“Stand Up and Be Counted, every boy and every girl”…Sting lyrics in the song, Stand Up

The United States 2020 Census is happening right now. Have You done Yours, yet? I felt a little patriotic filling out the First Online Census and decided to learn more. Here are some interesting bullet details. The Population count determines the Congressional House Seats allotment, giving States the correct number of representatives. Larger populated states, more seats. The kind of information that has been gathered has changed over the years. Examples. The First census was done in the 1600s, in Virginia, before we were even a nation. What did we want to know? In the 1790s, information about the Heads of households. In 1850, names of ALL members of households, country of birth and first to ask about “color” and Slave schedules. (that one made me cry.)

The Census isn’t a new thing. It’s been practiced for thousands of years in many countries. Remember in the Old Testament, when all households with baby boys were identified? In 1990, 54 countries took a census. In 2020, 150 will. In 1990, in the US, it took 18 months to gather and assimilate all of the information. In 2020, it took me 10 minutes to fill out the online form. The US will spend 16 billion dollars on the 2020 census.

Because of how things have changed, 2020 could be the last census taken in the US. Unregulated companies such as FaceBook, who has 2.4 billion users and is larger than any country, already knows more about its users than any Democratic Government. Boy, the world and how its functioned for thousands of years, is evolving faster than in any time. Yes! Stand Up and Be Counted!

I found some of the above info from an article written by Jill Lepore, Staff Writer at the New Yorker.

Art In My Studio

I thought it might be fun for me to show you how I worked through a recent collage, start to finish. Let’s do it with the pics below…

• 

• 

The Top Left image is a raw start, where I have just collected vintage papers and lay them out on the 18″ x 18″ cradled birch board. Notice the piece of cardboard on the upper right? It needed to go, as I could see that it was dominating and just didn’t feel right. It will wait happily for another day! After I felt good about the layout, I adhered it to the board with Neutral PH Adhesive by Lineco. Then comes a fun part…scribbling! I use thin pencils, fat pencils, and just fill in spaces. Many teachers call this the Fun Stage. I see why! The white piece on the bottom left was too bright, so I took a spatula of ocher and spread it to make more of a unit. Yes, it’s tough to eliminate a piece of vintage paper, but sometimes, it has to be done. After eliminating the wrong pieces, it was time to add in strong Right pieces, such as the red circles. I made that paper by simply painting a sheet of watercolor paper with red acrylic paint and while it was still wet, wrote the lyrics of a song I was listening to. I love the texture created and ease of that process.

The final and fun stage is to Assess…what’s missing? Ahhh, the good stuff is in the details! I’m trying very hard to incorporate more colors, that I’d categorize as Not my favorite colors, into my work. I can still use my favorites, but I want to be open…thus…the Blues…and even More of a stretch than that…a Lilac Blue! I confess, the worlds Most popular color, is my least! But, the color wheel was invented for a reason, and I USE it. If colors compliment each other, I want to take advantage of that information. I think the sparing and critically placed use of the Blues in this piece, causes the eye to move All over the piece!

I always tell my husband when I ask him for his reaction…it’s not Done yet, but that’s the fun of Mixed Media! Until it sells, it’s always OPEN for tweaking.

!SOLD! : )

This is a Favorite word for professional Artists! They will all speak about the honor it is for someone to feel something from what you have imagined and created! Have you ever thought You’d like to own an artists work, but weren’t quite sure how to go about it? Well, I think that I can speak for Artists that I know and am confident that they would say…Just Ask Us! I’ve loved and followed a Polish artist and inquired about her work just this week. Social Media makes living around the world problem free, for buying art. Having a PayPal account helps, but isn’t necessary. I use it as a kind of bank, to have money for buying and selling, but you don’t have to do that. It also gives You the option of purchasing with your Credit Card just as some business offer a Guest Checkout option. Super easy and super safe! There’s still the good old Banking check. Write the Artist a check, when it clears, just like any other category, it ships. Also, don’t be afraid to ask if You can make payments. Lots of galleries do this as well. Make Your final payment, and it ships.

Why am I writing about this? Because I got an inquiry about one of my pieces through social media just this week. “Im interested in this piece”, she wrote. First, I privately did the happy dance, and then, I made a short video of the piece and sent her pertinent info about size and price. She said, “she loved it even more”! I was able to discount it to her, because I’m selling it from my studio so I don’t have the percentages that I owe to my galleries. See? Is it starting to sound better and better?

So, I am happy ( and just a little sad) that my Ceramic Sculpture Mixed Media piece titled, Continuum, is going to live with one of my very favorite people. I don’t think that she would mind if I tell you something that she said in her first contact, because it helped solve a little bit of a mystery for me about hesitant buyers. “This is one of the things that I’ve been wanting to do but kept putting it off”, she said. It Reassures an Artist Every Time they sell a piece and helps explain, that we are all busy. I have had people so disappointed when they’ve postponed buying and later learned that that item had sold. Its no biggy with a lot of things, but with art, its often One Of A Kind. I love a phrase that my husband says…We Do what we Want to do.

Are you Interested in Art that you see on the internet? Contact the Artist and ask! It never hurts to ask, even if it doesnt work out!

Continuum.

Creature Alert!

For a good while, I’ve been making Ceramic human figures. I decided to take a new path and work on some Animals…for a change! So far, I’ve made a bear, rabbits, raven, sheep, ram and I don’t intend to slow down. In fact, these are in the kiln, right now. There’s an amazing amount of learning that goes on while you focus on an image, for hours. I had no idea how many ways a rams horns can attach, circle, etc., but it’s sure been fun to see. Let me get this group successfully through two firings and then I’ll show you. My first year firing at home, I never lost anything, but in the first part of my second year, I had two !KABOOMS!, (I call them!) I’ll never stop learning the mysteries of clay, but I do find a little solace that explosions happen both to the novice and super experienced! Here is one of my latest Creatures that is in the kiln and meant to hang on the wall!

*

So, Yes, the days around the world are interesting to say the least. Challenges like we haven’t known for a while. Are they the Worst of times? I dont think even hardly. Yes, there have been horrible losses. For those families we mourn. Every generation has these events, but humans are built to recover. While we are in the thick of it, it’s the worst, but as we come through, we heal. I just watched a replay of American Experience, PBS. The topic was…Polio. Why did I watch that? Because I had a suspected case of Polio when I was 18 months old. That’s another story for another time, but the words that I heard from Polio survivors and those who weren’t infected on the television show, were Exactly like we are hearing today with Covid19. We’ve all but forgotten Polio and NO ONE in the world will have it, if vaccinated. Yes, Forgotten! Ask a young person and they dont have a clue. Can we believe that we will all but forget Covid19…I say for most of us, Yes. Those in the Epicenter of Any major event…World Wars, Terrorist Attacks, Pandemics never do, but for those of us that are on that outer tier…Yes. Yes. Faith over Fear. It’s ALWAYS a good choice!

*

I’m always so happy that You stop by and see what’s going on in my world. I love sharing with You and love Your responses either below in comments or on Facebook (Hasty Pearl) or Instagram (hastypearl). I would love for You to say hello, there!

If You would like to follow this blog, You will get an email when I write. All You have to do is look over on the right hand column and Subscribe. I won’t bother you with endless posts and of course, You can unsubscribe at any time.

Best to you All…Be Well…Live Fully…Stand Up and Be Counted!!! : )

Laura aka Hastypearl