Friday, July 30, 2010

Being Humbled...


Being a humble person is something most of us aspire to, being humbled is good for the soul. Well, I am not sure if I am a humble person, but I have definitely been humbled a time or two in my life. Pottery offers a whole new arena in which to be humbled. Both by people who pass your work by, and by those who are almost groupies!

I had both experiences in the space of a few days last week and it was an interesting pendulum ride indeed! First the bad humbling....I spent 2 days at an Expo show and really did just awful. I felt bad for the amount of time I invested, and my family invested by supporting me and being there. But it was a learning experience, and I certainly learned the lesson. This show was not artisan oriented and although the demographics were perfect, people came out with other items in mind. I literally had 100 or more people stop, look very carefully at all my pieces, ask a few questions, and yes offer compliments, only to move on with a "I will have to keep this in mind for a gift" for so and so.

On the other end of the humbled spectrum, I happen to wander into a beautiful gallery is a lovely little town in the vicinity of my studio, and after the owner had looked at my website, she inquired if I might let her handle a few pieces. It was like a breath of fresh air had lifted my weary sails.

I had been quite discouraged, but thankfully this lovely gallery owner showed some interest and my spirits were lifted.

When I returned home the positive vibes continued, my email box had 4 invitations to attend events where I hope to be well received.

So, you just never know. I just keep plugging on, and am enjoying the interesting ride. It reminds me of that line from the children's movie Nemo..."just keep swimmin', just keep swimming'". And I do.

To help me along as I navigate through the cloudy waters of potteryville, I posted the fish platter along with this post. It was the first time I attempted this particular platter. It was originally done for a tennis friend of my husband who is from NYC and wanted it for a bagel/brunch server.

It was fun to make, and I will have another go at it later this summer.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Patriotic



The holidays we celebrate as a Nation during our summer months are all patriotic. Memorial Day, July 4th, and then Labor Day. It is a fun theme to work with in pottery. I have found a wonderful screaming bloody red that I love to use in combination with a wonderful eggshell white and royal blue. The three together give me consistent "WOW" results which I love. I am busily getting ready for my first show at an Expo Center. Those of you who have done this before, let me know your thoughts, suggestions.

Over the weekend, I was approached to sell my pieces in yet another new venue. It looks to be a very lovely way to sell some of my pieces, and I will let you know more, when I know more. For now, enjoy the Big Dog shown here. The picture was taken on the 4th, the dog was part of a float in a 4th of July parade.

Overall, I would have to give him a grade of A+ for patriotism!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Knowing When to Say Goodbye....


Animals have been a constant in my life. Looking back to my youth, I found refuge in their unconditional love. In my young adult life, they were my trusted companions. In my mid-life, they helped to keep me young and engaged in the realm of "wonder". Watching my dog or cat move, react, respond, answer, relax, or any other number of ways always catches my attention, and makes me consider what they are thinking, and why they are doing what they are doing. When I apply my own interpretation to whatever they are doing, I feel even closer to them.

Over the past 25 years that I have been married to my husband, we have had a total of 6 dogs, 4 cats, 5 gerbils, 1 squirrel, 1 bird, 1 rabbit, and several fish.

This week we said goodbye to our dog Billy. He was about 13 years old, had been a resuce, and had been abused in the first half of his life. We had had him for about 7 years, and as I liked to say, he was having a good ending.

Now, you might wonder what in the world this has to do with pottery. Well, Billy was my constant companion. He was always with me, or near me. He liked to be in the studio, but he LOVED to lay underneath the floor of the studio, right under my work table. We would talk to each other while I worked, and I could hear his tail wag and tap the ground underneath me. He knew what "go studio" meant and would wag his tail and follow me out the back and down the short path to our respective spots. He under the studio, me inside.

It is always a hard thing to know when it is time to say goodbye. Even in the midst of providing your animal that last moment of love and affection, you still question is this the right thing to do? In the end, when you look back on their physical state once all is said and done, it becomes obvious that perhaps you should have done things sooner.

Billy was a sweet soul. Rarely barked. Always happy to meet a new friend, or greet a returning friend. Always just around, but never overbearing. He had very soft ears, and loved to have them rubbed. We miss him, but we knew it was his time, and we were glad that we could be holding him and telling him "good boy, we love you" up to the last.

We brought Billy home, and we have buried him by my pottery studio. I think he would have felt happiest there.

So this post is for Billy... we miss you already...peaceful journeys.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

May...


Welcome to May. I am having a SLOW awakening to the realization that I have several big shows coming up. I am also in the process of looking into adding a few new venues. So all this adds up to needing to get into the studio and get to it.

Unfortunately, this time every year I get bogged down in "transplantationitis". Not sure about your neck of the woods, but here there are LOTS of perennials that need to be divided and replanted during these few late weeks of April, and the early weeks of May.

Sunday, I spent about 12 hours doing just this, digging, dividing, digging, planting. After 20 years in my home, I have finally learned what works and what doesn't, from a perennial perspective.

I am a flower nut! But I also love a defined border. I have LOTS of both, and am pleased with the results, even if they have taken almost 2 decades.

Now that my annual planting frenzy is in a lull, I am waiting for the Irises to finish blooming so I can dig, divide, and transplant them, I am FINALLY going to get back to the studio.

I receive posts from several on-line pottery journals. One actually sends cool videos from other potters. One recent video showed how to make a sunflower from the wheel. This picture with this post is my interpretation. It was fun, not too quick a project, but I am pleased with the results.

Going back to make MORE!!

Friday, April 2, 2010

SPRING



WOW!!! It is a wonderful feeling to finally emerge from the winter of 2010. The weather here in rural Virginia is lovely. Mid to upper 70's, clear blue skies, and flowers blooming. This year is a peak year for the Cherry Blossoms in Washington, D.C. We are thinking about trying to see them Easter Sunday, early, and maybe miss some crowds? Probably not.

Well, I have been seriously delayed in my pottery efforts. Unfortunately, I had some serious heath problems the past few weeks and have not be able to do much of anything, least of all pottery. But I find that as I am healing and feel more and more like myself, I visualize myself glazing!

Before my troubles began I had just run a full bisque kiln. So, I have a lot of work to do. Normally, I slug through glazing in one VERY long sitting, normally around 8-10 hours. I brush glaze all my pieces, so it takes much longer than dipping. I also have a lot of small intricate pieces that have to be done with TINY brushes in numerous colors of glaze or underglaze, so, it all takes time.

I think overall, it is best to be doing one part of the process at a time. With a small studio, it is easier to create, then bisque, then glaze. Instead of doing various things at the same time. When I glaze I like to finish each piece and immediately load it in the kiln to await firing. I find that if I let glazed pieces settle on a drying shelf invariably something happens and the finished product is a disappointment. So, I am a load and go type of potter. I know everyone has their own way of doing things, and I am always open to learning and hearing about how other potters create their art.

Well, before I can get back into the studio, I have a daughter who has been asking to go ride bikes at the park...so finally, I am going back out into the world.

Enjoy Spring in your neck of the woods!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

2010 Off to a Great Start


This Saturday was my first show of 2010. It was nice to get back out there. I was running low, because I was cleared out at Christmas, but I still managed to triple what I made last year. I was very pleased to see the traffic going up. Perhaps that is a sign of a returning economy?

Now, I am back to the studio to generate more pieces. I was pretty well wiped out Saturday. I went with 4 crates, normally I have 5 plus an extra filled, just in case. I came home with 1.5 crates. So things were definitely moving.

Spring has finally come. My bulbs are up and blooming. I always forget from year to year where I have planted bulbs over the past 20 years on this property. It is fun to see things popping up all over.

Well, I had a lot of fun yesterday playing around with two completely different techniques. I was doing some coil work, which I never really do, and really got into it. It was a fun little project and I made a tall oval vase. We will see if it survives firing, and glazing, if it does I will post a picture.

Next I revisited using raw trim pieces. I did this when I first began doing pottery. My first pieces had raw claw embelishments, so it will be interesting to see if I have improved at all. I will post those as well, if they survive.

Well, my next show is April 24th, then my big 2 day show over Memorial Day weekend. So, time is going by, and I need to stock up!

Back to the mud.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Getting into Gear...


Well, this winter has been a hard one. The weather coupled with some family "stuff" have really put me behind as I try to get ready for my Spring show schedule. My first show is on March 20th, and I am a little low on inventory. I have a couple weeks, but as all you potters out there know, a couple weeks is NOT a lot of time in pottery language.

I made good use of my time during the snow. I printed out lots of photos of pieces that I liked, and have made a formal "glaze book". Listing glaze combinations with corresponding photos of pieces. It is a really helpful exercise, but it was time consuming. Now I will just add to it as I go.

The dish I am showing in this blog was a glaze redo, and it came out, right on the money! It is very satisfying to discover combinations and then be able to recreate them again!

So, I guess my efforts are beginning to pay off.

This weekend it is supposed to get into the 50's here, so I am thinking "wheel time". Remember, I have no running water in my studio, so I have to rely on a hose. Having a reasonable temperature sure goes a long way toward comfort when using the wheel.

Overall, I am hopeful as my bulbs begin to peek up through the ground. It is comforting to know that regardless of weather or other obstacles in life, earth continues to turn and life renews itself once again.