Day 1: Sirani Gallery Show Opening

Yesterday was the opening night of the gallery show. My sister, Abby (i.e., a.k.a. Missladybug of Ladybugandco.blogspot.com) & I got there at around 8:30 am & starting setting up the display. We set up the display for about 4-5 hours or so. Maybe it was longer, I don't know. Started to lose count of the hours after the first few, since I was so focused on getting the display done in time. The gallery was supposed to be officially open at around noon or so, even though the opening was supposed to officially start at 6 pm that night. The good news is that we were able to make several daytime sales before the opening, so it was good that we finished the setup that afternoon.

The gallery is beautiful & huge, & we had two gigantic areas to set up the jewelry.

The display looks really nice. Ab took several pictures of the display & the gallery, so hopefully I'll be able to post some of the pictures at some point to show you what it looks like. (Hopefully she brought the USB cable for her camera or is using a standard USB digital camera cable, so I can just loan her my cable to use for the picture off-loading!)

Anyhow, I'll be checking in again to report on the progress of the show, so stay tuned.....

OMG, More Awards!!!!!

YEA, YEA, YEA, YEA!!!!!! WHO-HOOOOOOOO!

Now I know Barby of Meh is just way too modest & doesn't want me to make a big deal of the award she recently gave me, but nonetheless, I'm going to jump up & down & get just as excited as I did when I got my very first award.

So there. ;-) My apologies to Barby for being such a spazz (& for taking so long to post this!)......

But I think it's very cool that she thinks enough of me & my blogs to nominate me for an award. Her blog, "meh" is totally hilarious; you'll definitely want to check it out if you don't already know about it! My sister, Missladybug of Ladybug & Co, was the one who originally introduced me to Barby's blog, so I must thank her as well! ;-)

So, here's the award:



...and the link back to Barby's original post.

Wow, More Awards! Thank You, Yet Again!

Geez, I don't know if I can handle being showered with all of these great awards! :-) You sure do know how to make a gal feel special. Thank you everybody!



Yes, I can't believe it myself, but I just got ANOTHER "Rockin' Girl Blogger" award, this time from Missladybug of Ladybug & Co, which brings the count of awards to four - two "Rockin' Girl Blogger" awards, one "Bodacious Blog" Award, and one "Totally Fabulous Blogger" Award! Wow, this is so COOL!

Thank you, Missladybug!!!!!!! I appreciate the wonderful mention on your blog, as well as the exciting, blogalicious comments you left on my blog.



For those of you who don't already know, Missladybug writes a witty (no, make that HILARIOUSLY FUNNY!) blog filled with all sorts of useful tips & advice. You will probably fall off your chair from laughing so hard!

As she's a doctor, writer, musician, gourmet chef, & just all-around talented renaissance woman, she's got a lot of good solid advice to give on multiple subjects. So head on over to her blog for a fun time & some excellent advice!

Wow, Thank You, Christy & Ann!

This is me doing the "Happy Penguin Dance"!!!!

Whoo-hooooo! This is just too cool for words. I've won a Fabulous Blogger award from my blogger pals, Ann Clemmons of A Nice Place in the Sun (& two other great blogs) & Christy Zutautas of Totally Fabulous.

I would just like to say a huge thank you to Ann & Christy for my Fabulous Blogger award. Ann & Christy are not only talented writers & bloggers extraordinaire, but also very kind & thoughtful souls.



I will proudly post my award on this blog's sidebar for all to see, with a link back to Ann & Christy! (Click here & here to visit Christy's blogs & to read more about her. Click here to see a listing of all Ann's blogs & to find out more information about her.) So please check out their excellent blogs!

Feel the Love.....

Oh my goodness, my BlogCatalog pal, Joolz888/JOolian/Julian, just bestowed a "Bodacious Blog" award on me. Thanks so much, Julian. You are too kind!

I will proudly post my award on this blog's sidebar for all to see, with a link back to Julian's blog! So please check out his awesome blog!

While I'm at it, I'd also like to thank all of my readers & blogger pals for your outpouring of good vibes & support. Right back at ya! 8-)

-C

And Now For the Awesome GUY Blogger Awards.....

Now I just couldn't leave out the guys..... There are many very worthy & deserving guy bloggers out there too, whom I think deserve some recognition.

And so, & in the spirit of gender equality, & to show my appreciation to those guys who've been, well, awesome (!), I've decided to dole out awards to my favorite guy bloggers!

And so...... Drum roll, please! (DRUM-DRUM-DRUM-DRUM-DRUM-DRUM-DRUM!!!)

I would like to bestow the following awesome guys with the "Awesome Guy Blogger" award:

Chessnoid of Chessnoid Random Noid Musings

Cymrusteve of Run Bulldog Run & 2 other cool blogs

David B. Dale of Very Short Novels

Vincent Wright of Wright Hand Blogger & about a zillion other websites

RennyBA of RennyBA's Terella

RoarinRow of R Playground & other blogs.

Joolz888 of Just JOolian ~ Hippocampus Hi-jinx

Ryan0Rules of The Crazy News

ZMoney of ZBlog

Castaway of Run-a-bout! & other interesting blogs

Nathan of Nathan's Running Blog

Greg of Greg on the Run

Tom of Runners' Lounge

Bob of A Bob A Day

Francoyong of Mind Body Spirit And Fluttering Thoughts

LarryB of Mommy, Where Do Customers Come From? A Guide to Marketing & Selling to a Connected Customer

Vishnuap of Arbitrary Servings from the Noodle Joint Upstairs

Gashcrumb of gashcrumb.homelinux.org

Artknight of Spicypage Blog

SecludedHabitat of Sydney through a Local's Eyes

Fruity of Fruit Species

Congrats!

Feel free to show off your award on your site & link back to this post (like I did with my award & link back to BlackTennisPros, who gave me my award), showing proof positive of where you won your award & proudly displaying your "awesomeness" to the world (although you probably already know how awesome you are)!

I hope you'll enjoy displaying your award on your website! Please "pay it forward" & pass on the good vibes by honoring other fellow awesome guy bloggers out there! And while you're at it, you're welcome to bestow a few "Rockin' Girl Blogger" awards to some rockin' blogger gals as well! ;-)

Sincerely,
-C

You Are All Rockin' Grrrls! Now Here's Your Award!

Hello there everybody,

As promised, I'm going to fulfill my responsibility as a winner of the "Rockin' Girl Blogger" award and pass the torch to other deserving lady bloggers. I'm happy to have the opportunity of passing on the good vibes & the respect! (Reminds me of the movie, Pay it Forward.)

So, I'd like to bestow a "Rockin' Girl Blogger award to the following rockin' blogger girls:

Bonnie of How Can I Do That?

Nubia of The Disconnection: Encounters with Strangers

Wikta of London, The Music, & many, many other blogs! (Thought I had a lot of blogs! Don't know how she does it!)

Missladybug of Ladybug & Co

Badthing of Marilyn's Non-Violent Planet Newspage & other blogs

Cutetoes of Meh

Slugger of A Nice Place in the Sun

Heather of The Wishful Writer

Anna of My Hints

Zvi Band of With The Band

Dana of Run Granola Run

TequilaMockingbird of Tequila Mockingbird

Amy of Runners' Lounge

Tracy of The Zen Housewife

Suz of Suz on a Diet

EJ Cooksey of Losing It - Getting Fit

Abi of Couch to 5K & other blogs.

Deann of Living the Life

Fishwithoutbicycle of Fishwithoutbicycle

Thank you ladies, for your bloggerific friendship, generosity, and kindness of spirit! I greatly appreciate your warm feelings of camaraderie & sisterhood! Thank you for being people of substance & doing it with style -- I applaud you for trying to make a difference by blogging about things that matter, &/or for just trying to make people smile & laugh, which is definitely a necessary part of living a healthy & happy life!

Congratulations!

Feel free to show off your award on your site & link back to this post (like I did with my award & link back to BlackTennisPros), showing proof positive of your award & your "awesomeness" (although you probably already know how awesome you are)! I hope you will "pay it forward" & pass on the warm fuzzies & good karma by honoring other deserving blogger "grrrls"!

Peace,
-C

I won a Rockin' Girl Blogger Award! This is SO COOL! I rock!

Hi Everybody,

I'm happy to announce that I just won a award from Sheila of Black Tennis Pros. Here's the original post about it: It's A Beautiful Day: I Rock!.

So check out her very cool blog!

In my next post, I will continue the good karma by bestowing this award on other Rockin' "Grrrrl" Bloggers out there in the blogosphere.

So stay tuned & rock on!
-C

Writing the Artist Bio, Take One & A Half 8-)

So, I was looking at other bio examples, which is what it appears most people do to get ideas, & I noticed that bios vary widely. Some focus on "just the facts, ma'am" & are very cold & impersonal (date & city of birth, a chronology of major accomplishments, etc.), & therefore can make for some rather dry reading(!), and then others are very intimate & not only discuss the person's work, but their thoughts & entire life's history.

My bio will probably fall somewhere in between.

For writing in general, I think it often helps to have a framework from which to work. With these "official" pieces of writing, I particularly like to follow some kind of structure, as they seem to mandate it. I mean it's not exactly the place to be free-styling; people seem to expect that it will be a serious examination of the artist & their work.

Ho hum. Right now, that's going to be particularly hard for me, as I can't seem to stop wanting to turn everything I write about into a laughing matter. OK, maybe I went into the wrong career. ;-)

Let's see if can be serious, if only for a moment.... Deep breath. Here we go:

As I sometimes find with my art, it can often be easier to create from within the framework of an existing idea or concept. Now the idea has usually originated within me or from an influence, but the point I'm making is that creativity (in art, writing, music, etc.) doesn't always flow from complete emptiness. It has to start from somewhere. An idea, a dream, a conversation, something!

Now, as many a writer will tell you, it's very hard to sit down in your chair, & park yourself in front of your typewriter, staring at a blank piece of paper. Or, instead of being overly dramatic for literary effect (!), if we are painting a truly accurate & modern picture of the situation, that'd actually be your computer keyboard & wordprocessing program of choice. 8-)

As I mentioned earlier, I keep noticing that while I'm writing, I just can't resist the urge to inject humor into my bio, which is probably going to be considered inappropriate by a "serious" art gallery.

If I were to write the bio in my own "blog" voice, completely unedited, this'd be the rough draft:

"Began art career at the young age of 2 years old, when I drew a picture of the ocean in red crayon on my crib wall. Upon my parents' discovery of my newfound canvas, they quickly gave me a sketch pad, to replace my wall art inclinations, lest I start an "unsavory," underground career as a graffiti artist. ;-) If you count macaroni art, I began my jewelry career at age 3. Entered my first official gallery show at the tender age of 6, where I won honorable mention for an oil painting displayed at the Open Door's Art Gallery Exhibition in Lewisburg, PA. Or rather, I temporarily won this award: The judges thought it was done by an adult, but when they discovered a kid had painted it, they pulled the honorable mention. (Yes, I know, very unfair & totally lame. They would never do that today. Or atleast we hope not. Back then a child was apparently not considered to be a valid artist until they stopped drinking from a sippee cup.)

Studied art & took "official" art classes in various disciplines throughout my entire life. Took studio art & art history classes at university, where I majored in English Literature. I began designing original jewelry sometime in the mid 1990's. I had various unrelated careers [graphic designer (which is somewhat related), editor, various IT jobs (for 15+ years) like senior systems analyst & sysadmin, federal contracts program manager, etc.], but all the while, continued making art. Also in November 2003, the art league I'd created & headed held a very successful & popular "wine & cheese" art gallery exhibition at my then workplace, The Institute for Genomic Research. The event featured several artists & their work, many of whom were also scientists as well as good personal friends. My work got a lot of recognition at this event, & many people asked how they could buy my work. Thus began my professional jewelry career. Starting in 2003, I taught my first jewelry design classes. And in 2004, I began the Ferlanti Couture & Wildfire Designs jewelry companies.

My art reflects my philosophy on life, how I perceive what I see in the world around me, my travels, etc. The influences of the music, art, fashion, & writing that I encounter sometimes show up in my work.

I like to think of my art as a conversation between me & the rest of the world. I believe it's important to be an informed citizen of the world, and my art reflects this sentiment."

OK, not exactly publishable material for an art gallery, but atleast it's a start.

If anyone would like to chime in with some useful bio-writing tips or constructive ideas, please feel free. Thanks!
-C

Writing the Artist Bio, Take One

I'm sitting here trying to write my artist bio, so atleast I've moved from the phase of procrastination to the actual writing process. ;-)

I am normally not a procrastinator, as you aren't allowed that luxury when you run your own business, atleast not if you want to run a successful business! ;-)

But this is a beast of a different nature. Yes, sure it's promotional writing in its own way, which I'm actually good at doing, but as I mentioned earlier, I'd rather write about the jewelry, & not me. I realize the usual tired concept of the "artist as product," but frankly I'm a human being first & it nonetheless still offends my sensibilities to be categorized like this. Yes, I am a businesswoman, but I'm also an artist, & so not surprisingly, still have an untamed independent spirit, thank you very much!

As you can see, I think I'd much rather blog about writing my bio than actually writing it, but atleast we're getting the juices flowing.

Is There Any Way I Can Get Out of Writing My Artist Bio?! ;-)

Well I'm supposed to be writing my "artist bio" for the upcoming art gallery show, & haven't started it yet. Even though I find that blogging about fashion, business, & the like, comes rather naturally to me, I must admit I really don't like writing about myself.

Now those of you who've read my other blogs might laugh at this statement, but while I don't mind sharing thoughts & feelings about experiences, I just don't like writing about myself & my background, atleast not in such an "official" way.

Can anyone else relate it to this feeling?

I think it stems from the fact that I am a very private person at heart. I know that my bio doesn't have to really be about "me" specifically, & that it can be about my training & my art, but I nonetheless really detest writing these sorts of things.

There, I said it.