It’s been most of a month since my move, but the physical requirements of making it all happen put my body in such a state of exhaustion that it’s taken me this long to get back on track. First of all, I am not one who can live out of boxes for any amount of time. The aesthetics of place (and the sanity of knowing where everything is located) is simply too important to me to let myself rest. So the feathering of the nest began pretty much immediately… followed by a near-total collapse (and I’m still recovering).
I’ve only had few visitors since the move, but immediately upon seeing this little attic space, the word “sweet” always comes up. We are situated on the third floor of a lovely home west of Mt. Tabor, which is my new favorite Portland neighborhood. Here’s my favorite part: a panoramic view from the window of the enclosed porch that I’ve made into my office:
This is the artwork I am entering into the “Dreams” show at the Launchpad Gallery, located at 534 SE Oak Street, in Portland. The opening is this Friday, October 3, from 6-10 pm. There’s expected to be over 60 artists showing work in the “dreams theme”.
It’s been a while since I’ve created an artwork that was strictly related to the interpretation of a dream, but since I almost always begin and end a painting without knowing my next step (preferring to start with one image and free associate til the painting completes itself), I think of the painting process as one which is very similar to a dreaming process, anyway. In this particular case, I began with the image of the bird, then added the plants. The semi-transparent woman and swirls decided to materialize at around 2 am the night before the deadline to get this painting into the gallery. Deadlines sometimes help to get the painting from dreaming into actualization… and off the easel.
It’s been a long haul this summer. After the three month limbo which finally led to the move to my current home and studio, I had a long process of settling in. Such things are difficult for someone of my Canceran temperament. Since my home is central to all aspects of my expression, I felt the need to immediately get everything in order. As soon as my studio was set up, I wanted to hit the ground running. I made a stab at starting some new paintings, but I was too exhausted to feel creative enough to finish them. I wanted to see some progress in my career, so when I was invited to show at a metaphysical fair on the Oregon beach (Pathways to Transformation, in Yachats), I decided that, if nothing else, it would get me rolling and introduce me to a niche I’ve been wanting to discover. So I confined myself to the studio for a while to crank out some affordable art to sell at the coast.
I’m happy to report that the show went pretty well. It met my expectations of what I needed to make to recover my investment, and I got a lot of great feedback. The most amazing moment of the weekend was when two women discovered me and started buying out all my stuff, making nearly half of my sales within 20 minutes. I was so overwhelmed by the fact that people loved my work so much that they wanted to give a little something to everyone they knew. Whenever I have any doubts about my ability to manifest abundance through my art, I’ll remember this as a defining moment.
Above is a pic sent to me by Jackie Brown, a photographer who also had a booth at the fair. Incidentally, the fair was advertised primarily through New Connexions magazine (which featured my art on its cover for its May/June issue in both 2007 and 2008).
Anyone following my blog must be wondering by now what happened with my moving plans, or if I’ve simply fallen off the face of the earth. It turns out that I was left waiting for a full 3 months for a particular house I’d been waiting to share with some other artists (see details on my previous blog entry, ” A Portland Housing Story”). Long story short, we decided once this house was finally available NOT to take it. We had to leave our previous situation before it could be available, and even after that we would have had several weeks of work to do to make it live-in ready. By this time, we were no longer up for the overhaul and simply wanted to find a move-in ready home. We tried to find another place that would accommodate all of the house-mates we spent so much time assembling, but the search proved unpromising.
Luckily, my partner and I did find a house that works out nicely for the 2 of us to share with a midwife and her two daughters (8 and 14). I wasn’t specifically looking for a family situation, but as it turns out I’m very happy that this is where we landed. We’re now in Clinton, our favorite Portland neighborhood. We are close to natural foods groceries, a great strip of restaurants and cafes, and next door to a community garden and school. We have a large yard, a garden, 4 chickens, 2 pet rats, an orange tabby, a trampoline, a huge basement/studio, and wake up to the sounds of school children playing in a nearby playground. The kids add a lot of life to our new home, and I have no doubt that this will be a good place for creative blooming. One small coincidence: our house-mate works for the Alma Midwife Center, which is mentioned in my previous entry regarding the belly-cast.
I took this photo before the move, but I hope to replace it with one that includes all of us, and some of the creatures that make this place already feel like “home”.
It’s about all I can focus on right now. We got our notice that the house we are currently renting (which has been on the market for a while) has now sold. Looking for housing is such an intensive process, and barely making our bills does not make it any easier. After weeks of hawking Craigslist ads and hoofing it to unpromising prospects, a gift of the Universe fell into our lap in the form of a huge Craftsman house in the historic Irvington neighborhood… renting at half it’s market value. I saw the ad on Sunday night and called Monday morning, to find out that 21 voice-mails were waiting to be returned on this particular house. I was told that the first application to hit the realtor’s desk that didn’t get disqualified is in (only disqualifications = evictions and convictions). We ran over to the house to peek into the windows, then put our application and $70 combined fees in within the hour, before we had a chance for a walk-through. An opportunity like this doesn’t come up every day. I felt like I was buying a ticket for the lottery. I never buy lottery tickets, but I was willing to gamble that this was one to put my money on.
Our plan now is to turn this incredible house into an Artists Cooperative House. We’re seeking artists in all medias (including visual, music, performance, healing arts and gardening) to share space with me and Christo. I’m getting really excited just from meeting so many creative people. Finding the “right mix” is the hardest part (especially when considering who’s signing a year’s lease with you, based on a meeting or two). I’m learning to trust that the right people will be attracted to it, based on the intention that we’re putting into it.
The house is renting low simply because it was previously an assisted living facility. Overall, it’s in good shape and completely functional… it just has some funky features that would make it non-desirable for the average family looking for a home in this (upscale) neighborhood. Nothing we can’t deal with. The whole interior needs repainting and carpets need to be torn out. The bathroom and kitchen fixtures are sub-standard and pretty ugly. So there’s work to be done… but artist’s love to customize living spaces and we can pretty much do what we want with this space.
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April 27 Update:
We’ve had a lot of delays with the house. After spending a few weeks interviewing and selecting house-mates and doing a lot of planning around the house regarding the updates we will do, we’ve been waiting for them to clean it and move the remaining stuff left in the house. After waiting for several weeks, the realty manager called and gave us some bad news. The owners found out that there is a clause in their mortgage that they can only rent to people with mental handicaps. They had purchased it from the Portland Housing Authority, which is a funded trust to help the disadvantaged. So we are now waiting to find out if they can buy off the mortgage. If things can’t be worked out, then we’ll be looking for another house together. It would be really hard to find one that has as much space for as little rent, however.. and I really dread the process of starting another search, so I hope this one works out!
