terracotta

Opening at Maddi's Gallery

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Last night I had my opening at Maddi's Gallery in Charlotte, N.C.  I had a very nice selection of work and the display looked great. (Thanks Celia for setting it up for me!)


It was great to meet some new folks and also see my friends who stopped by.


Maddi's debuted two pieces that I made especially for the gallery.  These were a bottle/vase and a tile with a crown and the word Charlotte on them.  For those of you who may not know, Charlotte is know as the 'Queen City'.  These two pieces make nice keepsakes for visitors and for residents.


My showroom is looking pretty bare and I have several more shows coming up.  Looks like I'll be busy making pots next week.

Last Wet Day. Sort of.

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Today was my last day throwing for the Thrown Together Show on Sept.  24th.  Sarah and I are going on vacation next week so I want to have all the pots made, slipped and some decorated before we leave.  I'd like to get a bisque in too.  So this week I'll be finishing and hopefully load a nice bisque on Friday or Saturday.


So it was the last wet day in the studio but it looks like there may be a day or more of very wet weather in store for us as tropical storm Lee drenches much of the south.


Thanks for all the comments on the last post about disconnecting!!  This seems to be something that many of us could use some work on.

I have a few small strategies in place.  I'm not going online until I've been up for at least 2 hours.  I'd like to try and even move this on into the day, maybe not get online until lunchtime.

I'm trying to only check my email 2-3 times a day.  When I check it I respond to the emails that come in or file them to be responded to.  Right now I'm doing pretty good at responding to what comes in.  I've also unsubscribed from several sites and changed my settings on social networks so I don't get notified  about stuff.

If I think of something during the day that I want to look up I make a note of it on paper and then try to do all that at one time, usually in the evening.  The evening is a bad time for me to get sucked in.  If I stick to the list, check my mail and sign out then that's good.  Not being successful at this all the time though.  I should probably set a timer and go for a certain time and then log off.

If I am working on a document, or something in Photoshop, etc then I sign out of my browser so I'm not tempted to check my blog, or Etsy, or email.

I'm really trying to only do a couple posts to FB or my Fan page per day and not get caught up reading what everyone else is doing. *


I'll keep y'all up to date on what's going on as I try new disconnecting techniques this week.

The boxes are almost done and ready to deco.  Today I got them slipped and the lids cut.  They will get a lid flange tomorrow.


Thanks for checking in.  I know we all have little time to spare but it's nice to be connected here on the blogs and I plan to keep on posting and to keep reading as many others blogs as I can.


*Did you follow those hyperlinks?  Hum, that can get us in trouble too can't it?!  Well if you did I hope you didn't get sucked in and made it back here quickly.


And now you're off to whatever is next!

The Desire to Disconnect

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I've been working yesterday and today to try and get some of my 'junk' organized.  'Junk' being all the stuff on my desk, the kitchen table, the table by the window, and on top of the bookshelf by the door.  Piles. Stacks.  Stuff of varying importance. Or no importance.

As it is now I've moved most of it to my upstairs desk, which is to become my Control Center, the place from which I am going to build my Empire, or at least where I'm going to spend the next hour working to clean out my Inbox.


In the last month or longer I have seriously noticed my addiction to being 'Connected'.  I check my email several times a day, and my blog comments, and my facebook, and my Etsy, and I also have the weakness of getting sucked into surfing for god knows what on the internet.  It's not good.  It's eating away my time, my creative time, my time for tea and drawing and reading and napping.  I need to Disconnect.  I need some structure to my time on the internet.



I have a plan. I'll share more about that later.  For now lets just say that I'm happy that I've decided to work on this.  I'm not saying I'm going to do less work or use the internet less to market my art or to communicate with others.  I'm just going to do it in a healthy way, that doesn't eat so much of my time up, and make me crazy.


I'm getting some help from some of the materials and posts on this site.


The Gallery Crawl uptown went well last night.  I was in charge of the food at the Arts Council and with the help of my fellow board members Fredia and Donna we put out quite a spread.


My work at Two Doors Down looked fab and I sold a couple pieces from there.



Thanks for checking in everyone.  Have a good Friday!!







Very Happy Thursday

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Piglet thought that they ought to have a Reason for going to see everybody, like Looking for Small or Organizing an Expotition, if Pooh could think of something.
Pooh could. "We'll go because it's Thursday," he said, "and we'll go to wish everybody a Very Happy Thursday.
Come on, Piglet." 
I love Winnie the Pooh.  I think he could teach us all something.  That part above is from The House at Pooh Corner. Chapter 8.  In which Piglet does a very grand thing.

Well, I'm having a cup of tea in my new Rat cup as I wait for my oatmeal to cook.  I think it's my new favorite cup!  I was very happy with that last kiln load and look forward to some of those pots going off to new homes.

That book there by Gregg Levoy is very good.  The title is Callings.  I'm only 50 pages in but I'm really enjoying it.  It's about learning to hear/recognize and follow (or not) callings in our lives.  With the hope that this will lead up to living a more authentic life.


I worked on a few rectangular boxes yesterday.  They are fairly time consuming pots, each made up of 8 parts total.  Then the deco is pretty intensive too.

This first shot shows the three bodies, thrown without bottoms and then gently shaped.


And here they are now after I've shaped them a bit more and attached the tops and bottoms.

They are currently under plastic to allow everything to even out before I cut the lids and attach the feet.  That's probably not going to happen until tomorrow as I have a full day of getting ready for the gallery crawl in town tonight.  I'm in charge of the reception at the Arts Council and I have pots on display at a local shop.  Looks like I'll be in the kitchen most of the after noon.


Here's a paper cut sign that I made for my display at 2 Doors Down.

  One thing I learned while making this, be careful when working on paper cuts because if you poke your finger with the scalpel and then bleed all over your paper it pretty much ruins it and you have to start again!


This next part is for Anna but may be helpful to others too.

This is a close up of the tools I use for sgraffito and carving away excess clay.

 I want to mention that the working ends of the tools on the right should be filed with a flat edge as shown below. (As opposed to a knife shaped edge).


I keep a small file on hand when decorating and give them a sharpen when needed.


Okay that's quite a lot of info for today.  Breakfast is ready so I'll sign out, have a great Thursday!!

Just out of the kiln

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Some of the pots from yesterdays unloading.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGAp61klMKg

Tomorrow, September 1, is the Gallery Crawl in uptown Shelby.  My work is featured at Two Doors Down, 12 Warren Street.  I also have work at ETC Gift shop in the Arts Council and at Buffalo Creek Gallery, also on Warren St.  I hope the locals will come out and support the arts and our local businesses.

Deco. Videos

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I shot these two clips showing pots getting drawn on, layout and working towards some finished etched pieces.  I'll try and write a bit more about this and what I'm thinking as I do this soon.  For now here are the videos.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1X9p3SpJapk

 

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZbiF6wnrDs

Two Firsts

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I baked homemade buttermilk biscuits from scratch this morning.  My first time.  They came out okay I think.  Maybe could have been a bit more fluffy, but they tasted good.


When I was in Seagrove for the Osmosis show I stayed with Anne and Adam.  Adam got up one morning and made biscuits.  I secretly watched him from the dining room and made a note that I'd try it when I got a chance.  I liked that Adam cut his biscuits into squares so I went that route this morning.


I also made sausage gravy to go on the biscuits.  I didn't take a pic, sausage gravy isn't very photogenic.


Another first is this Butterfly dish.  I've put a Butterfly on a tray along with a Bird and Flowers but this is the first pot with a solo Butterfly.



It went up in my Online Shop this morning.


Unloading the kiln later. Stay tuned for more images.

New Book and the end of a Slack Week

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It's been a  pretty slack week of blogging here.  Hopefully things will pick up a bit next week.  Above are some serving bowls I slipped this afternoon after getting a load of pots all glazed and packed into the kiln.  I should have some new work out on Sunday.

I got a great book in the mail yesterday.  It's The New Maiolica by Matthias Ostermann.  It is very well written, as a matter of fact there are a few passages I've come across that I want to post here at a later time.  This book is like a workshop in print.  It's got a great chapter on color and another on brushes and brushwork.  He shows specific techniques and even shows which brushes he used.

I don't think I'm going to switch to maiolica but I do think this book will help my with my deco.

Sadly, Matthias Ostermann  passed away in 2009.  His website is still online and can be viewed by clicking HERE.

In other news, I have been asked by a group of potters to give a workshop in Allentown, PA in August.  I am looking forward to that.

I'm also doing another talk about the Internet in July for a local art co-op.

Off now to get a couple pizzas made.  Have a good weekend everyone!!

Weekend Photos

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Sarah and I had a productive weekend working on the house.  We finished painting the stairwell and got the handrail up.  That scaffolding is approved by Worker Safety Organizations in India and Jamaica. Photos below from around here this weekend. Click for larger more complete image.

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I feel like I'm almost out of my 'slump'.  I get into this funky place and start questioning what I am doing fairly often.  I go over and over what I could be doing differently, how the work could change, comparing to others (not productive at all),and getting frozen in doubt and fear.  I had a little break though last night just by looking at some photos of my recent work and realizing that I am where I am at the moment.  The only way to move forward is to work, pay attention, and enjoy what I'm doing.

So today I have lots of drawing to do and a few pots to throw.  Best get to it.  Have a good Monday everyone and thanks for visiting the blog.