September 28 2012

It is just a number…I feel great!! 

I have an amazing birthday week ahead.

I’ll write more…soon. I have to go celebrate now!

September 18, 2012

Welcome to my blog

Postcards on my spotlight artist show “a love affair” will be mailed tomorrow. On those postcards is my new website… www.suemitchellart.com. YIKES!!!… I better get more than a website name…and fast.

Thanks to Catina at Riverside Personnel Services (RPS) I have a simple but cool website put together in five days. I must admit that I have pulled a couple of all nighters to get all the information gathered and entered. There has also been the other painstaking task of updating ones mail/email list. A big thank you to Cheryl at RPS for helping me with that chore.

I started journaling a few years ago… July 2009 …when I knew I was ready to pursue, my forever interest in, being an artist.  I went back and captured some of the highlights of my thoughts and actions during the past three years that positioned me to take the upcoming year-long sabbatical (Oct 2012-2013) They are posted in this blog.

ENJOY!….sue

Let the countdown begin...

…10 days until my 60th birthday

…12 days until my sabbatical begins

…13 days until the start of Riverside Personnel’s 35th year

…14 days until the opening of “a love affair”

Sept 7 2012

Thirty days to go to get ready for the opening of  “a love affair” on Oct 4th/Artswalk at RCAA. I have a giant “TO-DO” list ….mailing list, postcard, website, making the art…

            In Carmel visiting the poet, Roberson Jeffers, rock house (photo by Zee)

How did I do this week…

• worked with Cosme on the postcard…LOVE IT!
• worked with Catina on the website…LOVE IT!
• organized 7 pieces of art…found the appropriate rocks** (that can take as long as making the actual print)
• photo and interview with Riverside Magazine
• domestic chores…washer, dryer and car repaired
• had the upstairs windows washed…first time in 6 years. That is what I told Zee I wanted for my 60th birthday!
• Wednesday afternoon at RPS for weekly meetings

Lots done…so much more to do!!               

** “making the selection of the rock…that is art”

…Lee Ufan

September 4, 2012

Nice four-day Labor Day weekend at home – the grand ending of our wonderful month of get-aways. Good thing…because as of today there will be no vacations for 14 months. My life is soon to change dramatically as I prepare for my spotlight artist show at the RCAA gallery (Riverside Community Art Association) and the start of my year-long sabbatical (Oct 2012-Oct 2013). I am determined to enjoy this adventure and not let myself stress.

My Labor Day tradition… 10am-5pm trip into LA by myself…

• 11:00 Geffen MOCA
• 12:30 Grand Ave MOCA, lunch @ Lemonaid
• 2:00 LACMA
• 4:00 Drive home

It is fast but there is no traffic and I get in all the museums FREE.

Got a great picture with Heitzer’s ROCK … amazingly, with one try, a stranger got a great shot.  Even more amazing – there were hundreds of people walking through the tunnel but in the picture I am all alone. WHERE DID ALL THE PEOPLE GO??

                                                 Heitzer Rock @ LACMA

P.S. 35 years ago David was born on Labor Day…it was a joyful labor of love. He is the best!!!

August 24-28, 2012

MINNESOTA

• kayaked two hrs every morning
• three hours in gazebo reading, thinking and organizing every afternoon
• cocktail cruises in the evening
• no TV so we escaped politics for a few days
• Jane was a wonderful host
• four days of perfect weather
• Walker Center in Minneapolis- nice lunch, great 20 minute video… Rauschenberg, Cunningham & Cage being interviewed 25 years ago…all were so engaging

August 11-18 2012

CAMBRIA

First time back since we had to sell our rock cottage a year and a half ago. It wasn’t quite as hard as we anticipated …maybe waiting so long to return helped a little. We were one of millions who purchased at the wrong time and with the hit we’ve taken because of being in the employment industry we had to sell our dream get-away.

        800 sq ft stone cottage…built in 1929. We saved it from being demolished.

Back in the early days of Riverside Personnel we worked 60 -70 hour weeks. We didn’t take much time off. Cambria was the closest place we could find that was away from everything and we were able to relax. I started collecting the rocks because it was so mindless. I’ve been collecting rocks in Cambria for 34 years…thus the love affair!

I say I could tell my life story through rock collecting…someday I will. Until then an art piece will have to do.

The routine…reading, sleeping, eating, walking the beach and sunset happy hour everyday with our friends Jim and Phyllis. It was perfect…well except for Zee’s bad hip that kept her from the beach walks…the rest she managed beautifully.

I walked the beach and collected rocks for two to three hours a day.

  Once I collect them I do some serious sorting….  

I have devised a technique for ensuring quality control. I only collect dry rocks (they all look pretty wet) that catch my attention standing up. It has to be be spectacular for me to bend down.

“A LOVE STORY”

Walking slowly
Eyes excited
Waiting for the moment
I am willing to bend

If the rock touches me
From afar
You can imagine my joy
Up close

Pocketing my sandy treasure
I repeat
My endless search
With deceiving deliberance

Sue Mitchell April 2010

PS I think I might have made up the word “deliberance” but I needed it for my poem. Please weigh in if it is a real word or not??

August 2, 2012

Having a hard time regulating my time now that I am not on a 8-5 schedule at RPS for the next year…

• I can’t get up early because I’m staying up too late
• I can’t get out for my walk early because I sleep in
• I can’t get into my studio until the afternoon because I get back from walk late
• I stay up too late… 2:00 – 3:00 am…to get all my work done because I got up so late

It is a cycle that I just may need to give into…same amount of hours…stop fighting it!

I will be referencing walks and Fairmount Park a lot in the blog…technically I’m working when I am there…the park is my main classroom for the year.

July 31, 2012

THE RIVERSIDE ART MUSEUM HAS AGREED TO ALLOW ME TO HAVE A TWO – GALLERY SHOW IN OCTOBER 2013!

The meeting with Drew, the Executive Director and Kathryn, the museum curator started with some concerns regarding the use of the space and funding – by the time we were done they seemed very excited.

I AM SO ANXIOUS AND SO EAGER!

I think I’m a little crazy – a lot crazy.

Zee met me at the Mission Inn for a celebratory drink. We both may be drinking for different reasons…:) Doug, I promised you a sushi celebration….

PS I am so lucky…good health, this amazing creative learning experience ahead of me, the beautiful park for a classroom, a special home, Zee, David and our little pups …Lola & Ellie, wonderful friends, a special artistic community (especially my mentors and advisors) an historic downtown and a 34 year old business with a fine reputation maintained by hardworking, loyal co-workers. I am so fortunate  and I do not take it for granted.

July 30, 2012

3:00 today is the meeting with Doug, Kathryn and Drew….nervous! I have this show so visualized in the Powell/ DeVean Galleries that I’m not sure what I’ll do if they say no. Doug, has the pro’s attitude…”we’ll just find another space.”

I pushed for the meeting because I was hoping to know their answer before my RCAA show Oct 4th. That is when I am going to be announcing my self -directed studies and would love to be able to announce where the show would be in Oct 2013. For RAMs sake I didn’t want them to miss out on any publicity that might come from the announcement of this year-long project.

July 27, 2012

I had a big break through …I printed today! My dirty little secret is that I have had a small press for several years….that Zee gave me for Christmas…but I have done all my printmaking in classes. I needed to print alone and use my home press. It was like a writer’s block…I’m now on the other side…makes me want to have fun and experiment but no time for that now, must get the RCAA show ready.

Kathy DeAtley, one of my mentor instructors  for the year and a master printer, stopped by – she is so supportive – gave me tips for setting up the studio for efficient printing!

OK, I must admit that I’m having a rainbow of emotions connected with not going into work every day. I feel free, excited, giddy, lost, scared, and trapped by the project I have created. I have to realize that my job now is to make art and that that is ok.

Sometimes I wonder why I set up such an elaborate plan for the year…it could have be such a fun, stress free time. But we all know the answer…I just wouldn’t have accomplished as much, even with the best intentions.

There is a favorite quote of mine…“There is no heavier burden than a great opportunity”

July 26, 2012

“Hi this is Sue Keck Mitchell and I blame you …you are the reason I did not major in art in college and become a famous artist…that is my story and I’m sticking with it”…that is what I said to Sheryl Grise Larson when she answered the phone a year ago. I immediately went into a “just kidding” mode.

As the story goes, in our senior year in high school Sheryl announced at lunch that she had a self portrait due at 1:00. I said I would go down to the studios with her. Set up at her work station was a poster-size canvas and right before my eyes she painted her self portrait…quick, confident and it looked like her! I believe deep down that had some subtle effect on me….possibly causing me to shy away from pursuing an arts education. I was already running the school as student council President and I had a business since age ten but I had some demonstrated artistic talent and an interest in pursuing it.

1970 Sue Keck Mitchell and Sheryl Grise Larsen

Jump forward 40 years…I have spent the last four decades involved in civic affairs and  entrepreneurial enterprises just like back in high school…and the interest in art is still lurking.

So I told Sheryl (who did major in art in college and is an art teacher in Colorado) about my upcoming artistic journey. I asked if she still had the portrait and she said she thought her parents, in Ohio, might and she would check on her next visit. A few weeks later, she sent me a message on Facebook  saying that she had forgotten that she gave the canvas to her cousin to paint over but that she did find a picture of it and attached it

Now I’m nervous as heck to open it…what if it wasn’t good.??? “click” there she is … Sheryl’s face from 40 years ago. Yes, it looked like Sheryl and no, it wasn’t quite what I remembered (hard to compare a postage-stamp size, faded picture to a wet ,textured poster-size piece.) I clearly understand why I liked it…it was impressionistic, in earth tones , it was big and it was painted fast and it looked like her!  Sheryl amusingly wrote that she was young and didn’t understand values and made a few other critiques.

Hi Sue,
I am finally home and found the photo after a search through photo albums and being distracted with photos from the past. It just kind of sucks you in when you open those old albums. The painting for me is a symbol of what I did not know about color. The structure of face is ok even there I know there are problems), but it is more of a value study (of lights and darks). I recognize these things now. As I thought, I took the photo as a record and gave the canvas to my nephew who is now a graphic artist. He used it for one of his paintings. 

I am flattered that this painting was a pivotal point for you and your understanding of art. Art is an amazing part of both of our lives. I am glad I could be a part of this bridge between us. I have to know when your show is scheduled. I would really like to witness where the year takes you. 

Love, Sheryl

• Self Portrait 1970.pdf

What  a great experience … to have such a vivid, impactful memory and to be able to go back forty years and find the person involved… when we haven’t talked once since the day we graduated.

 Sheryl attended the opening of my show “52” at the Riverside Art Museum in Oct 2013! It was the first time we had seen each other in 42 years!

July 25, 2012

Had Kathy’s 30th anniversary reception at the Arts Project Gallery at Riverside Plaza on Tuesday, July 17th – thank goodness the weather cooperated since the  AC was broken. The Plaza lets the Arts Council use the space rent FREE so they would not fix it.

Had about 100 people… Kathy’s family, friends, non-profit peers and clients.  It turned out to be quite a nice party. We announced Kathy’s promotion to President of RPS. I think Kathy is pleased, it is well deserved and will pay off for her when the economy gets better.

July 7, 2012

I need to get more disciplined about my journaling.

I need to get more disciplined about my use of time.

I need to get more disciplined about my OCD – channel it to the right things!

I need to get more disciplined about drinking water.

I’m very proud of my 14lb weight loss,  an act of discipline that is letting me know I can change other habits.