Avoiding the Super Bowl

I am one of those people that doesn't really get sports. I'm one of those people who is secretly a little proud that I had no idea who was playing until a few days ago. Yep, those people. I would have forgotten the Super Bowl was taking place today at all, if it weren't for the fact that it's being held here, in Indianapolis, where I live. After my one trip downtown to the post office to try to mail my sketchbook, I have actively avoided going downtown. Having grown up in New Orleans, I've seen plenty of Super Bowls, and given that I'm not a football fan, it's just a bunch of noise, traffic, and crowds to me. Bleh! I plan to hide out in the studio for a bit, and then settle down with my husband (who also, thankfully!, doesn't watch football), and Maddy to watch movies and eat junk food.

I will be trying not to judge all you sports fans out there, who will be consuming mass quantities of buffalo wings and shouting at your television sets today(well, I won't judge you for the wings, because wings are freakin' delish!), but I will be much happier watching hours of Doctor Who and Star Trek: TNG episodes instead.

Here's some things I'm working on right now:

I don't know if I mentioned before that I started playing with paper clay? This is paper clay made from Laguna Frost porcelain, so I'm hoping that if it's thin enough, it will be somewhat translucent. I'm just playing around a bit on the paint job - some color washes and a couple of winken, blinken, and nod inspired kids. I need to buy some wax resist so I can layer my images and colors better.

I made this mask in my kids class, and I'm hoping to paint it today. I want the paint job to be as over-the-top ornate and girly as possible, because when I make scary bear things, people always assume they are boys. Girls like shouting RAWR as much as anyone. I think I'd like to make a dino mask to go with it.

This is something I'm absurdly excited about - I learned that if you keep the roots of your green onions and put them in water, they will continue to grow, so you can keep cutting and using them over and over. That is so cool! This is about 5 days growth sitting next to the kitchen window. When I put them in the cup, the tops were below the rim. Kinda feels like a elementary school science project! Maybe next I'll grow a lima bean in a jar with wet paper towels.

Maddy is now at the "cruising" stage. Not only does she blaze around the living room on her hands and knees (sometimes so fast I miss where she went!), but she can walk while holding on to things, and she's getting pretty darn fast at that too. Every time she takes off, she gets this ridiculously ecstatic look on her face, that look she gets whenever she's particularly pleased with herself for figuring out something new. I love watching how much joy babies get out of learning about the world. I hope she continues to have that love of learning as she grows up.

Two bowls

These are two bowls of mine that I can't sell - one because it has a huge crack, and the other because I made it for Nich as a Christmas gift! But I dearly love them both.

I made the first one for the Criaturas show. It still went in, despite the crack. But I'm always sad when a piece meant to be functional gets a crack in it. Now it's just a dust collector for the mantle.

Really love the worried little stripey guy.

The goldfish bowl is for Nich. Spent a lot of time on this one. It's all mishima line drawing and watercolor underglaze. I made it for him because I sold another bowl with a girl walking her two goldfish and a cat, and he really liked that one.

I think my illustrations and throwing are both improving, but they're not where i want them to be yet. I'm still trying to find the right forms, to be a better thrower, to make objects that are uniquely my style, and that fit the drawings I put on them. I want the drawings and the pieces I put them on to really feel like they belong together.

Between you and me, my big dream is to get my work into the Ferrin Gallery. I've been in love with them ever since seeing some of the artists they represent at SOFA Chicago back in '08. Molly Hatch, Matthew Metz, Kurt Weiser, Richard Notkin, Jason Walker; so many of my favorite ceramic artists are represented by Ferrin.

I've got a long way to go, that's for sure! But it's a supremely enjoyable journey.

One Fine Spring Day

The weather has been unbelievably nice this week. Blue skies and t-shirt weather almost everyday. I know it's too early for spring to be here, but it feels like spring, and it's nice to be able to get out in the sunshine.

Nich and I took a walk with Maddy on Monday. We live less than a block from the largest city park in Indy, Garfield Park, which has a lovely conservatory (greenhouse) that we like to walk thru on winter days to lift our spirits. Right now there is an art glass exhibit from some local sculpture students, so there are all these weird and lovely sparkling glass pieces hidden amongst all the greenery.

One of my favorite things about visiting the conservatory are the koi ponds. The koi are huge, and really beautiful. Nich and I dream of having a koi pond of our own someday.

Nich's favorite tree there, the Powderpuff tree. The flowers are really soft.

They must have been hungry, they kept nibbling our fingers!

Couldn't help noticing this little piece, with an unglazed pot for a base:)

A blue glass Bowerbird "nest".

Giant glass spiders in the trees, spinning twine.

Giant cicada nymph. Love this! I have a thing for cicadas.

There's also a house on the corner of our street with chickens (another thing we dream of having some day), so we always stop to say hi to them when we pass. This time the two roosters were having a bit of a tiff. They do look fairly impressive with their neck feathers all puffed out like that.

I know this nice weather can't last, but it's been a welcome break from all this grey, dull winter weather we've had. If it is going to stay wintery, I wish we'd get at least one good sled-worthy snow storm! Otherwise, winter needs to shove off!

Oh yeah, I have an Etsy shop, don't I?

Peek-a-boo!

I promised myself that once I picked up all my work from the Criaturas show on the 31st, I would get it all photographed and reopen my Etsy shop. I have neglected my Etsy for about 2 years now. I was beginning to wonder why I even bothered listing it on my business cards. It got to be such a pain to keep it up, with the whole 5 photos of each item thing, and the crappy search algorithm they used to have. You just got lost in a sea of jewelry shops (no offense to you jewelers out there, but man are there a lot of you on Etsy!)

I've been told that Etsy has vastly improved while I've been away. I think my stuff has improved as well, so maybe it's time to give it another go. I don't know if I can realistically produce work fast enough to keep up with it and craft fairs (Bloomington Handmade Market is coming up!), but I'm willing to give it another shot. It seems like it works for a lot of other potters I really admire. Maybe I can make it work for me.

What about you guys? What are your experiences with Etsy? Do you love it or hate it, and has it really gotten better? If there are any super successful sellers out there, feel free to share the secrets of your success!

Sketchbook Project 2012

Today was the last day to mail off our moleskin notebooks for the Sketchbook Project. In case you've forgotten that I took on this project, it's that little cloudy looking button down there on the left hand side (scroll way down). It was my intention to post my sketches on the blog as I did them, but that kind of fell by the wayside. It's a bit of a miracle that I finished doing this at all (which, technically, I didn't - I only managed to get half the pages colored, though I did at least ink them all). 

I drew most of the sketches on my break at Fedex when I was still working there, shortly after Maddy was born. Having a little girl really influenced me thinking about stories, and girls, and gender, so the sketchbook is full of flame haired girls riding giant cats and taming alligators. Some of the images might even turn into stories for Maddy one day. I keep saying I'd like to make a book for her and illustrate it. Maybe this is a jumping off point.

The theme I chose for my sketchbook (you are asked to choose one of the themes provided) was "Fill me with stories." I didn't write any literal stories, but I did draw a lot of illustrative images that could become stories one day.

Filling him with stories, literally.

I have a thing for drawing girls on cliffs.

I used these awesome acrylic inks for all the color. They're super vibrant, and water soluble,  so I can get nice delicate watercolor washes and deep opaque colors.

Maddy will probably not have flame red hair. I just like drawing flame headed girls.

I included a secret note for anyone who checks out the sketchbook from the art library. So the sketchbook tour comes to your city, look for it!

The main branch post office downtown is supposed to be open until 7pm, but I live in Indianapolis, and the Super Bowl is this weekend. The post office is around the corner from the stadium, so it was closed. Of course I waited until the last minute to mail this thing, which must be post marked today to be included. We dropped it in the box in the hopes that it will be postmarked for today, since the pickup time was supposed to be til 7 (we dropped it in at 6:50pm, 'cause we're that good). Fingers crossed.

I'm just happy I drew on every page this time around. I didn't even submit my 2011 sketchbook, and I was sad about that. I'm proud of myself for getting this done! Maybe next year I'll do even better, with full color dreamscape pages from cover to cover. 

For pics of all the drawings, visit my Facebook page!

Too busy today - here's some Pinterest stuff.

Yesterday I did a private workshop (and neglected to take pics), and today I'm doing taxes (Yay! I am so grumpy about this, and my husband thinks that's hilarious. Why should I be grumpy about getting lots of money back? Because I HATE DOING MY TAXES.) So I'm slacking a bit on the blogging front. Never fear! Here are some pretty things from my Pinterest for you to look at. That's just as good, right?

Ugh. Taxes. GAH.

Not really mastering cone 6 glazes?

One of my duties as artist in residence at Beech Grove is to formulate studio dipping glazes for student use. Now, glaze chemistry has never been my strong point. I've no head for math, and I'm just not a very precise person, so in college I didn't have much luck finding glazes that I liked or had use for. All that repetitive testing just seemed tedious to me, and given the kind of surface treatments I prefer, not very useful. Except now I need that information for a job, and probably will many times in the future. So I better brush up on it, right?

I've always been the kind of person that will happily hit the books (or the internet) if there's something I don't know how to do. I really love learning, and usually pride myself on being able to pick up new skills easily. Several people have recommended Mastering Cone 6 Glazes to me as a really great resource, so I asked for it for Christmas, and I'm just now getting around to cracking it open.

Oh man. I'm slowly starting to think that once you have a baby, your brain just turns to mush and slides right out of your ears.

I woke up yesterday morning, fed Maddy, and after she went back to sleep, I figured I had a couple quiet hours to spare before she woke up again. I thought it would be an excellent time to sit down and finally begin reading this book. Next week being my break, and with my new (currently not working, but fixable) test kiln, I figured it would be the perfect time to get some glaze testing done. I sat down with my cup of coffee, and started reading.

And could barely register a word of it.

I can barely even remember what I read! What is wrong with my brain! I gave up in frustration, but several friends and potters assured me that it was probably not a good morning read, so I tried again in the afternoon (after many cups of coffee). Slightly clearer then, but still daunting.

Don't get me wrong. Clearly there is a lot of good info in this book. The base glaze recipes they include will probably be a lot of help. And they clearly intended this book to be simplistic so that anyone can use it and formulate their own glazes.

But my brain must be broken. Or stuffed with fluff.

Maybe it's just not the sort of thing you should read cover to cover. Maybe I need to look at the appendices and apply some of the practices in studio to really understand what they're talking about.

I know everyone says this a great book. But I can't remember the last time I've felt so stupid!

Argh.