kickstarter

so have you all seen or heard about kickstarter.com?  i've been aware of it for months now and want to do a kickstarter of my own.  you see, this pipe/vase thing has been a boon for me.  i've sold over 60 vases since july.  i've got my vases in the local art center and know if i can get my shit together i could be getting vases and flowers out there on a much larger scale.  what takes me so long is that i have a hot cutting machine.  my chop saw melts the metal.  the blades almost dissolve into nubs and i'm always buying blades and then spending hours deburring the vases.  the vases are not always perfect, which is what i'm all about but i would like them to be better.  you see, when you cut the metal at a high speed with a regular saw you melt the metal and then you have to grind it off.  its hit or miss, hope you make it even.  some of my vases have that paula wahla wobble. not huge. not bad.  with water in them you probably wouldn't notice.  but it drives me NUTS and its just messy, toxic and laborious doing all this when i could be using a machine that cold cuts, uses a carbide blade that you just sharpen instead of replace ($150 a blade).  and i need a new grinder machine.  mine almost flies off the table and the thing is a home made archaic device made by an old man in vermont.  suffice to say i'm ready to up the ante and make a better product at a faster rate and maybe make more than min. wage.  i can't charge what those vases are really worth in time/materials but if i had better equipment not only would my back be happier, i could maybe make more/better and a slight profit.  that would be nice ya?

so.  hopefully i can get it together and do this in the next few weeks.  the biggest challenge is having to talk or videotape myself.  being dysmorphic means i'm traumatized when i hear or see myself.  but oh do i want better tools....maybe i can make this thing and not have to ever look at it or hear it. ya think?  i feel sick looking at my hand over there for gods sake. art always makes me do things i would NEVER DO otherwise.  gotta love that right?  anyhow thats what is going on, the new plan for some ease and sanity.  will let you know when and if i've actually done this as i have a limited collection of blue vases that will be sold specifically for this kickstarter thing as well as other art.  in the meantime, i've got 40 more vases to work on and i'm out of my aluminum bottoms!  the scrap dudes keep promising the roofer guy will bring it in as he does every month... i shall wait. better to buy used than new.

foresight in hindsight

I finally added eyes to this guy.  Had I not made the puzzle sculptures this year I probably wouldn't have thought to do this.  The girl also has an eye and I'm working on the Mystic as well. Not sure if I will put an eye on the very first one I ever made, Mask On Blue Board.

Getting these ready to take in wed for the upcoming 'solo show'.  I have sold six of my puzzle works in the last few years and hoping to get some movement again with these.  I would make more if there appeared a real desire for them, they just take so long to do I can't see spending more time on them in my current living/life/art state.  People sure do love them when they are exhibiting but thats about as far as it usually goes.  I have found that art collectors are the ones who buy these.  Not sure how to find them...but maybe they will find me.  I'm happy to have finally taken good pictures of these two pieces.  They have been through many stages, at first I had them on the steel shelving without any paint on them.  At one gallery they refused to show them based on that fact (thought they were plain).  Another gallery insisted I paint the shelf if I wanted to show them so I did it.  And now this show, I've decided to give them sight. This is the best I can do, I feel satisfied with them and glad I got nice pictures, hopefully it's a send off !

here and there

nice surprise to find this piece sold in the Vermont gallery recently!  that was a photograph i took in the lower village of stowe, backside of a building/barn off of route 100.  the laminated photo is float mounted onto galvanized flashing.  i love that stuff and this piece had cool lettering on it the 'cop-r-loy'.  i took pastel chalk and smudged it onto the metal to blend with the photograph.  sure wish i had more of that flashing, not finding it here save for some terribly rusty pieces.

which leads me to my vases.  that is what i'd been using on the bottom of my pipe vases.  i lucked out recently and found aluminum scrap pieces that are even better than the flashing because i don't have to protect it against rust.  i've been told that it can corrode over time but the corrosion itself turns white to further protect itself.  saves me a little time too with cutting as it is easier to shape and less grinding means i'm not spending so long just getting the bottoms shaped to fit.

also, i recently picked up all of my work that had been in a gallery all summer.  sold a clock but none of the furniture or wall assemblages. i've posted two pieces of furniture on etsy as well as a few more clocks and vases.  back to the gallery....i had pretty much convinced myself i was over gallery exhibiting and will go pick up some more work that has been in another gallery and focus on online sales.  summer is dead here but also the types of galleries i've been in here haven't the traffic or art buyers that my work attracts.  vermont was so good to me!  if i could make more wall pieces they would gladly accept more, i'm just not in a place/space anymore for it.  having said that, one of the galleries wants to give me a solo show, highlighting all of my puzzle works (this will include my puzzle table and table sculptures)  i can't quite believe i'm going to go back into storage and dig through all my mess to get that work and drive 100 mi round trip twice (it wont all fit in one trip).  i think i'm gonna do it as a 'one more time' kind of thing.  if nothing sells could be time to auction work off.  i'm also seriously thinking about adding some found objects to the pieces to spruce them up in time for the show which is oct 8th.  i've got a week to get it done as they want the work by next wednesday.  it's a fantastic opportunity and always good to have work seen, shame on me for being a grinch about having to go dig through things to get it all. 

so life is still busy considering all i seem to do is clean a few apartments here and there and make art.  the days are long and filled, i'm still in push mode, not sure exactly what i'm doing or where i'm headed [art wise which is life wise] but something is telling me to go and dont stop!

the case of the vase

I've been working harder than I've ever worked , artwise.  I've always worked hard and when I 'became an artist' I think I actually worked more time wise but less physical wise.  Since going full blast with my vases this summer I have felt at times like I am on some bizarre trip that is never going to end.  I can't for the life of me understand why I take so much pleasure in setting up all my crap out in the business parking lot, day in and day out lugging and hauling shit that always makes my back cringe, and doing basically the same thing over and over and over.  A few hours of cutting pipe, grinding all the sharp burrs and I'm toast.  And I feel good and tired.  The pipe thing blows my skirt up.  I dig it.  I can't get enough of it.  I'm like the little kid who eats mud pies or grass.  Did you ever know those kids when you were young?  They were missing some specific nutrients and got it in the dirt. I seem to be missing some elemental nutrients, I can't seem to get enough of the metal. Look at the parking space next to mine....I'm using it much as I can and hoping no one notices I've slowly ruined it.  It's a mess and I just hope a good rain will make it more normal.  My neighbors seem to sigh with their eyeballs whenever I'm out there, below you can see our little walk area up to our steps and the neighbors pass by there too.  That is where I set up my grinder on a table and spend hours grinding the pipe ends that I just cut.  They must think I'm insane.

I think I'm insane.  The flower thing hasn't been high on my list as I'm still in vase mode.  Other than what I made 2 weeks ago I've not made any more.  Lots of online time for the etsy team I belong to.  Lots of vase time.  Some nasty apartment cleaning and there ya go.  Life day in and day out. 

I feel like I'm more boring.  Haven't as much to say here on the blog or on facebook.  Reminds me of when I hit the road before I became an artist, how I was just in the moment of being out there and rarely thought or talked about what I was doing with anyone.  It isn't all that interesting, but it is all consuming.

There are good things to report for those of you who are interested in Paula Wahla's World.  I've had a total of two commissions for pipe vessels.  I sometimes call them that because they weren't being used for flower vases.  They were successful and the people were genuinely happy with what they received.  I have had another one this past week and just finished the vase and will see if it meets their vision.  The gallery in Vermont sold one of my mixed media photo pieces, leaving me with just one more piece there, I'm crossing fingers that sells even though they've had it over a year.  I'd hate to have them disassemble it and just send me the photo back as I can't really afford to have the whole thing shipped. 

While I'm not getting rich, these little vases, being the most inexpensive 'art' I've made have done me well this summer.  I've sold 50? I've got 16 or so on Etsy right now with another 20 made and as of tonight, 20 more in the queue.  The big stack at the scrap yard is GONE so my little stash under the porch steps is it.  Maybe then I will have time to work on flowers.  Tod is working on bunches of flowers that are not necessarily fast to make, but relatively easy and we hope to show our vases and flowers at an upcoming Sam Houston University thing. They are calling it Falling Flowers and there is a chance we could have some vases/flowers on show.  Very tentative and I've not even spoken to anyone about it, this was just mentioned to me as a possibility from someone working with the Falling Flowers part.  I'm also hoping to get my vases into the Art Center here in Huntsville.

Little awkward baby steps.  Starting all over again.  I'm worn out and welcome it.  Tod and I stopped volunteering for the Phoenix Commotion as this flower/vase thing literally eats up every day.  We are always searching/cleaning/working/doing something it seems that has to do with this body of work.  I seek newer tools and am seriously considering making a kickstarter video to see if I can kickstart myself into a more productive way to work.  More on that later.  I just have to say, THANK YOU to all the people that have bought vases.  Thank you to the people that have told me these vases are amazing and kept pushing me to keep doing it.  Invisible ropes of hope that have led me further down the rabbit hole and opened me up in many ways.  I get so much joy out of the reactions you have about the vases.....who knew old pipes could be so much fun!

industrial flowers

simple and requires no feeding.  just how i like it.  rebar flowers in metal object vase  

i've got about seven found object flowers made, just starting...just now diggin in.  while tod's flowers are a bit more light and complicated looking, i seem to be drawn to the rebar and a more simple look right now.  

note the yellow 'bud' in there.  this is a five piece object that somehow all fit together seemlessly.

wild things

rebar, cork and found wheel

rebar, yellow cap, cork, champagne thingie and found wire

i'm so clever

 cynthia was next to me...she had a great sales day! yay!

yesterday i did an outdoor market.  tod went with and also participated in his first ever public market (other than the gallery opening earlier this summer).  we were next to my friend cynthia too.  it was intimate with just 9 tents or so total.  mostly painters.  one potter.  jewelry, stained glass and me.  it was kind of dead but i expected as much and no signs down the road so only drive by people caught the action.  this was the first time ever i've had no sales.  i had no sales earlier this year at my gallery show with tod and neighbor jared but a week later ended up selling work from the show as well as a large mixed media piece to the same woman last month so that wasn't a bust.  i'm hoping this will turn out the same....straggler buying.  one couple was interested in my 'big yellow' heavy vases and others liked the flowers tod and i made.  tod DID SELL a few flowers.  kids loved the puzzle and bottle cap ones and i think he made a whopping $10.

i think i felt angry by the end of the day.  i was hot flashing and tired and wondering geeze do people get art that isn't traditional?  least here in texas?  do they????  i sell vases great online and they love them when they get em so i know they are good.  guess it just wasn't my day.  i had a fair amount of compliments from people who also saw my art in the gallery on the same property.  one thing i noticed i hear a lot that i really dislike is: you are so clever.  CLEVER.  makes me feel like a raccoon or a monkey. 

online definition: superficially skillful, witty, or original in character or construction; facile: It was an amusing, clever play, but of no lasting value.

okay i'm being touchy.  but i hear that more often than i want when it comes to my art. i'd rather be called an idiot savant.  but look, there i am.  smiling like an idiot. how clever i am.