Personal Sovereignty

I'm eating breakfast and drinking coffee. I do like mornings, after I wake up. It's the waking up part that tends to be difficult… well I know I have control over that, just sometimes don't want to.

I've been thinking about personal sovereignty since it was brought up in my therapy group over the weekend. Here's a pretty good link on the topic. I thought of many different examples but the one that comes to mind here is writing this blog. I wanted to start for quite a while and then at times I don't think about it and I don't particularly want to write. Tom gently reminds me about writing and I appreciate it. I feel guilty that I've "neglected" posting. But it was something that I started. Why do I feel guilty? I haven't made a decision to "own" this blog when I feel guilty. I created it and then I let it go. Maybe an issue with not finishing things as a child…

Anyway, I've received a lot of great, and some unexpected, benefits by blogging: getting to share my art, writing, expressing myself, connecting with friends, getting a lot of attention from Tom, meeting new people who share similar interests. It's been fun. I could try commenting on other blogs too and become more connected with the community. Just thinking out loud. Gotta jump in the shower.

On another note, I love reading Michele Maule's blog on a daily basis. Her current post is about encaustics. Something I know I really enjoy learning and experimenting with. It's on my list of things to do. Of course I want to learn how to make it myself. So I'm keeping my eye out for an inexpensive double boiler. Here's a recipe I found online.

Altered dictionary

I've been pretty busy lately with lots of different focuses. Here's something that's fun that I started in a class taught by Lisa Kokin. She's a neat woman and I really enjoyed the class. Her site is really beautiful as well. I appreciated the chance to see her artwork in person.

I've just placed the buttons on the dictionary for now. I'll be drilling holes in the book eventually…

Artist Business Circle

I'm really excited about this upcoming Artist Business Circle that I'm facilitating, inspired by Cay Lang's Book Taking the Leap: Building a Career as a Visual Artist.


Artist Business Circle
__________________________________________________________________

Need help launching your career as a visual artist?

We’ll begin this circle by dreaming big and sharing those dreams in a safe, supportive environment. The sessions include:

• Creating artistic goals and a workable strategic plan to make your dreams a reality
• Practicing self-introductions that pique another’s interest
• Discussing the importance of a mailing list and an artwork inventory record sheet
• Learning a daily practice to discover your mission as an artist
• Discussing your work as a tool to develop your artist statement
• Developing business cards, a resume, bio, letterhead and invoice
• Researching and developing a list of ten places, which reflect your personality, where you’d like to exhibit and sell your work
• Discussing the value of blogging, the effectiveness of a website and selling online

Including guest speakers: Michele Pred and Dona Turner

About the facilitator: Leah Virsik is an artist with a passion for bookbinding and repurposing everyday objects. She brings a marketing degree, a wide variety of resources and a love of research to this circle. You’ll also find her on the Alameda Women Artists board. Learn more about her at www.leahvirsik.com.

Dates/Times: Nine Tuesdays from 7:00 P.M. - 9:00 P.M.
Sept 9, 16, 23 Oct 7, 21 Nov 11, 25 Dec 9 & Jan 13, 2009
Location: Frank Bette Center for the Arts
1601 Paru Street, Alameda, CA 94501

Register Online Now or call 510-523-6957

Questions? Email: leah at leahvirsik dot com

Cost: $150 (FBCA Member) $165 (Non-FCBA Member)
Plus guest speaker fee: $25 or less*

*Total speaker fee will be prorated among all artists.
Minimum sign-up for class is four artists.

Photo: Tom Virsik

Kudos to our Wedding Staff

I have incredible memories of our wedding… intimate, personal and filled with lots of love. We hired great people to help put on this event and I remember walking into the lodge and feeling well taken care of as our photographer, Megan E. Hanson, greeted us with her cameras. Sheryl Black of L'Aubergine Catering and her crew were busy setting up and Reverend Robert Shively was waiting for us. Actors from Woman's Will were busy rehearsing and Mel Speed of The Music Company was hooking up our sound system. I can't say enough of all the people we hired.

I had the bright idea of using Tom's iPhone to stream our music and it turned out that when we hooked it up to the sound system it didn't work. Megan E. Hanson came to the rescue by letting us borrow her iPod. It just so happened we had some similar music in common. Sheryl Black and her staff were amazing. We continue to get compliments from our guests on how good the food was. I had a hard time enjoying eating during the wedding but Sheryl packed up sample plates for us and when Tom and I got home we ravished through the leftovers. Crème Brûlée has a significant meaning for both of us and Sheryl went out of her way to make this special dessert for us.

My friend Cheryl referred me to Mel Speed at Fura Bodyworks. He gave me my Monroe piercing. When I went in to talk to him about music for our wedding, he had a ton of recommendations from all of his experience with weddings. He is a fabulous resource and has such a positive attitude. He also does wedding coordination and although we didn't end up hiring a coordinator, I definitely considered him.

Mel referred us to Reverend Robert Shively who was incredible to work with. We had him over several times for dinner and really got to know him. He asked us what tone we wanted for the wedding and we responded with a desire to have something serious and playful. I wanted people to laugh and cry. Reverend Robert Shively brought his warmth, his humor and his genuine spirit to our ceremony. A friend of mine said she and her husband would have definitely hired him for their wedding, if they weren't married already.

It was really important for us to have whole families and kids in particular at our wedding. I wanted to share the story of how Tom proposed and he suggested we hire Woman's Will to tell the story. They put on an absolutely beautiful production of Edward Lear's The Owl and Pussycat incorporating us back into the ceremony. Our congregation and especially the children were mesmorized by Woman's Will's performance. This was especially obvious in my brother's video. That episode of quietness warmed our hearts.

It was August 8, 2008 yesterday and a big wedding day for many people. Listening to the news of this made me want to get married again. I'm so grateful to have such special wedding memories. The intensity of Tom's touch and the way his voice cracked with emotion as he spoke his vows touch me deeply. I am very lucky and appreciative of Tom. Thank you love for being such a great part of my life!

Photos above by Megan E. Hanson: Tom and I, L'Aubergine Catering and Woman's Will

Purple painted lamp and other fun things

My mom gave this previously white lamp to me years ago and I've moved it from place to place hoping to paint it. I finally got to it with Tom's help. He not only helped with the painting but also with the encouraging… encouraging me to finish… it's very helpful… and I feel much more productive with finished pieces. I also started using my great $10 sewing machine for the edges of the velvet.

The light purple is milk paint which I have previously mentioned in this blog and the dark purple is just acrylic with some gloss medium. This glossy/matte contrast was inspired by Sol LeWitt's exhibit at the SFMOMA years ago.

I've been busy today, working on stuff… This morning I did a bit of web design. I'm designing Alameda Women Artist's new website. It's so much fun. Slowly, it's coming together, the css and xhtml, but it's making sense and I'm learning which is the extraordinary part.

I'm going to take my bike in to get it tuned up for next week's Oakland Museum bike tour.