Way Too Long

I can't believe it has been so long since I last did an entry. Much has been going on.

I have finished one article for Quilting Arts which is with them in the editing stage...almost done. I have almost finished another article for Cloth, Paper, Scissors and am currently working on the art work for that one...it is due in another week so that should not be a problem.

Spent the afternoon at the Alameda County Arts Commission for their first approval on the recommendations of the selection committee and we each (15 artists) made very brief presentations with information on what we were going to do and showed a sample of our work to the board members. They all approved the work and artists and now it just has to go to the full board meeting and then the contracts come out. I am being commissioned to complete three pieces which will all be about 50" wide and between 34 and 40 inches long. Two will be abstract landscapes and one will be one of my balancing acts which I will create just for this. I am really looking forward to doing these pieces.

I have come to realize that I really like doing commissions. I know that many people don't but so far it has worked out well for me.

Figuring out what kind of art work I am going to do and what I am going to pursue has really been on my mind a lot lately. It seems that it keeps coming up for me. I have had fun doing the various things I have done, such as the color blocks series and my new little red squares which I really like.

But I like working bigger. I think I have gotten caught up in trying to make some that will sell, even though I have really enjoyed doing what I have done. I know I have taken the color blocks as far as I want to take them and I have some ideas about taking the red squares further. I realized that what really excited me about the red squares is the fact that they harken back to traditional red and white quilts...in color only but they give me that feeling of nostalgia.

Every day I am working on art in some way or other. Generally I have been creating some art every day although I must admit that I went up to the cabin in the woods Thursday after turkey time and my daughter, her husband, my husband (who is my daughter's father) and the two grandsons went up. The kids had to leave Saturday night but Doug and I stayed until Tuesday evening before we came home. Beautiful weather...in the 60's but only down into the mid 50's at night. We came home and it has been cooler here...I hate to say cold because I know many people are having snow already. But we are in California! One day it's warm and the next day it's cold!

I have another article proposal in to Quilting Arts...I enjoy writing those and they get me going in to some different things.

I'm working on paper collages right now...I need to get some in to Virginia for Collage Mania and also Baker's Dozen swap. I have also told Virginia I would sell some of my postcards to raise some funds for the American Cancer Society so I guess I had best get on with it and work out the details of how we will do it and then I can start posting them on my blog. So stay tuned.

Meanwhile, I have decided to cut down a piece in the color blocks series that is up on my wall that I am not very happy with but I think it will work better cut down. Then it is on to working on California Dreams 4 about the Sierra foothills...where we were this past weekend. The ideas are in my sketch book and my head. I have also started thinking about CD 5 which will be northern California with the redwoods and lakes and blue, blue skies. So this past weekend I took pictures of branches to consider using for silk screens...we will see how that goes. But first I have to get CD 3 down off the design wall and get a sleeve put on it.

And I am also working on the lessons for Advanced Better Art by Design. My current intro class is limping along slowly but that has been ok...need to decide when to do another one of those classes, perhaps Feb. would be a good time to start again with that.

Well, tomorrow it is up on the blog with postcards for sale...stay tuned.