Love Trumps...Of Course, a Puppy Helps Too

No need to be concerned...
tree is not on fire....just well lit!

A large part of me has grown to hate Christmas. So many people have lost sight of the true meaning which revolves around love and light and for Christians like myself, a birth, which brings hope. Every year remembering Christ's birth brings new hope for a new year. Each year I seem to spend more and more time watching people on the sidelines as they display less than human qualities during this special time. In most cases, I don't even want to draw them. Their energy drains me and they make me feel very uninspired.

This holiday brought a *trunk* full of toys/gifts for my son (from family/friends on both sides) which was carted from one car to another at a drop off point where my x-husband and I meet to exchange our son. It was, to say the least, uninspiring for me. I must admit the x looked uninspired as well. Leggos, Halos, DNS with games and a ton of other boxes including a DVD player all packed into my little car and then all was carted out of the car into the house and placed under the tree to stay until the Epiphany.

The Epiphany....yeah, that's when the Wise Men come to visit the Christ child. Of course I'm not sure what the Wise men would say to such an overload if our house was the one they had to visit. Would they frown? Could they pick the winner in the Family Feud of whom trumped whom this year? Maybe the one wiseman would say, "Hay this cardboard house you put together and color is awesome!" while the other would disagree as he was toggling through the "Rango" scene selections on the latest kid sized portable dvd player. Or maybe they would be pleased to see that in the end the real meaning hasn't been completely lost. There are some things that are just timeless and no matter how new, how shiny or how "latest/greatest" something is kids just instinctively know the real deal and when presented with it they go for it without question. In the end, love in every form prevails and all a child really needs and remembers is the love and the attention you give them. The rest is just extra and frankly, unnecessary.

Love trumps all

C*R*U*N*C*H!

Porcelain egg box with grapes

The crunch is on before the big day. Baking, cooking, and making is the theme. Every year I try and plan for the event so everything is streamlined and non stressful and every year a wrench is thrown in. I've come to learn that these wrenches keep me on my toes and striving. Here are some of the artistic endeavors that I finished this week. All were gifts to people for Christmas.

Now...back to making those homemade periogi!

Porcelain box

Another view

China painted ornament

The Crunch

Recently finished china painting
It's the countdown before the big Christmas celebration. The studio and house are filled with projects, do-tos, and fun. I'm scrambling to stay sane as I try to get it all done. Today the big task is making the fillings for the Christmas pierogi while firing the last of my Christmas projects for family members.

Online Boutique

Online Christmas Boutique

Today I wrapped presents, boxed up orders and finally took photographs of all the pieces left from the Christmas Fair last weekend. I decided to hold an online sale and since it took most of my time to assemble and photograph and post online I figured I'd give it a mention here.

I had the kiln running today too. Fired a few of the mugs. All of which will be gifts to family members. I have something very special in mind for two of those mugs and I hope I can pull it off. My ideas are very "ocean" inspired. I may just go with a white glaze and draw a ocean or cabana scene on them. I've become very afraid of my glazing abilities. I need to get over that.

Some of the boxes
at the online boutique

Well, if you have the time and are curious to see what was left from the Christmas Fair please come and visit my Online Christmas Boutique. Lots of little stocking stuffers and some nice larger items too for yourself or a friend.

PS...I am also ashamed at how utterly disgusting and messy my studio looks in the video from the other day. I really need to get organized and ordered a couple of shelving units from Home Depot today too. I'll give another tour when things look a bit more tidy.

Christmas Fair Weekend

Table at the Christmas Fair

This past weekend was incredible! I decided last Friday to take the plunge and participate in the Christmas Fair/Boutique at our church. Most churches in the area open up their basements or gymnasiums to vendors for the holidays and I won't lie and tell you that I was walking into this all confident and cocky. I was really very nervous and I had NO idea if I could even FILL a 8 foot table nor did I have any idea how my ceramics would be received. My goal was to just make back my $35 for the table for one day.

Setting the table up with the wares was totally reminiscent of my model horse showing days that I felt a sense of longing to show again and be a part of that action. So immediately I felt at home showing off my pieces and sitting behind the table. Everything just felt right and well. I priced items from $2 all the way up to $40, so I had something for every pocket.

The vendors around me were really nice people and we had a blast talking the entire weekend. The fair itself was excellent for me. I was the only ceramist/potter at the event so I pretty much had a monopoly on pottery lovers and they were thankfully there this weekend looking for gifts for their friends and loved ones!

Another view of my table

As the first day of selling came to a close I decided to buy the table for another day. The selling was extremely good and the experience of seeing people viewing my work face to face was the most valuable part of the weekend and I just couldn't get enough. The real pottery lovers had to touch the pieces. They had to look at them and feel them. They took the glazes in and enjoyed the variations. You could just tell who loved pottery because they just hovered and then bought and then came back again for more. They wanted to talk about my wheel, my kiln and my glazes.

Some necklaces I had for sale

They wanted to talk about how the pottery spoke to them. One guy felt almost every piece and he wound up purchasing the most rustic of my pieces. No pink pieces for this guy. He loved the deep greens and browns. The real pottery lovers colors. These types of customers were the most inspirational. Hearing the love of pottery and ceramics in their voices made me want to run home and make more pieces.


More table shots

Overall, I learned so much this weekend about myself (I had to be a perky and happy sales lady) and about my work. The stuff I thought turned out terrible or was a bad idea all turned out to be the most appealing to people. Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder and art is totally subjective. As an artist I am my toughest critic and I think that portion of me needs to shut down (or at least be silenced for a while) while inspiration on my wheel and in my clay studio is let loose.

I do have pieces left over that didn't sell. As soon as I get the house in order and the laundry done and put away I'll begin to put them up for sale. I want to have an Online Christmas Boutique of my own with nothing over $20.

Holiday Mode

Fiddlin' with porcelain shards

It's getting to look a little like Christmas here. Time for ornaments, and tree trimming parties and family. I got the bug late last night to dig into my Christmas list. So it's official. The studio is now in holiday mode.

And while you get into the spirit of things making your own cheer be sure to add one more address to your holiday card list. The soldier who receives it will be very happy. :)

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Ave NW
Washington DC 20307-5001

Wait! What?

Slowly layering in flesh tones

As you can see I have been working diligently on the porcelain egg box and I have made some really nice progress. It's by far the most adventurous and beautiful china painting I have produced to date. So, I was of course very excited to show it off and left the upper portion of the egg sitting on the kitchen table. Hubby walks in after work, picks up the egg, examines it and says, "It's too religious" then walks away leaving me speechless and feeling rather defeated.

Three days of non stop, solid work were seemingly squashed in three words.

Layering hair

Too religious? Wait! Did you say it was too religious Mr. "HURRY we are going to be late for mass?" How on God's good green earth is this box too religious for the school association of SAINT Bernard's? Should I seriously be worried about my box offending about a hundred Catholic women attending a fashion show in support of the school they are sending their children to?

Defining the veil

The Madonna gently holding her baby is the epitome of a mother's love. A quiet moment of innocence and nurturing. Aren't we as moms and dads always striving for that quiet moment of love between our children? How could the Madonna, the ultimate mom in the Christian religion, or for those non religious- the most ultimate "mom" icon of high art be too religious, too over the top? Whether you are religious or not, it is still a beautiful image, no? Did I miss the memo?

Layering color on infant

Slowly detailing Mary

I know it's become rather fashionable and easy to forgo religion, to forget your manners, to be apposed to anything Conservative these days, and to poo poo any form of gentleness in our rough society. It's quicker and more fashionable to type "Xmas" instead of "Christmas" and any slight mention of Christ brings some to a halt with a snicker. That's OK. I get it and normally keep my religion and religious thoughts to myself, but this idea, this seemingly perfect theme for a huge fundraising event held by women at a religious organization that lands right before the big religious holiday seems right. No, wait, its seems absolutely perfectly SANE in EVERY respect.

Visualizing entire piece together

If this idea truly is not sane, or it is too religious and most of all unfashionable to present a Madonna and Child to a religious association hoping for a rather large turnout to their event with, of course, nice four figured profits at the end of the affair in order to support a RELIGIOUS school, then the whole world has truly gone mad.

Glazing Woes

Sake set in white and moss green

Since attending my church's fall outing I have had the Christmas fair on my mind. When it was suggested I participate in this seasonal event I thought of all the unfinished vessels that could lend themselves nicely to such an occasion once finished. I have so many vessels that remain unfired and unglazed because I really don't like glazing. I have a difficult time applying glaze. I find my color combinations to be lacking and overall I can't seem to quiet my mind when I am glazing.

Opps!

But the other day I sat down determined to make a bit of headway in the backlog of my ceramic ware. The scene was business as usual with me and glazes. Me, the table and floor covered in droplets of glaze. Ceramic ware with run off spots and lids that confused. How the heck was I going to glaze a lid and not have it stick to the kiln? I figured out that if I propped the lid on a kiln prop I could paint both sides. Of course, who knew that one lid would FALL halfway through the cone 06 firing and land on it's side? Certainly not me! Of course, it happened to the one lidded vessel I loved; the pink one I had hoped to push some sticks through the lid and really give it a Japanese look.

Lidded vessel

Of course the sake set came out nicely and although I froze when I got to applying glaze to the outside I decided that nothing says "orient" better than a black ink brush drawing so I've decided to china paint the outside of this set. In the end, given my glazing history, its the safest route. I can see beautiful trees on this already and once I have a few other projects near finish in the studio, I'll start this one.

So, I'm no closer to participating in the holiday festival, but I am learning some hard cold lessons in glazing and that will most definitely benefit later on down the road.