Hot 100: Rhythm, Forgiveness and Bouncing Balls

Ever drop the ball sometime?

 Soooo, just who is going to pick these up?

Realism and Forgiveness ....dropping the ball doesn't have to break the flow.

Just catch it on the bounce back up.

I finally figured out how to do this with those stretch, reachable and comfort goals, I mentioned a couple of posts back.  I just used them to break this whole Hot 100 thing into bite-sized daily goals.  I would try to make 4 paintings a day (reachable) but if I made 8 or 12 (stretch) hey, great, pat on the back.  But even if I just moved only one piece of tape on or off a piece of paper that one day (comfort) I thought, "Well at least I moved it forward".  My Hot 100 didn't stay still and it did not go backwards (which would have been a fail to quote my hip middle schooler)

So, I let it bounce.
But I definitely knew I had to do at least the challenge goal the next day...

 This mind set really help to keep me producing at a steady rate.  The sense of forgiveness thrown in ahead of time was liberating.  Initially, I  was afraid it would give me permission to slack off, but that didn't happen. Instead if I missed a day, I did not feel like I let myself down in the long run-no failure, just a smaller goal reached,  It was kept compartmentalized for just that one day.




Whew, what a sense of relief!

Ultimately, along with the studio reconfiguration for convenience, this bouncing ball concept went a long way to creating a sense of rhythm for me; doing my best to even push it even the tiniest bit forward every day and not feeling guilty on that occasional day it all got dropped.  Which happened maybe only twice during the whole 100 series.

Now to be able to transfer this to other areas of life, and to stop juggling delicate balls that break instead of bounce...

Hot 100: The Mommy Angle

Something every mother/artist or really any parent/with outside work or interest deals with.

 Basically it comes down to this...

How do I intergrate my art production into my everyday life without shortchanging my kids?

A top priority since my kids are home for the summer and they like/have to be fed, clothed, carted around etc. on a regular basis. Besides I really like hanging with them and want to do it as long as they, you know, actually still like hanging around with me.

Yet I wanted to create a strong body of work this summer too...So how to handle this?

In fact there is even a documentary about this dilemma called, "Who Does She Thinks She Is?" Which didn't really resolve anything in my opinion but still a good watch for those interested.

Hot 100: Various Pieces 

First,  I needed to figure out how to have many “quick and dirty” art work sessions also add up to something substantial, maybe even exhibition worthy.  Yet each session needed to be resolved and stand alone on its own merit.

Quick!  Time to Make Something Dirty...

Secondly, my work space had to be where my kids are hanging to have as little car time for this as possible. Hence the birth of my tiny, tiny home studio...

Tiny Studio Competes for Space with Fridge, Car, Tools, Sports Equipment etc..

Thirdly, my materials had to be what I had around and a workable size for the aforementioned tiny, tiny studio. Again avoiding the whole drive/errand time thing.

Great unintended side effect of this small scale-portability, to ironically get me back into the car (but with a very important difference - all of us in the car going to the same destination together).  A bit of the Hot 100 was done at the mountains and river (or rivuh as they say in Richmond), just threw it all in a plastic bin and off we went!

Let's Go Make Some Art!!

Finally, my process had to be segmented so that I could work in short time increments that could fit easily into even the most crazy busy days.  Sometimes it was done before breakfast had to be made or between loads of laundry and other exciting memorable domestic goddess moments.

So far so good...

"So Why Exactly Are You Doing This?" Hot 100: Completion!!

Every have this thought?...

"Why am I doing this?"

How does it usually turn out?  

For me, it is usually a pre cursor to some sort of regret.  (A residual of catholic education perhaps? Probably not but who really knows?  Maybe another non-art blog topic but not here, not now)  Suffice it to say, I think we all ask that when the success (and/or legality, morality, etc) of what we are doing is in doubt.

But NOT today. This is a celebration of success!

So, what is it I actually did that I am so happy about accomplishing and more importantly why should you care?
I just completed my HOT 100, or actually 103 to be exact.  Woo-hoo! If someone told me that I would make 100 paintings in a summer even just last May I would have bet against it, especially since I was becoming a stranger to my own studio.

Better yet, I think I also figured out some ways to generalize my strategies to do it again and in a way that others can use them too.  I want to remember not just the why but also the how so I can do it again!

Today's Stretch Goal to Tomorrow's Reachable Goal
(Stretch=intense attempt   Reachable=challenging   Comfort=some effort)

C'mon man,  almost there...

Well in this case, I am delighted to have a positive outcome and learned some cool stuff about producing and promoting my paintings along the way.  I just completed a stretch goal that frankly I was not certain I would meet (of course that is what makes it a s-t-r-e-t-c-h in the first place.  If I didn't want stretch, I would have called my series the "Hot 15" or something else as lame and uninspiring as that.)

Even better and more lasting, I learned some things along the way that will inform my art production to do it again as a reachable goal thereby making room for my next stretch goal. 

Sorry if I am sounding like a teacher, it's because I am one.

Thankfully, being the dorky teacher that I am, while working in my tiny, tiny studio I took notes that are great to refer to now.  I will use them and my new body of work to come up with some written explanations and ideas about Hot 100 to take this to my next level of stretch goals.

Meanwhile I will be posting these insights here to fine tune, firm up and clarify my ideas with the hope that some of it may inform your creative process whether it is in the garden, kitchen, wood shop, office or sewing room.

Best, Kathy

HOT 100!!

sizzle. sizzle. sizzle.

What better way to spice up the summer than to set a big goal for oneself?  

Well, maybe not a real-survival-necessary kind of goal (that is for the rest of the year) but a let's-see-if-I-can-pull-this-off kind of goal.  

Hence the birth of the Hot 100.

Maybe for those of us in on the East Coast it should be the Soggy 100.  Given the 6 week deluge we have had this summer, it might be more appropriate...too bad this cannot all be sent to the parched West!

 

Actually this Hot 100 goal, like so many others that I take on is really a combination of events going on in my life that I had no idea would provide any sort of intersection.  Does that happen to any of you out there too?  I really did not think a bathroom renovation, my son's 10 year old school project, camp in the middle of nowhere, and a wonderful Texan artist who I never got to meet would produce this kind of synergy...

But yes it did and here I go...

After this shot-in-the-arm inspirational artist colony last month, Nimrod Hall,  I realized that I really really need to produce lots of art (good, bad, or whatever) on a regular basis.  Why?  Well because, if you are an artist or gardener or craftsman or chef you just might know this feeling, drive to produce to be, I guess content is the best word.  

Also, creating an inventory is always good for an artist, but really that is just a beneficial side effect. 

My Entire Tiny Home Studio.

  Yup, that is it and it is working amazingly well! My car is about 18" to the right...

Anyway with this while bathroom renovation-moving-packing-my-house thing I needed to figure out how to do that with a tiny tiny space.  Next,  finding my oldest child's Day 100 Project from kindergarten in the attic purge.  Then viola courtesy of the inspiration of the Cindy Neuschwander tiny encaustic series via Diego Sanchez, my Hot 100 goal came about. 

Day 100 Kindergarten Project

100 Band Aids Creating 10 Buildings

2003

So there is my space above, here are some of my works on display below.  I have no idea if they are finished or not.  But I am at 64 and the daily goal is 4 day.  

Some of the Hot 100 on display

VisArts Center RVA

Daily progress of this series is being posted on my FB page.  Which will  continue throughout the summer...barring any flooding, monsoons, etc.

Teacher’s Student May Now Be the Teacher’s Teacher!

Kinda of like that old song, “I’m My Own GrandPa”

I recently have had the great privilege and luck to run into not one but two former students who are now colleagues,  art teachers too!

One wonderful young lady, Ashley, even came by for a studio visit with the same graduate painting class that I took for my degree.  My mentor was her professor  (so a double treat) and the wild thing is, I took that class a few years back with a former art teacher of mine.  (Wow, is this a circle of life thing or what?)  I am incredibly flattered that Ashley says I was one of her inspirations; as Mary (my aforementioned teacher) was one of mine.

Kathy and Ashley in Kathy's studio at VisArts

A totally different experience with my other former student.  Tesni and I accidentally ran into each other at the Visual Arts Center is Richmond.  Me, as a studio tenant, she, an instructor.  We talked for about 10 minutes before we realized our connection.

Funny how things like puberty, aging and about 20 years can change our perceptions...

So, I don’t think I should try to comp any inspiration credit here but it still great fun to reconnect as colleagues.  Anyhow on the DL between us, Tesni doesn’t know it yet, but I am even thinking about signing up for one of her classes.  Wonder if that will rock her world?

Tesni’s work on display in the exhibit, “Work” currently showcasing Visual Arts Center Instructors

I also think it is really really cool that she just received the “Master Teacher of the Year” Award from VisArts too!  Congratulations Tesni!

The most amazing thing about visual arts, I think, is the relationships that it just keeps creating and recreating on so many different levels-the elements to each other within a work, the dialogue between viewer and artist, artist to artist and just when I think I have experienced them all-student to teacher to student again!

So I am my own art teacher?  Nah, probably not and it is not even a good song title. But, still having former students become your colleagues is a pretty awesomesauce experience.

Nimrod Hall Artist Colony - A Sleep Away for Grown Ups

What an amazing way to begin the summer!  

By going to an artist colony at Nimrod Hall nestled in the heart of Bath County next to the George Washington Forest.  My very first sleep away camp finally, but not my last!!

  This was the incredible view from my cabin.

What a fantastic place for en plein air work!  I had to watch the sky carefully that morning since it was threatening rain.  

My indoor studio for that week, actually part of my bedroom in the cabin. 

 Since I was not working with oils, I was able to set up in the same place I slept.  Which made it a wonderful treat to be able to just roll out of bed and into my studio, literally about 8 feet away.  Many others worked on their front porches while a few others set up in the former post office on site.  Rain and wind kept me inside for most of the week.  

Tres Leche-Kuba Kuba 

Acrylic on Board 12"x12"

It is also a great way to finish up pieces that have been sitting around the studio at home.

Nimrod Hall has a long history dating back to the late 1700s.  It has had many incarnations as a stage coach stop, resort, boys and girls camps, even a hunting lodge.  Today it still serves as a vacation spot and hunting lodge.  Now there are also the additions of artist and writer’s colonies in the summer.  There are 5 artist colonies, each a week long.  While I worked just as hard as the VCU graduate weekly intensives (well almost), it was such a treat to not have to worry about written work, deadlines and grades.  And with this “tuition” meals and boarding are included.  Many of us also brought our own liquid upgrades.

One of the more, um, unusual sightings of the week, two black snakes on the tree... rustic, very rustic.  Think National Geographic would be interested in this?

The Nimrod Art Colony began from a group of Richmond women artist in the late 80s.  Each art colony week is hosted by a different artist-in-residence with the entire 5 week program overseen by Richmond area painter, Laura Loe.  We were lucky enough to have another RVA based artist,  Diego Sanchez as our artist for the week. Nimrod is perfect place to collect one’s thoughts, think new deep ones and remember what life was like pre-digital age.  While no great masterpieces came out of my production that week, I was recharged, refreshed and relaxed with some great new studio production ideas that have made for a very prolific summer so far.

Is it too early to sign up for next summer, Laura?

Sunrise in Bath County.  Sometimes insomnina pays off

Just because every photo essay about the country should have at least one barn in it...preferably with some red on it.

Counting Down the Days...Nimrod Hall

This is where I will be hanging out soon......I am about to go to my very first artist colony ever.  I cannot tell you just how excited I am!!

Nimrod Hall

 I love a new challenge...  I am such a teacher that I am even giving myself little rules (like no computer there) and assignments (without grading of course)

Hopefully new photos of new works will follow shortly