Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Some thrown components for new serving pieces. The bowls on the right will become a tureen, and that's a spout, pitcher body, and handle on the left and in the back.

The pitcher body is a lot straighter than I wanted: I was trying for something more elegant. So I decided to cut a triangular "slice" from the back of the pitcher and squash it back together. That small pot on the left in the first photo becomes the spout.

Kool-aid, anyone? "Oh yeah!"

I'm not crazy about the tureen. I think the lid is too tall... looks like a flying saucer. I'll throw another lid and see if I like it better.

More mugs, with freshly trimmed bottoms...

I want to make some wall pieces. I thought fish lanterns would be interesting... Here's the first one in progress.

It's completely hollow. I temporarily stuff the body with newspapers as it dries.

Wait... wasn't this supposed to be a lantern? I'm still trying to work out the logistics... Reminds me of a taxidermied singing fish.

Am I right?

Adventures Await

Just wanted to do a quick post to let you know that I am off on an epic adventure. Expect to see some photos and art from the road, but here is a quick photo preview of some of the places and people I will be visiting....  See if you can guess some of the spots where I'm going!

 

 

 

See you from the highway!

Ooo Baby, Baby!

Look who I found making a racket in my front yard pine tree!

 

 

This little baby was chirping up a storm until I got close, at which point he/she stood stock-still for a good 10 minutes while Ron ran to get my camera. Mom, however, was NOT happy with me, which is perfectly understandable! I think she was a chipping sparrow, but my bird identification skills are poor at best. She did have that reddish brown cap though:

Anyway, it was a great visit with our fine feathered property-mates! Hopefully I can watch this little baby grow up and enjoy the neighborhood.

Small painting #5

Last one! I didn't have as much time with this one, so it is a little more unfinished but I think it still works.

In other news, we're about to leave on an epic road trip! More about that in a bit...

Little Beauties

I got six new fish on Friday. These one-inch beauties were called "Sparkling Gourami" at the store, but I've also seen them referred to as "Pygmy Gourami." Trichopsis Pumilus is their Latin name.

Speaking of little beauties, here are the finished fish cups!

I couldn't be happier with them.

And here's the turtle gang...

...and their insides.

Finally, the polka dot tureen. Meh.

From start to finish, I haven't been crazy about it. The next one will be better.

Cameron Progress

Finally got a chance to continue work on my "Cameron and the Bees" Painting today!

I'm pretty happy with it so far! Still have some decisions to make about how I am going to treat the meadow and grass, but I'm sure it will turn out fine. Love how the white dots and dashes in the woods magically turns blobs of color into trees. Ta-da! What an amazing trick.

Speaking of magic, my little porch garden is truly a sight to see lately. Here are a few photos:

Cucumber

Cucumber

Kentucky Wonder Beans - These grow several inches every day!

Squash Blossom

Yellow Squash

It makes me so happy to see happy plants! Hopefully I will have happy vegetables soon too.

Busy weekend

I had a good, productive weekend June 18-19. After all, this is the best week of the year. You've gotta love nearly 16 hours of daylight!

Here's the finished bird tile for BayArts' "8x8" show. I'm happy that the spider shows up so well.

Birdbath number 3, about 16 inches in diameter. As you can see, I decided against the snake idea. Don't want to scare away the birds!

I'm running out of bisqueware to paint, so I threw some more pieces using white clay. The bowls in front are cereal-bowl sized. The one in the rear is quite a bit larger. I also started some more brown mugs for the "dotted" set.

I glazed the fish cups I painted last week with my favorite "light green shino" glaze...

...and I also glazed the box turtles and tureen. What can I say? I was in the mood for glazing.

I had a visitor in the BayArts' basement pottery studio on Saturday afternoon as I was finishing these up. Something brown skittered past my peripheral vision... At first I assumed it was a leaf, but it turned and ran into the kiln room. Spider? Giant centipede? No, it was a chipmunk. The kiln room is no place for a little critter, especially one who likes to gnaw, so I chased him back outside. It took awhile: we have lots of good places for hiding.

Loose Little Paintings

Sunfish

Some more fish cups, with pumpkin seed sunfish and top minnows. I still have four more in my "box 'o bisqueware," then I'm fresh out of cups again.

I'm feeling nostalgic... This is the first piece I ever painted, in December of 2008. I don't know why I waited so long to try underglaze decorating: I studied both painting and ceramics in college (in the early to mid-90's) but never combined the two. I guess I was apprehensive about spending hours painting something that would eventually be fired to over 2000 degrees.

Bird Tile

Here's my third and final piece for BayArts' 8x8-inch fundraiser, ready to go in the glaze kiln. I hope it turns out okay!