Sunny in Santa Cruz

I finished my first two week class at CSU Summer Arts and had the day off so I decided to get out of the fog.  I headed up to Palo Alto for ACGA's Clay & Glass Festival.  I saw a lot of wonderful work, but for some reason was shy about taking photos of anyone's work.  However, I had the delight of running into this Patrick Dougherty sculpture outside of the Palo Alto Art Center.

Here is a video of the construction of the sculpture.

After being in Monterey's 60 degree foggy weather for two weeks I was eager for the sun and warmth which I got in Palo Alto.  It was about 78 degrees and I felt like I was in an oven so I hopped back in the car and headed out to Santa Cruz.  Yeah, I know, go figure?  

This is the view from the pier look south towards Monterey. Yep, that's the thick grey blanket I have been living in lately. 

But turn around an this is what you see.

 The sea lions migrate up from Southern California to feast and rest in the marine sanctuary.

Smile pretty for the camera!

 I love architectural elements,

and the different blues of the ocean and sky here.

And when I finally drove back to Monterey, I found out it had been sunny here today.  It figures.

Photo Mania in Monterey

The last couple of days in Monterey, our class has had the opportunity to work with the wonderful photographer, Dan Burkholder.  He has been teaching us the ins and outs of iPhone photography using an amazing array of apps and techniques.  I don't have an iPhone yet but I have been lucky to have great classmates who allowed me to take some shots with their phones and run the apps.  I'm hooked and ready to get one!

Beach Bummin'

Carmel, CA

I have been so busy lately that it seems like yesterday that I last posted when in fact a whole month has slipped right on by.  Let's see if I can get y'all caught up.

Fort Ord Dunes State Park

Texture on the dunes

Sand City, CA

I am currently in Monterey at CSU Summer Arts taking a photography course called "Exploring Photography Through Three Centuries.  I've made it a point to get to the beach while I am here and have visited three so far.  I can't wait to go explore some more.

Taking a group photo.  Say Cheese!

The course is coordinated by Brian Taylor, professor and chair of the art department at CSU San Jose.

Professor Taylor has brought in three awesome guest artists for this two week class and we just finished up with artist, Dan Estabrook who is amazing!  He taught us salt, gelatin-salt, and gold toning, now considered an alternative process which was revolutionary in the 1880's when it was fist invented by William Henry Fox Talbot.  The three prints above are the ones I completed.  The first, on the left is from an image I shot (cough) about 18 years ago.  This one is a salt print.  The middle picture is the interior of the craft house from my recent trip to Penland and is a gold toned gelatin-salt print.  The last photo on the right is from a farmer's market picture of turnips and is a gelatin -salt print.  This process is quite user friendly I would like to explore it some more when the class is over.  

I am currently in the thick of mixed media with our second guest artist, Holly Roberts.  She is teaching the class mixed media techniques using photography, paint, and collage.

Susannah Israel

The weekend right before I left for Monterey I was able to attend a workshop with Susannah Israel who taught us coil building techniques for figurative sculpture.  I am so glad I was able to go to this as Susaanah is an absolute delight to work with and an incredible instructor!

My bunny sculpture from Susannah's workshop.

Soda kiln results

And then there was the soda firing.  It was a mere two weeks ago and already it seems like so long ago. 

I was able to participate in a couple of firings and I am truly addicted.  Phew, that's a lot of activity with more on the horizon.  I have another week in this class and then I will be starting the final two weeks with Clay as a Medium for Sculpture.  I'll try to keep you updated when I can find the time to breath!

Cat Sgraffito

I started to tackle the back of the candy dish outside but it was too cold and windy and lying on the bedroom floor with stacks of squishy pillows and a cat sounded more appealing.  And this was before I set my laptop next too me and put on the headphones.  I felt pretty smart.  I'm sure it was quite a sight.  I should have had someone snap a pic of me.  I do a lot of art work on my bedroom floor.  It is often my studio of choice.

Tiger says, "You gonna do some scratchin' on that thing?  I think I haz sharper tools.  You want some help?  Mebe I just supervise."

I rather like the way the back turned out.  Maybe I will make it the front next time.  I can't wait to see how it fires out.  I'm not sure if I want to put a gloss or satin glaze on.

Out of Round

I love the water towers around town and I have taken quite a few photos of them.  I had turned one of the images into a stamp so that I could make decals or photo litho transfers.  This image, however, was made using an EZ Screen.  This image was burned onto the screen and then I used a red Mudtool rib to squeegee some underglaze through.  I made the screen while I was in North Carolina and I have wanted to try it out again since I got back home.  I found a jar of underglaze that had conveniently dehydrated itself for me so that it was a good and gloppy thickness to print.  I've been needing a coaster so that is where I started.  This image came out great on the wet clay.

I tried it again on this leather hard piece and had a more difficult time. This is on the interior of a long, oval dish so there was a slight curvature and I was trying to figure out how to get the squeegee to get the whole thing at once.  I missed a few spots but I also think the print didn't work as well because of the dryer clay.

I've been trying to get out of the round mode of thinking that I get stuck in as a wheel throwing potter so I made this fun little cloud candy dish.  It looks flat in this picture but I actually draped the shape over a small oval plaster mold.  Super fun!

Shall we have a bit of sgraffito?  I free-handed my design with a pencil before I got started with the scritchy scratchin'.

I'm feeling like it is a bit too busy.  Next time I think I will have more contrast without quite so much pattern going on but I am enjoying it.  Uh, but I painted the back black also so I still have to do something with that side.  Hmmm...

Test Tile Madness!

First off, I don't feel like superwoman today.  Bummer, I know.  It's almost ten thirty in the morning and I am laying on an ice pack.  But hey, it gives me an excuse to update my blog.  No, I didn't get hurt, so to speak.  I keep forgetting that I have a tendency towards hyper mobile joints.  I have been doing a lot of stretching in the mornings to loosen up my back and my calfs. I also have been doing a lot of bike riding.  Well the stretching was working so well for a while that I think I have been over stretching without doing enough muscle strengthening exercises to compensate.  Combine that with my bicycle seat which I don't seem to be able to get the right shape, size, or comfort but I ride anyways and BAMB!  Yep, muscle spasms.

The upside?

Test Tiles!  Wait, did I say yesterday that I LOVE test tiles?  Oh yeah, but every time I make them I forget how LONG they take.  Of course, sometimes I do have a tendency to go overboard. Thank goodness I already had some color tests mixed up from about a year ago that I had never made tiles for.  So in between sessions of icing my back I kept myself pretty busy. This is Molly Hatch's vitreous engobe recipe that I got off Ceramic Arts Daily.  It is for use at cone 04-6 and I  have a bunch of different stains mixed in . I have used these to silkscreen directly onto leather hard clay and then fired to cone 04 and they looked great.  Now I will have test tiles of the engobe applied to leather hard and I will make some with the engobe applied as washes to bisque tiles.  I will fire them all in the cone 5-6 range.  

After finishing these tiles in the front I took some of the dry ones and applied terra sig which is normally used only in the low-fire range.  However, since I put it on my bowls and I decided I didn't want to sacrifice them as tests, tiles would be a good idea.  It will be interesting to see how they fire out at Cone 5-6.

And what post would be complete without out the kitty pics?  This girl is twelve years old and starting to slow down a little.  I've had her since she was three weeks old and I had to bottle feed her.  To say she is spoiled would be an understatement. She thinks the bed is hers and how can I blame her?  I spend maybe eight hours in it while she spends about twenty hours nested in blissful comfort, that is, when the light isn't too bright.  Yesterday, while I was laying on the ice, she kept kicking me with her back feet because there wasn't enough room for her to stretch out across the bed with me in her way.  Poor thing! Do you think I should upgrade to a queen or king size from the apparently tiny full size?

Having the bed right under the window does make for a perfect environment for a kitty.  All she needs to do is chill and watch the world go by.  Ah, sometimes that is a good philosophy to remind myself of from time to time.  So, peace be with you this weekend and remember to chill out. I know I certainly am, literally!

Sgraffito Madness!

I was sgraffito inspired by all of Kathy Kings work while at Penland so I decided to use this technique with some of my organic imagery.  I WAS originally going to use some of my silk screen slip images but those need to be transferred while the pieces are leather hard. These, I, um, forgot about and they were dry when I went to trim them.  Not wanting to have some boring bowls I decided to experiment with some colored terra sig.  I know, I know!  I should use test tiles first.  I am a bit worried that the sig will repel the glaze.  I did stick to the colors that I am fairly certain won't disappear at cone 6.  I will at least get these into the bisque and MAYBE, just maybe, I will make some test tiles before I glaze these.  I actually love test tiles but I get really excited about an idea and sometimes just go with it. That's the way I roll.  It's an adventure!

These tumblers where the very last pieces I made out at Penland but ran I out of time and couldn't get them into a glaze load.  I really wanted to see them fired out so I stuffed the bisqued pieces with socks, wrapped them in bubble wrap and gently nested them into my carry-on bag.  Success, they made it!  I took them over to the University and put them into the last cone 10 reduction of the semester.  Thanks peeps!  Pun intended:P   I  love the way they turned out.  I am addicted to tumblers, even more so than mugs. These have a great balance and feel awesome to hold.  I am drinking out of one of them as I write.  

It's warming up here in the interior valley of Northern California.  It is supposed to be 99 degrees today.  I'd better head out to the post office and get the last of my Kickstarter rewards shipped out before it gets too hot.  Then back to the real world of paperwork today.  Happy last day of May!

New Bowls on the Horizon

Before I tell you what I have been working on, doesn't my breakfast look absolutely scrumptious in this delightful Erin Paradis bowl?  

I am convinced that great food tastes even better when eaten out of great pottery.  I picked up this new bowl at Crimson Laurel Gallery while I was doing my studio assistantship this spring at Penland School of Crafts.  Erin's work is delightfully inspiring!

Working with Kathy King for two months inspired my use and love of black.  I forgot to take good pictures of the dinnerware set I made in black and white so now I am making some more pieces.  These will get a coat of satin matte glaze.  I can't wait to see how they turn out!

And here are a few more of my "Nirvana Bowls," as I called them on my Kickstarter project.  I didn't realize they would be so popular so I am trying out a few different bowl forms and a few different clays.  One is Cone 6 Porcelain from IMCO and the other is Icelia Porcelain from Clay Planet.  Both of these fire at cone 5-6 so I will be trying out some different celadon-like glazes.  My other bowls were fired in cone 10 reduction so I am looking to see what I can do with them at cone 6.  Fun stuff!  My progress has been a bit slow, but at least I am making things:)

Farmer's Market with My Son!

I love this guy!  I got to spend the evening at the farmer's market tonight with my son.  It was absolutely delightful.  We headed down just about the time when the sun begins to set and the changing light  starts to make all the colors pop.  It was the perfect temperature, warm but not hot with a very light breeze.

We shared this marion berry pie with vanilla bean ice cream.  I can't remember pie ever tasting as good as this one did.  My son had a blueberry lemonade and I had a lavender lemonade. 

And somehow he talked me into giving him my favorite new tumbler (the one on the right and the only one like it that I brought home) that I made while I was at Penland.  It was when he told me how much he loved me and thanked me for being a wonderful artistic influence for him.  I just kind of melted and handed it over.  Tears in both of our eyes!

 It was a sensory kind of evening.  Ahhh....