Taming the Tangle

The default world

This morning my sweetie departed for his next round of shows out East. I'll be one week behind him when I head to the Plaza Art Fair, my last art fair -- and most favorite! -- of the season (unless something pops up at the holidays).

A week ago we were still on the playa, our annual trek to Burningman. It's always a bit of an adjustment to come back to the "default world." This year hasn't been so drastic except for my desire to sleep. I'm almost done washing the playa (fine clay) dust out of my hair, luggage, dishes and laundry.

This has inspired me to continue with my cleaning/organizing bug in the fairy cottage. The weekend before Burningman I had a successful yardsale, and I scored a great cabinet for the cottage this past weekend at an awesome antique store in Grass Valley. So now it's time to continue sorting through papers and figure out how I want to set up my shipping station and store all those supplies beautifully. After a year I'm finally ready to be rid of boxes!!

I'm signing off to sort through some stuff, all in an effort to create a more organized work space. I'm still setting aside time to make some new rings for Plaza! Hope to see you in Kansas City, or if not, you can always find me and my jewelry online.

It's not just her eyes that are green...

Last week I sent inventory to a new store: Practically Green in Ridgefield, Connecticut. When we met at the NYIGF, they asked me if anything about my work was "green." It was so nice to be able to answer yes! The wire I use is from Hoover & Strong -- a product called Harmony Metals -- made from recycled content.

When shipping the order I was also inspired to write up an extra page to add to the package along with my standard biography... it's just a brief overview, yet I realized I'm a green part of my products as well. Here's what I wrote:

"Kathy’s lifestyle has always taken the environment into consideration as much as possible. She’s been carrying reusable grocery bags for more than 15 years, and she’s been an avid recycler for at least as long. Everywhere she’s worked, she’s made sure recycling is instituted if not in place. In 2009 she moved to a fairy garden cottage and set up composting piles for the 5 acres of land and its inhabitants. She loves vintage and used furniture, and she walks as much as possible. All of this trickles down and influences her studio practices. Each year she tries to find ways to use less paper and less “stuff” around the office in general. Most importantly, the wire she uses — Harmony Metals — is created from recycled content rather than being freshly mined. Little things can make a difference over time, and that’s her way of trying to have as little impact as possible."

Hope you are enjoying Earth Day. Here's a glimpse out my window this morning... we've had a few days of rain. Today it's supposed to clear up. I just love waking up to mist and fog... it usually inspires me to want to write.

All you need is love

Artists share the love all the time by doing trades of their work with each other. I love it when a trade is mutually beneficial making everyone happy.

A few weeks ago (before all the rain started) I was cleaning up in front of my cottage gate and got a concept for an entrance filled with love. I found a cool metal heart (on the right, leaning against the tree) hidden by some bushes on the back side of my cottage, so I brought it up front.

 

The beaded curtain behind the gate was from the lower studio cottage... just too cute to abandon. Here's what I see everyday before I head out into the world.

And the thing that really sealed the deal for me was on the left side of the first picture... a row of X's and O's crafted in porcelain by my artist friend Yvon Dockter (who also has a selection of her metal work at Mowen Solinsky Gallery, which is how we met... you have to stop by to see her shovels!).

She was coveting my Wireball Spiral Hoops, so -- voila! -- a trade was born.

I feel pretty lucky on this whole deal, and hopefully Yvon feels the same way!

Anyone have tips for painted furniture?

Over the years I've collected a few interesting vintage furniture pieces... but they are more the type of pieces that have good bones but will be really awesome with a facelift.

In the past few weeks I've started painting a couple of pieces. One is this *awesome* desk that couldn't be more exactly what I had in mind.

When I bought it the top was white, too, but in rough condition with scratches and weird writing. Initially I wanted to paint it a beautiful bright French blue, but the swatches scared me... my fairy cottage palette is more muted with lots of orange, so the strong blues just vibrated. Not to say I won't some day paint it bright blue or maybe grassy green, but for now I compromised and went with a grey blue.

It's not my favorite color, yet it's neutral enough that I can live with it until further color inspiration strikes. I roughed up the top just a bit with 100 grit sandpaper to add some texture to the paint.

But here's the quandry... the top is still soft even after drying for 2 weeks! I used a satin latex paint, and there are at least 5 coats of it on there. Suddenly I realized I've never actually painted furniture... have you? Is there a trick I need to know to keep every piece of paper and mug of tea from leaving a dent or pulling more paint off? Is some sort of lacquer the answer?

If you have any answers or links to useful sites, I'd be much appreciated! I have many more pieces I want to paint. And if you feel the urge to suggest color ideas for the desk to me, I'm open to those, too.

Photography: lean times require creativity

In years past I've had a slew of photographers I've worked with because each has their specialty. Larry Sanders takes my jury slides (I try to choose the pieces carefully so I don't over-spend), Grant Boyle would photograph pieces for my catalog, and Thea Dickman would photograph my jewelry on models as well as take any headshots I needed. Both Grant and Thea are in Chicago, so that eliminated them as a resource anyway. And financially I still have to keep a hawk's eye on my spending, yet I have to show new pieces to promote them... so I'm doing what I can.

Photography is always challenging for me. It takes a different type of patience plus there's all the technical aspects of the lighting and camera equipment. I've read some great tips in Steve Meltzer's column in The Crafts Report magazine, and I've learned a few things just by trial and error.

If you are an artist who wants to do high-end art fairs, by all means pay for a professional jury slide photographer. This made a huge difference for me when I was just starting to do shows. This is something I will continue to pay for. Aside from that, you might be able to take your own photos. Mine are still amateurish, but I'm trying to have fun with them. I'm taking fun experimental lifestyle shots for my website's front page and trying out different setups for products I'm featuring on etsy... all of these are just using natural daylight. I'm going to invest in some professional photography lights for some product shots to eliminate the strong shadows and the experimenting will begin again.

Here are a few shots I took one day when I had a concept for my Spring home page on my website (check it out to see the shot I really used). I like them but am always grappling with the idea that the props (or flowers in this case) might distract from the piece or are they saying anything about the piece in particular? I'm not sure that these photos fit with my clean marketing style that I've used over the years, yet I'm willing to use some of them for now as my own photographic style unfolds over time.

 

My bundle pendant is the featured piece in all of these photos. It's so springy looking to me... it looks like a little winged creature excited to flit around all the new blooms. In the above shot, I've draped it in front of the pear tree blossoms that are in my backyard. The bees had just come home (the hives were on loan to an almond orchard) so these trees were positively humming!

 

I tried the necklace on a leaf to have a simpler background. This shade of green didn't fully capture "spring" in my mind, though.

 

These camelia blooms are just so pretty! Do I love the flower or the necklace??? Not sure, but the necklace sure does look cute sitting there.

 

I have to find out the name of these flowers. This is my favorite plant in the garden right now, and it's huge! At least 4 feet tall and as big around. I love how the flowers glow with the light passing through them. This color is quintessentially spring to me (which is a big hint.... do you think I used them on my website?).

If you have any photography tips or feedback, share them here! What do you do; do you take your own shots? What type of camera and setup do you use? Do you photograph your pieces one way for a catalog and another way for "lifestyle" shots?

Pruning

While reading "The Power of Now" (yes, I'm still reading it...) I was once again reminded that sometimes you have to cut back in order to grow. This type of thinking is not an issue for me in the garden:

This is what my fairy cottage looked like when I arrived. I love the wildness, yet everything is blending together and the whole place has a buried feeling.

At the moment, it's looking a little barren since we are just heading into spring, but for more than a month I've been working on shaping the rose bushes, digging out bermuda grass and other weeds. I provided some definition to the entryway with rocks, which were in place but buried (not to mention the 7' tall sculpture, huge wheelbarrow, and rake I found underneath all that overgrowth).

Perhaps most importantly I've been pruning all the apple trees on the property... I'm not sure when that was last done (5 years? 10?). It would be great if they respond in happiness this year, but I'm also aware that it might take 2 years and that's okay.

So, why did it stress me out to prune my business last year? Change is always, let's say, interesting. Pruning felt like a bit of a retreat, even though at the end of last year I ended up with a happy accountant... which means I made some good (albeit tough) business decisions. There's still lots of work ahead of me, and I'm not sure if I want to grow... but as the parable goes, I'm primed for it, I guess. I'm trying to remain open to the idea of growth to see where the buds appear, but I'm not going to pursue growth at the rate I have in the past. It's been nice to step back and take a breather. I'm fortunate that I can do that with the lifestyle changes I made as well; things feel more in balance even though I still feel there's lots of behind-the-scenes cleanup to do (kind of like after the tree pruning, there's still several hours of work to do with hauling the branches away).

As spring approaches, both literally (in my garden) and figuratively (in my business), I'll keep you posted with updates of blossoms.