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Graduation

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Sarah graduated from Applachian State University on Saturday with her masters in community counseling. She will be doing her intership over the summer at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte. She starts this week. I have said again and again how hard she worked during school but I think I failed to mention that she finished with a 4.0 GPA. What can I say, she's awesome, and she's going to make a great therapist.
Sarah and her proud parents.

Off to Boone

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Tomorrow we heading up to Boone. Sarah is graduating on Saturday. We are going up tomorrow to have a celebration dinner with some classmates of hers and spend the night at the house where Sarah lived for a year. It will be fun and I am looking forward to it.
Saturday will be a special day. I'm sure many of us will be in tears, I probably will anyhow. Sarah has really worked hard and been so dedicated to her studies, her assistantship, and her department as a whole. I know she was an asset to them and they will miss her. I on the other hand will be happy to have her home!!

I had a good day here today, finished cleaning up the house, unloaded a bisque kiln, messed around a bit and then took Kharma to puppy class. One more week to go and then she will graduate too! After class we headed over to Sarah's parents for supper which was delicious as usual.

Well that's it until I get home late on Saturday. I'll have some pics to post from the graduation ceremony.

Keeping it Real

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Sarah and I have been busy this morning cleaning house. We have a pretty small space so it can get cluttered, dirty and dusty in a hurry. We are about a week overdue on cleaning so it's nice to be getting that taken care of. I love scrubbing the kitchen sink.

My two new words for how I've been feeling are 'blank' and 'dread'. I have been feeling sort of out of it since sometime in January, maybe longer. When I get over stimulated or overwhelmed I tend to blank out. I find myself standing in my studio looking at the table or going over nothing in my head, over and over. It's weird, but 'blank' pretty much sums it up. I came up with 'dread' a few days ago. I'm not depressed, I know what that feels like. Maybe this is what could lead up to that. Or not. ?? I find that I wake up with a feeling of dread. Dreading not knowing what to do, dreading seeing my family, dreading walking the dog, dreading going back to bed at night. Whatever. It's strange but that is how I feel. I think with Sarah being in school for the past two years and me being home a lot by myself that I have sort of gotten lost. I have gotten caught up in some of my Fears and that often leads to procrastionation, dread, and blankness. I have told myself often that I need to work on my daily routine. My pots are going okay, but sure I could be doing more, and I could be playing more and allowing myself to have some fun and not feeling guilty about it. Some of this stems from living so close to my family. (long story).

Right now it kind of feels good just to put this out there. What comes next? Action? Contemplation? Play? Sleep? Food? All of the above? Something new? ??

Contour line drawing

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I want to get into the habit of doing some kind of drawing everyday. Today I did a couple blind contour line drawings, one of a pen and the other a tissue box. I like doing these. It's fun to draw without looking at the page and see what I get when I am finished.

New week

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Monday. Today is usually one of my more productive days. It's off to a good start I guess as I've loaded a bisque and got it going as well as walked the dog and got a bit of journaling in over a cup of tea. I am planning on getting some pots glazed and later putting some plants in the garden. I feel I am a bit late on that this year, but it will be fine. My father in law, Roy, always gets lots of plants going in his greenhouse and gives us all we want for our garden. He planted on Saturday so I guess I'm on schedule with him anyhow. I didn't get a lot of my early stuff in this year, ie spinach, lettuce, chard, etc. I do have some lettuce and chard beginning to come in now though.

I lost a couple trays in my last bisque load. I think they weren't dry enough. One blew the foot off and another blew out a big chunck off the bottom. These are new forms and I was hoping to get them through the firing. I have 2 that made it so far. I will make more for the May kiln.

I found Kevin Crowe's website yesterday. I've always liked Kevin's work. We had a cup of his at one time but I can't seem to find it in the cupboard. I'd like to visit his pottery in Amherst, Va. sometime. He has a good article that I recommend reading. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Have a great week.

Crap toss

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I saw a story on CBS Sunday Morning today that fell in line with more memories of my childhood regarding cow manure. In April every year, Beaver, Oklahoma hosts the World Championship Cow Chip Throwing Contest. This years winner threw 200 ft 7 in. Wow! If only I'd known this as a child I could have been preparing for 30 years. We used to do this all the time when we were kids. Granted we weren't throwing for distance, we mostly used dry cow dung as ammo. I tell ya I haven't thought about this in years and it really makes me laugh. I love that I grew up in the country.

Morning cereal/Pots in Use

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Tom Gray sent me this pic of a bowl of mine filled with morning cereal. I remember giving Tom this bowl. It was out of one of the first firings where I started to add more soda to the kiln and I had also started slipping the insides of my bowls instead of using a glaze. It's a good bowl and I am pretty sure Tom has told me it's one of his favorites.
Thanks Tom!

Too cold

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I went out last night to walk barefoot and found it was really cold. I was not expecting that. And wet too. So I have postponed it to later today after things warm up.

Sarah had coffee made after I got back from the walk with Kharma so I skipped my regular morning tea and decided to pull down one of my favorite cups. This cup is made by Welsh potter Phil Rogers. It's a nice small size and I use it only for coffee. Phil uses lots of local materials in his glazes. The inside of this cup has an ash glaze and the outside is a temmoku probably made from local stone dust with iron and other materials. The sides are faceted and the handle is awesome.
I got my bisque going about 4:30 this morning.
I need to get down to the kitchen now and make up some pizza dough so it can be rising while we are off in Charlotte. I am grilling some pizzas tonight for supper.

Take your shoes off

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I found this really interesting. Barefoot hiking. I never go barefoot anymore. As a kid I ran around barefoot all the time. I remember coming in at night and getting the bathtub and scrubbing my dirty little feet. I ran around in the cow pasture a lot and got lots of pleasure stepping in squishy piles of...well... cow manure. Okay that's probably more info. than any of you wanted and more than my mother would ever want me to reveal. But it was fun and we always giggled and cringed up our noses as we did it. The creek was near by for washing off.
Well enough about my childhood. I think I'll go out now and walk barefoot in the dark in the freshly cut grass out front.

Readers

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Hey it's good to know I have some folks out there checking in from time to time. Thanks for responding to my previous post.

We went to 'puppy class' this evening with Kharma. I have to remember to take my camera next week. We have some cute dogs in our class. We know most of their names, but hardly any of the owners names. There's Precious the boxer, Max the German Shepard, Jordan the beagle, Maggie the chocolate lab, Mrs. Paradise the ?, but her owner's name is Diamond (cool huh?). Anyhow you get the idea.

Tomorrow we are going to Charlotte to buy Sarah a new (used) car. She located it on Tuesday and drove it, today she confirmed with the seller that she wanted it so we'll get it tomorrow.

Bisque firing a load tomorrow. One more next week as soon as things dry out. I'll get some pics of pots up too.

Studio time

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I am working towards finishing up a load of pots for my next firing. I hope to wrap it all up by Monday. Nothing is drying very well so I have resorted to a fan. I will be at the ClayMatters Pottery Guild Spring Sale on May 13th. I'll try and get details up soon. It's at the McAlpine Business Park on Monroe Road in Charlotte.
I am testing a new clay body in this load. It's one of the one's I ran some trials on in my last firing. I mixed up a larger batch of it and have made mugs, trays, some bottles, and plates. It is a very smooth clay, unlike my current body which is course and open. Comparing the two I'd say the test clay is fleshy while my old clay is more bones. That may not make sense to some. Anyhow I think this new clay will have nice response in the soda kiln, more shiny and glassy. I may try adding some fireclay to it to give it some tooth.
Rainy here tonight. Sarah is on her way home from Boone so I have been hanging out with Kharma. She got a little loud and roughty with Loupey (#1 cat) so I have put her to bed for the night, (much to Loupey's relief).
Over and out.

Utne (rhymes with chutney)

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We somehow ended up with a subscription to Utne magazine a year ago. I have really enjoyed it and will probably renew for next year. In addition to its own feature articles and departments, Utne has lots of informative articles that they glean from different sources and assemble into their mag. This month there was a section entitled 'Elemental Art' featuring artists who work in the enviroment using materials at hand. Andy Goldsworthy is well known, but you may want to check out some of these folks too.
Nils-Udo
Diana Lynn Thompson
Patrick Dougherty
Ahmad Nadalian
Urs-P. Twellmann


Fast food

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Fried rice is one of our quick weeknight meals that we have pretty often. This week I decided it would be cool to try it will grilled tofu. I marinated the tofu in soy with a dash of sesame oil and sprinkled on some toasted sesame seeds before grilling. It was really good. No, we aren't vegetarians. I have to have a good cheeseburger at least once a week.
I haven't been cooking as much as I'd like to lately although we did have grilled pizza a week or so ago. Other favorites of mine are roasted chicken with rosemary and garlic, spinach and mushroom manicotti, pad thai,
and grilled jerk chicken.
Well that's it for now, I haven't had breakfast yet.

What a day.

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I had a full day today. I got a lot done in the pottery. It was nice this morning, I opened the windows, listened to the rain on the tin roof, and the click, clack of my treadle wheel. Finished off all the pots I made yesterday, and threw the sections for a large jar. Things dry slowly in this new space. I am not used to it yet and I need a better rack system for storing work in progress as it is getting in the way. I may work on that soon. So all the pots I finished today still need to be slipped in the morning. Then I hope to make some mugs, bowls, oval serving bowls, and medium oval bakers. That's what my list says. I'd also like to get some vases in this firing but I am not sure what to do about that, I have some new designs in mind.
Kharma and I had a long walk before dark. Sarah is on her way home from Boone and will be here late. I am tired and ready for bed. Good night.

Rain

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I woke this morning around 5 am to the sound of thunder in the distance. I got up to unplug the computers, we have bad luck with lighting and powersurges hitting modems. We are getting some rain now, much needed. I hope it continues steadily throughout the day.

I have lots of pots waiting to be finished in the studio. I got a gallery order yesterday so that gives me forward motion as to what needs to be made to finish out this kiln load. I hope to fire the week of May 8th. That's not so far away so I really need to be getting things done. I'll be making bowls tomorrow and that usually gets the kiln full quickly.

Well I am realizing that this post isn't very interesting. So maybe I'll come back later.
See ya.

Studio time

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Kharma did well with me in the studio yesterday. It also helped that Sarah was home all day and kept her for a spell in the house with her. I got lots of pots made and hope to finish them up today. It has been nice having Sarah home from school and work. It's been like old times when we were both working full time as artists. We have been able to have lunch together, and a nap, and just hang out a little in the mornings before we get started.
Sarah has decided to do her internship this summmer at Presbyterian Hospital in Charlotte, she will be counseling patients there. I think this will be an awesome opportunity for her. She starts the 3rd week in May.

Weather

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All the severe weather went east of us yesterday. We still had some windy conditions and some awesome clouds blowing over. It's been very hot for April, last night a cold front moved in and it feels nice out this morning. I'm not totally ready for 90 degree heat just yet. We are seriously in need of some rain.

Is this any good?

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I spent several hours Saturday at Linda McFarling's pottery in Burnsville, NC. Linda and I met years ago at Arrowmont school where we were both taking a class. Since then Linda has been a friend and mentor to me.
Linda was firing her salt kiln during the visit but we had time to sit and talk and look at pots. One of the things that came up was the question of how one critically looks at ones on work. This has been a struggle for me and since I can be sort of shy I have not really sought out other's criticism in the past. Linda went over her process with me using her own pots as examples. It was very helpful. One of the methods she uses was learned from Minnesota potter Linda Christianson. Pots are looked at at different stages of development, during the making, handling, turning, after bisque, after final firing. Questions are asked, "which one is best?, why? which ones don't work?, why?, what can I change?" This is done with pots that are similar, say a run of cups, or jars or whatever. So the comparison is apples to apples. It is important to be present, to be objective, and to be willing to discard what isn't working or at least try again. This whole thing isn't easy and my belief is that not every one can do it. Not everyone can 'see' what is there, or what needs to be there. Linda says her training as a painter has helped her greatly. I think I can reconize good pots of others easier than I can of my own. I have no art training. I have to rely on what I have seen as good pots. I think drawing, looking, and paying attention are things that could help me.
Linda also said it is important to learn to 'discard'. This means for her throwing away finished pots that do not meet her standards. I do this but it usually takes time. For instance, right now I have two very full boxes of old pots sitting under the tractor shed. I think I will take them to the gully today. It will be very freeing.
Another lesson is learning to go the extra step. For instance, if I put a handle on a pitcher and I see that it doesn't work, I should go the extra step to take that handle off and try again. Or if I am turning a foot on a plate and it comes off still heavy, I should put it back on the wheel and take off more clay. Take the time to make the pots right.
Of course all this brings up the question, 'what makes a good pot?' For one person it may be one thing and another something else. And some people just don't care to ask, they just want to make stuff and not really go to this place. I can't really put into words what I think is a good pot. I know it when I see it. Sometimes pots are TOO good. These I don't like. My standards may be different than others. So maybe I'll think about what my standards are and how I am meeting them in my own work.
It was good to get to have this time with Linda and we planned on meeting again, this time with me bringing up some more pots and possibily getting together with a couple other potter's to have a 'pot on the spot' disscussion, over each other's work. That would be great for me.