What’s the opposite of discombobulated? Combobulated? Dupbobulated? Spellcheck is beside itself right now — need a little help recombobulating, Spellcheck?
In any case, I promised pretty pictures of Mike’s finished studio today and here they are…
and now it’s time Action Girl took a break. I could use a little R&R (Rest and Recombobulation) myself!
Yesterday was the first day of the rest of our lives — now that Mike and I are empty-nester artists — and though there was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing getting Logan settled in it has been mostly just what I expected. Lots of concentrated time painting, still in separate studios as we have yet to do the big studio switcheroo (Action Girl is pushing for this weekend), without any squealing car chases or ear shattering explosions from Logan’s video games to provide the soundtrack.
To tell you the truth, I didn’t even notice it was quieter. Of course the Nikita marathon I watched while I painted probably made up for it.
So when I say concentrated painting time, and Nikita marathon, I am not exaggerating one bit. Yesterday became today and is fast becoming tomorrow and I am still working on the same painting. It needs to be finished by day after tomorrow and I suppose I should eat and sleep and maybe even do a blog post or two between now and then. I’m starting to regret my choice of a #5 (very small) brush.
Here’s my life, yesterday, today, and the way things are going, tomorrow too:
And finally, a “parting shot” for all of you who Instagram:
Action Girl, Up, up and away!
Yesterday I mentioned that quilts show up all the time in my work. As I sit here running through the house in my head taking an inventory of my art, I would venture a guess that were you to remove all the pieces that were inspired by, featured, or actually were quilts, you would assume that Mike lived here by himself, or at the very least that we only hung his art.
Quilts started showing up with my art and domesticity mashup which occurred with the introduction of one Carolina Lorraine Chambers…
followed seventeen months later by Logan Blackburn Chambers….
I did say “mashup” right? I think that about covers it. Logan was born on Christmas Day (Surprise! He was due on the 29th.) and so I painted his first portrait with Christmas quilt patterns: Star of Bethlehem and Fir Trees.
I don’t spend a lot of time analyzing what I do, I just do it. Action Girl, ON IT! But it has always been clear to me that what is considered to be “woman’s work” is an art, Domestic Art if you will, and should be celebrated. Quilts show up in my artwork all the time because to me quilts are a “signifier” (damn that Art Criticism class) of home, family, connection, story and tribe.
My tribe is made up of those who make art, who make home, and who make the two inseparable.
Lina is all grown up now and organizing her own Big Ass closet in Chicago. Logan is getting ready to move into his new house next week. And still the theme goes on: I am starting a new painting of hot air balloons each with a different quilt pattern…Up, up and away? (Oh, you sly subconscious.) My guess is quilts will always be present in my home and in my art.
Besides, a quilt works great as a superhero cape in a pinch!
Today I’m introducing a new feature! Every month I’ll post four of my favorite books: one house book (Interior Design), one novel, one cookbook, and one book of art or design. All of them will be from my bookshelves and will be books which I use and love.
These are my picks for November:
The house book this month is HAND and HOME, The Homes of American Craftsmen by Tommy Simpson and William Bennet Seitz. Published in 1994 by Little, Brown & Company. I bought this book soon after it came out and I have poured over it with a magnifying glass literally in hand, completely absorbed in the detailed work of the craftsmen and women who live in the houses featured.
The homes in the book belong to some serious heavyweights in the craft world: Tommy Simpson and Missy Stevens, Bennett Bean, Thomas Mann, Sam Maloof, Lenore Tawney, Leo Sewell, and Wendell Castle. My knees are raw from genuflecting.
What inspires me the most about their houses is that they make, or alter, or embellish, or simply decorate with their own designs all the parts that make up their homes. Gee, I wonder if that’s had any affect on how I approach my own interior design?
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My favorite novel this month is Happy All the Time, by Laurie Colwin, copyright 1978. Laurie Colwin is my favorite author.
I have every book she ever wrote. Every novel, book of short stories, and cooking memoir. Laurie was a Domestic Sensualist. Her stories are familiar, homely, bittersweet. You don’t want them to end, which is why I read them over and over and over. Laurie Colwin died in 1992, but her books are a refreshing pause on the continuum. Do yourself a favor and take a break with one of them. Happy All the Time is a great place to start.
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My favorite cookbook for November is: New Mexico’s Prized Recipes from The Albuquerque Tribune’s GREAT GREEN CHILI COOKING CLASSIC, copyright 1974. I inherited this cookbook in a book purge from my mom, after a cookbook purge from her mother. Thank you Gramma Dottie!
I have made many recipes from this book over the years but the one that gets made over and over, especially this time of year when you want a big pot of something hot and spicy steaming up the kitchen, is GREAT GREEN BEAN CHILI….
This is one of those recipes that’s easy to adapt. Make it meatier, or beanier. Add more cumin, chili powder or garlic. Throw in some hominy. Whatever you want, just make a lot of it because it’s even better the next day. Duh.
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My fourth favorite for the month is the art book, and my pick for November is JUXTAPOZ HANDMADE, published 2010 by Gingko Press, Inc.
JUXTAPOZ is an art magazine we subscribe to and this is a book they’ve published of established and emerging artists who have “dedicated their careers to preserving the “hands-on” method to creating fine artwork and commercial products…both 2D and 3D works that use materials and methods such as paper, fabric, wood, fiber arts, sewing, embroidery, collage, papier-mache, clay and ceramics…both functional and non-functional.” Can’t imagine what I would find to relate to in this book either. Yeah, I’m pretty much an enigma wrapped up in a conundrum today!
And now, as much as I’d truly love to sit down with a big bowl of green bean chili and reread Happy All the Time for the umpteenth time, I think I better get back to my house rearrangement. I have a Sewing Studio to outfit and Big Ass closet to fill. Action Girl: Activate, and Awaaaay!
The door on the left used to lead to my Sewing Studio. Now it leads to our guest room and workout closet (stay tuned for a tour in a future post) where Logan is staying for the next two weeks until he can officially move into his new home, which is getting homier every day.
The door on the right leads to what used to be Logan’s apartment and will become Mike’s painting studio, our office, our shared art studio, and our overflow big dining room. Right now it looks like this:
Today I will be taking all of this…
as well as the contents of my current closet:
and moving them into what used to be Logan’s bedroom in Logan’s apartment which is directly below the guest room/work out closet where Logan will live for the next two weeks which used to be my sewing studio and which will now become my new sewing studio and big ass closet. QED
Home wasn’t built in a day, but if this one isn’t completely transformed in two weeks I’ll turn in my Action Girl cape and insignia and never brag about my super powers again.
Click the image to see the Tarpestry book
