Good morning! I fully realize I said I was, 'full steam ahead! I WILL blog regularly!' And now, in a few days, it will be November. Nonetheless, here I am. I've though of you and about blogging so often, but have been absolutely loaded with deadlines and chose to put them first. Admittedly, it wasn't even a question.
This morning, however, feels right. I have nowhere to be. I'm enjoying my coffee in the sunshine and I would love to visit! So here I am.
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| Me 5 yrs ago. I'm grey & curly now. |
October. I survived.
What was I thinking!? I gave myself more than one grant deadline. I decided, enough is enough. I'm not going to be afraid. I'm no longer going to sit around wishing. I'm doing this. I'm going to believe that even if I get a 'no go' on all of them, this was not a waste of time because I can always try again. The writing is done and I can chalk it up as experience. In my for jobs, I did grant writing all the time. I also had the very positive experience of working with a school this spring on a big project that involved lengthy and successful grant applications with SK Arts. So, I buckled up and took on a 'been there, done that' attitude and wrote up a request to explore a very personal and deep desire of mine. I won't hear back for a very long time, so... onward.
Onward indeed. After weeks of writing, applications, digging into the archives for images, uploading, acquiring support letters from the community, (not to mention weeks of covid in the house last month) I realized, 'HOLY SHIT. I have no money.' Artists' life: no sick leave, overtime on admin work, and you still can't pay rent. So, I set my own sale date, and I created over 20 new works (ie: more all-nighters). This includes 10 threadpaintings (a little bigger than my former 5x5's, I now do almost exclusively 5x7 in 8x10 frames), and a dozen or so minis. And then I pulled MORE all-nighters to mount and frame and photograph and list them into my webshop. Yesterday was the 'shop drop' as the fashionable Instagrammers call it.
Today ('and on the 40th day She rested') here I am, taking a day off.
Well, at least a couple hours anyway.
Want to see the art!? It's all here. I sold just over half of it yesterday. (Thank you!) I am SO grateful. I rearranged the listing a bit so you don't have to fish through all the 'sold out' works. They are still there so you can view them though.
And there's a few more perks that roll in! I'm telling you October was NUTS. I was invited to teach at a national conference. It's not until 2024, so I'll tell you more on that later. I also was contacted for an interview (finished! all done!) with a textile art magazine from The Netherlands! When that arrives in my hands early next year, you bet I'll be posting it here. Oh! And... I applied and was accepted for a solo exhibition at an incredible new gallery in Winnipeg MB. I CANNOT WAIT to boast away about this one.
THAT also all happened within the month of October. I'm not even kidding you.
Hold on. One more. I had a job interview. (You are like... SERIOUSLY WOMAN!?) Yup. I'm going to be working a couple evenings a week at my favourite Modern Art Museum, overlooking the South Saskatchewan River. SCORE!! I feel like the luckiest person. Honestly. If you are in Saskatoon, admission is free/by donation for the next 20 yrs.
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| at the Remai (RAY-mee) Modern |
Okay, well. I hope to talk to you sooner than later. Have a good day, and enjoy Hallowe'en!
~Monika K.
1 comment:
Such a busy time. Good luck with all your applications and congratulations on your new job, sounds wonderful. xx
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