Drawing Nudes - Getting lost in the line

I loved being an art student. I loved drawing nudes. I can get lost in the line

There was a drawing teacher at Maryland Institute, Raoul Middleman, who was a vociferous fan of the line - the emotionally revealing line - the line that told the story. I became a connoisseur of the great line.

In our figure drawing class, we drew plenty of nudes - beautiful men and glorious, rolls-of-fat, women. Working for that easy, confident, emotion laden line.

A Matisse nude

My husband likes to say, "I married the art student".

Us art students have seen lots of naked people. We're not looking at naked people to cure them of disease, we are looking at nudes with a pencil in hand. We take great joy - even glee - in the line. The nude is all of humankind in our great, rambunctious, imperfections.

I get a lot of, "You're so creative. Why I can't even draw a straight line".

I try not to roll my eyes. 

Artists are interested in the human line. The line that is squiggly and emotional. It may be an angry line. It may be a tender line. It may be a line so tenuous it can bring tears. It may be a line that fritters into the unknown universe of the paper.

It's a Long Flight from Mexico City to Baltimore

Mexico City to Baltimore is a long flight.

Six months is a long time for an 18 year old. I was living in an apartment in Mexico City with 2 friends. I was studying at San Carlos - an art school in the heart of Mexico City. I was the only American there, and the only American red-headed hippie chick. I learned Spanish. I had a blast.

Mexican artists are different from American artists. All artist follow a calling to the creative life, a life of ideas and vision. Mexican artists articulate and accept that calling earlier. Of course they are surrounded by the great muralists, Diego Rivera and Siqueiros are everywhere - even in government buildings and in mosaics that cover the outside of building at the state run university. And of course there is Freida Kahlo who painted directly from her heart.

the Creation (1922), in the Bolívar Amphitheater at the University of Mexico

For 6 months I'd been hanging out with Latino politicos and intellectuals, American intellectuals and radicals and Mexican artists. It's a heady mix.

It was 1971 and everything was changing in the United States. There was war, there was a yearning for peace and we were learning about something called the Generation Gap...and, the birth control pill had just made its appearance.

Mexico in 1971 was also a place in turmoil, a place where the old ways were being tested, and sometimes with blood. It was also a place that a friend of mine described as "Enough for the most militant surrealist".

I was leaving Mexico to live with my Baltimore boyfriend and to go to art school in Baltimore.

I was looking forward to the reunion, of catching up, telling stories and rolling around a bit. There he was at the airport. The first thing he said was, "We have to talk."

Credit Cards - Make It Easy for People to Buy Art

People buy impulsively. Make it easy for people to buy art from you. Get a Credit Card system.

How much cash do you walk around with? Probably not much. Here, in the United States, in 2011, many of us have debit and credit card and that's how we pay for gas, lunch and even parking meters. We don't walk around with a checkbook.

If you're serious about selling, don't make it hard on your clients.

At AvantGarb, we create custom mascots. It took me a long time to get a credit card system. I thought I was too small to need one. Fortunately, I work with pushy people in advertising, PR & marketing who speak their mind with force and clarity. 

Once, many years ago, one of those pushy people asked what kind of business I was running - if I didn't take credit cards. I took offense for a day. The next day I made bunches of calls - to my bank, to other artist friends, and I got something set-up with Cambridge Payment System. I have a wonderful consultant there, Lois Jennings, who checks in with me pretty often.

I'm a happy mascot maker, because with a credit card system, it's easy for clients to pay AvantGarb.

...and when AvantGarb gets paid, everybody gets paid.

Of course, love makes the world go round, but on time payments are pretty nice too. 

Art & Shipping

Remember. 

To have an arty biz, you have to be arty. 

....and remain arty.

....and keep up with the times.

To grow an arty biz you have to finish and ship on time.

the arty, biz babe

I'm Just Like Every Other Boss

Aw geez - arrogant me.

I thought I was going to be a different kind of boss...don't we all?

I was going to be the one who understood the needs of the people who worked for me. I was going to be the one who really "gets" artistic priorities. I was going to be everybody's idea of the Perfect Boss - understanding, sympathetic, and the Queen of Flex Time.

Who do I think I am? Why would I be the exception? why did I think I was so special?

I turns out, I am like all small biz bosses. I want to get the product beautifully finished and shipped - in AvantGarb's case, that product is really cute, fuzzy mascots.

I have wonderful, talented, well-educated, experienced, smart, funny, good-looking people working for me. Some have dreams of designing for significant plays & films. Maybe they will.

Right now, however, they work for AvantGarb and there are schedules that have to be met.

I love talking about what's new in theater, film and the arts. My employees keep me up to date. My employees make my life richer and I love them for it.

....but, AvantGarb creates mascots and ships them out on time. We are not an art organization. Anything that gets in the way of production & shipping is a problem. 

Any extracurricular outings, like theater design meetings during the day, are a problem. As a small biz owner, I have enough problems. Unless its a really big problem, I don't want to know it.

All bosses/small biz owners are the same. We're growing and nurturing our businesses. We have enough worries; getting the job done and making payroll.

Some people have been with AvantGarb for many years. Other for just a few weeks. 

I like a team. I don't like a bunch of individuals who don't have AvantGarb's best interest at heart.

I used to think I was exceptional, creative, insightful & nice. But really, I'm just like every other small biz boss.

Pete Seeger - A True Blue American

I saw Pete Seeger when I was in junior high at Carnegie Hall. In my mind he is the leading peacenik, the great folksinger, the ardent bring-us-all-together balladeer.

Now I'm watching Pete Seeger's 90th birthday special on PBS. I've been listening to the guy since forever. His voice is a bit wobbly, but his spirit is strong. He looks the same as ever. The long, lanky body, the flowered, peacenik shirt, the humble cap. He still plucks the the banjo, singing with chin jutting out, with pure exuberance, making the whole audience his chorus & back-up singers.

I remember riding a bus past the big NY public library - the one with the lions. Pete Seeger got onto the bus to take it where ever he was going - same peacenik, flowered shirt, same humble cap.

Listen to my 90 year old hero sing Amazing Grace.

The Auditor

The State of Indiana decided to send an auditor to AvantGarb. Having an auditor---and our auditor, by the way was a delight, as a person---is really a creative buzz killer.

The auditor was at our studio for 2 full days. I probably lost 4 days of work. The day before she came I scurried around, collecting lots of pages and files full of numbers. For the 2 days she auditing us, the feng shui of my mind was ruined. Then she returned 2 days later to tell me the results of her audit.

I was never able to get into the the swirl of creation. I make the heads for the mascots here in MascotLand. When I'm in the thick of creation, its like I'm on my own planet. There are the materials, the worktable and me. Sometimes I feel like God in the Garden of Eden---oh gosh, is that an arrogant image.

The thing about being in business, is that you are in business and have to deal with the beauracracy of the larger, mainstream world. What I consider the minutia of business, others consider the nuts and bolts of business.

All in all, I'll pick difficult clients over an audit.