Leah Virsik

I’m always amazed how one thing leads to another. I’m taking a really great patchwork quilting class with Angie Woolman at Stone Mountain and Daughter in Berkeley, CA who is helping me learn to see color and to talk about it. We were piecing fabric together and she mentioned about not being concerned with the thread color. I have light color thread in my sewing machine now and a black skirt that I haven’t worn for years because it needed to be sewn. I sewed up the skirt really quickly this morning and am wearing it today. It really helps to loosen up and relax sometimes!

Going through my desk today at work I ran across a quote from Martha Graham “Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.” I love that. Another quote that I align with is by Richard Bach…”You teach best what you most need to learn.

We told Allison Tungseth we had 40 pigs on our mantle when it reality it turns we have 34 pigs with some elephants and cats thrown in. We were discussing the possibility of her photographing our house. We’ve met her before through Wendy and John, but this weekend Tom and I saw her deeply revealing photographs at her SFSU MFA Exhibition. I mentioned that our house is not quite ready to be photographed and she said many people tell her that. I imagine it’s a protective quality, I’d like to fix up the place, not expose too much of myself. Oh, well, the vulnerable parts, that’s what’s most interesting, now isn’t it?

Speaking of pigs, Tom sent me a great video on just the subject: A Wolf Loves Pig. Very cool!

We ended our San Francisco excursion Saturday with a trip to Kiss Seafood. What a treat. Our first time and we’ll definitely be back for their egg custard soup and other incredible Japanese delights.

Seth Godin’s blog makes my must-read list. This post inspired me today. I’m halfway through reading Chris Guillebeau’s article.

A painting at Nest on Fillmore this weekend caught my eye. Turns out it was created by Nicole Buffet. Ignorance is bliss. I had no idea who she was or who she might even be related to. But this piece definitely spoke to me.

What inspired me today was reading Wendy Richmond’s column in Communication Arts. And she has a book coming out in the Fall: Art without Compromise. The intro page is great. I enjoy hearing about her process and about the idea of creating sacred space and time for your art.