Heritage Hall Museum Exhibition: More Than "Just A Craft"

Needlepoint             "fire flies"      © Debra Eubanks Riffe

Last week was ca-ra-zy!
The past five days have been tornadic.

I, generally, like to have a little more control over my calendar: who I need to meet, where I have to be at any given moment. It's important for me to pause every once in a while and assess whether or not I'm making progress. It was virtually impossible to pause, at the end of each day last week, and feel a sense of accomplishment. Staying on top of email messages, driving to appointments, carving blocks. All of it collided and by day three I had a real moment of clarity. Creating and selling my art is now a full blown business.

Today I'm back in my happy place. I'm in my studio working on new linoleum cuts and drinking caffeine (my ONLY vice). The phone is turned OFF!  The television is turned OFF!  I'm listening to Radio Classics on SiriusXM Radio and lovin' it. I'm in Debbe's World.

Moving forward . . . I've been invited to exhibit at the Heritage Hall Museum in Talladega, AL located at 200 South Street, East. Titled: MORE THAN "JUST A CRAFT": Needlepoint and Printmaking Art of Debra Eubanks Riffe - the artist reception will be Sunday, February 10th from 2:00 - 3:30PM.  You're invited. Attached is the front of the invitation/card that was mailed to patrons.

If you're not on my mailing list and you'd like to be notified about future exhibits contact me at: debra.riffe@gmail.com. See you next Sunday.

Movin' Right Along

It's hard to believe that I've just reached the mid-point of my grant year.
September 2009 is looming on the horizon and I'm working as hard and as fast as I can! This is the beginning of MY art festival season. I love it! Unfortunately, I'm going to have to bow out of the shows located outside of Birmingham which I've been accepted to participate in. I don't want to get bogged down with the logistics of trying to prepare new prints when my focus is to complete the requirements of my GIA grant. That's my priority. I'm very excited with the larger lino blocks that I'm cutting. So far the blocks are either 14" x 20" or 18" x 18" which is larger than I've ever worked. I'm taking a few of them to Gordo, Alabama in a couple of weeks to show them to Glenn House, Kathy Fetters and Amos Kennedy. Nothing like a good old critique from a couple of heavy hitters in the printmaking/papermaking/letterpress world. More on that later.

Once you get into a "rhythm" cutting a design into linoleum block, it becomes very theraputic. I used to find this same rhythm when I'd needlepoint at all hours of the night. And as much as I enjoy block printing. . . I have to admit that I really miss my daily stitching sessions. I still keep small canvases stored in my car. Whenever I find myself waiting for something or someone, I'll pull one out and stitch like there's no tomorrow. So much to do; so little time.

I'm enrolled in a stained glass class for the next six weeks. Actually, we've already had two sessions. The class is offered thru the Birmingham Museum of Art. Penny Arnold is the instructor. She's wonderful. I love her teaching style. Very clear instructions, low key, non-obtrusive. By that I mean that she's not hovering over you or insisting that you do something her way as the right way. While there are a number of correct steps that one should follow to get a desired result she definitely has fun, informative sessions. Check out her website Golden Penny Studio.

Fall 2008 Schedule

February 4th

I'm happy to announce that I am a featured artist this month (one of three) on the Huntsville Art Blog. I embarrassed to say that two of my D RIFFE DESIGN web pages still haven't been completed but that's nobody's fault but mine. So it goes.

My art festival schedule for this season has not been finalized. I find myself, slowly, shifting gears and focusing more on my needlepoint. Here's a recent pic of a canvas that I've been working on. You can check out previous posts to see how much progress I've made. It's slow going. Remember this is an 18ct mesh canvas which means that there are 324 holes per square inch to stitch!

Introducing Web Home Page for D Riffe Design

Okay, here is the new HOME page of my site (that I hope will go live this week)!

I'm proud of myself! I've been staying on task and working on my website images. Lots of scanning, cropping and planning. My one hiccup has been in trying to figure out how to put my entire portfolio of lino block prints on-line, without inviting those few rouge artists out there an opportunity to "right click" and borrow my work (without permission). It's a challenge, to say the least.



Additionally, I want to show you the needlepoint canvas that I've been working on. I stitch at least one to two hours each night. It's difficult choosing between sitting at the computer and working on web stuff or sitting on the floor of my den and stitching. The slightest distraction that takes me away from my creative time makes me nuts. Oh, well, what can you do but roll with it, right? Go to my previous post to compare the progress of my needlepoint images.

That's it for now. Back to the drawing board.

Work in Progress

I'm making slow but steady progress on my newest needlepoint canvas. I feel like I should have more to show for my effort, but that's not the case. These two images which I've posted show how the purple hull peas are starting to take shape in the washtub. If you go back to the previous post, you can read up on the project.

I'm working on 18 count canvas, a teeny-tiny mesh. So if I stitch one square inch of canvas that's a total of 324 holes (per square inch)!! It takes me about one hour to stitch one square inch . . .that's if I'm not interrupted by a phone call or a by a crazy woodpecker banging away on the soffit of my house. I'm at my wits end trying to keep the little winged devil from damaging the wood. Why my house? Geez. Today I noticed where the paint has been chipped away and a circular pattern, about the size of a half dollar, is showing exposed wood. I'm not happy about this. Enough is enough!

Catching up!

I didn't think that managing a blog would be soooooo time consuming. It seemed simple enough. Write a narrative or two about something (in my case) art related, post an image; maybe two or three and then sign off until the next time. Problem is. . .life gets in the way.

I'm employed with the city and I spend eight hours a day sitting in front of a computer. The last thing on my list of things to do, when I get home, is to sit in front of another computer! However, once I get my second wind I have to admit that this blog thingy is addictive.

Since my last entry, I've given a Brown Bag art talk on my needlepoint canvases. The turnout was great and I hope to find other venues to talk about my needlepoint art and to display the work. I'm working hard these days to cut new lino blocks. The ONB/Magic City Art Festival is six weeks away and I intend to be ready. Thank goodness for income tax refunds. I need to have several prints professionally framed and now I have a cushion to work with. The image that I've posted is one of a young boy playing with string. The title is "Cat's Cradle." I've cut six linoleum blocks with young boys playing as the main focus. Last year, I didn't have one image of a boy in my portfolio. Now I have too many! I admit, I've gone a little overboard.

My favorite local slide processing shop has closed. I hate it. A number of juried art competitions still request slides to preview. Not having a local shop to process slide film puts a lot of us at a disadvantage. Luckily, I took fourteen of my prints in several weeks ago to have slides and dupes made. I think that I have enough to hold me for a while. But, where will I go? what will I do for the new prints that I'll create? Bummer. Digital pics are a curse and a blessing, I suppose.

I have a terrible cold. Or, maybe it's a sinus infection. I don't know, I just want it to be over. The sun is out, the weather is great and all I want to do is lock my door, pull the blinds and curl up on the couch in the den and sleep (with the remote in my hand, of course). I'm really tired of coughing and sneezing. My nose is sore. Until next time. . .

Valentine's Day 2007

Ooh, noooo! Here I was all fired up to write a new post about my wonderful Valentine's Day adventure and low and behold I discover that BLOGGER is no longer in beta form. Geez. I've had to jump thru hoops and create new entries just to get to my site. I already have a gmail account so why am I being forced to learn a new way to navigate to this page? Every time I get comfortable with this internet stuff it changes. I am not interested in new ways to push buttons, create new templates or learn a technical language. I'm tired already just reading the info. The instructions are ambiguous. This is a bit much. Did I just create a new blog page!!????? Or should I say ANOTHER blog page??? Why is that?? I'm confused.

I've spent the last 4 days tackling a freelance newsletter job that I was told that I had one week to produce. I can usually knock out a four to eight pager, effortlessly, assuming that I have most of the copy and pictures. On the surface, this job appeared simple enough; just a redesign of a newsletter that needed a cleaner, fresher look. I looked at it and thought, yeah, this is a piece of cake. But wouldn't you know it, even tho I was given "final copy" the client started making changes and adding new information immediately and then stated that "it would be great to have it printed by Friday." FRIDAY??!! Are you kidding me? Today is Wednesday! Groan. I should have followed my gut feelings about it. Now I'm caught up trying to expedite this newsletter to satisfy my customer and regretting every minute that I'm being pulled away from my personal art projects. It's quite a chore to smile and remain professional when you're feeling rushed. But I'll do it. I'll do it if it kills me!

The past 2-3 years I've become very selective. I don't. . .I WON'T take every job offered and I've turned down a lot of "quick turn-a-round/pocket change" freelance jobs. Working on my art DYNASTY (lino block relief prints and needlepoint) has become a priority for me. While making a few extra dollars is great, I've learned that my creative time (away from the computer) is much more satisfying and rewarding. I'm on a computer eight hours a day. Now I'm at home. And here I'll sit in front of another computer monitor until midnight. This is not fun. NOT FUN!

I'm going to post the cover of my brochure announcing the Brown Bag Lunch Series Art Talk that I'll give next Wednesday, February 21st. I created the brochure and had copies printed last week. I've thought about posting all of the (6) panels but I've already run out of steam for the evening. I need to stitch a little bit before calling it a day. My goodness, it's already 11PM! Whoa!