Hammie

Hammie (the Hamachi) is our latest project… Tom and I found him at Urban Ore and are very excited to begin painting him. He'll be emerging out of the ground in our garden. We have an early August deadline so that'll get us moving and I'll post our work in process.

Organizing

I'm organizing my files. I'm thrilled, it sounds crazy but there's something about getting organized that is very soothing for the soul. I have my office I'm working on and then I'll conquer the studio garage. Tom and I've put some dates down on the calendar for an open house party and some get togethers, so it'll be even more helpful to get the house in order. A big part of this inspiration is thanks to Alyson B. Stanfield's I'd Rather Be in the Studio recommended to me by Bonnie Randall Boller. Alyson has a very direct, action-oriented approach, that really helps me become more aware of the excuses I've been making.

Another soul-soothing thing I've been doing lately is going to Alice Joanou's Loka Yoga. Besides the great workout, the slowing down and the peace I feel when I'm there, the atmosphere is great as well. It smells really good besides.

There's always more to write. Earlier, I was shredding 2003 phone bills… I'm going to now change my current phone bill to an electronic version!

Daily Practice

One of the benefits of blogging is that you get to meet and interact with people with similiar interests. Tom brought home some old law books that he thought I might be able to use. He suggested I could make books from them and ErinZam posted some recrafted law books on her blog which further lead to this inspiration posted above.

I get a lot of pleasure out of reading Michelle Maule's blog about her daily practice. I aspire to write daily, at least during the week.

On a different note, Tom and I discovered Autobody Fine Art in Alameda. Pure pleasure. It's a beautiful gallery: youthful, emerging, a little "rough" in a good way and brings it out excitement in me. I had a great therapy experience around this as well. Instead of thinking that this gallery is "outside" of me, I can actually relate to it as being "me" and "take this pill" whenever needed to bring that excitement back to my daily life. We had lunch at Burma SuperStar in Alameda. Super yummy and we'll be back!

Alameda Women Artists Group Show Friday

ALAMEDA WOMEN ARTISTS presents A VISUAL WORD
16 Artists at the new Alameda Free Library Meeting Rooms Gallery
1550 Oak Street, Alameda, CA | June 6-July 19, 2008
The Artist Reception is the First Friday, June 6th, 6-8pm. LIVE MUSIC.
Exhibit hours: Mondays-Saturdays 10 am-4 pm, Sundays 1-4 pm.

This is just one of my pieces that's in the show entitled "Rhymes with Pink". I've been collecting aluminum cans (thanks especially to Cheryl and Stephanie) and I'm looking forward to developing more pieces for this series.

Lots of updating on my website tonight. Some photos from Savannah from our honeymoon, one in particular of wine bottles in a garden that has me starting to collect bottles now. I would love anyone's help in this process.

Tom and I are talking about painting a big concrete sculpture that we'll put in our front yard. It'll be obvious that our place will be the neighborhood art house. I'm looking forward to that!

Dreams Do Come True

Photo captured by Mr. Virsik. Thank you.

We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers. They see things in the soft haze of a spring day or in the red fire of a long winter's evening. Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true.

~Woodrow T. Wilson (1856-1924, Twenty-eighth President of the USA)

I thought this quote was appropriate for today, brought to me by Cyber Nation. Tom and I had an incredible wedding. So touching and precious to me. Much more than I expected and very easy. Someone asked if my mouth hurt from smiling and when I thought about it, I think it did.

We just got back from from a really enjoyable and relaxing honeymoon. I have lots to share with my loyal readership! Here's just a list to tempt you with… yummy fried pickles from Blowin' Smoke in Savannah, Alligator Soul, gourd trees in North Carolina, sweet grass baskets in South Carolina, wildflowers on North Carolina freeways, Angel's BBQ, Telfair Museum of Art, SCAD shop, sushi/Thai restaurants?, how walking/running is such a great way to explore and cover more territory, Myrtle Beach, metalwork photos in Durham, Savannah Bed & Breakfast Inn , Meredith Brickell's ceramics and paintings in Bull City Arts Collaborative, recycled art show in Savannah, clean restrooms in SC, Chapel Hill, Greek deli, NC fleamarket, grits, croutons, key lime pie (it's not green), live oaks and Spanish Moss, Back in the Day Bakery and much more…

Love for the Cowboy Junkies

Dear Cowboy Junkies: Margo, Mike, Pete and Alan,

As artists, you don’t always know how you affect people. You only know that need to do what you do. I’m writing to share with you what an incredible effect you have on my fiancé and I.

Early on in our courtship, one morning Tom had left the house and gave me a call from his car, telling me to turn on the radio to KFOG. “Anniversary Song” was playing and it was my first introduction to the song. I can’t describe how touched I was, listening to those lyrics. This man thinks about me more than I’ll know.

In putting together our wedding music, we’ve chosen two versions of “Anniversary Song” to play. Watching Tom respond to your music is such a joy for me. Very few people bear witness to Tom smiling and dancing and I’m grateful to say that I get that privilege. I’m very lucky to be marrying this incredible man -- who really does make me a cup of coffee in the morning -- next week on May 4th. (This is our sanity weekend before our wedding.)

We’d be thrilled to hear you perform “Anniversary Song” tonight. We heard you perform it at the Mountain Winery in Saratoga, California last year but not at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz -- also a romantic Junkies centered weekend out of town. We’re looking forward to seeing you again in the future, as a happily married couple. Thank you for your gift of music and for the positive effect you’ve made in our lives.

Peace and love,

Leah and Tom
Oakland, California
www.designwithabandon.blogspot.com
April 26, 2008

Public Art

Tom and I got our marriage license today. Whoo hoo!

The Alameda County Clerk-Recorder's office has such great art. Of course, I can't go anywhere and not pay attention to the art. Here were some of the artist's that stood out for me: Lisa Kokin. She's got a great website as well. Plus, Christine Wong Yap, she's got a blog and writing that I want to read.

Tom and I had dinner at Delfina. Excellent food. We're a bit on the critical side. It's nice to enjoy such wonderful food. Of course, more art I was interested in: Gregg Renfrow. His work includes pigment dissolved in polymer medium applied to translucent sheets of cast acrylic.

We had some yummy tastings of ice cream at Bi-Rite Creamery. We accidently went into the Bi-Rite Market at first. I would love one of those in our neighborhood!

Afterwards, we went to a birthday party at a friend's house and met someone who told me about Climate Theater. They have show and tells, where you can bring in slides of your artwork and talk about it for $5 or less, if you bring food. Their next event is April 13 from 2-4. What a great place to practice speaking about your work. They mentioned you can bring work in progress as well. Sounds like something that would be good for me.