swing and a miss

Sometimes this blog is so sad and neglected it makes me feel sad and neglected.

Remember how around this time a year ago I was doing art for 8, 9, 10, 12 hours a day? Me too. I miss it some days. Most days I forget about my former self and get wrapped up all over again in my current self. My mother self. This new self I'm trying to figure out how she relates to her former-self self.

But I want to do more art.

Sure I've started a few sketches/studies here. I did a watercolor I sort of like--got a bit over worked but has some redeeming qualities. For the most part though, I've felt completely saturated visually (this city is stunning) but nothing has translated on paper or canvas.

I think I need to collage. And sketch.

I'm going to strip down what I've been trying to do--paint--and see if painting will come organically after I've channelled some creative energy into consistent little projects. Right now painting is on my to-do list. I do it after I've checked the blogs I read, the dishes are done, I've swept for the umpteenth time . . .

I sketched today for the first time in a while. I opened my sketch book a few days ago and saw written on the inside cover: Bologna - Vol. I.

I laughed to myself. Try Volume ONLY. That's okay. I'm learning to lower my standards in some areas because they have to be so high in others. I can only do so much (I should write that phrase ten times daily as to not get so discouraged so often).

But back to sketching today . . . I tried sketching Ada. I always want to sketch Ada. She's so beautiful and I see so many people I love in her. But she's ACTIVE! not just active. So trying to sketch her as she ACTIVE!s around the room is always challenging. I tried drawing from a video still. It looked like an old man without a neck. Then a photo. It looked nothing like her.

Then I decided just to draw her eye. Then another eye. Then maybe her nose . . So I had this little face staring back at me that looked more like Ada and less like someone else's kid.

I challenged myself to sketch for 15 minutes every day this month. I missed the first day. But today I started sketching and looked up at the clock nearly an hour later.

It's been so long since that has happened.

Things I love:

textiles
string
organization
collections
form

I think I need another installation project...

Artist: Janet Echelman

I can't get enough of this woman's work. And I love that she mentions in the middle of her talk that she has two kids. Art + kids = excellence. I think I might paint today (or at least prep for a painting...)

my website is up!!

Brian Mortenson did my website (I keep having him tweak things and I'm sure he's getting pretty tired of me by now) but it's up! It's beautiful! It's awesome!

Check it out: www.paigeandersonart.com

 

Want Brian to do your site? He's great to work with and has an awesome eye. To contact, email him at bgmort@gmail.com.

women: relationship and identity

I'm back from my blogging hiatus. While I haven't made much art, I've been working on writing a lot about it. It's such a cathartic and clarifying experience. It enables me to both look more objectively about what I'm making, and also finally find the roots of the ideas that I've been exploring.

Two paintings got accepted to a show in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I'm learning the ins and outs of shipping artwork (and how expensive it is! Holy Moses!)

All Assembled Awaiting 

An Innumerable Company

The show is entitled Women: Relationship and Identity. Below is a description:

Women: Relationship and Identity is a fine art exhibition juried by Rachel Epp Buller, and a visual conversation about the role relationships play in the identity of women.  Whether implicit, explicit, self-imposed or from a Western sociologic construct, women are generally regarded as the more relational gender. Participating artists examine the various relationships women share, the ways those relationships contribute to their own sense of identity and the impact they have on other’s perceptions – ultimately leading to a broader understanding of the role and identity of women

Click HERE for a link to the show (that includes a list of participating artists, exhibition dates, etc.)

And if you want to share the event on Facebook, HERE's a link to that as well.

It's fun to start exhibiting my work. I've only exhibited out of state a handful of times and it's exciting to do it again! I think the show sounds beautiful. Mikey wanted to surprise me with plane tickets so we could be there for the Artist conversation (which I would participate in if I were there), but I told him flying 10 days before my due date is a really bad idea. In fact, I doubt they'd let me on the plane. However, if you happen to be in Minneapolis, you should definitely check it out! (and let me know all about it).

The Turning (it's finally here)

My final show is up! We (me and my cohort of friends and family who have donated hundreds of man hours in my behalf---thank you, thank YOU, THANK YOU!) got it all done in a day. A very long day.

After Mikey and I put the tools away, picked up the garbage and packed up our boxes, I realized how my entire body was throbbing. I'm pretty sure I hobbled all the way to the car.

But it's up! (and will stay up through the 14th of this month).

And you are all invited to the opening reception tomorrow night, December 3 at 6.

And to whet your appetite, here's a sneak peak at what we did yesterday . . .

Our magic car with all 25 paintings, 3000+ hexagons, tools, odds and ends and everything else all inside. It's sort of like the Barney Bag.

Even if Santa isn't real, his elves are. Here they are in action, stringing together the 20th generation back on my dad's side. (Side note: Someone asked me if the paper was a bracket of some sort. Retrospectively, I wish I would have answered, "yeah, it's all the possible outcomes for March Madness. I'm sort of a super-freak.")

You've got to see it in real life. And smell it. And look closely at the names. And listen more closely to hear them.

Hope to see you tomorrow night!

things keep moving

Today I have spent 5 hours writing inscribing the names of my ancestors on wax hexagons. The hexagons that I spent all last week making. The hexagons that half my family came over to help punch and tie (bless you, bless you, bless you...)

And now I can't feel my middle finger.

I noticed that I was writing slower and slower. I punched out a generation and a half before lunch, and I've barely done one since. I remembered this whole blood sugar when you're pregnant thing. And drank some orange juice. It's Mikey's special. (Thanks dude). And I'm feeling much better.

I planned on doing my hair today but it has been in and out of several buns, pony tails, and braids all day. Maybe not doing my hair isn't saving me time in the long run. Isn't that how it is with everything though? You think you save yourself by shirking something and end up having to deal with it later (in a bigger, more tangley way).

After this show is hung I'm declaring a personal holiday for the following week. Do you think I can get my professors to go along with it?