Here They Come...!

Day; 279. Sunny and warm even, not much wind! A perfect weekend for the Open Studio Tour!!

Temperature on outside kiln; 75 degrees
kiln firings; none
music in the Studio; Adele's latest....

Well if it's 2016 then that means this is my 16th year on the tour....., my first year was right after we bought the house in 2000... 16 years, hard to believe!! And every year has been fun, exciting, tiring, very lucrative... I don't imagine that this year will be any different... Except for the after-the-tour party that we throw every year, I will miss it... eating, drinking, singing, with all my friends.. but I just feel like after 16 years I can't do it this year, just going to go to the local grill and have a burger and beer and call it am weekend... sad but relieved!
Not as much work this year either but that's ok too, usually I try to fill the whole house but this year just the dining room and the studio, it was all I could do and I feel good about it, I just don't want to work myself to death anymore, life is too short! So here are a few shots of the set-up before I disappear for two days during which several hundred people walk through my house... !!

 Dining room wall.. love the pictures of Dave and I and my Dad on the wall as well....

















Opposite dining room wall with more cups....

Table set-up in the same room....

Studio shot with wall pieces, jewelry,and tile..

May all 94 artists on the tour have a great weekend!

Eldorado Open Studio Tour..( or the weekend where my customers come to me and I don't have to schelp anything!)

Day; 278. Sunny, warm. A beautiful NM spring day....

Temperature on outside kiln; 65 degrees
kiln firings; none! I'm done!
Music in the studio; Democracy Now with Amy Goodman

Continuing to meander towards The Tour... cleaning, organizing, pricing, baking, dusting... slowly but surely I am getting to the Preview Gallery opening tomorrow night...

Never, ever, have I been so ready so early!! It feels odd.. I even spent yesterday singing with the girls 3 days before the tour, that has never been the case.  I am usually frantically glazing or getting a last firing in... But instead I spent the morning with these lovely ladies singing songs.... Soo good to see Miya Endo, she has been in Indiana with her family for the last month and we have sorely missed her...

I look really tired!, so I guess getting ready for the studio tour has been a little harder than I thought!? I am also wondering what happened to my eyebrows?! Ah well, middle age, we all start going bald somewhere...

Anyway, Happy Studio Tour to all my artist friends and see you on Sunday for burgers and brews!!!!

I'm a Lucky Dog....

Day; 277. Sunny and warm, breezy. Hey, it's Spring!

Temperature on outside kiln; 70 degrees
kiln firings; unloading the last load for the Eldorado Studio Tour
Music in the studio; Jackson Browne in prep for tonight's concert!

Going here tonight...

to see....

Can't wait to see Jackson Browne tonight at the Lensic Theatre, 3rd row center! Thank you Julie Cunningham!!

Meandering towards The Tour

Day; 276. Windy but sunny and warm. A beautiful spring day....

Temperature on outside kiln; 70 degrees
kiln firings; none
music in the studio; Jefferey Gaines

Finishing up the last image transfer load for the Studio Tour this weekend. I am so ahead of myself I don't know what to do... No last minute panic, no race to the finish, no stressful opening up  of the kiln at 3am.... 
It feels weird.. yesterday I went to the wholesale nursery out in Lone Butte, bought annuals and then went out to lunch! Today I planted said plants and then took a nap.. Afterwards I finished up my watering of all the gardens and then sorta organized the display space in the dining room for the show.. I have never been this ready for the Eldorado Studio Tour so far ahead of schedule, nor so relaxed, in the 16 years I have been on the tour. I guess I  am finally  learning to chill, and what I got, is what I got... Not a lot of work for sale but I decided to take orders for tableware to make up for the paltry selection, so I am working on samples of dinner, lunch, and breakfast plates. I like this casual walk towards D-day instead of the usual mad dash, much  more enjoyable...!

Exactly a year ago I helped some students make tile for their kitchen counters and recently they sent me some pictures. At the time I was no so sure about the design, how was all this going to fit together but it was their project and I just taught them how to cut out and glaze tile. I have been wondering for months how it all turned out and at last I was able to get a glimpse..  It is beautiful! (makes me want to redo my own black-tiled?! kitchen...)

"Running On Empty"

Day; 275. Sunny and warm, I am happy to report. It is about f*cking time! no rain, no sleet, no snow, no wind. Just a gorgeous NM day....
Temperature on outside kiln; 68 degrees
kiln firings; none
music in the studio; Democracy Now with Amy Goodman.  ( Donald Trump is now officially the Republican nominee for President..!!?? The world has gone crazy.... )

It's Wednesday so mostly I was out of the studio singing with the Magpies but I did unload the bisque firing and I am taking inventory of all my glazes....

Tomorrow I will begin glazing the last load for the Eldo Studio tour and that will take two days... I have an entire week to get through these last two firings so I am feeling relaxed and ahead of the game....

Funnest thing that happened today;  about two months ago I saw an ad in the Pasa about a Jackson Browne concert happening in May at the local Lensic theater.. As my husband and I are die-hard fans I asked him if he wanted to go. After finding out that it would cost $200 dollars for both of us to see him, we waivered, we were trying at that point to figure out how to pay our federal taxes...  I told David not to worry that someone would just show up with tickets... and then I forgot about it.

Well, today one of my good friends called me this morning on the land line sounding very excited. She had found two tickets to Jackson Browne on Craig's List at the Lensic for Tuesday night and would I like to go?!

I LOVE HOW THIS UNIVERSE WORKS!!.........

Top 10 Jackson Browne songs;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQvH1MMqL4c

Back to the Studio..

Day; 274. Sun/clouds. Looks like it could rain/snow AGAIN! slight breeze

Temperature on outside kiln; 61 degrees
kiln firings; last bisque firing for the Studio Tour
music in the studio; various karaoke for band practice tomorrow...

Well, I made it! The spring Contemporary Clay Fair is a wrap!  It is always a  lot of fun but a bit crazy/stressful at the same time. Although I am only the treasurer, everyone thinks that  I am in charge for some reason, I guess because I have been doing it the longest and seem to know what is what... !??

Anyway, we had 900 people show up which is A LOT in the course of two days, it is not that big of a building... just a small-ish meeting room with an a-joining kitchen. Needless to say the line to check-out was very long Saturday morning, a good 10-15 people waiting to give us money. We sold hundreds of pots for thousands of dollars, extremely successful... !  The 30 or so potters who do the show 2x/year are marvelous people and really step-up to do their jobs and make it work. Here are some of us at Harry's Roadhouse on Saturday night drinking cocktails and recovering from our cashiering shifts...

Sunday morning handsome husband guitarist David Yard came to play a set for us, it was a bit slow on Sunday as it was snowing (May 1st!) and therefor wonderful to have some classical guitar music in the background. I  actually enjoyed a slower day, I could talk to customers, visit with other potters, nibble on free food all day long... saturday during the show none of this is possible, I am just selling pots as fast as I can and putting out whatever fires have broke out in general show-wise. a few shots from Sunday when we could actually get some pictures taken..

With 7 new potters in the show I thought it looked really good and was glad to have some new work for our many, many, returning customers to buy.. Looking forward to the November/holiday show already, but first the ELDORADO STUDIO TOUR  next weekend, yikes!!!

Contemporary Clay Fair Weekend...

Day; 273. Damn Wind!, again...

Temperature out outside kiln; 55 degrees
kiln firings; none
music in the studio; Joss Stone, soul singer

I am about to disappear for 3 days so I thought I should warn all of my readers, all 6 of you that is! The Spring Contemporary Clay Fair is going  up tomorrow at the Santa Fe Woman's Club and will be open all weekend, April 30th-May 1st, from 10am-5pm. As the producer and treasurer for the show, not to mention a participant,  I will be too darn tired at the end of the day to write anything at all so goodbye until Monday.. maybe even Tuesday... I have to count all the money and get it to the bank... ! A big job..!