Thursday, February 26, 2009

Hibernation

The past two months have been a true time of hibernation for me. I have been making work at a very slow pace, but also catching up on other aspects of my life. Years ago in college, I had a talk with one of the visiting artists and she said her life was a constant balancing act between work, family, and resting time. When she noticed any one area was neglected, she focused on that. My very nature is not very good at resting for any length of time. So this winter, I've put some much needed energy into kicking back and hibernating a bit.

I was so surprised that my work on etsy is still making it's way into treasuries since I have not been actively listing new items for some time. This lovely treasury, thanks to Wren Willow highlights some locals in the Hudson Valley. And it is the first one I've seen that puts my work with my good friend's. Can you guess who that is? Hint, she is on an animal kick these days.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Workshop fun

Over the summer I took a workshop with Kristen Kieffer at Greenwich House Pottery. If you're not already familiar with her work, check it out here. The workshop went through her process of throwing and altering pieces along with surface decoration. And the class had time to make their own work. I had a blast. It had been years since I've taken a class and I really needed to get inspired. Months later I picked up the pieces I made. Here is the only thing I made on the wheel the whole time. It is quickly becoming my favorite cup for wine.
Years ago, I realized I preferred to handbuild over throwing pots. I have more control working slower and more intentionally than when on the wheel. It was fun to use someone else's stamps and build in a familiar way. Here are a tumbler and small dish, both handbuilt.
The dish has the most amazing peacock stamp, hard to see with the glaze.
Most of my time however was spent learning how to make curvy covered jars with slabs. The thrown shape that Kristen starts her jars with was easy enough to make without a wheel. Here is one similar to what I made back in August. Waiting to be glazed.

Friday, February 6, 2009

More to come soon...

I had hopes of writing on my blog weekly when I first started. Turns out not to be the case. I have a few orders waiting to be completed and photos of some projects I've been working on to post soon. The cold weather really put a halt on my production though. Luckily we're finally going to have temperatures above freezing this weekend, so I'll be back in action. For now, here's the latest pic from my fiance from a sweet little German town he visited.
I love all the cobblestone pathways and plants growing everywhere. Seeing this gets me motivated to make planters again. When I worked with terracotta, I almost exclusively made planters. Here's one of my favorites from that body of work.
I still have quite a few terracotta planters from my days of doing craft shows and plan on selling them highly discounted on etsy once it's a bit closer to spring.