The Shed

This is one of my favorite places (next to the orchid house at the Botanical Gardens)....the shed.
It has a funny blue door that was made by gluing two sidelights together. The door doesn't really close so I keep it from blowing open with a paintbrush...I also use a paintbrush to keep my hair out of my way and long ago I had an old VW bug that I could start with anything pointy...like a paintbrush.....I wonder if that's a sign of something.....

I Just Let Go

So....I changed things back on my blog...but not everything.
All the super fragile will-this-make-it -? pieces made it through the bisque. (insert happy dance)
My hair is still growing.
I didn't think about moving, or children, or dogs, or changes, or rats today.
I just let go...
....thank you Miera

I'm Just Not A Short Hair Person

Sometimes I like things to stay the same. Sometimes I get a bit bored and I need a change. Sometimes, if there's too many changes, I get antsy and this is never good.

While I was sitting in the shed today (waiting for the kiln to hit 750 so I could close it ) I started fretting about moving and changes and packing and where Peter's going to end up and how to find a place to rent with a 200 lb dog and how to pay for school and rats (because as long as you're in deep worry you might as well add rats to the list) and I knew I was getting antsy ....so, I decided to be safe and just change the look of my blog.
 
With my total lack of computer skills, I hit the button to make "Advanced Changes".  I poked a few buttons, messed with a dial thingy that let me invent my own colors, considered a flippy photo option and spent a stupid amount of time looking through random fonts. Then I made everything look more simple....I'll live with it for a bit and then probably change it back.

When I feel like me again.

I decided changing my blog was probably better than cutting my hair off. (which is a very bad decision I've made several times in the past when I get all antsy)  I usually do it myself, with the kitchen scissors (because I don't want to ruin the sewing scissors...I know, there is nothing normal about this...but this is deep antsy I'm talking about)......Then, I have to spend a year with a scarf on my head while people look at me all sad because they think I have cancer and I don't have the nerve to tell them I'm just not a short hair person.

Glaze Day

And so begins the tedious task of glazing.... I start with the little fiddly pieces and move up to the larger pieces (except when I don't)....it sort of builds my patience for going around braids and branches with my two bristle brush.
This is the first few coats of matte glaze. I'll go back and add some bits of really glossy glaze.... in just the right places....and then wait for the perfect day to raku.
The magic of each piece as I dig it out of the ashes makes all the tedious glazing worth it!

Saint Theresa

This is a small icon box of Saint Theresa.  

I made her for a friend to give her mom for mother's day....there's going to be a couple of beaded charms and a little prayer box hanging from her base........I love her prayer...especially the part about

"settling into your bones"..... so I copied it for you to love also.                                                              

May today there be peace within.

May you trust God that you are exactly where you

are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite

possibilities that are born of faith.

May you use those gifts that you have received,

and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be content knowing you are a child of God.

Let this presence settle into your bones,

and allow your soul the freedom to sing,

dance, praise and love.

It is there for each and every one of us.

To The Girl Who Bought The Horse Picture

Two days a week I work at an art co-op. Last weekend I had the most amazing experience...right up there with working as a delivery room nurse....a young girl came into the collective and was captivated by a large black and white photo of a horse sort of in mid mane toss...she tried to talk the artist down...no go...and then tried to leave....but she kept coming back to look at the picture. On her third attempt to leave I told her how art is the thing...it's the only thing of lasting value...the thing we pass down to our children, nieces, nephews...it is why we go to work...to pay for the art of the clothing designer, the art of the architect of our home, the artist who designed that perfect rug.....she bought the print! Now, I imagine her trying it on different walls in her apartment...her first statement of this-is-me in a sea of, greatly appreciated, hand me downs....I see her moving over the years and always hanging it in just-the-right-spot...I see it over her first baby's crib.....I see 100.00 well spent!