesterday. they're great and i can't seem to stop thinking about them. it is rather ridiculous i suppose, to get so excited about them. they're just like little treasures, yet so functional and really helpful when it comes right down to it.

i think too, that i have finally found the guts to show my newest work in progress. i still have a fair amount of time to put into getting it completed but once i began painting, everything seemed to start falling into place. yeah yeah yeah. it is a terrible photo but it is just a hint of things. you're not supposed to look that cloesly and plus knowing myself as i do it may all change drastically by the end. haven't you seen it all before? the painting underneath was a seascape with shoreline, seagulls and seaweed grass all there. it isn't exactly what i had in mind when i thought about recycling a thrifted painting but i will be leaving the birds alone and the sky color and texture should remain about the same.
i thought about how much i loved drawing my tinier space bubble type trees and eyeball flowers that it would be worth trying them out on a large scale. so far i think it's is working. we shall see though.

just thought i'd catch up with you. take care and have a great day. outta here.

moo.order.up.

i just finished placing my second ever moocard order and boy was it easy. this time around i decided to stick to a few designs instead of a hundred different little moos. they're promised to me in ten days, i just cannot wait. after the clothesline show in may, my supply became severly depleted and i knew i wanted moos of my more recent works of art.
i painted last night, i'd say that's an overstatement too. i wouldn't dare show and tell at this point because i am not so sure. not so sure if i am moving in the right direction. it is really much more difficult than i thought, recycling a previously painted oceanscape painting. i am very interested in leaving the bulk of the original painting exposed, like the seagulls, the grass, and deep blue sky. the painting is signed too, phillip sandee. i wondered if it was a fake name, i have heard that many paintings like this one, were done collabratively by many. it's funny, his last name would be "sandee", kindof a pun.
in other words:
lotta jansdotter is having a nice, almost half off sale. i especially like the messenger totes. ooo&aaa.

do you all remember? yukiko sato? sale is going on now! check it!

16 sparrows is have a 50% of sale on a small assortment of beautiful things. i especially think the "surprise yourself" grab bag looks fun for only ten bucks.

i will keep working and let you know when i have gotten to a point where i'm not completely afraid to show more progress.

ae.eh.ia.oh.uo.

the clothesline is off and running. of course we will update the public with dates and times. our meeting went really well last night and we're gearing up for an even better show, even better representation and presentation. mostly we'll have things internally smoother which was our main concern coming out of the previous show. if you're a participating artist please make sure you've checked your email, at the bottom of each email is a specific task list that you've most likely volunteered to help accomplish. i feel incredibly fortunate to be amoungst this great group of women, who are artists but also mothers, wives, and professionals. jennifer kring came having done a considerable amount of research {thank you!} and we have settled on the weekend of september 8th. mark it on your calendars!!! laura, diane, katie, mary, maria, linda, and kelly, as well as christina and lauren will all be back with new art, just in time for the holidays. we are corresponding the clothesline show with the gallery hop on the 8th. we're hoping to get on the map!!!

the clothesline is really the news of the day. i spent the rest of last night compiling thoughts and ideas and then this morning it's been about emailing and posting chemo charges simultaneously. how wonderful i feel.

Paper Quilts @ Etsy

i know it's again with the quilts. i decided to fill my etsy shop up again in hopes that one or all of these paper quilts might sell. i'm selling the original works of art for only $100.00. mind you, the shipping is high because of usps costs going up, but if you're local i will hand deliver and if you're international it might be lower, it all just depends on package. a couple of you have expressed interest in trade. i am completely interested in trading art, but not these quilts, at this time. i am completely willing to create a specific {commissioned} quilt(s) for you if you are interested in trading. i can even have a print made of one of these quilts that i could trade or that could be purchased at a whole lot less. if you've got a specific color pallette you'd like a paper quilt collage done in, i can do that. it really is up to you and how much you're willing to spend or trade. i really do appreciate the interest and am willing to set up a payment plan as well. if you'd like cards made of any of these quilts i am able to do that. an individual card is $5.00 but if you buy a mass quantity i can sell them at a lower cost.

i would like to remain as flexible as possible throughout the next few months and actually throughout the rest of the year. i am working on a bigger piece, right now that incorporates many of the same drawn elements of the quilt collage(s), but on larger scale. flowers and trees and birds like these. i will also be working on larger versions of my twilight trees.

on another note: i wanted to update you all on the family meeting. my brother ethan and sis n law mary have received a referral for the adoption of a little boy. i cannot give many details, i cannot even post his birth name (we are naming him caleb) or date of birth, or the town he was born in. all that i can say is that this is an amazing time for ethan and mary. they continue to feel support and hope. caleb is a healthy little boy, he is happy and strong and now we are just waiting on him. it has been a time of great celebration. please continue to pray though. i will continue to update as i can and as we are legally able to share.

in the middle of the night

i took an unintentional break from phantomcrimes. primarily and dependently because i feel a fresh photo is necessary each and everytime an effort is made to share here. my friend is happily borrowing my canon powershot and i have got an unfinished undeveloped roll of film in my manual that's got to get to wolfe's at some point soon. thus the b.r.e.a.k. i can't think of what i am trying to think about because i stayed up too late inorder to see my brother play with the rest of coral castles. for those of you not present last night at jj's well um, i am terribly sorry. i have not gotten all the sleep i need in the last couple of days, for all sorts of reasons. i am looking forward to catching a few winks after five.

at nine thirty this evening i am heading over to my aunt's house for a very special family meeting. i'll have updated information as it becomes available. on another note...i never took an actual photo of my completed May Paper Quilt Project submission, dawn has got it posted if you're interested. i stuck to the familiar tree theme, mainly because my family seems to be growing around me and it feels so good. i have been relating the tree to my family for so long now, make sense?

i have begun to make art again. i have taken awhile to get it all going again. i have had a couple emails from you all expressing interest in my paper quilts. trade? sell? what have you. i wanted to think about it for a while and i have finally come up with some answers so i will be getting back to you each by early next week. once i have emailed everyone back i will post my thoughts here. i have not put anything new up in my etsy shop mainly because i wasn't sure how to handle the new shipping cost increases. boy has anyone else noticed the insane flat rate international shipping cost? i also didn't know if i would have any luck at selling the paper quilts on etsy. i seriously don't think so, soooo!!!

in closing...

fullness:a morning of c.o.l.o.r

this a.m. i woke up with an energy i have not felt in quite some time. i could have jumped right out of bed when national public alarmed me at six forty. instead i kept as still as possible, a dream uninterrupted until seven thirty. the light in my apartment wept, saturating just about everything. i watered my orchid and one bamboo shoot, decided to copy others and take note of the inside of my dishwasher. my melmine dishes made me think:installation. the painting given to me by one bff, katie k. hangs now, above my kitchen sink. one of only two pieces of actual art hanging on my walls. a self portrait reminding me of the past:white house apt. again i found my package from tammy. i'm slow to remove even the most lovliest things from the box, i want the pleasure, the feeling of unwrapping it everyday.
it could all be because i walked from my place all the way down to the fish {aquarium} place and back last night, at least a couple of miles, 14th street down to 3rd or second and back. or maybe i felt full. full of thankfulness again. full of excellant hummus and rewinded conversations with snl mary c. at bigriver last early evening. women's night. live funky music. and flies swarming around my pile of chickpeas.

maybe in the night a senitment came upon my like a memory fills a hole in your spirit after great joy, great sorrow, great struggle, or rather great strength. nothing can overcome me now even in the midst of indecision and compulsion to quit work for the day. possible bike ride with matt or a thousand mile walk. i look forward to the momentum of making art again. i'm certainately encouraged and committed and confronted with a variety of paper matters, medium matters, and personal whimsy ways.

i will bring up my nana again because even though she's past i am so so happy i had my her here, near me in her last months. and now my mother who is venturing soon from a traditional career, to pursue grant writing, vintage apron making and caleb watching, excites me and makes me wonder and thankful more and again. she and i are going to write:illustrate:publish our owb children's books. i know it.

these and a mirad of things are all full of love and color bringing hope. on this thursday at the end of may. may you be filled up. tell me how you have found the fullness.

making a way

i haven't had nearly enough time to get by here. in the last week i have felt like i was barely making a way for myself let alone phantomcrimes. yet throughout the thick and the thin of a sixty hour work week i made it and enjoyed mostly every minute of it. tammy gilley sent me an incredible five senses swap package, i almost couldn't believe my eyes, mostly overwhelmed in her brillant color choices. i feel terrible, i haven't a minute to send my five senses swap to my partner. although i've gathered just about everything, it's a shame, i should have figured my timing out a little better. i am so so sorry anastasia.

i did however finally get around to finishing my paper quilt project piece and sent it off. i feel fairly uncertain about the outcome and am not quite ready to show it off. i think it came together well enough and it amounts to meaning something to me and i felt so honored to contribute, but as far as the best thing i've ever done in my life. probably not. it comes down to my familytree and how it has grown and grown over the past few years. how i have grown to love my family; past, present and future family. how these family people have become some of the most important people in my life. a tree that represents life, growth, shade, protection and stability. and on a side note the paper quilt project and wendell berry's hannah coulter have both made me think of my nana. i remember crying my eyes out at her graveside service, because it was one of the most beautiful new jersey days you could possibly imagine. and plus i was there at her side as she slipped gently into the night. i felt heaven in those minute quiet seconds. sometimes i seem to invent things that remind me of her or others past. so strange. so wonderful to know.

and then how the clothesline show came to be. oh personally i had an amazing time. the spirit of the moment, the weather, the women artists, the amount and variety of art, the food, the fellowship, the turnout was all so overwhelming. it was not as you might think a party or artshow to be, more mild and calm, laid bare to avoid intimadation, the gallery pretense was nowhere to be found, intentionally. it was an immense success and the internal flaws can be looked at as a potential growth and strength. there is room for improvement, yes. but that is not to say it wasn't a fantastic way to celebrate art made by women artists. i can't not wait to get started on the planning for a fall show. look for updates both in my flickr and the official clothesline blog/site. if you were there and would like to leave an sort of feedback please do on that site. or email us and your thoughts at: ourclothesline@gmail[dot]com. thank you all so much for coming out and supporting us, me, them, everyone.

and for those of you following sam and liam's story...well they are doing really really well. they spent most of the day out and about town with their two little parentals. i had a chance to see them on sunday, very short and they're feeding well, growing and making us smile. thank you all for your continued thoughts and support. our family and the aaron and laurie collier family sure to appreciate everything.

that's it folks. gotta hit the trail, so to speak.

working on our clothesline

just wanted to let you all know that katie and i have been working most of the day on a new site/blog for the women artist who are participating in the may 2007 clothesline show. i really wanted to use the new blogger format but can't take the time to learn the html language-xtml or xhml or whatever the heck it is. kind of more complicated. if you are a participating women artist and would like to contribute work or thoughts or what have you please contact me @ catcollier[at]hotmail[dot]com. i will also include your name and site/blog/myspace on the sidebar. i am thinking i ought to send out an email asking for info from each of you (the eleven). until then please go by, check out, let us know what you think. this will help not only us but the rest of the chattanooga community of women artists as well as the general public. hope all of you have an excellant weekend. takecare.

.rainbow.crush.

i promise this will be the second to the last time you will see any of these little paper quilts. only because i myself am trying to draw some sort of closure. when i've finished the black&white 2-sq. drawings i will take a few more photos and then wahlah!!! finally done!!!

yesterday i meant to post, but got caught up with uncle sam and a host of other things here at work.

katie has been working on a new and improved postcard for the clothesline show. i am growing more and more excited about this adventure. ***i am also really loving this little bird. forever reminding me of kate, josiah and eden***. i can't say exactly if or how my expectations will be fulfilled in re:to the next few weeks, just thinking up new projects. really wishing i had more time to create things with all of my mailorder friends. thinking up five senses, paper quilt project ideas and the list goes on, right?

my brother ethan called me yesterday and told me that the folks at FT were pleased as punch with the new art hanging on their walls. i am happy i could help out. and hope i can actually make more to hang. if you're out that way near target, you should stop in and check the place out. FT has a really nice, intimate sort of atmosphere, a unique workout experience from what it seems. over the weekend ethan mentioned his business website was going live. i'm super excited about this, because i am so proud of what ethan and all of his employees do. i have added a link to his new site on my sidebar, even though it is a little different than my other links it is super important that you have access to the green. considering we are in over our heads in re: to the environment. thanks to the guys at coptix for putting together a really tight site for him. way to go!!!

i also wanted to show and tell:

pete goldlust and his amazing carved crayons

one my favorite places on the www happy mundane. finding the cool!!!
wooden frog stools and "poetics of the handmade" thank you jon.

congrats to ellia and her fam:via nina

i cannot wait for sam and liam and caleb to get here.

if you're having a baby check out:
dwell
sparkability
kol kid
kazoo toys

that's it for now, i am totally worn out and the day isn't half over.

half a dozen

i am not sure i am ready to be back after such a really nice weekend off. at home burrowed in the warmth of my sheets i read, slept, made art inbetween, took lots of photos of the now, almost completed six piece paper quilt collage series. i finished the orange quilt, began the black quilt with just the two drawings left to complete. i am so pleased with how this group of collages have come together. i cannot wait to see them framed and hanging on the wall. speaking of...on saturday morning i hung eight pieces at fitness together. it took about an hour or so and i believe all looks really great. i only took a few photos so you'd get the idea. i am looking forward to the regular commitment of hanging there. i hope to make more work, larger work and more colorful work. i left a price list as well as moo cards to coordinate with the work i hung. so exciting. check it out.
maybe just maybe i'll sell something!!! but if i don't i'm real happy for place to safely store my art. my list of things to do is slowly growing smaller. not by much but at least i can say the quilts are 95% ready. i am sure your sick and tired of my progress notes but it helps me to determine the next in line projects. the priorities are: 1 more collage for the clothesline show for a total of 10.


MAY's Paper Quilt Project is #2 on the list. then the swap is #3. then it's on to painting painting painting. my paper phase will take a break and i'll be picking up the paintbrush-kickout two new paintings in the next month or so, i'm hoping upon hopes. so i have something fresh to hang at fitness together. i hope you've really enjoyed walking with me through these paper quilt collages. i feel really positive about their appeal and can't wait to get humankind feedback. they will be up for sale, under $100 bucks. if you see one you'd like and won't beable to make it to the show, please let me know in advance.

i'm gonna leave it at that for today. seems like a whole lot to take in.

a pasture of pink to do

today my friend brought me two cotton skirts from walgreens. one is black with ruffles at the bottom and the other one is pink.

i am hanging art this saturday at FT.

babysitting tonight. almost finished with the orange paper quilt collage. photos to come soon. going to paint edges of paintings to be hung at FT. i asked gray and he said my work did not need to be framed. some of it will be and some of it won't be. i have also got to come up with a list of twenty five. i need to make a list of stuff i am hanging and where and prices and title cards. what did i do last night? freeze my bones off. run the oven at three hundred and fifty degrees. small amount of progress on the orange. lots to do. i have gotten my five senses swap partner. anything else you'd like to add to my list of things to do? yikes. not overwhelmed yet. almost though.

color week: handmaid

Monday : turquoise
Tuesday : green
Wednesday : pink
Thursday : yellow
Friday : red

pleading help:green tuesday

in the course of one day events change, time turns over onto itself, predictions are made, postures mastered, help is on the way or better yet, asked for. i need you. all of you. the ones of you who hide and seek. the ones who have opinions and haven't spoken. the ones of you longing for a voice and reason and a need.

i feel sheepish, altogther hesitant, and bashfully humbled. only because of this "being an artist" process. i admit i have felt very much proud and full of snobbery and have been so unwilling to show my art, share my art or even talk a whole lot about my art. hiding behind the web, hiding in flickr and in etsy. so on and so forth. i am really sorry for my bad attitude. because i know that it hurts people's feelings and it hurts the process of learning and growing as an artist. my art, my paintings and collage are things i have wanted to keep to myself, they can be my own secret, my own mystery, noone has to know if i am good or bad. art is the one area i haven't felt like sharing with the world-community because i didn't want there to be expectations or pressure. afterall there is pressure in my daily life all over the place and art needed to be my refuge, companion. i needed a place to rest without compromise.

today i will compromise and resist the temptation to bury myself underneath layers of paper, six sheets under. maybe i will surrender just a little bit more of myself today. and shed a layer of this newly acknowledge, yet useless burden. self deceit.

two very important art opportunities approaching: fast. my first obligation/commitment is to the clothesline:emerging women artists show on may 18 and 19. secondly, a chance to hang some very large work, possibly 3 or 4 pieces at a fitness center, fitness together. the question:query and my need of your help. if you read on a regular basis and know my art you know what i've got to offer. the paper quilt collage series is specifically for the clothesline show. they are each 8"x10" and will be framed seperately. i will also contribute the remaining and earlier quilts: the robot and fish all of which you can check out here. i also have der hund. that would be a total of 9 pieces, all of which are basically my paper quilts for the clothesline show. sound okay?

for FT i am thinking strictly trees: {i'm supposed to be selling poison tree to my cousin this month} i have my freezing trees that need just a tad more work/little touch up (2). i have bitter water/posturing tree. the flea market:beehive tree and recycled air plus a couple of other here and there pieces. i have two potential canvas to paint, both are larger. so that would give me a total of 5 at least for the fitness center.

so...is my thinking right about all of this? in the meantime, i'm finishing up my orange paper quilt, touching up the freezing trees and well. waiting on the next phase in motivation-inspiration. i want you all to think about what is more appropriate where? i think considering the clothesline show, you might think quilts, so why not go that direction. and trees are symbols of strength, resislence and peace, often thoughts you'd want to have will in the depths of fitness. my understanding is that the training is one on one in single type rooms, where many people grow attached to the art and later purchase it. so you've got the drift. now it's up to you. your ideas, opinions, thoughts, name it, question it and leave me a comment. i trust you all. finally.

colorweek:
Monday : turquoise
Tuesday : green
Wednesday : pink
Thursday : yellow
Friday : red

via handmaid

Green Paper Quilt Collage & WIP

over the weekend i completed the green paper quilt collage. i bet you guys thought i was giving up all together but all the while i was a hustlin' and a bustlin' on this go around. i should probably make mention of how the green is similar and dissimilar to the others, though you're welcome to check it blurry style here on your own. the hexashapes are larger this time. the green wrapping paper i used was just too great to waste, i'm sure you can guess...the drawings-the green bird and the arrowhead trees in the top left hand corner are simpler drawings than before. and i have run out of vintage wrapping paper pieces. anyone up for a swap? as in i need more of that beautiful heavy duty vintage wallpaper.
i started the orange paper quilt last night and can't wait to see how that goes. four down:two to go. i'm still debating the last color:lavendar? grey? black or white? anyone have suggestions.

are you following our conversations? a little exclamation is due for sure. kate's blog-post, so good, well written and for me. and others, i know. we are best friends and we are all about hard conversation and discussion when need be, this one is about me showing my art.

showing it out, not just showing it in this space or that space on the great big www. but out in the community of chattanooga. i know. i haven't shown my work out since last march, a year ago at mojo burrito. i am still making work and when the opportunity comes up for me to show my work i will. maybe another mojo show? or maybe an "inapt" show? no matter what i understand. i get it and obviously the only way i am going to get better is if people see and masses speak and i hear and mull things over in my mind. joining ava is not an option right now. rx taxes are due in two weeks. framing is not an option right now, back rent is due in two weeks. april all around is going to be a tight month. may looks good and i am open 100% to handing off some of my work to show at the women's clothesline show...there.

and plus right now art isn't my primary focus. working at my jobs is, i think i feel really defensive and wonder if i should be doing something different. because i keep making art and i know in my heart that i'm getting better. i don't always know what people think about what i do that is true. but my ideas are firm and focused, my direction is now more conceptual and i feel like between my trees and quilts i have got a little niche. i'm i lying to myself?

up till this point i didn't want to talk about my art because i had no idea what my art was for or where it all was going. i have been too proud to admit i needed help in focusing. it was just about experimenting, but those days of hardcore experimentation are over. it's now time to fill the gaps and close bridges. now i can really talk about my collage and painting goals with people and not feel like a flake. i can talk about the techniques because i've done more than one tree and more than one quilt. my work is starting to find cohesiveness that it hasn't had because i wasn't in school being shown how to focus my attention or skill. i don't have a artistic background in school. i never wanted school and was too stubborn to be taught and now after playing with art it is time for me to buckle down. i get it!!!

i wonder...what more should i do? see my work in progress:orange!!!

what do you think about the dotted tissue paper from anthropologie? love it!!!

.amber.bisque.buff.gold.lemon.saffron.

are you a good speller? are you a walking, talking thesaurus? if you are i would like you right now, i'm just sure of it. confessionally speaking, my color vocabulary has been sinking lowly style for a week. so i am pulling out all of the stops, grasping at straws, falling for all of the thesauritic possibilities. and i'm actually coming up with little bits here and there. i am learning that there are many shades of yellow and that monochromatic can also mean the my paper quilt collage can appear to have only one color. i'm not sure if that makes sense or not but as you can see my scrapes show little evidence of good yellow.

i wish that i had a constant supplier of all things good color paper, i'm wishywashy about design. i am not ungrateful though and am willing to compensate, by any means. i'd like to be sponsered, sponsered by a paper making company, a printing company, a shoe company would be nice too considering i've got baby feet. i could be the perfect spokesgirl for your little company. right?

i only have this snippet to show, not a whole lot to show for all the effort. um, tonight i'm off to the meeting place. i cannot wait. i should have the yellow wrapped up by the end of the week. anyone have a suggestion for my next color, green? since it is march and all and st. patrick's day is right o' round the corner.