Sarah Atlee 11/21/14 Sarah Atlee 11/21/14

Boundaries, Bracelets, and Biz Coaches - In Gratitude, Part 2

It's November, home of my favorite holiday! This month I'm spending a few minutes each day writing about something for which I am thankful. Here is the second batch.

Sushi White Plate, acrylic on canvas, 12 x 12 inches, 2012 by Sarah Atlee. Private collection.

Alyson Stanfield, Art Biz Coach

Do you have a person in your life who believes wholeheartedly in your career? Who cheers your successes? Who's not afraid to ask you to ask yourself the tough questions about what you want out of life? Who can teach you to wield the tools of success? I do: Alyson Stanfield, the Art Biz Coach. Read her book and begin your journey.

My Artist Network

Earlier this month I attended Alyson Stanfield's Art Biz Makeover event in Golden, Colorado. It's not often I get to spend time with such an energetic, motivated group of artists. You know what I love most about working with these folks? Realizing that we're all in this together. We share many of the same challenges, and we celebrate success together. In a business like this, it's so important to know that you are not alone.

The Egg Timer

This friendly little gadget is my near-constant companion in the studio, whether I'm writing, painting, or working on business tasks. It's a tiny piece of decision-making power that allows me to stop asking "What do I do now?"

Looking for more ways to improve your productivity? Check out the Pomodoro Technique, Timeboxing, and Willpower.

Learning New Things

In 2013 I taught myself how to make friendship bracelets. At the time I was working on a series in response to growing up female in the 80s and 90s. I remember friendship bracelets as these cool things made by cool girls and you had to hope that a cool girl would make one for you, so you could be cool too, but she didn't, so it's a quarter-century later, and now I have the power of the Internet. I AM THE COOL GIRL NOW.

You can be the cool girl, too: Friendship bracelet basics, endless bracelet patterns, how to do anything.

Lists

When I put a task down on paper, that's when it starts to feel real. That's when I make a promise to myself to honor my responsibilities. And while I'm at it, why not have some fun with stickers? My list should be a happy place.

Delegating

You see this beautiful website? See how easy it is to move around and find what you're looking for? Thank Jason Ormand, my rock star web designer.

A long, long time ago, on a server far away, there were iterations of SarahAtlee.com that I coded from the ground up. No more. Web design is not my area of expertise. My time is better spent doing what I do best - making pictures. So I delegate. Try it on, it's so roomy!

Boundaries Around my Creative Time

This is something all artists (really, all independent workers) must face. Making pictures is the most important thing I do. Why on Earth would I want to do dishes or go to the grocery store instead of painting? Because sometimes I let the minutiae of daily life distract me.

All it takes to correct this pattern is giving myself permission to let the small stuff go. After all, is anyone going to remember that I did the dishes today? Nuh-uh. If I use that time to create a beautiful object that a collector brings into their home, that's time well spent.

Orange, acrylic on canvas, 4 x 4 inches, 2014 by Sarah Atlee. Private commission.

What are you thankful for? Express your gratitude in the comments below.

Read Coffee, Sleep, Paper - In Gratitude, Part 1 Read Monkeys, Quilts, and Toilet Art - In Gratitude, Part 3 Read It's the Little Things - In Gratitude, Part 4 Read Bonus Gratitude!

Sarah Atlee 11/13/14 Sarah Atlee 11/13/14

Bingo and Yahtzee at DNA's Anniverskully 2014.11.14

Bingo & Yahtzee, acrylic on canvas, 6 x 6 inches each, by Sarah Atlee

Oklahoma City art fans: Join DNA Galleries in celebrating their 6th anniversary as part of November's Live on the Plaza art walk!

When: 2014.11.14 7-11 pm

Where: DNA Galleries, 1709 NW 16th St, Oklahoma City, OK 73106 (map link)

What: A skull-themed art show! RSVP to the Facebook event here.

Sarah Atlee 11/12/14 Sarah Atlee 11/12/14

Coffee, Sleep, Paper - In Gratitude, Part 1

It's November, home of my favorite holiday! This month I'm spending a few minutes each day writing about something for which I am thankful. Here is the first batch. Apple, acrylic on canvas, 4 x 4 inches, by Sarah Atlee. Private commission.

Let's Start With the Basics

All of my basic needs are met. I have a home. I never go hungry. When I turn on the tap, clean water comes out. If I want hot water, I can have that too. Clothes? Not a problem, ever. All of my body parts work. I can get wherever I need to go. I'm able to do what I do because I don't have to worry about any of these things. I'm thankful for this every day of my life.

My Family Gets What I Do

Nobody I love ever asks me when I'm going to get a real job. Nobody I love tells me that art is dead or nobody's buying it anyway or there are more useful or important things I should be doing with my life. The people I love say that's awesome and good for you. They come to my shows. They buy my work, yes, using real money. They leave encouraging comments where I can read them. I feel lucky for a lot of reasons. This is a big one.

Sleeping In

I'm self-employed. My favorite part of this is that I almost never have to wake up to the sound of an alarm. I sleep until I'm done sleeping. Bliss. Years of experience and experimentation have taught me the impact of sleep on my working life. When I get enough, I have a great day and do good work. When I don't, I don't. It's that simple, and I'm so grateful that this is my life.

Drink my coffee while it's still hot, sketchbook drawing by Sarah Atlee

My Studio

I've had studio spaces both in and away from my home. Each has its advantages. Since moving to Austin last year, one room of our apartment has been my studio, the place where I spend most of my time. It's beautiful in a barely-controlled chaos kind of way. Sunlight streams through the windows. Our building is a very quiet place most days. I love rolling out of bed and coming straight in here to work, or just play around (it's a fine line). Yes, I'm sometimes distracted by dirty dishes or the grocery list, but I'm so glad to have this place.

My Sketchbook

I'm writing this note on the first page of a brand-new sketchbook. I'm very pleased with this one. The paper is toothy and absorbent, the binding is strong, the pages lay nice and flat. I've been keeping a sketchbook of some kind since about 1996. If the house is on fire, these precious books are what I'll grab first. They're a vital record of my growth as an artist. My sketchbook is my friend and confidante, my companion and co-conspirator. It's an extension of myself.

Coffee

Literally the best thing ever.

Medallion, sketchbook drawing by Sarah Atlee

What are you thankful for? Express your gratitude in the comments below.

Read Boundaries, Bracelets, and Biz Coaches - In Gratitude, Part 2 Read Monkeys, Quilts, and Toilet Art - In Gratitude, Part 3 Read It's the Little Things - In Gratitude, Part 4 Read Bonus Gratitude!

Sarah Atlee 8/6/14 Sarah Atlee 8/6/14

Eggs (I Only Gave You Some) for Shopper!

Eggs (I Only Gave You Some) Graphite on archival digital print 20 x 16 inches framed, $895 2014 by Sarah Atlee - some rights reserved

Shopper! The Art Show A Curious Collection of Found Shopping Lists & Artists' Renditions of Those Who Made Them

Curated by Tessa Raven Bayne

When: 16 August - 14 September 2014

Where: Hancock Creative Shop, 116 S 2nd St., Guthrie, Oklahoma (map link)

Take a decade's worth of found shopping lists, add visual artists to reimagine the lists' authors, mix with writers spinning colorful tales of these shoppers, and you get a collaborative summer art show that's sure to deliver.

The shopping list that prompted my imagined portrait.

Eggs (I Only Gave You Some), detail view, graphite on archival digital print

A closer look at Eggs.

I created Eggs using an experimental process. I began by taking hi-res scans of ledger paper, moving the paper around during scanning to achieve interesting distortions. I printed the resulting scan onto several different high-quality inkjet papers. Using a range of soft pencils from 3B to 9B, I tested the tooth of each paper to see which surface held up best. I settled on Hahnemuehle Museum Etching.

The drawing is based on a collage sketch:

Eggs (I Only Gave You Some), collage sketch, 2014 by Sarah Atlee

Many different sources went into this conceptual mockup. Photographs of Evelyn Nesbit (who inspired the Gibson Girl image), the New York Public Library's Maps archive, and postcards from Google Earth, just to name a few.

As I predicted, the distorded grid of the ledger paper background image informed and melded with the shapes I drew. I'm very pleased with the results and will repeat this process for future drawings.

Sarah Atlee 7/30/14 Sarah Atlee 7/30/14

Preparing a Canvas for Acrylic Painting

I work almost exclusively in acrylic on canvas. For larger works I use unstretched canvas hanging it over a dowel rod, much the same way you would display a quilt or tapestry.

But for my smaller works I use Blick Gallery Profile pre-stretched canvases.

Side note: Everyone who's been through art school has learned to build their own stretched canvases. I used to. Now it's more economical for me in terms of time and labor to order pre-made canvases in batches of 4-8. Want to learn to build canvases yourself? YouTube's got you covered.

Why Bother?

When someone buys my painting and takes it home, I want them to know that they have purchased a quality product that will last for decades to come - not something shabby that will fall apart in a year. The value of my work is more than the paint I've put on the canvas; it's in the care I've taken to ensure that my collectors enjoy living with my art. Prepping a canvas before painting is just one way to demonstrate that I care about my client's experience.

The preparatory process also prevents small problems that, added up, can really interfere with the final product.

Step 1: Corners

I buy these Blick canvases because they are very well-constructed. However, the corners do tend to come loose, and sometimes the canvas has been trimmed unevenly. (Not true of hand-built canvases; see note above re: economy.)

See those flappy edges? Even if I paint over them those are still weak spots that will get worse as the painting ages. I want to nip that in the bud.

I glue down those corners with Golden Heavy Gel.

I apply the gel undiluted to the corners of the canvas, both on the sides and the back, and press those flaps down hard. Any gel that squishes out gets smeared over the raw edges to seal them. It doesn't matter how much gel ends up being visible because I'm going to paint over the entire thing. I let them dry about 30 minutes.

Step 2: Sizing the Back

The canvases you see pictured here are very small - 4x4" each. This next step is much more important for larger canvases.

In most cases, a pre-stretched canvas will be primed on the front side only. Priming the other side strengthens the canvas and helps ensure its longevity. Also, the tighter your stretched canvas, the less likely you are to bump against the underlying stretchers while painting.

With a stiff brush, I wet down the back of the canvas. I make sure to get that water as far under the stretchers as possible. On a larger canvas, I follow up with diluted gesso. I brush both vertically and horizontally to work the water and gesso into the weave of the canvas. You'll notice right away that the canvas gets tighter. It will loosen a little after drying, but will be stronger for the additional gesso.

Step 3: Gesso Coat

I buy canvases pre-primed, but I like to add an additional thin coat of gesso to front and back before painting. The manufacturer's acrylic primer can sometimes resist initial paint application, causing the paint to bead up on the surface. Gesso is chalkier and will soak that first coat of paint right up.