NO TIME NO TIME!

In Provincetown with my Pappa

September was mostly a travel month, but during that time I signed on to the Artisan's Marketplace craft show at the West Windsor Arts Council for November. Then I decided to commit to a December open studio weekend, ordering postcards, signs and a banner for my own personal show in the studio.

along the Cape Cod bike trail

I anxiously began to figure out how much  time I could devote to clay before the the craft show. How much time am I "on," when my medication is working, how much time do I have left after family, social, music practice, boxing?

wine tasting with my sister in Truro

There were potted plants to bring in for the winter, summer clothes to put away and on and on - the usual chores and duties we all have in life. How much time is left for the studio?

an Edgy Bowl

It turns out I am spending a lot of time there. Just before the change of the calendar page from September to October, I was in the studio again and working with the last of the brown clay, my favorite for Edgy pieces, then moving on to terracotta for square plates and trays.

bisqued terracotta

As mid October approaches, I have fired the terracotta and am making tumblers with white clay. At the same time, I have been delving into my store of Hazelnut clay, and with that lovely, smooth clay, I have made one plate a day and what I call a platter every few days.

tall "Tumbling Tumblers"

So rather than be silent in this blog and appearing to be doing nothing, au contraire! I'm in hyper mode, and enjoying it too when I'm not fretting about my deadlines.

a plate and a platter on hump molds

This Summer in Raisin Studio

The studio is the best in the summer. With the doors and window open, the garden with birds splashing in the bird baths, the ceiling fan whirling, it is my favorite place to be. The garden might have that title but for the hordes of mosquitos patrolling the area, a result of a wet summer.

Half Edgy Plates

I have had joy and sorrow this summer in the studio. There have been glaze problems - blistering mainly - that I have had to do detective work to solve.  I think I may have - the last two kiln firings were successful.

Experimentation is my reason for living. Not satisfied with just Edgy Bowls, I have been making what I call Half Edgy Platters, plates with uneven edges on two sides and round on the other two.

Also new are Princeton Edgy Dishes which are small footed dishes with "Princeton, NJ" scrawled underneath (for the Princeton tourist with not much luggage space).
















Glazing which was once a hurry up and get done operation has become as important and exciting to me as the making of the clay pieces.























I have so many glazes though, that I am overwhelmed with choices, and it's impossible to test all the possible glaze combinations. I take chances, often they work, and if not, they get reglazed and fired again.

















Salt cellars for the Savory Spice Shop are waiting for some reorganization at the shop to be delivered.

Meanwhile, all of these and the other pieces pictured here are available to anyone interested. Email me for more information.

Happy summer days and nights to all!

Travel Sketchbook

For travel I have made it a habit to bring with me a small sketchbook, mini colored pencils, and markers and other drawing tools, and when time allows, capture a place or person in its pages. Words find their way in too, when I come across a poem or quotation that speaks to me in the moment.

This year so far has found me traveling more than usual. I take photographs, but my sketchbook is a more personal response to the world. I know the world all the better for the extended, intense looking that is needed to make a sketch.

So here are a selection, in date order of my travels so far in 2017.

A view from my window, Reykjavik, Iceland

Duluth, Minnesota

beach detritus, Spring Lake, NJ

pedestrian bridge, Spring Lake, NJ

In a botanical garden, Sarasota, Florida

sculpture by Juan Munoz, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C.

one corner of a fountain enclosure
by the Capital Building, Washington, D.C.

Atlantic City, NJ

Monmouth Beach, NJ

hillside, Lake Tahoe, Nevada

view of Lake Tahoe

sun worshipper, Lake Tahoe

waterfall with snow below, Lake Tahoe

Where to next? Vermont, New Hampshire, Cape Cod are on my calendar - more opportunities to study trees, waves, people and all the other challenging subjects. I can't draw every leaf, the wave will not hold still to be drawn, and each person has their own individual features. I must miniaturize and simplify. The challenges of drawing are many and the sketchbook is a learning tool. The sketches are that, and they are also a souvenir for me of pleasant day beyond my "little world."