6 days to go

It´s official:  I am mad. 6 days to go and the majority of the pictures aren´t even framed!!! I roughly know where I will hang them but I have hundreds of my own and also I love the white walls of my gallery. I spent the day there today and it was a good day.
back to reality I have a thousand things to do so I better get on with it. I still have not finished my speech and I want this to be a good one. Not many chances to say what I want to say to all the people I want to say it to. If you want to know more about me go to www.bareface.jimdo.com Thanks for reading...

24 days to go

I am mad? Have I gone insane? all of this just to impress one person? It seems that way. It is madness but it is so worth it. I got my second sponsoring deal today - alcohol free (there is always a down side) drinks for the vernissage. We are in business! I am sending out invites like mad even though I know that I won´t be able to deal with more than a dozen people. So, it must be that I am mad. I don´t know about you, but I like it.

27 days to go

wow, time is flying. I feel as if the days are over taking me. I have sent out so many press releases today that should I not get any emails or phone calls I have to seriously consider the fact that people might not like this project. the photograph guy didn´t show up today. let´s hope that there is a logical explanation for that. I am working on a big canvas and I am not happy with the size of it. It makes me realise how attached I am to my 25x25cm format...how comfortable I am with it. the canvas is not only much bigger but also rectangular. I am developing a new obsession with hands! I love drawing hands and faces. Give me ten more years and I might do a whole person. It is now almost tomorrow and I better try and get some sleep. Good night from me.

29 days to go

The Art of Inclusion goes North, to Hamburg to be precise. I have been asked to exhibit the pictures at the annual meeting of autismus Deutschland. This will be in october 2011. Great news! but all the press releases had to be recalled and changed as I now can´t auction the pics off until autumn. a great problem to have. tomorrow is my first official press date with the local newspaper guy. press releases are out and over half of the celeb invites. two weeks to getting the key to the gallery. I can´t wait. its definitely happening!

31 days to go

I have finished the invitations to the VIPs and the first ones will go out tomorrow. It was a struggle but its over now.  I have also had an email from eBay which sounded quite good. If they supported the art of inclusion I would get much more publicity for the auctions. fingers crossed. also contact to christies has been established and you never know what might happen there. and last but not least I got a fantastic picture back today. brilliant artwork by verstyler. look him up on the internet. cool guy. I am beat now, so good night whoever you are....

32 days to go

I have finished the press release ( with lots of help) but it is done now! And I had the first media contact - the local newspaper. they were very impressed and will want to talk to me on friday. I will also get nearly 14 days to prepare for my exhibition, meaning I get into the room on the 17th of march. that is bliss as I have no idea how to hang the pictures, which ones etc. now I will have time to try out my ideas in peace and quiet. I so look forward to being a gallery owner ( even if it is just for a limited amount of time!) I still haven´t done the invites to the celebs. I am motivated, don´t get me wrong but I just can´t get anything down on paper. I have to do it tonight.
so there you go

33 days to go (if we assume it is still sunday)

okay, at first it didn´t look like it at all but in the end I got a lot of things done because someone kicked my ass. very important for me to have such a someone. the big decision of the day (well, night) is that I will auction off the Art of Inclusion pictures on ebay. it was a difficult labour and birth but mother and baby are doing fine. the press release looks great thanks to a lot of help from another friend. with all that the initial excitement about the project is coming back and that´s a very good thing. tomorrow, correction today, I will have to send out the invites to my VIPs - no excuses. for now it is good night all from me

34 days to go

I had no post today but maybe I should not expect any more letters to arrive from now on. The problem is, I have gotten quite used to it. All I managed to do today is finish off the press release. I have also come up with two possible ways to turn the Art of Inclusion pictures into money. I have proposed these two ideas to two diferent people and, you might have guessed it, got two different opinions. so basically back to square one. I hate decisions, so this is torture for me. I have to decide so many things. I am crap at delegating as I prefer to do things on my own rather than ask others for help and involve them. I am not a team player but I will have to be if this is going to work. It has to work. I have spent the last 11 months working on this project. I will see it through. For once I will finish something. I am my own worst enemy!

My one regret in life is that I am not someone else.

Woody Allen

35 days to go

today is stationary day meaning I get to go shopping!!!! I love stationary and will use any excuse to buy some! but today I really need to get a few things. mainly envelopes for the invitations. You have n idea how exciting it can be to shop for envelopes ;) . I still have King George VI on my mind wondering whether this will become a new obsession but I don´t really have time for this now. Besides I am a Henry VIII fanatic. Mustn´t get my kings mixed up.

35 days to go

"In this grave hour perhaps the most fateful in our history, I send to every household of my peoples, both at home and overseas, this message, spoken with the same depth of feeling for each one of you as if I were able to cross your threshold and speak to you myself. 


You might have guessed it, I have just come back from my audience with Colin Firth aka King George VI. What can I say? A-a-absolutely brilliant. Lucky King George VI to have had someone to apply informal yet highly effective psychotherapy to him. And all of that without formal training or qualifications. I have a lot in common with Mr Logue: no formal training, no qualifications, I have worked in Harley Street and I don´t charge anyone who cannot pay for my services ( I do voluntary work ). So Mr Logue is an excellent role model. Anyway, this is a great film. Go and see it, if you haven´t done so already! If you have, go see it again. I will!
It is 2 a.m. now and I shall go to bed now. Good night!

36 days to go

okay, the countdown is on. 36 days to go. What happened so far: I have written to 130 VIPs , which meant I had to draw 130 almost identical pictures. For an autistic person with a tendency to develop obsessions that was absolute bliss ; ), it also meant 130 personal letters - also no big problem as I prefer writing to talking. the two biggest problems where 1. motivation and 2. financing. I struggled with the motivation a lot but every time I got a picture back the motivation returned too. And then there is Elijah, my 6 year old son. He has Early Childhood Autism and is not able to project onto society what it wants to see. But he is a real fighter who faces his fears over and over again. He is the best he can be, 24/7. I hereby dedicate The Art of Inclusion to Elijah William Vero who may not be easy to reach but who is so worth it.
Good news of the day: the invites for the vernissage arrived in the post and can be send out now.
Bad news: we won´t be drinking a certain brown drink manufactured by an Atlanta based company
I have still not finished the damn press release and the fact that I always have to borrow a laptop to work is beginning to really annoy me. On the bright side: I am going to see Mr Firth tonight and I don´t care if he has a stammer or not. ; )
back to my press release now..........

what a day. I didn´t get much done in the end. I have just realised that it is march next week and the exhibition opens in 36 days. I know have all night to panic. tomorrow has to be a productive day at the end of which I will go and spend some time with colin firth. if that isn´t motivation enough, I don´t know what is. good night, wherever you are

I have so much to do. problem is where to start or more precisely how to start. right now I am writing here when I should be doing stuff (I love that word - say it out loud! see what I mean. it´s a brilliant word. means everything and nothing) for the Art of Inclusion. I will wait for the post now and then get on with my stuff. maybe I have trouble getting moving because it is rather cold today -8°C. But at least there is sunshine.
by the way if anyone wants to see some of my art then go to saatchionline.com and search for Gee Vero

„Ich habe dreißig Jahre gebraucht, um über Nacht berühmt zu werden.“

Harry Belafonte (*1927)

a new day

Waking up to sunshine is very motivating but the freezing temperatures do not help at all. Also the fact that I have to deal with a lot of rather boring tasks today doesn´t really make me jump for joy. Such is life I suppose. My big task today is writing more letters to local hotels to convince them to part with food and drink (mainly drink) for my vernissage. Okay, let the day begin........

The Art of Inclusion

Today I have signed the rental agreement for gallery space for The Art of Inclusion with the Tapetenwerk, Leipzig. This is a big step.There is no going back now. A scary, actually very scary but at the same time strangely calming experience. I have been working on and for The Art of Inclusion for nearly one year now and I am determined to see this through. For once I want to finish something.
The idea was a simple one. I was planning an art exhibition to raise awareness for autism and I knew that people wouldn´t be interested in seeing my work (not yet). But art seemed the best way to show that the inclusion of autistic people is not an illusion. So I came up with the Art of Inclusion. I send famous people a piece of aquarelle paper with one of my trademark half faces, a nice personal letter, easy to follow instructions and a  a self-adhesive label with my adress and return postage. I didn´t really believe that it would work but it did. I got the first letter back after just 3 days! It turned into a kind of obsession after that. After all I am autistic ; ) That first letter came back last May. As of today I have had over 30 replies! You might have guessed that I am not contend with that. I want more!!!!
Anyway, the pictures along with my own will be exhibited from 1.4. until 10.4.2011 at the Tapetenwerk in Leipzig. Afterwards the Art of Inclusion pictures will be auctioned off with all the proceeds going to the Autismambulance Leipzig, where my son Elijah (6) has been receiving autism therapy for the last three years.
So I am very excited that I have made it that far with this project. There is still lost to do. I haven´t got any drinks or snacks for the vernissage. And I need frames for my VIP pictures! All lovely problems to have (considering my other problems). I better get back to it then. Thanks for reading.

the inaugural blog

it seemed like the perfect thing to do - this blog
whether it will be remains to be seen