Monday, April 25, 2011

Today's Update

Completed - I'm not touching it anymore.
These pictures are of the same chair, one of the Adirondack's that we bought a few years ago. It took us months to get them all put together. Then it took me FOREVER to get them primered and start painting. I think they were like the big scary blank canvas, or the blank sheet of paper that face artists or writers. You know, we kind of circle around those things until BAM - something hits and sticks and we're fast and furious at work because we've got a thought.

With all of my frantic brain activity - between our daughter getting married, Rosie the Nut Job dog, me with my backwards de-cluttering and my crazy tutoring schedule that's winding down - I had to do something that would just help me decompress. So on Saturday and Sunday the days were so beautiful that I just had to sit and do something that would be my little 'valium' in the midst of the craziness. And now I feel so much better.

I still have to paint the underneath and then seal it all but I can't wait to get to the next chair. It will be my reward for plowing through 7 boxes when I get back home today after tutoring. Yay!!!

K



Close view

First draft - before the blue.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Busy Keeping My Hands Busy

Here are some fun things I've brought out of the kiln.
I like working small. I like being able to have a lump of clay in my hand, not too small, not too large but something that I can watch turn into something right before my eyes. Some are simple - a little bowl for rings or salt, or a tiny Barbie cake, or bracelets. Or a tiny bird. I never know. I wait for the clay to tell me.
Here is a sampling of what it was telling me a few months ago.
I don't know if I actually like persimmons but I am fascinated by their form and color AND because I was watching a Heul Howser program on PBS about a farm in Granite Bay California at Otow Orchard and I fell in love with them. The history and how this family has dried persimmons for years in this painstaking, handworked process. You'll have to look it up online and watch it. It's fascinating. Anyway, that's the story on the persimmons - so I made some and I think they turned out pretty neat. I won't talk this much about everything.

The persimmons are hollow and fit in the palm of
your hand. Ceramic stoneware. Fired twice.


And I did a couple of funny little birds...




Clown Bird













And this funny dog.

And this tiny bowl - I love little birds. This is about 3 inches across.


That's it for me for now.

K

Oh and one more - oh.....two. No three more things.
I was stuck on very small pinch pots and these a sort of a nice
creamy color. Fired with only a clear glaze and tiny handmade
flowers. Great for rings. Tiny things.

Okay......she's the last one. I'm not sure what her name is yet.


Wednesday, April 6, 2011

A Painting A Day - Check In

YES, HERE I AM......!


Checking in again..........here's the bits of progress I'm making on Annie. I snatch bits of time in the evening and sometimes in the morning just before I dash out. Sometimes even dropping in my chair for a couple of minutes with my arm bundled with books, the other with my purse. I wonder if I had a better plan, a more cohesive schedule if I would be any better or if that's just how I think - in layers and when one peeks through THAT'S the one that gets my attention for the moment. Thank Goodness there's just the right spot for all of us no matter how we think. Anyway - here's "Hi, my name is Annie." She's not done, she is in progress.










And......on a side note, here's the progress with our "puppy" Rosie........
Rosie is accumulating many nicknames - Rosie the Crazy Dog, which my mother cautioned me could become a self-fulfilling prophecy so I'm trying to break myself of calling her that.........
Rosie Perez (also slightly crazy connotation)
Rosie the Big Black Dog (could get us sued by Clifford for using "the" and "Big")
Rosie ConsueloGarciaTeQueiroMiPerro (I don't know why we think she's of Latin descent)
Rosie the Flightless Bird (No - we never, ever throw her)
Rosie PeeBody
Rosie PeePee     - seriously? Must I explain?  In any case, she's now six months old I believe......and she still thinks she's the puppy that sat on my lap on the way home when we went to get her - so when she jumps on our beds to sleep with us at night she still likes to sit on us until we shover her off. But that IS a way I like to wake Gabe up for school in the morning.....she is relentless in stomping on him and finding him even when he tries to hide under his blankets. Good dog !  Rosie the Good Morning Dog!

Monday, April 4, 2011

A Painting A Day - Spring Brings New Committment

     The days are beautiful, these few Spring days. Of course on the heels of these few days is SUMMER! Quite literally I'm afraid. I'm always amazed, though I've been here for years now, that in the Central Valley (of California) we do experience all four seasons, but the lovely Spring and Autumn days seem to be sandwiched between bold and aggressive taking-much-more-time-than-they-deserve Summer and Winter. In any case I love Spring and I embrace it's feeling of renewal and creativity. Off with the flannel sheets and on with the crisp feel of cotton. Off with hibernation mode and out to the potters wheel and the sunshine. I've picked up my favorite fine line pens and my wonderful colors of "stuff" that I color with.......and I'm ready !

So - I started a little girl - this is what I have so far. I drew until my eyes just got tired of seeing last night. And today is full of it's own busyness (is that a word?) so my treat, at the end of a long, four-tutoring-session day will be coming back to it... it needs much, much work.

And here's a sneak peek at something I've been working on with my clay.......very sneak peek...shhh.
Meet My Dog Spot!

And "I'm just a Party Animal."

Fun, huh? I thought so!

K

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Good Morning Sun.......

A beautiful friend of mine is having a long awaited baby. The couple has found out that he'll be a boy and they're anxiously awaiting his arrival.

This is my contribution to the baby shower... is it weird to give art to celebrate the arrival rather than the normally gifted diapers, Onesies, blankie, Binkies and rattles? I wonder. I hope not. I celebrate the impractical a lot of the time. Can you tell?

Welcome Baby Renner!  You couldn't find two more wonderful, more happy parents!

Love,

Kathi