Wedding Invites

We finally sent out the wedding invites and it was such a relief to finish them. I made them extra complicated and I'm very grateful to Tom for helping me assemble them without complaint. My dear, father-in-law (almost) took this photo of them for me.

So what's the lesson here in being extra complicated? I went to four different places searching for ribbon and we met a very accommodating woman who helped us decide on the ribbon that we ultimately used at Needle in a Haystack. She really took her time and gave us exceptional customer service. She made a comment about choosing the ribbon, about it being a detail and not so important in the long-term aspect of a marriage, even though we might think it important now. I understand her point and appreciated it then too. I find at times that I focus on things with ever tightness and control and they're not so important. Choose your battles I think. Her advice applies to life so well. I think when we broaden our focus it can give us more space, we can see more things, more possibilities…

Flavorpill.com

I'm such a voyeur. But I imagine other people are as well. Do you know about Flavorpill.com? It's a great website of things to do in certain areas like San Francisco, New York, etc. but I what I love about it most is the artwork it features. Here's this week artist for the San Francisco edition. Her heart drawings are great: Ashlee Nicolle Ferlito.

My friend Maria started her own blog! I'm excited, this blog stuff is pretty catchy and fun and might I add incredibly easy. So if you were looking for the impetus to start your own blog, I recommend it.

I read the most fabulous book last year called: Crossing the Unknown Sea, Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity by David Whyte. I've linked it here to Amazon but you might be able to find it at your library. Basically, it's the author's story of his journey to heartfelt work. It's beautifully written. Bill Say, my therapist, who can get to the heart of a matter really quickly and effectively, recommended it to me.

I'm thinking of the book now because I'm feeling a little low. I have a goal of supporting myself with my art and my vision of that is clear and fuzzy. I'd like it be more clear. I think basically, I want to give myself some self some permission to let myself get other things done that will make my art more productive when I get back to my artmaking. Permission granted.

Gallery Outing

I went to the Oakland Art Gallery opening show tonight after work. They have a really interesting show of RISD Northern California Alumuni. Oh, and what a great spread of food!

A couple of women's work really stood out for me: Jane Kim who can also be found on, theshinysquirrel.com and Donna M. Castro. Very inspiring.

I was reading through the artist's bios and one in particular made a difference for me. The artist answered three phrases in what could have been his handwriting. The phrases were: Everytime I design something…, I'm inspired by…, I get excited when… and I get even more excited when… It seems really important to make your bio stand out in a book of many other bios. How can you make your bio stand out? What makes yours different? What do you want to say in 30 seconds or less so that someone flipping through doesn't pass your page by?

I'm putting together wedding invitations. I owe much gratitude to my boss who let me use his paper cutter. I don't know what I was thinking when I thought I was going to hand cut all of these. Eventually, when they're done, I'll put up a photo.

San Francisco Center for the Book

I'm documenting my creative time… I think it will be especially helpful to look back and see what I've created with my time, especially when I don't feel like I'm quite where I want to be.

Last night I was up late letterpress printing wedding thank you cards and envelopes at San Francisco for the Book. SFCB is such a great resource, one reason why I'm so glad to live in the Bay Area. Melissa was there and very helpful in answering my questions. Thanks Melissa! You can view and purchase Melissa's work at lizardpress.etsy.com.

Alameda on Camera

Tom came out to Alameda with me and I shot a fair amount of photos on Alameda Point Friday night and early Saturday morning. It was a lot of fun. It was great to be with Tom. He has great ideas. Plus, I wouldn't have gone half the places I went had I not been with him, especially in the dark.

It was really curious to me that after I looked at my photos last night, I started to see a pattern or a theme within the photos, lots of stairs, locks, hallways, peeling paint, color, chairs, feet… It's interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out of me within the month that I have to submit my work to Frank Bette.

I bought a slide printer and I'm going to take a stab at image transfer from Polaroid film.

Bare Your Soul

Last Wednesday night I submitted work to a show put on by Rhythmix Cultural Works. I don't have a lot of expectations but it felt really good to have them in the mail. Plus, this is new place for me to submit work so that feels pretty exciting.

One of the works that I submitted to the show is a book entitled "Bare Your Soul" which invites the viewer to anonymously share themselves by answering questions in the book. I like the idea of art being interactive, collaborative created by multiple people.

This year, my challenge is to exhibit at as many places as I can, to create a fuller body of work that includes collage, books, photography and printing and to further develop an online presence and etsy store. Last Thursday night I attended and joined the group Alameda Women Artists. Very inspiring to me and lots of great work and energy.

More later… I'll be sharing my Alameda on Camera experience and some photos.

Studies in Blue and Red at FBCA

Wow! My first post. It took me awhile but I did figure out my header. I’ve been wanting to put together a blog for a while now and I finally got the push from a great article by Kelly Rae Roberts in Cloth Paper Scissors magazine. Thank you Kelly Rae!

These two collage/paintings above are on display at Frank Bette Center for the Arts in Alameda in their current show "Vision & Revision" which is on until March 1, 2008. Tom introduced me to the FCBA and I'm very grateful to have the opportunity to exhibit at this great local gallery.

I’m in my first juried show! It also happens to be at FCBA: Alameda on Camera 2008 I'll post more of my experience as this event and my art gets underway. The exhibit is April 4-26, 2008. Thanks for reading.