It seems I've got several million things on my mind regarding the upcoming show and various other projects. It seems that way.
When I actually jot them down, the list fits on a post-it note... if I write really small.
There is a fascinating calm to this stress.
I have no idea how to do several things, and am trying to figure them out in plenty of time. Credit cards? Yeah. I'm spoiled by paypal. Setting up the actual booth? You mean I need a plan other than to pull it out of the box and hang a few things up? Lights? Arrangement? A table, maybe? A place to put the credit card machine? Wow...
Paintings. Carvings. I don't have as many carvings done as I'd like to have. The smaller paintings need more work. I need to get the prints narrowed down from the 76 images I have to choose from and get them printed. I need to order the sleeves for them, and for the note cards. I need to work on the note cards!
I need to send out the postcards as soon as they're ready - tell everyone about the show and offer a discount to those who are interested. I need to update the gallery on heatherartworks.com and I'd like to launch a mailing list, but that may have to wait till December. I have to make a decision on the Spring shows - which one I want to aim for - how many pieces I can accomplish before then, cost, can I really do this?, etc...
It's a very, very different stress than what I was going through over a month ago. (Let's just say: I don't take orders. At all. And I'm going back to being a volunteer so I can say "No" to the ridiculous.)
This is a stress I can deal with, because it allows me to find creative solutions and rearrange how I approach things. (I'm not crying every night, so that alone is 100 times better!) This is my plan, my creativity given free reign, the way it should be.
Paintings will be finished. Carvings will get stained. Prints will be sleeved. Note cards will be bundled.
Speaking of which - the note cards are a limited edition item... come to think of it, so's everything else! When they're gone, they're gone! So... if any of the pieces strike your fancy, snap 'em up!
Now back to sorting out the list of things to do and find a place to start. A paintbrush seems a good a place as any...
Well, I've managed to go and scare myself, noting that it's three and a half weeks till the Thanksgiving Invitational Art Show thing in Fredericksburg on the two days after Thanksgiving. I need to get things printed, I need to get things painted, I need to get things carved... I need to figure out business things for the course of the two days... Plus I still need to pay the bills and clean and do laundry and do research and job hunt...
Eck. Enough about that for now. I'll post a photo or two of what I've been working on lately:
I call this series "Fall Colors, 2009". Yes, they're light purple and blues. Just the colors that came to mind when I sketched this one out. They're still not finished - more to go. They're 18 inches across and about 4 feet tall. There are four panels, each with the 'squares' in different locations. I've made a smaller one, too. If this series gets accepted for a show in a gallery, the small one, about 8 inches by 20 inches, will be touchable.
Tactile. I enjoy the texture of these pieces, and while I really don't want everybody lovin' on the big panels or paintings, the smaller one will be there just for that. To touch. To feel what the canvas materiel feels like. To feel what the layers of paints feel like. To run your fingers along the lines and depths and across the now-dry drips. This is what art is to me. To be able to touch it and experience it for myself. To share that with everybody else.
Anyway, I'll post more soon on the show at Thanksgiving - hopefully I'll have the postcard invites ready by the end of this week, get those up here. Generate some interest in coming out to see what I've got up as well as what other artist's are displaying for show and sell.