assignments

On my way out to the studio, but first I want to respond to Ron's comment (uh oh, that is how it all goes bad, "before I go out to the studio I will…" But I WILL go out as soon as I finish this short post! : )

Tony is studying low fire these days. They may move into an urban setting for their retirement years and that precludes wood firing! And he says he is becoming attracted to the glazes and color opportunities of low fire. So we did a lot of looking at earthenware pieces in the Asian collection. I've been doing a bit of earthenware work lately (focused on baking pieces for my own kitchen) but thinking I'd get back into ^6 soon. After the visits with Tony I'm thinking of doing a bit more investigation of the low-fire work.

Of my work that is around the house Tony was most attracted to and complimentary of this piece:

So he outlined some explorations for me to pursue based on it. This was done in ^6 but he is suggesting I work in ^04 for now. First assignment was to make the same bowl--same size--but change the height of the pedestal base: taller, shorter. Make 5 of these variations.

Then he suggested playing around with the placement of the sprigs:

The split rim should be opened up more. Then try sprigs on the outside also; then only on the outside; then push the rim in toward the center at the sprig points to form a scalloped or flower shape.

The same changes with the sprigs on the base. But also try putting the sprigs high up on the pedestal, not at the base.

He also gave me some glazes to test and he proposed that I cover the test bowls with white slip and then 'load' the sprigs with colored glaze that runs down the inside of the bowl, same idea with the sprigs placed high on the pedestal.

Well, that is the short version of my assignment list! So I'm off to the studio to get started--I picked up another box of low fire clay yesterday so I'm ready to get to work.

Note: Apologies for the poor quality photos. I'm using my iPhone for these--not wanting to take the time to get out a real camera and set up for better photos. Sorry.

AWOL

That's me--Absent With Out Leave. For a long time. Lots of quilt feelings. I'm going to give it another try at becoming again a regular blogger.

For some reason, unknown to me, I've not been potting. So if I'm not potting what is there to blog about? But I want to pot (and blog) but just can't make myself get out to the studio and stay there long enough to accomplish any work. I've tried all the tried and try 'tricks' to get back to work: clean the studio; look through all my wonderful ceramic books; visit our wonderful museum's collection of Asian ceramics. I have also availed myself of wonderfully stimulating events: NCECA in Tampa Bay, Florida with my friend Rachelle, which is very stimulating; then I went to Shelby, NC, to meet Ron Philbeck, Doug Fintch, and Hannah MacAndrews--long time blogging buddies who I loved getting to meet (and see their secrets demonstrated); and this last weekend I attended a workshop with Tony Clennell. These were all wonderful experiences. But they did not lead me back to the studio. But I think I have finally found the key back to the studio.

At the workshop Tony shared an analysis of the work of several of the students. He used those pieces to help us see the strengths and weaknesses of the pieces and how to make them more successful. This was a powerful lesson--and very stimulating. Later, when he talked about my pieces, he also suggested some exercises I might do to improve my work. He gave me quite a list of things to do! I have prepared a list of the work he assigned me and I intend to begin tomorrow working through that list! So I have a direction and a challenge!

While Tony was in town I arranged for us to visit the studio of my teacher, Diana Kersey, and to see a wonderful 'public works' project she had just installed on the bridge on Mulberry. It was a real treat for Tony and me to see her work and hear her description of the process she followed to make the work.

The next post will report my success in getting on to the path Tony laid out for me to lead me back into my ceramic work--or there will be no more posts. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Well, guess the first thing is to say "Hi, there" to anyone who might drop by after my 2 month silence. I'm still wondering why I've been avoiding my blog. It was such a pleasure once. But now it feels like an unpleasant obligation. I've dreamed up lots of possible explanations: I'm dispirited, I have no studio work to discuss, I've become self-conscious about the hubris of having this blog in the first place.

I daily read the blogs of friends I have made through the blog world--so I feel like I am still in touch with them. But…I'm not!

So, whats going on? I went to NCECA--don't deserve it, I know, but I hope that it lights a fire under me! I did really enjoy it. I had not considered going until I got an invitation I could not refuse: my roommate from a former NCECA wrote and invited me to join her for NCECA. I had not seen her since that trip and could not resist the chance to be with her again. So off I went. And it was great. So many pots! Such wonderful exhibits. Pete Pinnell's talk was a treat. La Mesa is always very special--Santa Fe Clay does an incredible job putting that together each year. And I really enjoyed the exhibition at the Craft House--my kind of pottery. It does seem that 'sculptural ceramics' is eclipsing 'functional pottery' these days. Sculptural = art, functional = craft. Well, that is my own personal observation/opinion.

A favorite piece from La Mesa is by Betsy Williams of New Mexico:

Isn't that lovely!

I have spent a bit of time in the studio since my return--but no great news from there yet.

Today I spent the couple hours it took to watch the video that Brandon Phillips posted a link to today: panel discussion of Michael Simon's show there at U of Minnesota. I felt properly chastised for not putting in my studio time!

I think my BIG block is glazing. I could sit and throw bowls all day, all week. Or hand build little Japanese hermit huts. But then when I think of how to decorate/glaze I freeze up. I think this is partially the result of going off in two directions: low-fire earthenware and ^6 stoneware. I had done a lot of glaze testing at ^6 but now it has been almost a year since I've done anything with those glazes. Since then I've been working with earthenware and making minimal tests of glazes and terra sigillata. Feeling very insecure in both areas now.

baby steps

Thanks for the comments and encouragement! I'm enjoying dipping my toe into the studio these days even if only for little bits of time. The videos help me over the hump of returning to the studio and facing the "what do I do now" questions! Yesterday I talked Kenny into giving me an old belt of his that is nicely woven, making great impressions in the clay--as demonstrated by Sandi on her DVD. I used it to make a band to go around the rim of a box I'm making.

The box (for my recipes) will be a bit of a sampler. Each side is impressed with a different texture design. Have not yet decided if I will paint with colored slips before I bisque it. Or I may just cover with a colored glaze (^04) to see the reaction to the texture.

We are not experiencing the snow and wet freezing conditions that so much of the country is suffering right now but it IS cold here. The low last night was 18 degrees and the high today was in the low 20s--that is COLD for us! It is expected to stay like that for the next 3 or 4 days--we may even get a bit of snow tonight. Significant for me because when I went out to the studio today--after keeping heaters running over night--it was too cold to stay out there. Stimulated by Judy's most recent posts, I brought in my watercolors and rice paper and spent a while practicing my brush work. I am too tight, really want to have those graceful, loose strokes that I so admire--but not there yet.

bits and pieces

During the holidays I treated myself to two new DVDs: Nan Rothwell's Throwing demonstrations and Sandi Pierantozzi's Slab and Texture work. Both are very inspiring--they each do such wonderful work and so different! It has inspired me to get started back in the studio a bit. Supporting that urge, the weather here has been wonderful--today it got up to the height 70s--so it is not daunting to be out in a cold studio!

This week I started by impressing some slabs with texture--some just to fire and use in the future for texture sources, and some on a small pitcher and others on a recipe box I'm trying to make for my collection. I'm not crazy about slab work--even with a slab roller--it just seems so boring. But adding texture as I go makes it more fun and more interesting.

This little pitcher began as a slab that I impressed texture on, then rounded into a cylinder and pinched the tripod feet. In the past I had thrown baseless cylinders the pinched the tripod feet onto. Not sure which I like to do better but I do like getting to impress texture on the slabs.

Last year I make a jug from a video that Nan Rothwell demonstrated on her web page. The jug (she made a pitcher, I made an amphora) was one of the more popular pieces I made all year! And I've intended to make another ever since. So now I have thrown one and I want to do another before I bisque the first so I can work on them both.

In the category of failed projects--and serious discouragements--is a pierced pot I was working on. I worked on it over an extended period of time so was keeping it covered and moist. One evening I over wetting it so that in the morning, when I first touched it, half the pot fell apart. I want to get another started before I totally loose touch with the impulse. This the end phase of that sad tale.

now, after the holidays

We've had a longer holiday season than most. Ours began with the celebration of Kenny's 50th birthday the week before Thanksgiving. Then there came Thanksgiving and then Christmas and finally my 74th birthday celebrated last Monday with a visit from my sister Catherine and her husband Wayne who live in Maine. Tomorrow Catherine returns home to Kennebunkport and I plan to be in the studio for the first time since these holidays began so long ago!

I have not touched clay in so long it will be like starting all over. And I am really not sure where or how to begin again. I've spent a lot of time before this break working with earthenware clay but I think I am about to return to my BlackJack clay which I fire to ^6. It is sold as a ^6 to ^10 clay--which I know does not exist! I have considered firing it a little higher--it is not vitrified at ^6 and vases do weep if left standing with water for a length of time. But to change the firing temperature will also require adjusting the glazes I've used--or be willing to accept the change the higher temperature will cause in the glazes. Actually, my vases weep that were fired to ^10 at the craft center when I was taking classes there. So maybe I should just give up making vases! I am not satisfied with what I've been able to do painting designs on my pots and that might be best done in the majolica style--which is low fire again. I think I need to satisfy that quest before moving on. So you see I'm not at all clear about what I am going to do nor what I want to do.

The most exciting thing in my ceramics life right now is a new book I bought for myself--as a birthday present.

I heard Robert Piepenburg speak at NCECA several years ago and was very moved by his presentation. I have another book he wrote--a very small book that left me wanting more. When I saw the ad for this new book I was very eager to get it. Because it was written by him but also because I've been wishing for some instruction about 'ceramic design'. I expected this to be something of a 'how-to' book, but it isn't. I'm half way through reading it and have just come to the discussion of the 'elements of design'. The book is very inspirational, just as his talk was years ago. For me, it is a treasure. But it has not been easy reading. He is dealing with intangibles: design, spirit, and love. The essentials of life and art. But not easy to define and I have to re-read parts to be sure I am understanding his words in the way he is using them. It does make me eager to get back into the studio and see how reading the book may affect what I do with the clay.

When Jim and I were in Oaxaca for my niece's wedding last August we saw a rug/tapestry on the wall of a small shop and fell in love with it. After much discussion, consideration, and some haggling we bought the rug. Not until this January did we manage to get it up on the wall. We are delighted.

And so my new year begins!

Christmas came early

Oh, my gosh! Santa (in the form of 2 very dear friends) really did it up BIG this year.

One of my favorite blogging friends had me on her 'generosity' list--and she went overboard in the generosity department:

Isn't it the most wonderful piece? It sits on the window sill in our kitchen so that each time I'm washing dishes I see it, smile, think of Tracey and find myself in a quiet, peaceful place. What a gift! It takes me back to my mother's hometown in East Texas--the place I love most in the world. Don't know that I ever saw a house like this there but it comes from there. Thanks, Tracey.

Today I got an email from another friend telling me that he had made the ceramic easel I was describing (and wishing for) at his house last Saturday. I wanted something that would hold a pot--greenware or bisqued--at an angle so I could paint a design on it comfortably--without having to stand on my head to get to it or destroy it by mishandling. A few years ago I had seen a photo, with measurements, of a ceramic easel made by Scott Creek once long ago but no longer available. I had printed out the information because I thought I might want one someday. So my dear friend Herb looked at the photos and made a version of it for me. What a friend! My husband had said he'd make it for me--but that was not going to really happen! So here is the easel holding a cylindrical pot covered with a celadon slip that I plan to paint on.

The height of the pot holder can be adjusted, as can the angle that the pot is held. How cool is that? I really have not been that good of a girl this year! But Santa sure has been nice to me.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS ALL!

finally, out of the kiln

For taking such a long time to produce anything, I have very little to show. It was a very light load because after waiting so long to get this far I did not want to wait longer to get a full load. I was trying to move into a new direction with the earthenware clay. I got started with it to make some bake ware--some glazed or partially glazed, some with no glaze at all. I've liked using these pots and like the earthenware clay for its ease of throwing and the shorter firing time. But now I want to do some glazed work and some work that I can decorate with some painting. And that is the scary part. I'm not an artist, have never painted anything but want to! So here I am going in too many new directions--testing new glazes, learning to paint what and how I dream of doing it. Too much. So I've been frozen mid-stream.

So here are the first tests. As I told Jim, "Well, its not a disaster, but there are lots of lessons."

On several pieces I had applied slip before the bisque and then painted a design--some with Mason stain mixed with frit and gerstley borate after the bisque, others with colored slip before the bisque. I was also testing clear glazes.

These were slipped, bisqued and then painted with the Mason stain mixture.

On the left the clear glaze had a dulling effect, not so glossy and a bit buff tinted. On the right the glaze is clearer and more glossy. Slip was very coarse after the bisque. My friend said it was the brush I applied the slip with. It did not smooth out under the glaze though the one on the right is a bit smoother. I was using Pete Pennell's slip--I think I need to try to smooth it out somehow before applying it. Both are shallow bowls about 8" across the rim (they are the same size though the photos do not show that).

I was also testing 2 Majolica glazes and working on those. The biggest surprise was this plate:

I would not have been surprised if the RED pointsettia's had come out pink...but GREY?

The yellow chrysthanthemums came out as expected.

I painted the Majolica on the underside and sprayed it on the topside. The undersides are streaked, pinholed and have runs. The sprayed surface did well. (The pointsettia plate is 10" across, the chrysthanthemum plate is 11" across.)

But the biggest surprise was the second (white) Majolica glaze--though it is no reflection on the glaze. There are two of these little plates (8" across) and both reacted the same to the Majolica glaze.

The cause of this freakish reaction to the Majolica glaze was that I had covered these little plates with terra sig before the bisque firing--but did not see that when I was glazing. I guess the terra sig just ate up the Majolica glaze! There is a faint cloud left behind--and it did craze. Wish I had a photo of the expression on my face with I first picked these up out of the kiln! So I have to do another test of the second Majolica glaze.

The test tiles all have the Pete Pinnell slip. Two had been painted before the bisque firing (top). Two were painted after the bisque (bottom). One was painted with colored slips (Rhodes on right) and the others with the Mason stain mixtures. Because I was trying for a very thin coat of clear glaze the rough texture of the slip is very evident.

So lots of lessons--learned and to be learned.

PS Apologies for the photos--all taken with my cell phone because I would not take the time to set up for photos and get out a 'real' camera this morning! Nothing worth a great photo anyway!

yes!

"Inspiration is for amateurs.

The rest of us go to the studio and just get on with it."

Chuck Close

(Thanks, Chris!)

Have a Happy Halloween

From Kenny

wow, two months

I can't believe (don't want it to be true) that it has been two months since I last posted to my blog. I've anguished over that a lot. But the anguish has not stimulated me to correct that extended absence. I'm really having to push myself to try to make amends now. I have taken a little comfort from how many of my favorite blogging friends seem to be in a similar muddle.

So, what's been going on? It's so hard to figure that out. Part of the problem is that I have put myself out on a limb and don't know how to get back to solid ground. I got into working with earthenware very innocently. I did not intend to CHANGE to earthenware. I just wanted to make some pots for me to use in my explorations of "slow cooking". So I picked up a box of earthenware clay and made a few pots. I loved working with that clay. And I loved all the pots I had to cook in and how great they worked for me in the kitchen. Then I mixed up a batch of terra siglata and that was a challenge because of my insecurity delving into a new area but it came out great. I had taken a class in Majolica a while ago so I got back into that. Meanwhile I was buying more boxes of earthenware clay. Last January I signed up for a class in "Asian Art" something I've long be interested in and wished to be able to apply to ceramic work. So, now while delving into so many unknowns, I want to put some of my Asian art on my pots...but how? So when I go out to the studio I am faced with more unknowns than confidence. And that is NOT something I want to write to the world about! Once, long ago, Emily Murphy wrote about my blog that I wrote about 'the problems as well as the successes'. But I'm embarrassed to write over and over again about the problems and insecurities. So, it's been two months since my last post.

I am about to load the kiln with a bunch of experiments. Using slips for the first time, variations with terra sig, trying my hand with my "Asian Art" work, testing clear glazes on the earthenware clay and testing some ideas on a couple majolica glazes. Surely SOMETHING with be successful!

This bowl is waiting for application of a clear glaze (yet untested).

big day with books

Today I got my copy of this book I ordered a while back and have been looking forward to receiving. I am wanting to get into doing some slip work on my earthenware pottery and thought this might offer the help I was wanting. But the BIG SURPRISE and SPECIAL TREAT was finding two of my blogging friends featured in the book: RON PHILBECK and DOUG FITCH! How much fun is that! I have enjoyed exchanging notes with Ron and Doug for several years in and outside our blogs. I am so thrilled for each of them.

Another book that I am enjoying and which Jim (my husband) is also excited about is "The Elegance of the Hedgehog" which was suggested to me by Ron sometime back. It is not an easy read but a very stimulating one.

birthing a pot

On Clayart I read a quote of Hamada (from Susan Peterson's book "Hamada") that really spoke to me. "Great pots are not made, they are born." Wow. I'm going out to the studio now to recycle the pots made by me and see if I can assist in the birth of a great pot! That does sound like I'm setting myself up for a sure-fire disappointment! But that's what I'm gonna do!

Travel/family pictures

On the right, under special links, I've added a link to my mobile me gallery where I have posted pictures from my trip to Spain and now from my neice's wedding in Oaxaca.

finally in the studio, then what

Seems that when I've been out of the studio for a while it is hard to get back in the groove. Usually I can't even come up with a project/plan. So just start throwing to warm up. I prepared 4 balls of clay and threw 4 small bowls--good warm up. But then what? Three of them were the same size/shape, really! The fourth a tiny bit larger. So, having just seen a video of this, I pinched the three together and added a handle--another version of condiment server.

The fourth just got a handle to match.

They are small, that is a 7 inch ruler.

I am reminded of something I read in the comments section of Michael Kline's blog today:

Norm Schulman changed my life in one sentence, "So much pottery, so little poetry."

Sometimes I make a piece that speaks to me like poetry--but that is few and far between! Thinking about poetry in pottery, I feel that way about my pagoda and Tracey's barns. Yet what I make is functional table ware. Can't think of a piece of my functional work that said poetry to me--well maybe a piece or two. : )

the Mexican connection

We've just returned from a most fantastic experience in Mexico. My niece, who grew up in Maine, just married a young man from Mexico. Currently they are living in Madrid--she was our divine hostess in Madrid last March. Joel was born and grew up in Mexico City but his parents and extended family are from a village outside of Oaxaca, Mexico. Emily and Joel chose to have a traditional Oaxacan wedding in the family's home village of San Antonino, about an hours drive outside of Oaxaca. It was such a treat to be part of their very traditional peasant-style wedding. The wedding was in the courtyard of the home of Joel's aunt. We left the hotel in Oaxaca at 6:30 am and most of the group did not return to the hotel until around 11:00 pm (a few of us fell by the wayside mid-afternoon.) Every minute of the day was orchestrated to follow the traditional wedding-ceremony format.

Emily wore the traditional Oaxacan wedding dress that many of us have bought over the years to bring home because of the beauty of the embroidered dresses--though ours were embroidered in bright colors whereas Emily's was all white. My son, Justin, took wonderful pictures but I don't have them yet--this I took with my iPhone! Two of my four sons went to the wedding also. Besides being part of such a unique (to us) experience it was so much fun being there with my sister and her family who live in Maine and my sister who lives here. An unusual get together of us all.

I may write more about this lovely event when I get Justin's pictures--or not. Probably depending on how soon I get back into the studio and have some pots to write about!

out of the kiln

The firing went well. I was disappointed in the glaze cover--as I expected to be. It was just too thin a coat which has become standard operating procedure for me. I gotta figure it out. I might refire--it worked last time. In the meantime, they don't look bad--just not what I wanted.

The inside, which I poured and used the white majolica glaze, is fine. I sprayed the outside. I could see that the coat was too thin, yet it had begun running down the sides (which you can see on the little bowl on the tray) and I did not want that. I am missing something!

a very tardy post

My work is so sporadic I don't have much to write about. But here I am, rather horrified to see that I have not posted in over a month and a half. Mea Copa.

I have done a little potting. And was pleased that I would have something to share with my friends who share accomplishments on an occasional basis. But that was jumping the gun. My bisque firing ended before completing the schedule. The breaker tripped. I have not yet determined the cause--am going to try re-firing before calling in the professionals to sniff out the problem. (I have relatively new elements, relays, and breaker!) Here are some of the things I was hoping to get bisqued and then glaze fired this week.

The idea was to make a 'set of things'. I was thinking of a Condiments Tray.

Then I thought well, not all the condiments need a covered pot, some want an open bowl.

Some may even want a pitcher for pouring...

So the 'set' is 9 pieces in all. I am enjoying them now--fearing that I will be disappointed once they are glazed.
These are all low-fire earthenware clay. I put terra sig on the bottoms and inside the lids and on the galleries. I want to glaze the rest of the pots. And that is another bump in the road. I have not developed glazes for low-fire but now I need some tested glazes to use. Oh, heck, if it is not one thing, it is another.

I have been really enjoying cooking in the earthen-ware pieces I made earlier in the spring. I have searched out recipes that require long, slow cooking in the oven. I love pulling my lovely pots out of the oven and putting them on the table after the long, slow bake. Joy! One of the first things I 'learned' when I got into my first pottery classes was that the women there did not cook dinner daily. Took me a while but over the years I had pretty much incorporated that philosophy into my daily practice. This spring i began trying to break out of that 'entitlement'. Have not worked my way back to daily hot dinners--but I'm doing better. And Jim has taken up the slack so we share in the food-responsibility department. Nice! Our fig tree is producing LOTS of figs! When we bought the house 2 years ago I was thrilled that there was a big fig tree in the back. Imagine how disappointed I was last year when there was ONE fig on the tree--for the whole season. This year, after record rains here, we have a bumper crop--we bring in a dozen or more figs each day--discounting the ones that the critters beat us to! So, I've been making fig preserves, just like my mom did! Yum!

And I've been reading a lot. Got back into the habit of ending the day with a book in my hand before falling off to sleep during my trip to Spain. I have read some wonderful books lately. One of the most inspiring, ceramics wise, is "Following the The Rhythms of Life: The Ceramic Art of David Shaner". A book I ordered on line after reading a mention of it in Clayart. I feel like I just met a wonderful person whom I'd love to know better.

happy face!

It worked! Looks great--no problems detected.

risking it all

I fired the little cazuelas, covered baking dish and deep pie plate. These are pieces that I had applied terra sig to the outside but left the inside surface plain because I wanted glaze there. Since I have not been working in low-fire except for the Majolica class I took a couple years ago, I don't have known/tested glazes. I wanted yellow--or really old gold--inside the pots. So I whipped up a glaze that called for yellow stain and went for it!
However the yellow glaze was not at all yellow after I mixed it up--more like flesh colored. I know about how the colors are not true--wet to fired--but I thought that using 10% yellow stain it would look yellow. I don't have a small test kiln and I'm not intending to stick with earthenware clay so I was not wanting to wait for a test run.
Here is the glaze after it was mixed and had sat around for a couple days:


That was risk #1.




I was delighted with the color I got. But very disappointed in the (my) glaze application. I had sprayed the glaze inside the pots but it was too thin. The rough texture (gritty) of the clay came through the thin coat of glaze and in some places it was so uneven that a thin area was next to a thick area. Very unsatisfactory.

So risk #2.
Today I reglazed all the pots--with the same glaze--and they are now firing for the 3rd time--counting the bisque firing as the first. Some good clayarter (forgot his name) suggested a way to get the glaze to stick to the slick surface of an already glazed pot was to heat the pots to about 400° before spraying a second layer of glaze onto the pots. So that is what I did. I heated the pots in the turkey roaster (that is stored in the studio) to 400° and took them out one by one, put into the spray booth and sprayed on a second coat. Hmmmm...we'll see what tomorrow brings!

earthenware clay

I had just wanted to make a couple baking pieces out of earthenware clay to try out in my kitchen (I've been bit by the "Slow Cooking" bug.) Just a couple pieces. But then there was another something I wanted. And then when I was in Spain I fell in love with all the wonderful terracotta cooking ware there. Of course I could not bring all that I wanted home--did bring a couple pieces!! But came home wanting to make some of the things I had seen in Spain. So another bag of earthen red clay, and then another. And of course that got me into terra siglata.
Over the weekend I divided up the last of my red clay into 10 pieces and made 10 small cazuelas.


They are currently (not yet dry) about 6 3/8" across and 1 78" deep. Sorry I did not have enough clay to make a dozen as my sister also wanted some of these little cazuelas--she'll get some of these but not as many as she was wishing for. So I may not have come to the end of my earthen-ware-clay days yet!
Some of the pieces I made earlier: A casserole--still drying.
And these that have been bisqued:
French butter keeper.

A small tagine with terra sig.

A baking dish with terra sig.

friends and mentors...via web

I've been thinking I should close my blog since I have been so unfaithful to posting...but it is my passport to such a great country! I don't know exactly why I began this blog. I was keeping a journal of my work in the studio and it seemed more interesting to put it into a blog. Through it I've met some of the grandest people--potters, all. I'd never have known them except through my blog and theirs. That has made it--blogging--a real treasure for me. Beside the pleasure of these friendships, the help and stimulus they've given so freely has been tremendously valuable.

Today a blogging friend, Linda Starr, wrote about receiving the "Silver Lining Award" which she was passing on to some of her blogging friends and asked us to pass it on to our silver liners. So that is the impulse behind this post. [When I opened this post and put in the title--which would be 'friends'--from somewhere else, "and mentors...via web" was added without my participation. At first I erased the extra words but then I realized that was exactly what I was intending to post about. Still don't know where the extra came from. PS I just discovered that I had used that title in August '09--so it was remembering what I did not remember! Not so unusual around here at home!]

I met Linda first through some comments she added to my blog and stimulated me to look at her blog which led to following her and her husband's motor-home trip across the southern US looking for a new home--which they found in Florida. What brave souls they must be! I loved reading about her potting experiences during that journey! Had even hoped to meet them as they drove through San Antonio but weather and circumstances denied us that encounter.

I think my first blogging friend was Ron Philbeck. His was the first blog I found and followed when I discovered there were blogging potters. I suppose we made contact through comments on his posts. I loved his work and how he wrote about what he was doing. I remember seeing pictures of him pouring glaze over plates and platters ala Japanese pottery style and then reading about his drawing explorations in his journal--long before they appeared on his pottery. Ron has always been so supportive and generous of my struggles. He is a real friend that I'd love to meet for real!

Through Ron I met three English friends that I'd love to meet someday outside of my daily readings in their blogs: Doug Fitch, an incredibly hard working potter who, like Ron, takes the time to maintain a steady flow of blogging in spite of a very busy schedule. Another Englishman I followed regularly, Andrew Douglas, seems to have given up on his blogging--though I keep checking to see if it might just be a snag in the system. And through Ron I encountered Hannah McAndrew who might be the brightest blogger around--bright in the sense of sunny, cheerful. Ron, Doug and Hannah are all 'slipware' potters from whom I've learned about that long and rich tradition.

Two other bloggers that I consider real friends and mentors are Tracey Broome and Judy Shreve. I've not met either but feel as if they are real friends--like next door neighbors that you can run to for an extra cup of flour when needed! And each has always generously responded when I've asked for a bit of help.

I have a long list of blogs that I read most every day and am enriched by so doing. But these few mentioned I consider very special friends. You know the old saw, "If you could have dinner with anyone from any place or any time, who would you choose?" Well, these folk are ones I'd want to be sitting with if only I could!

in Madrid

We had a fabulous location for our home base. Emily had found a "studio" apartment for us to rent for the 2 weeks of our visit. Besides being right next to her office--so she could drop in with croissants each morning, we could meet her for lunch and take off from there after her work was ended--it was in the most incredible location for our tourist wanderings. We were in walking distance (did I tell you we walked 1000s of miles?) of 3 great museums: the Prado, Museo Reina Sofia, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, the train station, a hard working everyday market, the fabulous new Mercado San Miguel, and Plaza Mayor (below).


There is no way to describe the collection at the Prado--everything for everyone. We spent one day there mostly focused on Goya--seemed a good idea to have a focus because there was no way to take it all in. The Reina Sofia had a wonderful collection of the great Spanish painters--Picasso, Miro, Salvador Dali, Jean DuBuffet, and, new to me, Lucio Fontana. I was very surprised to see some art work by the poet Fernando Garcia Lorca. The work of Dubuffet and, to a greater extent, that of Fontana (see a piece of his work below) were stimulating to me in relation to my ceramic work--I look forward to seeing how that might find expressing in my work (when I get back into the studio!)

The Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza had a wonderful special exhibition, "Monet and Abstraction". In the show Monet's work was displayed in chronological order accompanied by the work of artists who were influenced by Monet's work--leading to Abstract Expressionism. Very interesting and thought provoking.

We loved walking through the "old" section of Madrid--narrow streets, tapas bars, many small plazas with welcoming places to rest and have a cup of coffee or glass of wine, and those incredible, beautiful old-world buildings. The architecture of those buildings is so majestic--why don't we build like that any more? Maybe because there is no longer royalty who can order the work and pay for it by taxation!

In the old working mercado we found wonderful cheese and ham for our first evening nibble with wine in our apartment--after a late lunch of Spanish tortilla made for us by Emily's partner, Joel. At the new market, Mercado San Miguel, we saw the most beautifully arranged stalls with elegant foods--foie gras, caviar and champagne, wonderful cheeses, shellfish, wines, and beautiful desserts. All this elegant (and expensive) food is eaten in the market, out of hand, standing around the stalls. There are tall tables with bar stools--but not nearly enough for the crowd. Very surprising situation--it would not succeed here in San Antonio--perhaps in the capitol cities, but i wonder if it would make it anywhere here.



This gentleman is eating his cavier, with his champagne, at the cavier stall (above.)

An arrangement of dried fruits and nuts.

We loved shopping in the little speciality shops and at the huge Sunday Market--where my sister's new iPhone was picked from her pocket while we browsed the treasures there for sale! Very sad experience.



The last Sunday, just before our departure on Tuesday, we had raosted-suckling-pig dinner at a lovely old restaurant (in operation since 1725). That evening we attended a most wonderful performance of flamingo dance built around Lorka's popular poem, "Llanto Por Ignacio Sanchez Mejias." Most impresive and memorable experience--a perfect 'tapa' for our trip!

cooking as in Spain

As you may remember from earlier posts I have become very interested in making some bakeware for our use here at home. So, of course, I searched for some traditional cazuelas in Spain and also for tagines. I had made a couple tagines a few months ago--still not fired--and I wanted to compare mine to the "real" ones! The cazuelas were every where and pretty consistent in form and finish though I found one that I thought especially interesting--which I bought and then had to struggle with getting it home safely.


My cazuela measures 9"X2.5" inside. The cazuela weights 3 lb 7 oz. It is finished in traditional style inside but the bottom and sides had been covered with a dark slip that contrasts with the clear glaze on the red clay. I like that a lot.

It might not have been so hard to get the cazuela home safely if I had not also found a tagine that I wanted to bring back! We looked high and low for tagines and found nothing until we asked in a restaurant where we could by a tagine (pot) and were directed to the Arab quarter. There we found a few in each of several small shops.



It was amazing how heavy both these are. The walls are very thick--5/16", fired and glazed! I was making my bakeware thick--I thought--but they are not that thick at all and are not yet fired!.
I looked for and chose a non-traditional style I had seen in an article somewhere, my sister bought the traditional one.



My tagine measures about the same inside only it is not so deep, it is pie plate shaped inside. It weighs 6 pounds--top and bottom.

I bought some saffron, too. I like it in a favorite tomato/rice dish and of course in paella. Since getting home I have made only one tagine dish (vegetable) which I cooked in the cazuela--the tagine was not large enough for what I wanted to cook. Before I went on my trip I had made a lamb tagine that we really liked so I'll be doing more of that now.

End of cooking talk!

PS I also bougt and brought home a paella pan....