Where have all the honest people gone?

I'm not one to rant publicly but this really bugs me. Today I went to pick up artwork left over from a gallery here in town that hosts a holiday market every year. It is a juried event in which they invite local artist to sell their art at a gallery that has a fair amount of traffic. Supposedly it is a win-win situation for the artists and the gallery. The artists get a 60% commission (Not so great but it's the going rate.) and they get to show their work in this well known gallery. The gallery makes money because they are offering art from 30 area artists who are not part of the coop. So there is far more high qualilty art available than on a regulary basis.

So back to this morning. I pick up my items and realize that one item is not accounted for. Stolen. Then I realize this gallery does not inventory the items that come in nor do they insure any items damaged, lost or stolen. Yep, it was in the fine print and I missed it. LESSON LEARNED. LESSON LEARNED. LESSON LEARNED.  I've had art work stolen before at another gallery, but it was insured and I received reimbursement for it. In my mind I'm thinking this can't happen again, but IT DID. It's not a huge amount of money. But it is the time, effort, meticulous attention to detail that I put into my work that is the big loss and the big hurt. I do what I do because I love to do it, and I put it out into the world with good faith that someone will value it and appreciate it. I guess not.

Even with this, the biggest hurt is that this gallery that SUPPOSEDLY has such a good name and reputation treats artists who are not in their coop so poorly by not caring insurance. Artist are regularly undervalued by the general public. I find being undervalued by your peers pathetic and only adding to the issue of artist not being able to make a living at what they love to do, or anything close to that, impossible.

A fellow artist shared this with me. "I once read an intro to a beautiful book by a photographer who in the intro said something like 'if you are poor and you steal this book, you will rob me and the shop owner of our rightful compensation. But I will also take it as a compliment that you would risk jail time because you love my book so much." That helps some but I do wish there were more honest people in the world and more of an atmosphere of  artist helping other artist.

LESSON LEARNED AND END OF RANT.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Turning over a new leaf

in order to see both sides of the story

SCRAPS

I made this quilt in 2000. It's still my favorite quilt.

 I still have plenty of scraps left over from it and, every once in awhile, I come up with an idea for using some of them. I started these over the weekend and have plans for many more. Bring on the cold nights.

October's Bright Blue Weather

Happy October. Here is one of my grandmother's favorite poems by Helen Hunt Jackson.

Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)


October's Bright Blue Weather



O SUNS and skies and clouds of June,

And flowers of June together,

Ye cannot rival for one hour

October's bright blue weather;



When loud the bumble-bee makes haste,

Belated, thriftless vagrant,

And Golden-Rod is dying fast,

And lanes with grapes are fragrant;



When Gentians roll their fringes tight

To save them for the morning,

And chestnuts fall from satin burrs

Without a sound of warning;



When on the ground red apples lie

In piles like jewels shining,

And redder still on old stone walls

Are leaves of woodbine twining;



When all the lovely wayside things

Their white-winged seeds are sowing,

And in the fields, still green and fair,

Late aftermaths are growing;



When springs run low, and on the brooks,

In idle golden freighting,

Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush

Of woods, for winter waiting;



When comrades seek sweet country haunts,

By twos and twos together,

And count like misers, hour by hour,

October's bright blue weather.



O suns and skies and flowers of June,

Count all your boasts together,

Love loveth best of all the year

October's bright blue weather.

STOCKING UP

I've neglected my Etsy shop all summer long and now have begun the process of stocking up for the coming season. I am sooooooooooooooooo slow at what I make and the listing process. It's just my way. I like to think that my work reflects attention to detail and careful thought and execution. Yesterday I listed this bracelet which is my all time best seller and also my favorite to make.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/110556259/beaded-fiber-bracelet-pearl?nc=1

Next week I will be adding more items and also a new section of items to my shop. More on that to come.

Gone too long

I didn't plan on being away from my blog for this long, but life called and it's taken me awhile to get back in the swing of things. It's been a very long hot summer here at the foot of Pikes Peak. Living in the mountains we always worry about the possibility of a major wildfire. Those fears materialized with the devastating Waldo Canyon Fire at the end of June. 346 homes were destroyed and 2 people died and what was already a poor economy became a lot worse when our usual throng of summer tourist decided to go elsewhere.

Since the fire there's been a noticeable uneasiness in people as we all try to get back into a routine. The only thing that has kept me sane has been having a creative outlet. I decided to take the making lemonade out of lemons approach, and used all the scrub oak people have cleared away from their homes in my neighborhood  for ecoprinting and dyeing. Scrub oak gives a nice warm brown dye, very similar to tea, but without having to waste any tea. Our trees having been dropping leaves since early August, so I have a good collection of aspen, cottonwood and fruit tree leaves for printing. I have noticed that I haven't gotten strong prints like I did last summer (maybe because the trees are stressed), but with the help of copper pipes and iron bits I am still happy with my results.

The journal is made from a vintage apron that I dyed with an oak bath.

FOR ANDREA

Proud to call my daughter a graduate of Santa Clara University.

Ithaca

When you set out for Ithaka
ask that your way be long,
full of adventure, full of instruction.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - do not fear them:
such as these you will never find
as long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rare
emotion touch your spirit and your body.
The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops,
angry Poseidon - you will not meet them
unless you carry them in your soul,
unless your soul raise them up before you.

Ask that your way be long.
At many a Summer dawn to enter
with what gratitude, what joy -
ports seen for the first time;
to stop at Phoenician trading centres,
and to buy good merchandise,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
and sensuous perfumes of every kind,
sensuous perfumes as lavishly as you can;
to visit many Egyptian cities,
to gather stores of knowledge from the learned.

Have Ithaka always in your mind.
Your arrival there is what you are destined for.
But don't in the least hurry the journey.
Better it last for years,
so that when you reach the island you are old,
rich with all you have gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth.
Ithaka gave you a splendid journey.
Without her you would not have set out.
She hasn't anything else to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka hasn't deceived you.
So wise you have become, of such experience,
that already you'll have understood what these Ithakas mean.

Constantine P. Cavafy :

http://www.poemhunter.com/