Throwing pots, part 2

Here's the end result of my "pot throwing" at Gary's studio a few weeks ago, three pretty blue bowls.  The first one is pretty lumpy, honestly, but ehhh who will notice....I'm very pleased with the results, and love love love the glazes.  Not ready to drop the illustration-and-notecards path in favor of a career in pottery, but I definitely look forward to getting my hands in some clay again soon.

I made an accidently super hot curry last night, an intriguing recipe which includes a few cups of strong Lapsang Souchong tea.  I followed the recipe....but "two fresh green chilis" was a bit much when those peppers are serranos, oops.  Next time I'll make it with perhaps one tiny jalepeno, and serve it in these bowls.

Matting and framing

Ok, so that last entry was not meant to sound cynical or any such negative thing, was just thoughts that came from a (real life) conversation I had with a friend outside Gimme yesterday regarding twitter.  I've been embracing the online virtual community these days.  So here's something more fun...a photo of an illustration in progress (part of the class I taught last month).

I am matting and framing today!  That means getting lots of rulers, pencils, scissors, tape, glass cleaner, etc out all over the kitchen island...plus loud music (my housemates can usually hear it through the wall and know that it means a framing day), fending off the cats so they don't shed on what I'm putting behind glass, and cups of tea. 

Virtual reality

I often wonder who reads all this stuff I write here?  What's up with the blogging and twitter movement?  It's kind of like reality TV, only real people's lives.  Then there's the Wii phenomenon, not actually playing the real sport with real people, but playing a virtual version.

Hmmm, I'm developing a theory here as I type...Perhaps our culture encourages us to be more and more isolated in our little universes (individual homes, cars, etc), although we're really kind of meant to be social creatures.  So since we get less and less time with real people, we make up for that with more and more time with virtual people, reading about their lives and feeling involved that way.  Feeling like you're participating in the world but not having to actually do so.  Or maybe I'm just making that up. 

Quote from Annie D

"How can people think that artists seek a name?  A name, like a face, is something you have when you're not alone.  There is no such thing as an artist: there is only the world, lit or unlit as the light allows.  When the candle is burning, who looks at the wick?  When the candle is out, who needs it?  But the world without light is wasteland and chaos, and a life without sacrifice is abomination.

What can any artist set on fire but his world?..."

-Annie Dillard, Holy the Firm

Arty friends

This is just a cool photo, me and my arty friend Ben outside the art museum on our almost-famous trip to Syracuse with my other arty friend Gary (read more here, scroll down and look for the "Mod Squad" entries, which make my life sound sooo interesting)...so I appropriated the photo for my blog too 'cause I like it.

I was thinking the other day how glad I am to have artist friends.  At the farmers' market on Sunday, my booth was between Mike Rubenstein with his amazing abstract tiles and Jenny Pope with her incredible complicated reduction woodcuts, and I had a moment of sheer gratefulness for having a community of artists around me...inspiration, challenge, support, new ideas and approaches.  In celebration, here's one of Ben's paintings (just about life size):

Asparagus

Hey, it's full-on spring now in Ithaca, no denying it.  There's birds checking out nesting sites under my porch again, and my housemates are planting potatoes and otherwise getting their SEVEN community garden plots underway.  

And asparagus is showing up at the farmers' market.  Yum, I heart asparagus.  Here's a painting I did this winter in celebration of this fine vegetable, and also as a practical demo painting for a class I was teaching, in watercolor and colored pencils.  (not a great scan though, sorry).

To do

Lit up the wood stove again this afternoon, after sitting in the cold stiff breeze winging off the lake most of the day down at the market.  I like Sunday evenings, a little reprieve before the regular week kicks in.  Perhaps you wonder just what we self-employed people do all day...possibly lay about, eating bon-bons and doting on my cats?  Let's dispel that illusion.  Here's a sampling from this week's to-do list:

1) fill two wholesale card orders

2) create a painting and design a custom thank-you card for a client

3) get some exercise!!!!

4) spend a day cutting mats and framing (including placing a frame order), update bin o' art for my market booth

5) fill out, choose images, and submit Artists' Market application

6) paperwork: banking, accounting, invoices, business-related emails, blog

7) finish folding cards I got back from the printer last week, and see if I need anything else printed this week

8) deal with vacuuming (yikes! this needs doing!), wash dishes, make food, etc

9) fun field trip to Syracuse with Gary and Ben!

10) design a new business card for me

Actually that's not too bad.

Farmers' market

I realize I haven't posted a photo of my booth at the Ithaca Farmers' Market yet...so here it is.  Booth 84, please come see me (and get some cards for Mother's Day while you're at it) if you're in the neighborhood.  I'm here almost every Saturday until well into the dark cold days of December, and will be there on Sundays too, starting this month.

Throwing pots

Today I took a break from the current endless slog of freelance work (it's been a run of projects lately that have NOT been flowing) and headed over to Gary's studio to play with clay.  I haven't thrown anything on the wheel for a few years, and it was wonderfully calming and therapeutic...dare I say centering, harharhar...I think the bowls turned out alright.  Tomorrow I'll learn how to trim them.

You can read all about it, more photos included, on Gary's entertaining and inspiring blog, and check out his pottery too!  (remember that monster mug?)  He was making something really fun with elephants having tea-for-two while I was there.  And I got cookies!!!!  It's great having artist pals.

Side note: it always amuses me to use the phrase "throw some pots."  

Old tree dreaming

Here are two paintings I did last winter (not the winter that just ended, but the one before that).  They are portraits of trees I see often; the first one is on Freese Rd, and the root-y one is on the South Hill Recreation Way at the Burns Rd end.  The reason I'm posting them today is that I noticed in the last few weeks that both of these trees are now down.  

I named the first painting Old Tree Dreaming, because I could imagine this cool old tree whiling away the hours dreaming about being somewhere in the mountains.  This tree succumbed to apparent old age and fell down into the surrounding woods.  The other one (unimaginatively called Roots...hey, I'm an artist not a poet) was cut down, as it was presumably encroaching on the trail, plus it might have been dead anyway...I never looked up to see.

Real mail

I got some real mail this week, cards and letters and art from friends, written in their own handwriting and sent to my mailbox from their hand to mine.  It's such a pleasure to see something handwritten nestled in with all the stuff that goes straight to the recycling bin, a little nugget of gold amongst the dross, if you will forgive me a tired metaphor.  It shows that a friend was thinking of me, and sat down and spent the time to write.  A real letter is meant to be read slowly and savored.  

Understand that I am a big fan of text messaging and email too.  Who doesn't like some instant gratification and the fun and convenience of quick communication?  But I also appreciate the calm and thoughtful pace of real mail.  As an artist, I also love illustrating my letters, and sharing art and other wee treats that can be put in an envelope.  Sure, you can scan something and email it, but it's not the same.  Sometimes the old school has it right, and it would be sad if letter-writing went the way of typesetting and penmanship.

This really isn't just a shameless plug for my notecard business, although it makes me very happy when I think that my cards are being used for thoughtful communication.  I often wonder what mailboxes they'll end up in, what messages they'll carry...

Ha ha ha!  I just had the thought that my brother's business is real ale, and my business is real mail.  Must run in the family.

My mom the artist

My mom reads my blog.  Everyone say hi to her!

My mom (Nancy Ann Sobel) is a quilter, and not a mere maker-of-bedspreads but a genuine quilt artist.  She hesitates a little at the title "artist," because she approaches her quilts from a very traditional craftmanship standpoint...and also she's really shy about her work.  But artist she is, and I want to show off a few of her quilts here this morning (she said I could, even though she's shy...and these photos are used with permission)  These big quilts take a long time, countless hours of designing and piecing and doing the applique, and then literally months on the actual quilting...which is all done by hand a stitch at a time.

Mom spent this whole last week in Paducah, Kentucky, attending the big American Quilting Society show.  And not just attending, but being honored as one of the Best in Show winners from the last 25 years.  She also won Best Workmanship another year.  I'm very proud of her.    

Here are two of her quilts.  The first one is called Dawn Splendor, and it's the Best of Show winner.  The other is part of a series on the seasons, this is autumn, and is my favorite.