Very busy. Arms and hands ache from cutting out angel images for two days straight. Still not even remotely finished. Sprucing up a life-size working drawing of Blessed Art Thou, adding a bit of color, for an exhibition overseas. It is hung on the biggest wall of this small temporary apartment. The folding card table that usually serves as our dining table is covered with art supplies. Our bedroom has in-progress works on the wall, and a long folding work table with gouache & water color tubes and a tremendous pile of cut out angels.
There are two or three embroidery hoops with projects in them hung on push pins stuck into the wall, they look as if they are decorating the apartment, but they are not finished, just a way to store them and be able to make decisions about them even while doing things like feeding the baby.

Terribly busy.... deadlines with high stakes consequences, getting the hang of working with daughter strapped on or playing on the floor next to me.

Here are the non-deadline pieces: they get worked on during the stop/start parts of the day, and the large pieces during the unbroken parts.

A new Art World Truth piece,

and I'm not exactly sure how to classify this piece, embroidered on my daughter's baby blanket:

I think it has something to do with being a mother.

Parker Ito's great animated artist statement, via Art Fag City.

Got a mention in the New York Times review of the "Dress Codes" exhibition at the Katonah Museum.

Coincidentally. my friend Sarah just did a great post on self-indulgent artists....

I am stopping the embroidery and grant writing for a few days to shift gears. I am swamped with projects, and may lose an opportunity or two by changing my focus, but it is one of those things... a nagging sense that something has to be made, now......

I quell my anxiety my making art, and, in the past few days, my anxiety has been running high every time I visit CNN and hear what is happening in these town meetings. What I create in my little apartment will change nothing in this country, but it will help me with that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Spent a very stressful day, mostly waiting, at Children's Hospital. (She is ok.) Had my embroidery with me, and almost ate my hands when I realized that I had left the needle at home. Years ago, in a waiting room, a gal might have been able to bum a needle off of someone, but no such luck. Worrying and embroidery were made for each other.

And how did I miss this? Must have had my head in the art-making sand......

Art Scars....

I am starting a new project, collecting scars that artists have acquired through art making. I will post them on a blog entitled "Art Scars".

Send a jpeg of the scar, a brief description or story, and a link to the artwork or a second jpeg of the artwork. Please include your name or a request for anonymity (though you should be proud of your art scars!) to artscarpics@aol.com.

Please spread the word to your artist friends. It should be good exposure for your work, as I will publicize it once I get some more images up. Thanks.

While doing research, stumbled upon this great article by Sharon Butler: "Neo-Maternalism: Contemporary Artists' Approach to Motherhood".

Please become a fan:

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Jerry Cullum, senior editor at ArtPapers, curator, critic, and artist in his own right, was one of the first curators to show my work, when I was fresh out of grad school. I was extremely touched that he got my new piece and appreciated where it came from, as he has, for the most part, been there from the beginning and knows what I am thankful for.

Unexpected road trip with sibs for a funeral. Luckily, I have started an embroidery..........

At the end of each day, if I have not been able to get into the studio, I prick my finger and write the word "art" before going to bed. Appeases the art gods, tells them that I am still here, have not abandoned those who have been so good to me & saved my life. I mark the day. I make SOMETHING.