Meltdown in something else

So I was looking at the local artist union site last Friday and it lead to my computer having a TOTAL meltdown!

A whole weekend and several hundred dollars later I have a new computer system. Cooked my hard drive took over my system....it was a mess!

Good news: I was able to save all my files including my image files!

For the last couple of weeks I have been up to my ears in side projects,

• I set up a website for a fellow artist, Donna Carver
• I did a ton of inspection reports for my brothers machine shop
• I got my work space together and moved into
• I got another rejection letter

All this and barely any art making time for me, as I have been also setting personal goals.

Good thing: I sold these two pieces this last weekend, and plan a barter for another!

I tend to be motivated by deadlines, I like to plan to meet them. I am a list maker and LOVE to cross things off my lists. I have set some lofty goals for myself this month and only July knows what the rest of the days holds for me or my desires to be a productive artist.

Sometimes though....being an artist is not a switch that can easily turned on for production.

With all these goals I sometimes find myself on the patio eating huge amounts of watermelon wondering why I am not in the workroom making something!

Sometimes the stress of making is, well stressful!

I fight off thoughts of being a freeloader or a fake, just long enough to cross something else off my list.

Today I crossed off a daunting goal, I submitted work to the George Eastman House!

July is the only month that they accept unsolicited work, so even though I do not expect much...I had to check it off my list. Kind of like buying that lottery ticket. It is fun to feed into the fantasy.

By the time the work was all gathered, letter signed, statements and CV in order I was questioning the quality and strength of my work. Was I wasting someones time?

Needless to say, the envelope is in the mail and I have sent my hopes out into the universe.

New Digs!

It has been many years since I have had a space of my own to make art.
Many times over the years it has been a floor in my bedroom or a space in a room.

Not until recently have I had a nook of my own, I had what use to be the kitchen eat-in area. I used up every bit of space...often times spilling out into the kitchen and living room.

Now I have a whole room with a door that closes and no distractions! Well, not real ones like a TV or a kitchen sink filled with smelly dishes.


It was the purchase of the press that took me over the edge, and now after a week of hard work and sweat, I have a versatile open, bright room that I can make art in!

There is still room to grow and I have filled this room with all things wonderful and artsy. Next I think is shelves...but that can wait for now.

Off to make some art!

My newest tool in the shed!

So I have joked as of recent that if I won the lottery I would buy a tabletop press...well I didn't win the California lottery, but I did win one of sorts.

It is well known in the printmaking circles that every printer wants a press of their own.

The word went out last week and I jumped as high as I could...and caught the star I wished on.

I now own a fine tabletop press of my own! I am also proud to say that I am the fourth artist to own it and we are all women! Two of which were past instructors of mine! (little did I know)

Bonnie Blau

Pamela Zwehl-Burke

Nina Warner

and now me!

I have also started the great and fantastic move into my own art making space within my home! Mind you, the move is overwhelming for me, as I am faced with the daunting task of finding a perfect way to organize this space, and I am far from an organized person! But with this beautiful press here in the house and my desire to repay the loan that made it possible, I am all about making a working space for those works and the works that are to happen in the future!

Plus the boxes are blocking the tv.