Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Tis The Season. . .

I don't know about anyone else, but around this time of year my mind turns to tax season. When you're self employed, December is the month you start to look at just how much money you earned during the year and realize you probably should have worked *just* a little harder. With Christmas looming around the corner, and that final tax payment due in January . . . somehow, just like EVERY other year, the old checking account isn't quite where I hoped it would be this late in the game.
I suspect that this may be the case for a lot of my fellow artisans out there as I am seeing a drastic increase in the number of new pieces being started. So, why do we start sculpting furiously *now,* so late in the game and during such a busy time of year? Guilt, my friend! Pure guilt! If we can work hard enough from now until December 31st, perhaps we can make up for all the time that was wasted through the year when we should have been working but just didn't feel motivated.
To heck with inspiration for awhile! The gig is almost up and soon our secret shame will be known to accountants (and husbands *gulp*) all over the country! So, for now, we do our best to look busy and hope that somehow this last little sacrifice to the Gods of labor will save us from the starving artist stereotype and build enough momentum to carry us, steaming full force, into the New Year, ready to be better disciplined and more prolific than ever!
If I say it enough years in a row. . .someday it shall be true!
Anyhow, I'm back in the studio and I've got things to show as soon as I get my camera working. It feels good to get that clay warm again and start bending up a new armature or two!

Kathi

P.S. Oops! I almost forgot! The AAEA show was a great success and they sold both of my bronzes. . . so now I get to enjoy one of an artist's most time consuming endeavors. . .waiting to be paid.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Indulging in one of the seven deadly sins.


Last weekend was the artist's reception for the AAEA fall juried show.
I wasn't going to go since Jim couldn't take the time off from work, but my Folks talked me into it and we all had a great trip together. Just like old times! Ha!

We got a late start. . . it took 5 hours to get through Chicago alone. . . FINALLY got to Lexington at 4 a.m., making the entire trip 11 hours long, an all time record since it usually takes 8 hours or less!

Their German Shepherd puppy kept me awake the rest of the night so my Parents decided to take the dogs to the Horse Park during the day, so I could finally get some sleep. I managed a couple of hours of shut eye before it was time to get ready to go. I've heard that the puppy was slumped on the ground, sound asleep, every chance he could get while they visited with friends at the park. Grrrrrr!

The reception was very nice, lots of people there. It was a big show with a total of 85 pieces. (550 pieces were entered for jurying)

The complete show catalog can be seen here http://www.aaea.net/2007fallshow/default.htm

The big thrill of the evening came when they announced the awards. One of my bronzes was given the Founder's Award for Sculpture!

What a neat surprise! O.K. so I admit that I have been wandering around with a swelled up head for the last several days. (partially due to a head cold and partially from allowing myself the deliciously sinful luxury of excessive pride.)

I was so pleased that my Mother and Father were there with me. I think they might have been even more excited than I was!
It really was a great weekend. . .

top: Mommy, Daddy, and I in front of the case where my bronzes are.
bottom: a view from the other side of the case.


Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Not the most original idea I've ever had.



O.K. So every other artist on the block has a blog and now I feel like I should follow suit. I tried to do something like this awhile ago when I was sculpting Equus Max, but I'd never heard of a Blog and the best I could do was this jumble of pages on my website. People seemed to like it though, so just imagine my surprise at discovering a way to get the same effect without having to hand code HTML! Woohoo!
I have to give my Husband, Jim partial credit for the Midnight Sculptor title. He was watching crime shows on T.V. last week during his vacation and has been calling me "Night Stalker" ever since. While it started to irritate me after the first 20 or 30 times, I decided that changing it around a bit gave me a great title for my new blog. Morbidly whimsical, just perfect!
Anyhow, I figure most people reading this already know me and what I do, so I won't go into a dull autobiographical spiel. If you've somehow arrived here without knowing who, what, when, why, where, or how. . .then I applaud you for sticking around long enough to read this instead of frantically clicking on the button for the next random blog. I shall reward you with a photo of my freakishly small dog since I don't have anything really interesting, or worth photographing, in the studio at the moment.

P.S.
Yes, that is a reworded "Spiderman" movie quote in my sidebar.
Don't bother griping about it. . .I like it, Spidey likes it, it's staying.