Multi-Tasking Holiday

Happy July 4th! I l0ve this holiday, but historically, it's a day I work. I remember one year back in the '80s when all my friends went to lake, driving past me, honking their horns and waving. I was inside heavy duty overalls with a hood and a safety mask, working on an outdoor etched glass project, temperature in the 100s. Whew!

This year was much better than that. I wore only my swimsuit and an apron while I poured three layers of cast resin for a commission. Nasty work -- smells terrible, and I'm sure it's toxic. But I tempered that with a jump in the pool every few minutes.

And I was determined to be a part of the biggest fireworks display in the Dallas area so I went downtown to Fair Park. After getting directions to where the launching area was located, we headed out with our chairs to get the best seat. Security soon chaperoned us back to a safe area after a huge explosion and blast of color right overhead scared us to death. We still were in the debris area, and I doubt that it was safe, but wow what an experience to hear that boom reverberate off a couple of metal buildings, and the explosive color right over us. woo hoo!

I just got back from my first belly dancing class at the rec center -- much harder than I thought!

This afternoon I'll work a little while on some new digital imagery for a Monday presentation.

Photography Presentations

The internet has made a big impact on how I do presentations. Now it's strictly email. I still remember making appointments to show artwork where I would have to (1) bring original art (2) bring food and drinks (3) entertain the group of designers. Those days are (thankfully) over for me since my client base is well developed. We know each other. They call me when they want something they know I can produce. In return, I know what to present because I know what they like. It's a win-win.

For the past two days I have been working on a series of photographs for two massive hotel projects. It's for room art and each project is too much volume for me to print, so I'll be collecting royalties. It hasn't been decided for sure yet, but there will be at least three pieces in each room for both locations. So far I have submitted more than 50 photos. Most of those follow the parameters that I was given, but there are a few that are out-of-the-box. My rationale for that is that if the client has never seen anything like it before (1) they can't reject something they don't know about and (2) they might love it! Experience tells me that commercial designers are always looking for something new and different.

I'm competing with other photographers on this project, so I took a lot of time making sure that each photo I presented was appropriate for the two different locations.

I'm also painting. Seems like I'm getting back into the swing of things since I've been back in town for a couple weeks now. Finally! I've got several commissions I've had for awhile but haven't been inspired. Well, the creativity is finally kicking back in and I'm rocking and rolling.

Summer has arrived in Dallas, with it's corresponding hot weather. I'm actually glad of that since I have a couple of resin pieces to complete in the next couple of weeks. One is cast resin, and that's always tricky.

My dog ate through the outside door in my back studio this week. I have no idea what inspired her to do that since she's never shown an interest in it before, in all her 7 years. There is a metal grid shelving unit blocking that door on the inside, so she knocked everything off the shelf to get in -- was a big mess! And that flimsy sheet of plywood won't last long, I'm buying a new steel door that I'll have installed this weekend. Bad dog!

Back to the Studio

I'm back in creative mode as I'm searching my internal database for something new to create for a huge hotel project. The presentation is Tuesday so I don't have a lot of time. I'm doing some photo manipulation to show some typical Texas elements in a new way. This presentation is just for concepts, so I'll have time to fine-tune it later.

Still spending time at my computer, as I re-do the art placement for Texas Clinic. It was a little tricky to re-allocate artwork that has already been painted in a certain size. Oh, well, I always like a challenge.

I'm back in the studio today as I start a new painting for that project. It's a big one, 48" x 48". Once I get it sketched out I'll post a photo.

Doing a Walk-Through

It's been awhile since I worked as an art consultant and was responsible for art placement. I'm doing it now with Texas Clinic, and thank goodness I remembered that things in the construction industry change and nobody tells you. So that's why I wasn't too surprised yesterday when I did a walk-through of the building.

There are doors in places where art is supposed to hang. There are glass walls that aren't on the blueprints. There are new walls where they weren't before. All in all, several things changed and I have to adapt my placement for it. One thing I did was eliminate one large original in the first floor lobby and make the custom designed grid painting bigger. I ordered the canvas today, 120w" x 60"h x 4". woo hoo!

I'll be printing this weekend so I can start taking things to the framer. My goal is to finish this job ahead of schedule. I really want to take a trip in October -- to photograph fall color and waterfalls. Hopefully Nancy's ankle will have healed up enough by then for her to hobble around and hold on to her tripod for support. I know she'd kill me if I went without her!

I finished a painting for my solo show today. It's another Glorieta painting, photo coming soon.

Also have some printing to do for a big presentation next week for a giant hotel project in Central Texas. Doing some cool stuff, printing on metal, and maybe doing some cast resin. This is a project where we are competing against another company so it's whoever has the coolest design gets the job. Oh boy!

Signed Contract

It's official. After receiving verbal approval for my proposal at Texas Clinic, I now have a signed contract. Good thing since I already started painting! I have a lot of creative license on this project and will be mixing types of artwork throughout. I want it to be as interesting as the design of the building itself - which is extremely contemporary.

I have plans for photography face-mounted to plexi with architectural mountings, photography on metal, a large grid painting, a painting in the Glorieta series, and a series of colorblocks, plus the sunset paintings I am working on now. And that's just the start. Whoopee!

Many people have asked how I landed this project. Most artists aren't going to want to hear that what sold the owners on me was not my extreme talent, but my business sense.

They found me by seeing my work at a local hospital and searching the web for me. They took a brief look at my website, we had several business meetings where I gave presentations, handing out professional portfolios with photos of past work, a bio and an artist statement which I tweaked for this job.

When I went to walk the building with the team it didn't hurt that I name-dropped by saying that I walked the Ritz-Carlton the day before because I'm doing guestroom art for all 220 rooms. I think that gave them a little more confidence that I could handle this job. Basically I acted professional, inspiring their confidence.

Now I am in the enviable position of being able to design and create 80 pcs of art for public spaces of an entire medical office building.