Saturday, March 22, 2008

Deadlines Make You Work, Don't They?


This is a painting done by my neighbor, the artist Alicia Hunsicker. I thought it a perfect image to add here considering eggs are on the minds of many of us this weekend with the Easter holiday. Alicia is having an art opening at UMass on April 4th. She has been working on her current series of oil paintings intensely for the past few months. Every once in a while, I stop into the studio to see how it is going and in what direction the paintings are going. I particularly like this small painting because of the egg and nest motif which resonates with me since I raise chickens. Alicia takes her artwork very seriously and spiritually. I’m not quite sure I ever quite understand what she is talking about when she explains it all. Everything she paints has a symbolism which is cool. And she is incredibly talented on top of it all.

Alicia has been painting for years and her work is so fine and detailed. She can work on a particular 4 inch section of canvas for days. It’s been fun to watch her develop this new body of work because she has had to speed up her painting and really crank it out. It is no less beautiful than the other past work, just different. She has a lovely sense of color. If you are in the vicinity of UMASS/Amherst, stop by to check it out at the Hampden Gallery. You can read about it on
her blog here.

Me, I’m a total deadline person. If I don’t have one, most stuff just doesn’t get done and materialize. I think this habit began when I was a young girl – working on a school project until the last minute. Then when I was in 4-H, I made so many projects for the County Fair or some kind of special contest.


Today, I am no different, unfortunately. I am totally deadline driven. This past week, there was a photo shoot at our house and I had to have a couple projects done for it. I was down to the wire, once again. I just love a deadline – it gets my juices going and I can always feel the creativity rising to the surface. Most times, I am never sure where my work will go but it’s always a fun experience riding the deadline wave. But then this week, I also had to clean the house on top of it all which is really totally impossible during mudseason. Thank goodness the people who were shooting knew me and didn’t care if the floors weren’t waxed (that's an understatement). We just moved the stuff around to make the photos work. Here’s a cute photo of Julia having her make-up and hair done by the woman who was doing this at the shoot. Julia was eating this up.

Photos shoots are a lot of smoke and mirrors. (At least everyone I have ever been on.) You can look at one of the photos of our house in a magazine (like on this page on my website) and it looks like total perfection. But if you were to look behind the camera, on the other side, you would of course see all the kid, yarn and book clutter piled up. Then it all gets moved back after the photo happens. I’m assuming most shoots go like this although I probably have more stuff than most. This photo shoot had the extra added danger of the sheep being thrown in. All in all, it went off without incident and the sheep looked fabulous. Luckily, Mother Nature gave us a brand new lamb that morning. Baby lambs are incredibly photogenic, aren't they?


Happy Easter and Spring to All!

9 comments:

تائهة فى أرض الأحلام said...

i like ur blog so much

i think u r very happy to live in a farm i wish i could live in a farm too

i agree with you that deadlines make u work
because i always do every thing in my in the last min. and every time i do that i feel terrible untill i do what i i had to do it then i laugh when i remember these situations .
i'm sorry for my bad english but i feel that i wanna post u comment even with my bad english

nice to see ur blog

dianehk said...

Did you have to loan boots to the photo shoot people for the sheep shed work? Or did they bring their own? It's funny how often folks show up at farms with inappropriate footwear!

Anonymous said...

Dear Kristin-- Happy Easter to you and your family! And thanks at this holiday for the great blog that informs and delights! And, hey, I did a double take with that little lamb-in-hand shot-- I just knitted that edging and sewed that button on a week or so ago! Wow-- I can't wait to see that shot of that hooded vest!

Love to you-- Deborah

Anonymous said...

Your friend Diane, whose livejournal blog I read, put me onto your blog. How beautiful it is! I'd like to try to get to this woman's art showing at UMass if I can--that painting is gorgeous.

I really love your photo of the lamb, too--for a year while we lived in England, our neighbors kept sheep, and the newborn lambs were so cute.

judyinpa said...

Love your blog and I can really relate to needing deadlines. When my children were young and I would be frantically cleaning the house, they'd ask, "Who's coming?" I am now retired, divorced and live alone and have been known to invite people over for dinner just so I can get this place organized and picked up.

Also love the lambs. I have been knitting for 55+ years and have just begun to learn to spin and love it. Maybe someday I can be a part of a Sheep to Shawl competition.

Keep up the good work!

ColorJoy LynnH said...

The lamb is adorable, as is Julia. I understand about photo shoots and messes. I just naturally create messes, I don't like them but I am unable to live without them somehow. I think it's about being a visual thinker, needing to see things to get them clear in my mind.

As far as deadlines, I have grown to not like them, yet I admit I do more work when I see one coming. At least these days I see them sooner and I have fewer 5am almost-all-nighter experiences. After I did that a few days in a row for taxes one year, resulting in a car accident (I fell asleep at a stoplight and accellerated into the parked truck in front of me), I have been a bit better about planning and balance.

Sleep is really important, though I love that all-night work zone. I love working when nobody else is awake.

Now I have to end the zone a little earlier. I even have an alarm that comes up on my computer screen at 3am, reminding me to go to bed if I am still working. Since 1:30 is my standard bedtime, that is a reasonable deadline.

I've been away from all blogs for most of a week, it's great to see the wonderful painting and the baby lamb on my return! Happy spring.

Anonymous said...

Oh yes, Kristin, location photo shoots are definitely all about mud on floors and moving piles behind the scenes. AND, as you know, lots of steaming, adjusting, propping ( a camera-ready lamb on site!!) and keeping fingers crossed. All in all looks like you and Julia still had fun with the crew. Happy holiday to you.

DeanB said...

Love that first comment here, signed in an alphabet I can't even recognize (though I'm guessing Arabic), shows what www means.

"If it weren't for the last moment, nothing would ever get done"

تائهة فى أرض الأحلام said...

yes its arabic alphabit

i'm egyptian girl and i like reading blogs in foriegn languages

an i like ur blog

i'll be glade if u add me on msn messanger
zokam405@hotmail.com
note: my name is mai

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