Update

What's been going on? Well on April 9th, one of my clay hangouts had an opening reception for a student pottery art show. I had a charcoal drawing up in an art show in junior college, but this was the first time my pottery has ever been in a show. I was so happy to have my some of my friends and family come. It was fun to see my pieces in a gallery setting along with those of fellow classmates.

















I've also been making clay stamps to use on pots, inspired by this DVD!



I hope to take
one of her workshops in person some day and just love her work!











Below are a few bisqued pieces that I will take to wood or soda fire at a workshop that starts this weekend. Where's the workshop, you ask? I'll give you a hint: I need a passport to get there and am pretty sure they will be serving jerk chicken. Hope they have some Blue Mountain coffee, too.

I made a couple of llama stamps and used them on the box and mug.










Please check back for pictures in a couple of weeks!

Raku firing, Spring 2010

Raku firing, Spring of 2010 = Good times, good friends, good food, good mojitos, good weather, and one Jehovah's Witness who didn't get any converts.






FYI Mr. Jehovah's Witness Guy, we thought it was very insulting when you told us our pieces looked like ashtrays. Thanks for the extra fuel (pamphlets) for the kiln, though.

p.s. The first piece I plan on using as a remote control holder, as raku is not food-safe. The third piece is a wall hanging which I like very much!

Lenten rose, lenten link, and church-free lent

This first picture is a Lenten rose. It's usually one of the first flowers to bloom in the spring! Have tried growing them myself, but wasn't successful. These are pictures from the local public gardens.

Please click here to check out my friend's 'Zine(art magazine) regarding lent.



I'm sitting here trying to write this post like I usually do when writing to friends..."Would that sound weird? Should I share that? How do I word that?", etc. All I know is that I gave up church for lent this year. Spring is my favorite time of the year, and that doesn't coincide well with the practice of self-reflection or deprivation or the addition of anything that I don't feel like doing. After surviving the long winter, I don't want to dwell on death and the cross right now.

In the back of my mind, I've had a recurring self-conflicting feeling about trying to get people to conform to my beliefs and telling them that "I have the life, you need to get it, too". I'm not saying the unconventional church I go to is like that, I'm actually wrestling with parts of the Bible. I've been feeling more like I want to keep my ever-changing beliefs personal lately. We don't talk to other people about our sex life, so why are we told we need to share this as well? If we doubt, can we accept some parts and not others?

Maybe the bottom line is that I don't feel like my faith helped me enough through the hardest year of my life (so far) last year and am dealing with the disappointment and wondering if it will help me in the future. Did I not believe or trust enough? Did I not pray enough? Is God mad at me? I don't think so. I do think God loves me even if I don't go to church. And yes, I miss my church friends. I don't want to pretend or try to sing words that I'm not comfortable singing right now.

So for now, I'm taking a break and trying to enjoy the sunny days and emerging daffodils. I'll contemplate the days when my faith did help me through rough times and ponder on what and why it has changed. It's okay if you might not understand this; I don't even understand it myself.

I'll close this with a quote my neighbor-friend Cody shared with me the other day. It's something to think about:

Treat the other man's faith gently; it is all he has to believe with. His mind was created for his own thoughts, not yours or mine. - Henry S. Haskins

p.s. Maybe next post I'll talk about my sex life...or NOT!

Wordless Non-Wednesday (only other bloggers will probably understand this title...or not)

Vertigo IV

Yes, it says "To Bono, with love", even though I was inspired by "Nightmare Before Christmas" and the Alfred Hitchcock thriller "Vertigo". I really like "Rear Window" the best!

What color should I use next next session?

Some of my pieces (including the last one) will be in a student art show in April, but the dates aren't set yet.

There will also be a pottery garage sale on April 30th at my first hangout where I will have things for sale, but I will not be there and have other fun and exciting plans!

Just brought home Vertigo IV and will post that when I get a chance. There are things I would like to blog about such as what is going on during my "turning 40/midlife crisis", but am short on time and may do that later. Maybe I will even share the recipe for my version of "Pho". I've been in to hot asian foods recently for some reason.

Happy almost spring!

This blog is a log...

If you are reading this, thank you! I like the idea and concept of blogs even thought it seems that they are not as popular as they used to be. I haven't been using this medium to voice my opinion or anything like that in quite awhile, but just to show my work. A couple of years ago, it was so fun to read each others' and comment on them but people have drifted or had priorities come up or have moved on to "a bigger and better place". I was even thinking about not updating it anymore and using flickr, but will keep this going since this is where my pretend art-sharing all began in the first place.

BTW, did you know that you can be updated by email every time I update this blog instead having to come to my site? Just become a follower by clicking the right-hand side link over there-->

Now on to the "show and tell"...

This is a slab-built box that I carved on. It's about 5 inches tall. It has just one glaze on it.

Last month was "bowl" month and I got a couple of new curved ribs, so this is what came out of that.

Here's a vase. I'm disappointed in the glaze, but oh well.

I still have an extreme fondness for working with hollow tubes made from a clay extruder. I laid one of the vases from earlier by a raw tube right here.

And here is a piece in which I learned more about sculpting and needing a thicker base. This piece went back into the reclaim bucket after it cracked apart.

The tubules reminded my husband of something from his Medical Terminology book, and I'd have to agree they do have a likeness.

There will be more tubules to come!

Eleven pieces

Eleven: That's how many pieces came out of the kiln that I started in December.


The black piece has a "Double Happiness" symbol and holds 3-1/2 cups. It's for a wedding present.

I had so much fun with the clay extruder! These vases in the last picture are made from 1-inch diameter clay tubes. The tallest one is about 7 inches. Double click on the pictures for more detail. For some reason the picture came out smaller than expected.

Thanks for still checking up on me!

A local Asian market

I went to our local Asian market between the holidays. I would recommend it if you are bored with your local grocery store and need a little "vacation". Some people claim that specialty items are cheaper there.

Here's what I picked up and finally cooked last night:




My husband and I thought we didn't like curry because I made something once with JUST curry in it. I was introduced to a local Thai restaurant and found out it's great with other spices and I must've used it wrong before.

The dish on the left is a red curry and tomato paste concoction. There is a recipe on the back for beef curry. It seems to be a little westernized, as it says "Tastes of India" on the front...Aren't cows considered to be holy there?

The second dish on the right side is a beef and chili and coconut milk seasoning packet for Randang from Indofood. It was a little less spicy and also very good. Somewhere on the internet, it said that this dish was Malayasian.

They were both very good!

Also, thought I'd share this interesting description found on a box of a ceramic bowl set. Please click to enlarge and read. If you buy one, it might change your life!

Speaking of Asia, my new sister in law is Chinese! Congratulations Brittany and Clark if you ever read this!!!

December blog post

Since I've been sporadic with my blog posts, I'm assuming this will probably be the only one in December.

My husband knows that the ornaments in the pictures are my "must have" ornaments on the tree, since my grandma made them.

Will have to make more of these trees next year. I just followed Jill's instruction on how to make them, and they turned out almost as cute as hers!

These are slab-built containers which were started in September and then a bowl left over from last session.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season! Thanks for still checking up on me!