to.give.thanks

i am nearly in the clear. a moments rest is just beyond reach around the corner. and after days, weeks and months leading to our clothesline weekend, i am now filled with overwhelming joy and anticipation, i am thankful. grateful beyond a simple word. affirmed in my artistic desires and dreams. recovering my wits about me i am eager to begin anew, the commissions, coral castles awaits, and paper quilt publishing submissions. with one hundred and one thousand projects that i hope to afford the time for. and as of last night, in a small but informative discussion with my boss at cvs, i pretty well exclaimed my decision to quit my part time efforts before or around october twenty sixth. it is because of your support that i can rely and trust in what making art can do for me. cvs filled a space of time for me in the evenings that i was not using to benefit me, almost three years ago. now that i have found my self in my art, i have found comfort and i recognize my responsibilities and the gift i want to share is more. making art for myself is indescribably incredible. it fills me up, it lifts my spirits and lays insecurities and fear to bed.

i must thank my mom and dad for creating the creativity in me, somehow, god only knows. to my sisters: suzanne for standing beside me, emily for dying my hair, my dear mary and laurie for sweet words of encouragement everyday and for loving my art. to my brothers, ethan for the email this morning, for finding me after your twenty nine years, as siblings in the same world of creativity. he a builder, myself a visual artist. your words ethan, are words to live by and for and to cry out and exclaim the truth about, what we do and how it represents our hearts, thank you for finding the common ground with me. thank you aaron for being solid.

to the women of clothesline my heart is humbled by your beautiful inspiring art. i know i'm being weepy and sappy but our hearts and souls, our eyes have seen the glory and we have been given the gift of sharing it. i love every minute of planning and organizing and driving the efforts and event to it's opening to closing.

to my patrons: rob and maryalice, i cannot believe you guys. may twilight trees forever bring happiness and joy, may you be reminded of the sweetness of childhood and rest in underneath a forest of beautiful happy trees. thank you. to those of you who took a small bit of my art home with you i am so happy. to rebekah s., you know who you are, thank you for watching my work, for blurking, for your encouragement, for being honest and for stepping out and purchasing. to annette, if you're reading, thank you. i am so glad you liked my television trees, i was seriously worried about how an audience would receive it and wanted someone to love it as much as i do. i'm glad you found it. to taylor, again if you're reading, i'd love to make more artwork especially for you, thank you and feel free to contact me. to austina, it was so nice to finally meet you. i am so happy you liked my fish enough to give it away as a gift, i hope that it conjures up a beautiful little world for the little girl you're giving it to. amy and greg we'll be in convo, i'll have recycled air for you this coming friday! thank you phillip, denise and stevie for making it out. and to my coworkers thank you. thank you too linda!

okay, i think i'm finished. i am sorry if that was laborious, it's just really important that i thank you all publically because this is the beginning and i sort of want it to last forever. i also want all of you to know how serious i am about creating work, not for the money, not for fame, but for the purpose of bringing light and life into your homes. if you or your children are inspired by what my hands have done than as so many have said before me, i have met my goal and have served as i desire.

if you and i spoke at the show regarding commissioned work please feel free to contact me. email me at catcollier@hotmail.com. i would love to fill my calendar with deadlines for the rest of the year and for the first six months of next year. if you're interested in completed work not seen at the clothesline show, i'd encourage you to visit my etsy shop. i promise i will be updating with new work and the paper quilt cards.

if you're interested in keeping up with clothesline remember we've got the blog and if you're an artist we spoke to about getting involved and or participating we will be intouch. i've got just a bit more catching up to do and then it'll be back to regular broadcasting efforts here at phantomcrimes.

i just started reading mason & dixon by thomas pynchon and dixon in a letter to mason ends by saying: "y'r o'b'd't s'v't"

that's sort of how i feel about right now, goodbye all. until tomorrow.

Paper Quilts @ Etsy

i know it's again with the quilts. i decided to fill my etsy shop up again in hopes that one or all of these paper quilts might sell. i'm selling the original works of art for only $100.00. mind you, the shipping is high because of usps costs going up, but if you're local i will hand deliver and if you're international it might be lower, it all just depends on package. a couple of you have expressed interest in trade. i am completely interested in trading art, but not these quilts, at this time. i am completely willing to create a specific {commissioned} quilt(s) for you if you are interested in trading. i can even have a print made of one of these quilts that i could trade or that could be purchased at a whole lot less. if you've got a specific color pallette you'd like a paper quilt collage done in, i can do that. it really is up to you and how much you're willing to spend or trade. i really do appreciate the interest and am willing to set up a payment plan as well. if you'd like cards made of any of these quilts i am able to do that. an individual card is $5.00 but if you buy a mass quantity i can sell them at a lower cost.

i would like to remain as flexible as possible throughout the next few months and actually throughout the rest of the year. i am working on a bigger piece, right now that incorporates many of the same drawn elements of the quilt collage(s), but on larger scale. flowers and trees and birds like these. i will also be working on larger versions of my twilight trees.

on another note: i wanted to update you all on the family meeting. my brother ethan and sis n law mary have received a referral for the adoption of a little boy. i cannot give many details, i cannot even post his birth name (we are naming him caleb) or date of birth, or the town he was born in. all that i can say is that this is an amazing time for ethan and mary. they continue to feel support and hope. caleb is a healthy little boy, he is happy and strong and now we are just waiting on him. it has been a time of great celebration. please continue to pray though. i will continue to update as i can and as we are legally able to share.

in the middle of the night

i took an unintentional break from phantomcrimes. primarily and dependently because i feel a fresh photo is necessary each and everytime an effort is made to share here. my friend is happily borrowing my canon powershot and i have got an unfinished undeveloped roll of film in my manual that's got to get to wolfe's at some point soon. thus the b.r.e.a.k. i can't think of what i am trying to think about because i stayed up too late inorder to see my brother play with the rest of coral castles. for those of you not present last night at jj's well um, i am terribly sorry. i have not gotten all the sleep i need in the last couple of days, for all sorts of reasons. i am looking forward to catching a few winks after five.

at nine thirty this evening i am heading over to my aunt's house for a very special family meeting. i'll have updated information as it becomes available. on another note...i never took an actual photo of my completed May Paper Quilt Project submission, dawn has got it posted if you're interested. i stuck to the familiar tree theme, mainly because my family seems to be growing around me and it feels so good. i have been relating the tree to my family for so long now, make sense?

i have begun to make art again. i have taken awhile to get it all going again. i have had a couple emails from you all expressing interest in my paper quilts. trade? sell? what have you. i wanted to think about it for a while and i have finally come up with some answers so i will be getting back to you each by early next week. once i have emailed everyone back i will post my thoughts here. i have not put anything new up in my etsy shop mainly because i wasn't sure how to handle the new shipping cost increases. boy has anyone else noticed the insane flat rate international shipping cost? i also didn't know if i would have any luck at selling the paper quilts on etsy. i seriously don't think so, soooo!!!

in closing...