Here is a quick post of the new kiln before and after the first firing.

And the hot air balloon going over the house at sunrise!

Last we left the studio, the framing had just started. There has been rapid progress since then – windows and doors, electrical and plumbing, prep. exterior for stucco, drywall, and first coat of stucco. Here are the pictures – starting from the most recent to where I left off.

After a several month absence from writing in this blog, I pick up my figurative pen to promote a worthy fund raising event – Three Cups of Tea Santa Cruz.  Over 50 Santa Cruz artists have created theme related art to be auctioned off both on-line and at the event which will be held at the Rio Theatre in Santa Cruz, CA on February 11 at 5:30 pm. Many of the artists including myself created sets of 3 cups for the auction.  The poster pictures a small selection of the art. All of the wonderful artwork can be viewed in the gallery of art on the 3 Cups of Tea website .  i

For the second consecutive year some very fine local potters, Steve and Bonnie Barisof ,  have organized this event to benefit schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. All proceeds go to the Central Asia Institute created by Greg Mortenson, author of Three Cups of Tea and Stones into Schools.

In the words of Steve and Bonnie:  If you haven’t heard of him or the books, you have been missing some really wonderful and uplifting reading.  It is about an attempt to climb K2, the 2nd highest mountain after Everest, how things went wrong for a climber on his team, how they had to quickly descend, and his getting lost. He somehow came to a very remote Pakistani village, was given food and shelter, and after he recovered asked what he could do to repay them.  They asked for a school for their children!  The rest of the story is about how he managed against great odds to actually do it.  Today, about 17 years later they have helped to build 130 schools in Northern Pakistan and Afghanistan, and they are all safe!  Why?  How come?  Read the book, all of our foreign policies could take a chapter out of his books.

More information on the February 11 event can be found in this  on the 3 Cups of Tea website .

Greetings 2009! Spent the first day of the New Year at Pigeon Point Lighthouse watching for the ever elusive whales! Didn’t see any whales, but did see a school of dolphins and a couple of sea lions along with the usual contingent of birds – brown pelicans, sea pigeons aka sea gulls, grebes and I’m sure a comrorant or two. Caught a pic of the lighthouse with the sun barely peeking around it and one from the other side. One of our favorite places to visit! And here is a vase I made last year capturing my version of the lighthouse in clay.

Sun is peeking around the side - makes the lighthouse light look lit up too.

Love this view of the lighthouse with the fence

when I will be joining a group of local artists at the opening reception for the holiday art exhibition “Ways of the Water”. I’m excited to be part of this exhibition at the Capitola Fine Arts Gallery. This exhibition is a cooperative effort of the gallery with the Coastal Watershed Council. A portion of the art sales will be donated to the coastal watershed council for the preservation and protection of of coastal watersheds.

So pleased to be included with this group of talented artists:

Seventeen very talented artists

I usually only make functional pottery. My one exception to this is a little fish I make from a bottle form that I alter and add to so  that it becomes a fish that can either sit somewhere (like in a fountain) or hang somewhere. I’ve been making these little guys for years and each one gets a name which I display on a name tag. Labor intensive to make (and to glaze) but fun!

Felix

During open studios, one of my very good customers asked me to make a pig (actually two pigs) for gifts to her relatives that have pig collections.  I figured I could come up with something and she is a very good customer so I agreed to this order. I started with the same bottle shape as my fish but a little larger and I did not flare out the top.  When the bottle is a “soft” leather hard, I trim the bottle a bit at the bottom, create a flat spot on the side so that the bottle sits at an angle, cover the top of the bottle with a slab (the snout), impress rings for the snout openings, add eyes (multiple round layers), ears, a mouth, two flat disc rear feet, two front feet by attaching  a triangular wad of clay to prop up the front of the bottle and carve out an opening once the feet are attached. I also strategically pinch the bottle bottom front and rear sides to make a piggish body shape. And last, but not least, add the curling tail!

Ferdinand

So the first two came out so cute, I made 4 more. And there are two more larger bottles that I think I’ll turn into banks.  Hope the little pig tails don’t turn out to be as much of a problem as the tails on my fish. Need to be very careful when loading the bisque.  Sure would hate to lose any of these guys. Probably need to name them, too.

We need new homes!

This is a good shelf!

Today finds me eagerly awaiting my two mugs.  Just about this time last year, I got introduced to Etsy and found a huge community of ceramics and pottery people. And here I am a year later participating in the Mug Exchange. For more on the exchange and.or more information on the Etsy Mud team, visit our team website  - Etsy Mud Team.

Here I am with the two mugs I sent off today to their new owners.

So tomorrow will find me waiting the arrival of my new mugs and more importantly, awaiting the results of this historic election.