Lisa Congdon Art+Craft

putting full time work to bed

That's right, friends. Today was my last day of full time work. From this Monday forward, I officially work part time, and am even more officially a working artist.

This is a day not unlike many others. I am working from home today to finish a crazy writing deadlines before I leave for vacation tomorrow. I am busily doing laundry between edits, packing between chapters. I work at an education non-profit, and we are getting ready to launch the 2007-2008 school year, even though the current school year has barely ended.

But then this day really was unlike most others. It marks a new transformation of my life.

I believe in serendipity, and that's probably why serendipitous things are always happening to me. I got a message yesterday from this amazing artist offering me a permanent studio space to share with her and two other amazing artists here. I have been subletting my current space and looking for just the perfect thing. I think I have found it. I will move in three weeks.

When I return from vacation next week, I will continue to work on my next two openings, a solo show here and a group show here. I have been painting large pieces for the solo show, which is why you haven't seen pictures of them. They are taking me much longer than my usual small collages.

I think I will have one to show you the week I return from Portland.

I'll be posting photos of my Portland adventures over on Flickr this week.

Cheers. And thank you for visiting.

portland bound

Hello friends,

Hip hooray! Saturday I am taking off for Portland for 8 days. I am so lucky that I have immediate family in this amazing city and can visit often and stay in the comfort of my parent's home (not that staying in the new Portland Ace Hotel wouldn't be a blast). This the the longest I've gone without traveling to Portland to visit family in about 8 years. Normally I get up there about every three months. This time it's been 7 months! I've been so busy with art shows that I haven't had the time or money. So, needless to say, I am very excited to see my peeps.

I am really looking forward to visiting some galleries while I am there. I always like to go to  motel and Upper Playground.

Here's a shot I took outside motel this past Fall when Jen Corace had a show there.

I also want to check out Street Level and The Grass Hut and Compound Gallery. I am having a show at  Redux in March, and am going to pop in there. Any other suggestions for PDX galleries? I'd love to hear 'em.

Cheers.

another world

"The sea is as near as we come to another world."
-Anne Stevenson, poet

Hello friends,

This weekend I took a little road trip south to Monterey, CA with Diana. One of the highlights of our trip was our visit to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Here is Diana looking at this amazing tank of jelly fish.

That's me shooting the photo in the red hoodie. {Mirrors}

We were both so giddy walking through the place; there is so much to take in there. This is a photo I took up close in one of the colorful anemone tanks. Diana and I couldn't get over the perfect greens and pinks. 

One of our favorite parts of the place was where they housed the jellyfish and other ocean "drifters." It was mesmerizing. Here's a shot I got of one of them.

Speaking of inspiration from the ocean, I got this book a couple months ago, which has gotten me sketching ocean forms of late.

Seeing these forms up close for real and in color was fantastic. More pictures from our trip to the Aquarium will be posted throughout the week at my Flickr site if you are interested.

Be well.

searching

Hello friends,

I am constantly scanning the landscape for visual inspiration. Here I am Saturday out on Treasure Island with my friend Chris looking for good stuff to photograph, my Nikon D70 in my hand.

That's my city in the background. It was cold and foggy that day, and we were shivering. But we still had so much fun. I love having friends with whom I can look for cool, broken down things from the past, and Chris is just such a friend. If you look at my Flickr site you can see we have been to many abondoned places together.

I am headed out of town with another artist friend this weekend so that we can get away from our studios and the intensity of our city lives. I am giddy with excitement.

Friends are good.

Cheers.

second set of mini collages

Hello Friends,

I've finished my second set of mini collages this week. These are going to be for sale at Reform School in the fine city of Los Angeles. Each will be signed and individually packaged.

I also went ahead a few weeks back and had my first set of greeting cards made. I really like how they turned out.

Sets including one of each of these cards will be for sale at both Reform School and The Candy Store. And I plan on putting some sets in my online shop as soon as I can get my act together. I will let you know as soon as I do.

I am off now to meet a dear sweet pal for dinner at this new place in my 'hood called Spork. The really cool thing about this place, besides its really nice design (which to me is almost as important as the food) is the fact that the little building its in used to be a KFC. They used the same building and everything. I love that.

Is tomorrow Friday? I sure hope so, because I am ready for more than 7 or 8 hours of sleep.

Cheers.

more mini-collages

Hello friends,

I have decided to make another batch of mini-collages to sell. You might remember the first set I ever made. Today I made another.

This part of the batch will go to The Candy Store here in San Francisco:

{click on the image to see a slightly larger version.}

Another set like these will go to Reform School in Los Angeles. Each mini collage will be sold seperately in a tiny transparent bag.  These guys are made on small 3x5 inch veneer laminate samples and are ready to hang.

I hope everyone has a great week. Can you believe it's almost half way through June already? Geesh.

Cheers!

more amazing art in san francisco

Hello Friends!

Once a week I leave my full time job after lunch and I have the afternoon off to do as I please. Normally, I go to my studio to get some work done. But today I decided to go for a swim and then head over to The Galeria de la Raza to see their latest exhibition, Pisistolitas de Azúcar, which I'd read about on juxtapoz.com a couple weeks ago. It was truly a beautiful show. This was my favorite wall, by The Date Farmers:

I also loved the work by Monica Canilao so so much.

All of it was beautiful and colorful and emotion-evoking.

If you live in SF, I highly recommend this show. It will not disappoint.

Cheers.