Lazy Day

Today was a pretty laze day all around.  But I have a good excuse.  It was my birthday and I just felt like being lazy.  Ok, I wasn't totally lazy.  I went to the studio and unloaded the clay I brought up from Sacramento on Wednesday.  I got some more cone 6 porcelain and a cone 6 stoneware to try out.  I also got a cone 04 white.  Yeah, Eric at IMCO screwed up his eyes and said not to put it in with the cone 6.  Duh!  I didn't give him a bad time for it.  I actually had met him in 2000 in Penryn at a wood fire at Rodney Mott's.  He told me there is another wood firing coming up in a couple of weeks.  It is a tempting thought but I probably need to stay focused on what I need to get done here in June.  You see, I will be gone for a month at Fresno Summer Arts.  Oh Yeah!  Two days ago I found out that I got a full scholarship for the program.  Yippie!  Alright, I could keep going with other minor things I got done today but this is starting to sound like a blah, blah, blah, post.

Bloom Where You Are Planted

A rose from my old garden.

Lately I've been pondering on this little saying, "bloom where you are planted."  It has served me pretty well in getting through trials and making the best of the situations I am in, good or bad.  For example, I used to live on a 3/4 acre parcel that was sandwiched between a metal fabricator and a landscape business.  It wasn't exactly the quiet peaceful environment that I would prefer for my creative thought processes.  What it did have was a complete ceramics studio and lots of space to grow a garden.  I had no idea how long I would be living there but I wanted to make the most of it.  I actually had studio space on the property five years before I moved onto the place and this gave me ample to time to experiment with gardening.  By the time I moved in I had a gorgeous garden of vegetables and flowers.  I immediately went about planting fruit trees for fun, food and shade.  The property was hotter than blazes in the summertime which was great for the garden but hard on the people.

 Gifts from the garden.

I lived there for another five years enjoying the fruits of my labors, making pottery and playing with my cats.  When extreme life circumstances made it necessary for me to move it was extremely difficult.  I had to give up everything.  The cats, the garden, all the studio equipment.  But hey!  It was a necessary step down another path.  I know that it is important to have the right perspectives.  That doesn't mean it is easy.  I can't really garden anymore.  No sun.  I could have a shade garden but somehow that doesn't really motivate me.  What has been motivating me is to focus more on my art which has been great.  I find myself creating my blooms on my pottery and coming up with fresh ideas that I would have no time for if I was out in my garden so much.  I hope to have a garden again some day and maybe another studio.  For now, I have the university studio which suits me just fine and good friends.  Oh yeah, I did get to keep one of the cats and we snuggle a lot!

Tazzie waiting for birds. I don't have this sweet girl anymore.

Etsy Treasury Number Three!

Oh for Muddy Sakes! by terraworks

I have NEVER posted three times in one day. But what am I supposed to do?  My work is in another Etsy Treasury.  It's time to PAARRTY!

Two Etsy Treasuries in One Day!

Black and White by AlteredAbbey

My work made it into another Etsy Treasury tonight, or this morning depending on your location.  That's my porcelain sculpture on the second row on the left. Wow, I'm just giddy.  Go over and give this treasury some clicks and views.  It would be incredible to make it to Etsy's Frontpage.  But we can't do it without your help.  By the way, Chrysti Hydeck at AlteredAbbey has some gorgeous photography and she is having an incredible sale so check out her shop too!  Thanks, Chrysti.

Red, White and Oooooooo!

That's it. I am officially finished with school for the semester.  I can do whatever I want!  Well, sort of, maybe for a little while.  But it sure does feel great.  As soon as I got home I decided to check my email and Etsy store and found out my little red and white porcelain mug  was featured in this incredible showcase by the talented cinderelish.  All the artists in this showcase make beautiful work and I am honored to by in this showcase with them.  Yeah!  I'm looking forward to this weekend and just playing with the clay for awhile.  What is everyone else up to?

Cats and Clay

It seems like every time I turn around there is a cat trying to get involved with something in the studio!

This time it was during the photo shoot of my new work.  I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye and looked over to see this in the back of the light tent.  Cat toenails on my backdrop seems like a really good thing!

Oops! I've been caught. I'm outta here!

Finals are finally over for me.  Yippie!  Just some studio clean up time and I still have work study which is a nice thing.  Then it will be back to the quiet studio for some new work.

I won the Jack Windsor Ceramics Award!

Last night was the reception and awards ceremony for both the Student Art Show and the 7th Ink/Clay at the Janet Turner Print Museum.  I had a piece in the Turner and I won the Jack Windsor Award.  I am sooo excited!  I forgot to take a picture last night so I've got to run over there today and get one to post.

I also just listed this fun porcelain pedestal bowl in my Etsy store.  I'm thinking Hot Fudge Sundae here I come.  It's has been about 85 degrees already and summer is just around the corner.  I had my last critique and now we just have studio clean up days.  I also got accepted into the CSU Summer Arts Program, Clay as a Medium for  Sculpture.  I am going to have the opportunity to learn from Patsy Cox, Jason Briggs, Tip Toland, Heather Mae Erickson and Holly Hanessian.  This is going to be an intensive, two week program.  I can't wait!

Summer break is almost here!  I met with my BFA adviser yesterday and had ceramics critiques.  Today I have my printmaking critique and I am really excited to hear what everyone has to say about my final project.  I will post some pictures of my prints after everything is graded.  In the meantime, I finally took photos of my latest pottery pieces.  These are made from cone 6 porcelain from IMCO.  I am enjoying the graphic qualities of these pieces and can't wait to work on some more sculptures in a similar theme.

I made a number of different shaped mugs in an effort to come up with some new designs.  I don't think I'm nearly done working on shape but I think this one might end up in my cupboard.  This one is shorter and a little wide and I really like the balance and the way it feels in my hand.  I don't think I truly appreciated what  goes into a mug design.

I am really trying to break out of some clay making ruts that I have been in for a long time.  Just playing around and altering the rim here is a good first step in the right direction.  I would like to venture into some non round forms and see if I can't get my brain out of the entrenched wheel throwing mode.  Throwing on the wheel was my first love and I fall back into it for relaxation, when I'm stressed or when I can't think of what else I want to do.  Quick, someone put a lock on that wheel.  I'm headed to the mold room and the slab roller.  We'll see what fun stuff I turn out next.

I'm looking forward to the studio time this summer.  It won't be crowded with students and I should have more space to spread out for a little while.  I will also be attending summer arts at CSU Fresno where there will be some awesome ceramics instructors and some intense work getting done.  I can't wait!

I haven't decided if this is an amoeba shape or a sea creature but i love the way it flows around the mug.  I am going to continue working with this shape.  I have already incorporated it into my print work and now I want to bring the print work into my ceramics by combining print with sculpture so that the two relate to each other.  My instructors have led me down some good thought paths about the direction my work my take so my brain is all a buzz with ideas.  It is going to take some focus to narrow down the ideas and maybe make some small pieces to work out the concepts.  Have a good day everyone and you can see these pieces in my Etsy shop.  I will be listing more every day so keep checking back with the shop.

CCACA Ceramic Artist Photos

Phew!  Well I finally caught my breath after last weekends whirlwind conference only to have a panic attack today about my printmaking final.  A perfectionist attitude combined with a gemini personality along with too many choices made a muck of my idea generating process.  Then I was saved when our delightful instructor, Eileen MacDonald informed me that there were tons of silkscreens available and it would be a shame if I didn't do another silkscreen project.  Yeah!  Narrowing the focus is such a wonderful thing.  So I spent the last couple of hours listening to relaxing music and drawing some really interesting shapes.  The worst part for me is the planning stage.  After that it is just a lot of hard work but I can deal with that.  Being busily engaged in a project is what keeps me sane.  I think?

So, at the request of a loyal follower, I finally have some more images from the CCACA ceramics conference!  Enjoy.  I will get an album uploaded soon to my facebook.

 Monica Van Den Dool

Simon Dwire, Sandi Escobar, Cameron Crawford, Cory Condry

Taco Tongue

Sandi Escobar

Racheil Wenner hanging her Fetuses

Arthur Gonzales

Admiring Meaghan Gates work

Shenny Phillips Cruces

Detail

Demise of Education, Detail

Paula Moran

Well, that's all for now.  And it's a good thing.  I got to go to bed!  Too much work and printmaking tomorrow.  But it should be fun.  Zzzz...

Karl McDade Silkscreen Transfers on Clay

Karl McDade Demonstrating Silkscreen Transfers for Clay 

I made it back from CCACA in Davis, CA!  This was an incredible ceramics conference hosted by the John Natsoulas Gallery.  It was a great weekend of workshops, lectures and shows.  I'm so tuckered out that I don't think I can post too much.  However, the first workshop of the conference was by Karl McDade and it was incredible.  I was planning on doing some silkscreen on clay for my final project in my printmaking class and this was just the resource I needed.  Thanks, Karl!

Peeling the paper back from the first transfer

I'll try to get more posted soon.  I have final critiques coming up next week.  Yikes!  Already?  Where did the semester go to?  Plus I have a show to do on Mother's Day.  Wish me luck.  I hope everyone is enjoying the spring weather as much as I am.  Goodnight.

Ceramics Conference

I wish I had time to post but I have been running amuk lately.  I've been busy putting work through the kilns for my Mother's Day show at Cory's Country Inn.  I finally got the work out of the glaze kiln and I am in love with the new designs I have been working on.  I just pulled them out this morning but I have been rushing around getting supplies for the California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Arts (CCACA) down in Davis,CA.  All the colleges from the area set up shows of student work and I will be there with Chico State.  It should be a weekend of fun.  There will be wonderful guest artist workshops and lectures and lots of ceramic art to see.  I can't wait.  But I better get to bed.  I've got to get up early to pack up and head out.

I'll leave you with this picture from last years conference.  After a long day painting and prepping, students and teachers pause to appreciate the work and beautiful set up.  Watch out people!  I'm taking more photos this year.  hahaha

All Work and No Play...

It has been such an incredibly gorgeous weekend!  It almost felt like summer today.  I have actually been way too obsessed with clay lately to take time for myself.  Not that I have to be that obsessed, just that I have been having lots of fun.  So yesterday, I decided "I need to get out of this studio!"  I was feeling like, all work and no play makes me a dull girl indeed.  I headed out to walk home and was thinking about where I might want to go.  Then I crossed the footbridge on campus and thought, "Why do I need to go anywhere when this is right here?"  Besides that, my feet were killing me and the cold water of the creek looked much too inviting.

I thought it would feel excellent to soak my toes in the water so I climbed down to some rocks and took my shoes off.  It is really great that campus is situated right next to this wonderful creek.  Because of the recent rains, it was really full.  And, it was really cold!  It took a little while to get my feet used to the cold and then I just soaked them until they were numb.  It was extremely refreshing and my feet thanked me. 

It was so relaxing and the sound of the water flowing by started to make me sleepy.  If there had been a place to lie down I would have let the creek lull me to sleep.  But then the mosquitoes found me and I wasn't prepared for them so I put my shoes on and headed up the tiny hill.  Oops, it was kind of hard walking with numb feet.  I am going to do it again soon!

Decorating Plates in Bed

 The girly, flowery experiment.

So, what is a person supposed to do when it is rainy and ugly outside, one has been sick for five days and one is trying to procrastinate heading off to school in this nasty weather?  Why, decorate those plates that I dragged home last night!  And then put them on the bedspread and take pictures.  Then sit down with a bowl of soup and post to my blog and then suddenly remember that I have to run off to school and enter something in the student show before it is too late.  Yikes!

The organic, biomorphic experiment.

Sculpture from my solo show.

 

I have a head cold today and I'm not feeling so hot but here are some shots of the gallery were I had my very first solo show.  This is the view from the entrance to the gallery.  This piece in the front is porcelain fired to cone 10.

These pieces are earthenware with underglaze and sgrafitto.

The two pieces here in the foreground are porcelain and the two behind are stoneware.  I had a hard time taking these pictures because of the lighting. I had a mix of natural light, fluorescent and halogen.  I also had some depth of field issues.  I might go back and try to shoot some more shots before I take the show down on Thursday. 

Tiles and Pedastal Bowls

 

 

I'm not entirely certain how a whole week went by without a post.  Maybe it has something to do with my slow internet connection.  I just haven't felt like dealing with it.  Here are some quick pics of what I have been up to.  Making progress on decorating my tiles and working on some cone 6 pieces.  I love these pedestal bowls.  I'm thinking ice cream!  Ok, got to be to class in ten minutes!

Terra Sigillata Love!

Ok, it's official.  I am in love!  Oh, terra sigillata, how I love thee.  Let me count the ways.  This MIGHT even be better than chocolate.  Wait, what am I saying?  Have I lost my mind!  That could be possible.

I owe this new wave of insanity to Jenny Mendes.  She is an absolutely wonderful ceramic artist who decorates her work primarily using terra sig.  She spent a month at Chico State working and sharing her knowledge with the students.  There was a wonderful article about her techniques published in March on Ceramic Arts Daily.  Jenny left this week and gave us her terra sig to play and experiment with. So far I have just put the red terra sig, made from redart, on these new tile tests.  It felt like I was brushing silk onto my tiles!  I've never worked with this before and let me say, I was really missing out.  Thank you, Jenny!  I have been sworn by my instructors to share all experiments and results.  How can I not?  This is soooo much fun!  I want everyone to try it out.  I found myself fondling my tiles last night.  They were so smooth and soft.  Did I tell you? I have gone nutz!  In the picture above you can see the difference in the before and after.  The lighter tile on the bottom left is a funny, pink recycled clay I made last spring.  All the other ones have the terra sig.  Now, if I can just figure out what else I want to do with them.  So many colors of terra sig to choose from.  What will I ever do?

Fibromyalgia and Internet Issues!

Yesterday I made these gorgeous tiles in a unique shape created with one of my snowflake cutouts.  The downside was using my body in a way I am not used to and then in doing to many at once because I was excited with them and having a great time.  Time just flew by (time really does fly when you are having fun!) and it was late when I looked up at the clock.  I could tell that my elbow was  hurting.  When I woke up this morning I was in real pain.  That all over ache like when  you get the flu.  That's fibromyalgia for you.  Most of the time I can ignore the fibro, especially by keeping busy and I mostly don't feel it.  Then there are days like yesterday when I do something that my body is not used to.  Then I overdo it on top of that and I am quickly reminded of my limitations.  Slow and steady should be my motto.  I had that tender all over feeling and I wouldn't even let my cat initiate her morning ritual of walking all over me.  She tried but it just hurt too much.

I haven't been taking photos too much lately.  I have been feeling kind of obsessed with ceramics.  In a good way, I think.  Here is a photo I took about a month ago of the handrail on the footbridge to campus.  I like the design and the graphic qualities.  I am at campus right now, using the computer.  I finally gave up on mine at home.  It does a lot of things great as long as I don't get on the internet.  I'm not sure what is wrong with our internet at home or if it is a combo of the internet and my old computer.  The last couple of days, hours have been wasted just waiting for pages to load.  This  morning I couldn't get anything no matter how I tried to connect.  I feeling like borrowing somebody's computer just to make sure whether or not it is my computer or the connection.

I'm actually in a relatively good mood, at least that's what I keep telling myself.  But I am tired and sore and in my fogginess I left my keys at home when I ran off to school at 8am.  I was all ready to get into the printmaking lab and work on something extra that was due today.  But without a key, I can't get into my locker to get my supplies.  It's only a ten minute walk home so I'll be heading out soon to go retrieve them.  I think I'll stop and buy a bike lock first in the school bookstore and then I can get back and forth even quicker.  Oh, and a bike helmet too.  But I got to go to the bikestore for that.  Thanks for listening to me ramble today.  Sometimes, you just gotta vent.  Have a great one!

My New Website

I'm soooo excited!  I finally have my very own website, kellylynndaniels.com. Goody, goody.  A huge thank you goes out to my friend and fellow artist, Erin Lizardo, for designing it for me.  I have been wanting this for a long time but I didn't know where to start.  With the reception for my first solo show coming up this Thursday,  I wanted to have my website up with new business cards to promote it. It was definitely last minute and Erin is doing a great rush job for me. Plus, she was excited about doing something kind of pretty and girly for me. I owe you, Erin!

Lights, Camera, Action!

I finally got all of my sculptures installed in the gallery this morning.  That is, Monday morning, now that it is shortly into Tuesday.  I have done many arts and craft fairs with my pottery but this was the first gallery show with sculpture.  I had wonderful help from many people.  Special thanks go out to Allison, Cameron, Jenny and Charlene.  I couldn't have done it without you people.  You are very appreciated!

It was pretty crazy getting all of my pieces out of their boxes and setting them up.  I got all of the wall pieces set up and it looked great.  Then I set everything up on the pedestals and I had WAY too much work for the gallery space.  I maybe could have quit making things a month ago and it would have been fine.  However, I am grateful that I had too much rather than too little.  With lots of help I got the pieces edited down so the space wouldn't look cramped.  This small porcelain piece is about eight inches tall.  I really wanted it in the show along with another black and white piece but they just wouldn't fit and didn't quite work with the other pieces which are quite different.

I like this graphic design and the contrast so much that I am thinking of making a body of work that is all black and white.  That will be quite a departure for me as I am so into color.  This piece originally started out as a test piece.  I  had two forms and some slip left from a throwing session.  I decided to mix some black stain into the slip until it "looked right," although I wasn't sure what right meant.  I didn't know if I would get some shade of gray or what.  This is cone ten and it came out this fabulous rich black with hints of cobalt.  I hope all you clay people who are going to NCECA or, are already there, have a great time.  I hope to make the trip to Florida next year.  I have never been and I want to meet everyone.  Have a great Tuesday.

Porcelain, Pots and Pedestals

This week has been a crazy week of glazing my porcelain sculptures and pots to fill the kiln and getting it loaded.  After that there was running around trying to get my postcards and posters.  I had to get the posters re-printed because my image file was too small.  Then I had to prime some black pedestals and move nine pedestals from the ceramics building over to the gallery.  Not very far but they were heavy.  I should have had the foresight to enlist some help.  After getting all that done I spent the day running around campus and around town to put up posters for the show.  Then, it was off to the hardware store for anchors for the hanging pieces.  Hey, this is the first time I've done this.  I had no idea!  By the time I get my show set up on Monday I will probably be so tired I will have to sleep for the week before my reception.

The cone 10 firing went off last night and I just about burned the tips of my fingers this afternoon with my enthusiasm to get to the sculptures to see how they turned out.  I've been working with low fire and haven't worked with cone 10 porcelain for awhile.  Sometimes you just have to get reminded about stuff the hard way.  I forgot how much porcelain likes to shrink and slump in the kiln!  I had two pieces sag over and fuse themselves to something else.  One piece to a small cup and the other to a half shelf next to it.  I got the one off the shelf and I think I can grind down the spot and hide it with the luster design that I want to try out.  I may or may not get it done in time for Monday.  Do you think anyone would notice if I sneak it in a day late?  Shhh, don't tell.

I was relieved to get the work out of the kiln and some of the pieces I am really excited about.  I tried some new things that I think I want to continue exploring.  I finally came home pooped out from the week and I wanted to check up on my blog, email and such, but no dice.  My wireless adapter cannot find the connection even though it is just fifteen feet down the hall.  So I am borrowing the computer from the family members but you know, it's just not the same as your own.  I will have to admit the chair is more comfortable than mine.  Anyhow, no photos for tonight.  I should have some soon, especially of the show.  But I should probably wait until after the reception.  Waiting is so hard!  I feel that I am truly rambling on now.  Have a great weekend!