As I’ve re-designed my business to feature my art as well as my entrepreneurship and writing, I want to share with you monthly what I’m working on and what’s inspiring me.

A quick re-cap of July to set the stage for August: I was in full recovery mode after hip replacement surgery followed by a bout of anemia. When a friend shared Mary Oliver’s poem Today, the line “letting all the voodoos of ambition sleep,” went right to my soul, and I thought, “That was me this past month!!” As a Type A personality, waiting for my body to heal was not a to-do on my calendar. But my low red blood cell count overrode my drive, and I unconsciously followed Ms. Oliver’s wisdom. A few clients had taken July off, and I was unable to sit comfortably enough to sew. So, luckily, all my attention could be focused on fine-tuning my new site which I could accomplish while lying in bed. I’m thrilled with how well it came out. I’m pleased that I took the time to be sure that every quotation mark was angled the right way, and that the art pieces I’ve created look visually appealing on the consistent gradient backgrounds we chose.

My special favorite page on my new website is the timeline my web designer suggested. It took the developer a few tries to get the vertical timeline dates to reflect each decade, but was worth it. Please take a look!

My new website: www.janepollak.com

Now that August is upon us, I’m ready to introduce my art to the interior design world. My next step is to attend the Design Influencers Conference in Atlanta where, as the name implies, I will meet and mingle with Influencers in the market. It’ll be chock full of information regarding social media (Tik Tok, here I come…) and collaborating with other brands. I’ve always thrived at networking events, knowing full well that meeting people live is the best way to form relationships. I also happen to enjoy getting together with like-minded creatives who value the new application of my art to textiles. I’ve already found the Design world to be welcoming and generous and look forward to continuing to grow my presence there.

I’ll bring along a few samples of my work, a completed pillow and a pillow-top or two so people can actually touch and feel what my products are like.

Most recently I’ve worked on a piece inspired by Matisse’s Red Studio. I had begun designing it from an image I found online, but one hot day after I’d been homebound for too long, I took out my NYC Culture Pass determined to visit a museum after a long hiatus. My first choice was MoMA, and saw that I could go that afternoon. When I arrived at the Modern, my intention (and stamina) was to visit one floor/one gallery. I looked at the postings and saw that the original Red Studio was not only on display, but that nearly a floor has been devoted to its study. There was a video featuring art historians discussing their discoveries about the painting, its history of ownership. and a space where many of the works included in the Red Studio painting were also on exhibit.

Here is my Matisse-inspired work, ready to go to the seamstress to have its backing and invisible zipper stitched on.

Have a great month! See you in September…