Bright Sun Shiny Day

After my last sad post I felt I had to lighten up a bit :-). This has been a hard week for various reasons and I know that without my "Process" and my "Book" (Busting Loose from the Money Game) I would have sunk into depression, but I did not. For those of you doing the book, there will likely be rough patches, it is not all fun, but push on through when it happens and you will be rewarded.

I took these photos this week. In Taos Every September there are sunflowers along the roads, and in huge fields, they are everywhere! The top photo is a hearty little guy in my yard that came back after the plumber killed all my sunflowers. I tend to him and say sweet words to him daily. So glad he made it, he is small, but he is alive!

I have a lovely day ahead, I am in my jammies, about to go stick my hands in clay (someday soon I hope to have some stuff to show!) and I have my first Disc of the last season of "Lost", YAY! It does not get any better.

Happy Saturday! XOXO

Sunday! Yes!

Finally it is clay day. I thought it might never come after 5 days of working. I am very grateful for the jobs, but I missed my porcelain :-). Don't worry I am not going to do another post about clay. Rather I want to talk about how we so often stand in our own way. I realized that the reason I don't make my living doing art is because I don't fully trust it nor do I perhaps feel deserving. I am working on these issues. I pulled a Zen card the other day that said
"He who stands in his own shadow and wonders why it is dark". Says a lot and I am listening.
Not that I am in the dark, but I do so often stop my own success by the negative thoughts and beliefs I carry around. I have also realized that you have to treat yourself how you want to be treated, so I am giving myself a bit of down time and letting myself just be today. Float about a little and read, watch the birds. But first to the kitchen to play with clay! Tell me dear ones how you are being good to yourselves this weekend. Happy Sunday! XOXO

Say Yes!

Today, Sunday, my favorite day of the week, I am saying yes to clay. I am saying yes to making bunches of bowls, mugs and anything else that I think of. I have decided to devote myself to clay for the next month, perhaps two.
I am saying yes to being positive, saying no to worry and doubt.
I am saying yes to Julia Child (I am reading "My Life in France"), she was such a happy, funny woman I have grown to love her so much.
I am saying yes to hot chocolate! It is Fall here and especially in the mornings it is cold!
That is all I have come up with so far, but I am sure I will think of other things to throw myself into.
What are you saying yes to, today?
Happy Sunday. XOXO

Updates and a thank you to everyone

Thank you all who have been praying for my mom and cousin.
All the lovely comments are very appreciated. Mom is being
moved to assisted living today and will be able to go home after
she is able to walk better. She has a lot of pain, but she is getting
better everyday and I am very grateful for that.
I have been sitting with my sadness and anxiousness instead of
pushing it away and when I do that, it moves swiftly through me
and I am able to let go of worry. Still watching the funny movies too :-).
I have finished Erin's painting and will show photos after she receives it.
I have not touched clay for a few weeks and have been dreaming of it
nearly every night, so today I am going to follow my bliss and make
something, a mug, a bowl, not sure yet.
The two bowls I showed you a couple weeks ago have found homes!
One has made it's way to Diantha and one is on it's way to the UK
in a trade with Melanie. This makes me happier than I can express :-).
I am off to play. Keep the prayers coming. Love you, XOXO

Now on my Etsy site

I know you have already seen this, but I had to show you the professional photo :-).

Mom went home yesterday! YAY. It makes me more than happy. Time is flying and I will get back here with a real post soon. Happy Saturday. XOXO

More on inspiration/discipline

Thank you so much for your help yesterday. Because of your comments I have figured out a plan that I am sure will work. I will be disciplined and put aside an hour a day to work on the book and if inspiration comes, it comes, but I will leave a space open. I will forget about the illustrations for now and just finish the book. I will give myself plenty of time to work on the visual art on the weekends, so I won't feel deprived :-). It may take a little longer to finish the book this way, but at least it will get finished :-). To this end I wrote one and a half chapters yesterday. The chapters are small, the book is only 50-70 pages, so a chapter is only a couple pages, but still it felt good to get something done.
Today is Sunday and that means clay and ceramics (for now anyway). I drew up a bunch of designs and I can't wait to get going!
Happy Sunday! XOXO

More Clay Love

This is a photo of my latest effort, they will have drawings on them as well. I really like them and think I will move on and make some bowls, plates and maybe even a butter dish next. I also have plans for a (gasp) tea pot in the coming month. For those of you bored by all the talk of ceramics, I promise a new topic for the next post :-). Have a Lovely evening. XOXO

Sculptures

Here are a couple sculptures by my friend J, he hand builds these with the coil method, which if you have ever done it, you know how difficult these shapes are to make. If you have never done it, trust me when I say these are amazing. I had a lovely day with my friends talking about art.

I did get some helpful tips and J gave me some ceramic magazines that I have been pouring over. After I do this post I am off to make more mugs. I cannot explain why I love working with clay so much, but really I think it is the great love of my life and though I have come to it later in my life, I am so happy I began. I hope to one day soon be able to do the sculptures in my head, but for now mugs are what I can manage :-).

Another day of bliss awaits :-). Happy Sunday! XOXO

Saturday

I am excited today as I am going with best friend J to the home and studio of another friend J. He is a worker in clay and he makes large, fantastic sculptures. Now that I have been working in clay I know how hard his sculptures are to make and I am amazed by them. I want to see how he does it and perhaps learn a few tips. Tomorrow is set aside for making some more mugs using the tips I learn today. If all goes well I will have more photos to post. And if he will let me I will show you some of J's sculptures. Have a wonderful Saturday! What are you up to today?

Clay Joy

I

promised

photos of

what I

accomplished

yesterday,

so here

they are.

Two mugs, completely different. The top one I will draw on after it is fired and the other will just be glazed. For now they have to sit around for a few weeks and dry. I had so much fun making them, it took me all day, but what bliss. I hope you all have a wonderful week. XOXO

Sunday is my favorite day.

I have always loved Sundays because it is a lazy, quiet day. No stress, no pressure. My day started with a lovely espresso, some happy blogging and dreams of going to Paris. My plans for the rest of the day are like this: Making a delightful breakfast, getting my clay out and beginning again to make lovely mugs and bowls, so far everything I have made in the last month has been crap, so I must keep at it, eventually I want to do sculpture, but practice is needed first. My main problem is that I want to rush it. I don't understand why as I don't rush my paintings, but with the clay I do and that is bad news as you CANNOT rush it, ceramics is a dance with water and clay and too much too soon, it falls apart. So slow is the word for today. I promise photos, later, of what I accomplish.
I will also work in some reading and movie watching into my day, a bit of writing on my book and some more dreaming of Paris. If you have been to Paris please leave me a comment on your very favorite thing about it and if you work in clay please leave a tip or two and all the rest of you, tell me what you are up to this Sunday, this most wonderful of days.

Holiday Craft

Max helping me make Christmas cards :-).

A closer look at the cards.

Ornaments in the raw clay stage.

This is how I have been spending the last couple of days.

Having so much fun and I find it very relaxing. I also finally

got my Esty shop up, but have many more items to add

before I am ready to have my grand opening, I am

very close and you all will be the first I tell.

Let me know what you think so far...

I will leave you with this quote by Willem de Kooning that says it all for me:

I can't help it.

I stayed in this world of childish wonder,

I think that a lot of creative people never grow up.

I am certain a real man would not paint any pictures!

Or wonder about the universe

Or believe in dreams.

Or think that trees sometimes look at him.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Doves

This photo is one I took yesterday. 10 doves were

in the tree and it looked so cool. If I had a high

powered lens it would be a really wonderful photo,

as it is I hope you can see the doves :-). I took all

my glazed pottery to the firing place today and she

said I will be surprised by how many will come out alright.

We will see. Many of the things shrunk, so they will likely

be too small to sell :-), but I am learning. Now I am making

things really LARGE :-). Also working on the book and

making phone calls. It is lovely to be home with my

animal boys, they like it too. That's it, just wanted to say hi.

Happy weekend! XOXO

My day

It usually starts here 4-5 days a week. This is where I run.

Actually my day starts with coffee and meditation :-). Then I run.

After that I do all the things we all do to get ready for our day.
Today was a day off, so I did errands and then I had some

excitement. I took my clay to get fired :-). It was actually one

of my Be Brave challenges. It should not be a scary thing to

do, but it was for me. Why? I think it is because it is something

new and unknown. I love the way I feel after I do the stuff I am afraid

of and today was no different. I had some fun and bought some glazes

which I am excited to try and the very best thing of all is that I learned

there is a tool called a glazing pencil! That means I can draw on the clay.

I can't explain exactly why that makes my heart sing, but it does :-).

I won't be able to pick up the fired pieces until next Thursday, so I

will work on the book until then. Oh, another fun thing that happened

was, as I was driving to the firing place, I had a thought that I may see

my friend Joe there (he is a maker of beautiful clay sculptures). Sure

enough he arrived just minutes after I did. I love when that happens :-).

It was a lovely day, and there are still a few more hours left of it.

How was your day? What great thing happened to you today?

Have a beautiful evening everyone.

For the love of clay :-)

This bowl was my favorite and one I just finished, I made it too thin and a piece broke off, so I broke all the edges to see if I could use it anyway.
I don't think it works.
This is a cream and sugar set,
I am not sure about them, they
look a little Fred Flintstone to me,
but they make me smile.

This one is the first coil method

bowl I made, it took forever!

Here are a few badly done photos of some of my clay work.

It is in its raw state and has yet to be fired. I have other pieces,

but most of them I won't bother to fire, they were just for play

and to get a feel for the clay and how it works. These pieces here

will be fired and if they make it through that process, I will then

glaze them(an art in its self) and then fire them again.

I have just finished a few other pieces not photographed yet

that will also be fired. I love working with the clay so much

I have done nothing else, so while I wait for these to dry and

be ready for firing I am going to work on the large painting

I started many moons ago and abandoned. I may even work

on the book :-) which I really need to rewrite. I hope you are

all having a great weekend. XOXO

My cup

This is my cup :-). In the raw. Can you see the patttern

in the clay? I learned a new trick from a friend and it

made my work go much faster. I finished in half the time!

I think I finally have the hang of it. Next I will tackle a bowl :-).

Now this piece has to dry for about 3 weeks before it is ready

for glazing and firing. Glazing is a whole other thing I have

to learn, and everyone keeps telling me how hard it is :-).

I find working in the clay so soothing and relaxing, I could

get addicted to this. Have a magic Monday.

Movies and other things...

I loved this movie! It is sweet and sad and funny and just plain wonderful. Watch the trailer and you get a small clue. Michael Pitt is a Revelation to me, I had never heard of him (I know I live in a cave :-) before. He is a darling actor even if he is a youngster. Loved this movie, did I already say that :-)? Well I did :-). The last couple of days I had off I cleaned up my little yard and planted some flowers. Gardening is such a wonderful, life affirming thing, isn't it? I also worked with my clay and for the first time in many tries, I actually have something to show, well sort of, it is not done yet, but I have completed half a cup and it is standing :-). I hope to complete the last half tonight. It is taking me a long time to get the hang of this. I sure hope I can get a little faster :-), slow does not begin to cover it. I worked on that half a cup for 3 and a half hours and it is only about 3 and a half inches high, that is an hour an inch! Pray for me people :-). It is a good thing I love doing it or I would throw in the towel about now. Any workers in clay out there with any helpful tips would be welcome :-). I also had a new idea for my large painting I have been struggling with and I came up with the title of my book-"Trust Where you are"-copyright 2008. What do you think of the title? Any input would be appreciated. That is it for me today, hope you are all having a sparkling weekend. OXOXOX

Fun with clay

This great photo by Geraint Smith. Earth, clay. My life as it was has changed. I am now obsessed with clay. I would like to say that after my seven hour day working with it yesterday, that I had something to show. I do not :-). I did learn a lot about what not to do, however. I tried to do too much too soon. I used too much water and I did not get my coils even enough. Basically my bowl turned into a cup and then it caved in on itself :-). I should have taken a photo of it, but I did not think of it until now. It would have made you laugh, it did me. I think it will be a little while before my vision of what I wanted to create becomes reality. I am just fine with that :-). I am now ready to go slower, be more aware and take all the time I need. Good lessons to learn for all things. I had great fun too and I could have went for hours more, but my back and shoulder started to give me problems. Another reason to pace myself :-). I hope you are all having a terrific weekend.

Tidbits

Today I am just going to ramble a bit and you can come along
if you want to :-). Lately I have been having the most magical
things happening. Ever since I have been practicing going with
the flow and trying to stay in the moment I have been having
extraordinary experiences such as: Thinking I would call a
friend about getting together and every time I think I'll call
I get a feeling not to call, then within minutes or a few hours
that very person calls me with the same idea. This has actually
saved me a little time and it feels as if the Universe is arranging
itself around me. Other things like that keep happening and it
appears I have to do very little to make things happen. Sweet.
In other news I am getting little snippets for my book. I feel I
am becoming more inspired to finish it. But first the clay. I have
had no time all week to work on it, but tomorrow I do and I
can't wait! I have reserved the whole day to play with clay.
I plan on not even getting out of my pj's all day. I may comb
my hair and brush my teeth, but little else besides play :-).
I am hoping to have something to show you soon.
I think that is it for today. Have a lovely Thursday.

Happy Saturday

This lovely photo is by Geraint Smith who is having a group

show tonight and I would like to wish him the very best. I will

be going to the show after work tonight. I have 3 shows to go to,

so it will be a busy evening. I picked this photo because as I was

driving this morning to my running spot, a beautiful bird flew past

and the electric blue color of his body made me stop and moved me to tears. I don't know why, it was just so wonderful.

I believe it had to be one of these little guys. I have exciting news.

Well, it is exciting to me, it may put all of you to sleep :-). I bought

a 50 pound box of clay and all the tools I will need to start making

pottery. I can't believe I am finally doing it. I have been wanting

to get my hands into clay since high school and here it is 36 years

later! Too long. However, I do believe it is the most perfect time.

I will post photos later when I get something to show. I hope you

are all having a fantastic weekend. Do something today that you

have always wanted to do, don't wait.