Posts Tagged ‘family’ Archive
September 23rd, 2009
My youngest cousin Siri (9) gave me the best gift ever this week.
My cousin Siri, sweet and cute!
It is very easy to get discouraged in trying to make a living as an artist. I contemplate quitting all the time. A few days ago, however, I got an email from my aunt that motivated me to keep trying my best.
Here is the email:
Siri was “Star of the Week” at school. She had to fill out a big poster and one of the categories was “Meet My Hero”. She wrote…
“My cousin Jill is my hero because she is a paint artist and she paints things like birds and flowers and sometimes she paints fruit. I think her art is great and colorful.”
Also under When I Grow Up I want to be a _____, she wrote “glass or paint artist.”
Thanks Siri!
September 15th, 2009
Ahhh, what a bizarro blast from the past.
My art fair this weekend in Northfield, MN was great and wonderful and nutty and thrilling and freaky. Being that I was born in Northfield – and lived there until I was ten – was just the first weird-o factor.
Add in my parents being from there, my grandparents having spent years living there, and having two uncles and eleven aunts who all grew up there makes me one connected woman. I’d say one of three people who walked into my booth had some connection to me.
“Oh, are you so-and-so’s so-and-so?”
“Oh, you must be related to such and such.”
Albeit weird, every single one of those people were kind and supportive. Not to mention beautiful. Are all folks from Northfield so good looking? Dang!
I also was lucky to have great artists in booths around me who were helpful and talented. I will have links to their sites soon.
Also, BIG NEWS: I will soon have a gallery representing my work in Madison Wisconsin. And I will be at the The Autumn Art-Quinox art opening in Minneapolis this Friday night. Come out and visit!
Chillin' with my baby
August 3rd, 2009
Yesterday my brother-in-law, who is a musician (Lazer Forever) was talking about a musician/artist duo Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt. They found a way to fight artist block, calling it the Oblique Strategies deck. It is a deck of cards with instructions for when a dilemma occurs in a working situation.
In this case, the card is to be trusted even if its appropriateness is quite unclear. They are not final, as new ideas will present themselves, and others will become self-evident. In any case, they re-route your thinking in hopes to bypass that dang block.
I looked to find the deck online and had little luck. So, I decided to try to make one of my own. If you have any ideas to add to mine, I would love ideas other than my own!
Here is my list so far:
- Make an illustration influenced by your favorite illustrator.
- Paint a landscape with only three colors.
- Create a painting in a medium you’ve never used before.
- Study and draw figures from each source: Bridgman, Vanderpoel, Hogarth, and the masters.
- Create a full painting in 30 minutes.
- Draw a figure in: 1 hour, half hour, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds.
- Create two versions of the same painting — one with warm colors, one with cool colors.
- Sketch in a public place.
- Paint the same still life in your illustrative style.
- Research a particular era, artist, or style and create a few paintings influenced by it.
- Take a trip to a zoo or aquarium to sketch animals from life.
- Do a collage.
- Start with the most awful color you can think of.
- Work over an old painting.
- Do a painting upside down.
- Find five things around the house to use in a piece.
- Re-do one of your paintings you liked.
- Paint in a mirror reflection.
- Do ten blind drawings in the yard.
- Choose a traditional painting from a book and do it in abstract.
- Paint only in orange all day.
- Paint only in black and white for one hour.
- Choose two colors – do a painting in only those colors – different tones.
- Pick a critter. Paint it.
- Paint only in browns for an hour.
May 18th, 2009
Well, my first art fair (Wayzata Art Experience) of the season was a rough ride! Now that it is over, I can find a little more humor in it.
On Saturday, the wind and cold were record-breaking. If that wasn’t bad enough, my tent blew down and broke. I had to use an ugly old rental for the entire show that was WAY overpriced.
I’m lucky none of my work was harmed though…we heard some glass artists weren’t so lucky. Sales were low for everyone, and I am feeling a little defeated.
Still, I have to send out a big thanks to all those artists around me who were so nice, Steve Phlipson, an old college classmate in the booth next to me who kept my spirits up, and my super sweet family (Chris, Cass, Clint, Mom, Richard, Aunt Laurie, Siri, Aunt AnnMarie, Jenny and Ali) who all came to support me!
Now it is time to scrape up some money and buy a new booth. Ugh!