bees

Good evening.  It's been another crazy week at my house.  Lots of time at the hospital helping to care for my sweet (to me, with very grouchy appearances) old man, who happily, is leaving the hospital tomorrow.  I am ever so grateful for his recovery.  Some fluish virus hit my little boy- he missed 3 days of school- egads! I also cought the virus, but its duration was much shorter for me.  Lots of packages (22 in one week could be a record, but I may have surpassed that in berry bowls) going out.  My postman was not amused by the pile of boxes sitting on the porch every day.  The weather was very warm and the magnolias and cherry trees have begun blooming.  Gary took this picture at a neighbor's house on Saturday- there are three of them- and I've rendered them into drawings to use on pots in the future.  Because of the illness that hit my house, I missed my surface design class in Atlanta, and I missed seeing friends from College and the pottery world.  I have been given a tremendous gift of another online pottery class that begins this week, and I am very much looking forward to dedicating an hour or so every day to exploring new techniques and enriching my work.
We had a 5 hour marathon pinewood derby tonight. It was long and late and even some of the Webelos ended up in tears of disappointment and exhaustion.  I had to go home halfway through the races.  Sitting under florescent lights for hours on end, even with my knitting, takes more dedication than I have.  An hour's respite in my quiet house was lovely.

I hope to have a normal work week this week, filling wholesale orders and making a batch of tall tumblers for some friends who have been waiting patiently for me to get to their requests.

Happy Sunday night, friends.

working, or trying to

This week has been chaotic.  Last weekend I did my day-long bee course (it was wonderful!) and began dealing with the aftermath of a dear friend's stroke, which ate up most of my working week.  My time's been spent more on care-giving than creating, and in the end, that's worth much much more than a kiln full of ware.  Pottery is important, but I know where my priorities should be, and that's with people.  That said, I did get a load glazed and fired and took some chances with a few pieces on making my own versions of my beloved English (and Chinese) blue and white china:

I have to say that I'm delighted with the results.  The chicken cup was green- raw, unfired.  I really like how the stain (a mix of mason stain and water) soaked into the interior of the cup and clung to the exterior in patches, as well as in the areas I drew into).  The hope cup and small platters (as well as the large bowl in the background) was bisqued, so the stain didn't permeate the whole surface.  I'm SO pleased with this, especially on the greenware.  I'm not ready to roll out these pieces, but I like them enough to continue working with this idea.

That fluffy-bootie chicken, by the way, is a drawing I did of Merigold, my buff orpington hen who passed away- suddenly and without illness- yesterday.  We had a very solemn chicken funeral yesterday after school.  My little boy insisted on laying her in the grave and covering her, fashioning a cross marker (Merigold was an Episcopal hen) out of sticks.  She was an old chicken and served us well. 

I am looking forward to a full day in the studio today, and getting ready to take a pottery class next week.
If you've ordered tumblers from me, I'm sending out the first ten this weekend.  The others are in progress and will go out the first week of March.

Have a peaceful weekend friends.  Love on those closest to you.

it must be seasonal.

I find myself obsessed with chickens.  I love to watch my chickens, I'm drawing my chickens, I'm (gasp) ordering more chickens.  This will be my girls' third year, and to keep our egg production up and happy, I need to replenish the laying stock. 
I think this interest is seasonal, because as enamored as I am with chickens, I haven't been this crazy about them since I first started with this little flock.  It must be a craving for spring.
I turned this little sketch I did this morning into a pattern to use on my pots- the middle and lower hens, anyway.  The top is a little too cardinal-like. I'm looking at special underglaze paper that works like carbon paper to see about simple reproductions- or maybe I'll explore decals.


In non-chicken news, I am throwing like crazy.  Making things for spring, filling orders for individuals and shops, and trying to stay on task.  I'm finally putting in my seed order (for things like herbs, cucumbers, peppers, and beans and flowers- I've given up on starting tomatoes myself) and thinking about where I'm going to put my bee hive.  We haven't had much of a winter around here, but I'm hungry for spring.

Have a nice weekend, everyone.

tumblers

This morning (after spending an hour working on my taxes) I was pleased and surprised and so so flattered to see one of these cups on SouleMama.  Because of the response, I've listed ten of these cups on etsy, with a 3-4 week delivery time.  These pictured have homes already.   After I straightened away today's tax prep, I hustled upstairs and threw 12 tumblers.  Tomorrow I'll paint and etch them.

It is a beautiful blue-skied day here today in Memphis, feeling cool and almost wintry again (to clarify, winter here is low 50s most days, cool enough to need some heat, but not cold enough to freeze anything).  I'm happy with my morning's work and am ready to get my boy from school, do a little more pottery-painting and drawing, and am thinking about roasting some cod with my frozen stash of cherry tomatoes and olives and purple onions for supper.

Have a lovely week, friends, and thanks as always for your support.

Daily Drawings, January

Here's the other part of my January.  I made 27 sketches/drawings in 31 days.  Here are 25 of them- there are just two that I did. not. want. to. share. 
I really enjoyed the exercise- it's been a very long time since I sat down to draw on a regular basis.
I was really inspired by several different artists - not to copy them, but at how they see the world around them.  Renee Gardner of Wolfie and the Sneak makes the most lovely botanical art.  I treated myself to several of her pieces over the holidays and have them in the studio, over my drafting table.  I love strong line of Nikki McClure's papercuts.  There are lots of people who make wonderful drawings, and these are just two who have inspired me.
I'm looking forward to February's work.  The paper changes color to a creamy yellow.  I might pull out some colored pencils and watercolors for those. 

Happy February, y'all.