The Big Easy

Day; 178. Sunny and warm yet again! Beautiful end of summer day...

Temperature on outside kiln;
Kiln Firings; none
Music in the studio; Marc Broussard, (www.marcbroussard.com) Described as Cajun Soul. Works for me! Beautiful song writing, even greater voice. Listen to him why don't cha... 

Back in the studio and to writing after two days gone... preparing for the Saturday market, doing the market (up at 5am), and recovering from the market seems to take all weekend??!! Oh well, keeps me out of trouble, sorta ....
Walking through the Farmers Market yesterday with  the smell of roasting green chilies in the air, ahhhh, nothing like it... reminds me summer is just about gone but also that Sept. is my favorite month in New Mexico, a fact I always forget in my bemoaning the passing of long summer days/evenings...

A few other sights to behold on my walk back to my booth after parking the truck..

 Marigold stands for whatever catches your fancy.... 

The cutest Cadillac juice stand I have ever seen! The only Cadillace juice stand I have ever seen....









 After a long post-market afternoon nap, I decided to watch the series Treme, written and produced by the same guy who did the series The Wire. Lauded on NPR this week (part of the 10 anniversary of Hurricane Katrina), I decided to take Amy Goodmans advice and tune in.

 In 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit the 9th ward of New Orleans and the levies subsequently failed, I was in Venice, Italy checking out Renaissance paintings, riding gondolas, eating pasta.... Consequently, I missed  the first couple of weeks of media coverage. I remember seeing the headlines in the local papers, something about New Orleans and a big storm, but I had to find an Italian teenager who spoke English and have him translate for me what was going on at home. By the time I returned to the States a couple of weeks later, the most urgent scenes had played themselves out and I had missed them. Anyway, Treme is a fairly accurate portrayal of the aftermath of the storm based in the neighborhood of the same name. The  main character is a dispossessed  trombone player, so you gotta love it... for the music if not for anything else. I didn't get beyond about the second episode before I nodded off, but I will try again tonight...

Just by coincidence, I have been listening to Marc Broussard for two days straight now, a wonderful musical find thanks to Spodify Radio. Dubbed as Cajun Soul, Marc is from Louisiana and so continues the focus on the Big Easy this weekend. I just love his kind of music; beautiful lyrics, lovely melodies, fantastic voice, not over-arranged or produced. Great toe-tapping tunes backed up with really good musicians.

Reminds me of the old, well not so old, 80's movie The Big Easy with Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin. Sure would be fun to see that again, and it fits right in with this  week's theme... gotta go now and see if Netflix or Amazon has it...

Back On-line...

Day; 177. Overcast and weirdly foggy this morning. Hot in the afternoon.

Temperature on outside kiln; 80 degrees.
Kiln Firings; slow bisque firing to cone 04. (1, 945 degrees  f)
Music in the studio; found a new guy I love... ; Eric Lindell, so blusey and kinda sexy. I'm talkin' about the music girls....

No internet all day yesterday so a bit behind today.... Somehow Comcast turned off our service and then was planning on coming out 3 days later to fix it!! I don't think so...  Awesome husband got on the phone and told them what was what  and Voila! we were back on-line very early this morning...

Anyway, yesterday was Maggie and the Magpies band practice so not a lot of studio work was accomplished  to begin with... We are trying to update our set list and come up with  a few non-ballad tunes for us to cover. I could sing ballads for the rest of my life but I fear I am putting the other musicians to sleep. It is surprisingly difficult to find up-tempo songs that I want to sing, the hunt continues....

Today I spent my time making scoops, still  in a spooning mood I guess... (not what you think..) I saw a handy-dandy set of plastice scoops at the local grocery for 3 bucks so I bought them and make quick little plaster molds of them. I now have a set of scoop molds in graduated sizes that I can drap clay over. I started with B-mix and then did a set in porcelain. I tried different handles and just ended  up throwing some hollow forms and attaching them. I really had fun all day singing in the studio thinking about new songs to sing and making silly little scoop-y things. I put holes in the handles so that they can be hung up in the kitchen. Should be really fun to glazed and find some interesting material to hang them with... Here are some more little cuties coming out of the studio this week..

Spooning...

Day; 176. Sunny and hot. Breezy.
Temperature on outside kiln; 82 degrees.
Kiln firings; none
Music in the studio; Ryan Adams

After a breakfast B-day party for my friend Christine Drumright (bbgoochi.com)..,

...I came home, dragged out the Big Orange Monster (pug mill) and recycled clay all morning. Dirty, nasty, physically demanding job, but someone has to do it. I truly look like a homeless female mudwrestler after the fact ( no photos on purpose!) but  I do love having fresh, soft, fully wedged clay at the ready. Makes a potter wanna make something!!
... Which I did for the rest of the afternoon, expect of course when I was napping... I threw some bottomless bowls so I could square them off and make decal application easier. It is hard to put a flat 2-d piece of paper onto a round 3-d  form  without it folding and wrinkling. Creating flat surface areas  makes decoration oh so much easier. They also  go with the square plates I make more so of course than round ones.

I also got on the spoon band wagon... seems  like every potter is making them these days, kinda fun I must admit. A new challenge is always welcome... Not as good as Katy Drijber's pinched  spoons and scoops    but I had fun making these miso/japanese-style spoons nonetheless. They will be fun to glaze I am sure.... If I ever get to that again. I might just make stuff out of clay forever and never glaze again, oh so tempting. The Durango Fall Arts Festival is only 3 weeks away however, so I doubt I will give up glazing entirely....But anyway here's the little cuties I made today...

Form Follows Function..

Day; 175. Sunny, warm. breezy. Back to feeling like fall is in the air in the mornings.

Temperature on outside kiln; 80 degrees
Kiln firings; none
Music in the studio; more Amos Lee, can't get enough of this guy....love his voice and he writes beautiful  melodies...

Looking at Instagram earlier in the day trying to find some inspiration. Shall I make what I want to make, whatever that is, or what I know will sell? I opt for the former instead of the latter, and continue looking until I feel a spark...
I often look at Heather Smit's work due to the crisp way she hand builds; so elegant, well constructed, beautiful, and yet very functional. I really love her pitchers and have been wanting to make some for awhile now, today is the day...

The way she hand-builds almost makes me want to give up the wheel, almost... but not quite, especially after a morning of making vases and a pitcher based on her ideas. And because Santa Fe Clay is out of my usual clay body, I had no choice but to hand-build with porcelain, AM I CRAZY!? What was I thinking..???!! Cracking, bending, warping, slipping, I love the color and feel of porcelain, but let's face it, working with it is a bitch. But I digress....

Of all the arts saddled with the strictures of Form Follows Function (modernist idea from the 1930's, mostly growing out of the practice of architecture..) surely ceramics is most burdened. And rightly so of course.. for most of it's history ceramics has been about functional objects for everyday use.. transporting water, storing grain, serving meals, the epitome of functionality. And yet embellishment has been almost as important, look at the ceramics of every Native American pueblo in the Southwest; Acoma, San Ildefanso, Santo Domingo... all very much about everyday use, but at the same time beautifully made and decorated...

So as I was contemplating  making some pitchers this morning (ala Heather Smit), I knew I had to think about balance, weight, scale, spout, handle placement/size. All the issues that makes a good pitcher good, in other words, one that functions well; one that is light ( even when full) one that pours well and doesn't drip, one that is balanced when you pick it up, in short, one that feels good in your hands. I knew that the pitchers function would very much dictate it's form, but I'm ok with that, as a potter I long ago accepted the functional constraints of my craft.
That isn't it to say it can't be beautiful and elegant at the same time, it certainly can, indeed,  that is the very challenge I hope to rise to everyday...

Indian Market in Railyard Park

Day; 175. Strangely overcast and grey. Looks like the Midwest instead of sunny Southwest...

Temperature on outside kiln; 66 degrees
Firings; none 
Music in the studio today; Amos Lee

Even though my intention every Saturday after the Artists' Market is to come home and post a blog, I never actually do it. I forget how tired I get after loading and unloading the truck, setting up at dawn in the Railyard, talking and selling for 5 hours, and then packing it all up again. I should just say once and for all, you will never hear from me Dear Reader on a Saturday, I am too damn tired!
So my Saturday posts are always Sundays' post, ah well, at least I eventually get there..

Yesterday was beautiful; sunny, warm, mid-80's. And the Railyard district of Santa Fe was hopping. It was the 93rd annual Native American Indian Market and as such town was swamped with sellers and buyers alike from all over the country. Alas this did not translate into a full/busy booth for Magpie Pottery, but I sorta knew that.. I have done many shows during Indian Market and it is always disappointing, buyers are just elsewhere, the downtown plaza most likely, and with  Native American Art on their lists, not mine. I did however have a fun time and enjoyed being in my new booth with new metal weights, new work, and diverse customers to talk to...

 In the Railyard..

















         New metal weights for my ez-up, no more lugging around sand bags, Halleluja!!

Young men in skirts from Colorado College...

See you all next Saturday in the Railyard, same time. same place...

I Hate Pricing

Day; 174. Sunny and warm this morning,  without the feeling of fall in the air, back to summer! Quick but violent wind/rain storm in the afternoon.

Temperature on outside kiln, 82 degrees.
Firings; None
Music in the studio; Martin Sexton, singer/songwriter.

What is it about putting a dollar value on our time that  is so difficult? I just don't quite know how to quantify, and then price,  either my work or my time... Does how much we value/not value ourselves, come through in the pricing our work? Is it really that tied to our relationship with self, or more just a stew of market forces?

Today, after putting it off for as long as possible, I had to just sit my ass down and get a pencil/paper/calculator and do some figurin'. As I usually undervalue everything I make, like most potters , I am trying so very hard not to do that this time around...

I have two projects on the table; 200 handmade tiles for an interior design firm (hotel renovation) and a 10-punch card for studio use by two students. Now, I ask you; how much does each one of these scenarios cost me? And how much do I charge the client? After costing out the clay, glaze materials, firings, the actually glazing of the tile, loading kilns, etc... not to mention my labor, where do I make the profit? I guess it is in my time, so I am really trying to be realistic and give myself plenty of time to complete each task. And then how much am I per hour? The same as teaching? More? Less? You see my dilemma... I think I hate to cost everything out because then I have to face the fact that on any given day  after everything is said and done I probably make about .43 cents/hour. I just don't want to get that depressed, it would ruin the fun of making the tableware that I love to make....
So, I will not screw myself, I will not screw myself, I will not screw myself.... I will value my time and ask for what I need, I will value my time and ask for what I need... (repeat to self 100 times and then call the client...)

Maggie and the Magpies...

Day; 173. A cool feel in the morning, fall is approaching. Breezy all day. Temperature on outside kiln; 82 degrees

Back in the studio today after a day off yesterday... Still thinking about how much fun I had yesterday up in Dixon with Maggie and the Magpies.... We did our current two-short-sets of 17 songs for downtown Dixon's Farmers' Market, 8 vendors maybe? We be talkin' pretty small, but that suits this lead singer who has terrible stage fright!! How did that happen?! The one band member with the worst stage fright is the one out front singing most of the songs!? Well, it's good for me.... some day I might even get to the point where I am not afraid and I actually enjoy myself... I think I need to do a few more farmers' markets in order for that to happen...
 But I was thinking about why this is so on the way home, why is it so hard for me to be out front? To be the center of attention, to be visible? ....Well, we would have to go back 50 years to answer that question but suffice it to say that staying in the background was how I got through childhood, if I was not very visible, under the radar as it were, I was safe. To be noticed was to be vulnerable, and that was not good...

But the Dixionions were wonderful- so welcoming, so appreciative, so much positive feed back, it was really a good experience for all of us I think. And after making a few mistakes and realizing that no one but the band noticed, I loosened up and really started having fun. Our  ukelele player Miya Endo lives in Dixon so many in the community came out to see Miya and find out what her band was all about....
  There is something about a small town where everyone knows everyone else that is so heart-warming and feel-good... I loved singing while people were buying their vegetables. It was small-town America at it's best, just a small rural northern New Mexico community coming together for an afternoon of chit-chat, sharing, buying provisions and eating ice cream while listening to some local music. Nothing fancy but yet at the heart of what community and sharing means. I felt so pleased to be there and to be able to share out music with whomever showed up.
And we made over $20 dollars in tips! yippee!! Paid for the pizza we ate afterwards sitting in a circle as the evening faded. I heard that one of the attendees said she loved the deep voice of the lead singer, that she really enjoyed listening to her sing,...  Oh lord, that  lead singer is me and she will never know how much that means to me, it gives me the courage to get up and do it all again......

Burnin' The Midnight Oil...

Day; 172. Hot, hot, and more hot.

Temperature on outside kiln; 89 degrees.
Music; The Civil Wars
Firings; none

Working late in the studio tonight so that I can spend the afternoon tomorrow in Dixon with Maggie and the Magpies. 17 Song set, of which most are sung by me!?, Oh yeah, well, I am the Maggie in the Magpies, aren't I?! Better wear my power singin' dress tomorrow, I'm feelin' good...... 
Stay tuned for some killer pics in the next post.... MM

Thank You Jesus

Day; 171. Sunny and warm, more of the same. No rain. Temperature on outside kiln; 80 degrees.

 After our usual Monday hike in the Pecos Wilderness with the Eldorado Dog Sled Team, I collapsed in bed for a quick nap. After a strong shot of espresso, a long afternoon of glazing has come to an end, thank you Jesus! Cuz you know how much I love to glaze, Not!!!!!

We Get By With A Little Help From Our Friends

Day; 170. Sunny and warm again, although monsoon clouds are building.. Temperature on outside kiln; 85 degrees.

I was just too damn tired after the early morning market yesterday to write anything... I realized that I load and unload all my tables, ceramics, weights, ez-up, etc.. 4 times in and out of the truck in order to do the Artists' Market, no wonder I have to come home every Saturday and collapse on to the bed for two hours.. and sometimes I just stay there and binge watch Netflix into the night, don't tell anyone!!

While at the Artists' Market yesterday I saw one of my favorite young potters Carolyn Lobeck. Carolyn is not only a skillfull potter but also a member of the Contemporary Clay Fair steering committee for the last 3 years. She has been a god-send helping the rest of the committee produce the fair 2x/year with always a smile and helping hand.

 And now she needs ours... About 2-3 weeks ago her much-depended-on car upped and died suddenly without warning. And as a potter,  our businesses do not function without trusty vehicle companions to take us and our work to market. We desperately need those wheels to get us to where our customers are... So, in place of running out and buying her something (which I would do if I were rich... ), I am appealing to all and sundry folks, (potters, artists, friends, family) to please consider contributing to her Indigogo crowd funding campaign to finance a new vehicle for her ceramics business.

The direct link is;
http://igg.me/at/SiuCDwrZhow

Any amount is welcome, it doesn't matter how small or large. I thank you,  Support your local artists!!

All's Well That Ends Well...

Day; 169. Sunny, warm, lovely late summer day... Temperature on outside kiln; 88 degrees.

Well after redoing an entire kiln load of decal ware and refiring last night, (see yesterday's post), I was very anxious to open the kiln this morning and see if my "fix" had done the trick. Pretty much, a few pieces looked a little blurry/funny, but for the most part everything was fine, a few were even improved. The paler decals from the old firing created a sort of background, with the stronger,  more vivid ones creating a foreground. All in all an illusion of more depth on the surface which I would actually like to do more often but my electric is bill is already sky-high, sooooo. But I am happy to have some new work to sell tomorrow at the Artist's Market and look forward to a very fun morning in the sun with my tribe...

Ooops!!

Day; 168. Sunny and warm, beautiful. Temperature on outside kiln; 90 degrees.

After glazing and getting together a kiln load of flotsam and jetsom from around the studio, I fired a large kiln  load of decal work the  day before yesterday. Last night I finally got to crack the kiln open and was not pleased to say the least. In fact,  if I could have kicked myself in my own butt, I would have. I made a stupid mistake and had to spend today and another firing fixing it...

I  had decided as I was loading the kiln two days ago that putting cone 10 and cone 6 glaze ware in the same decal firing would be ok, I could just firing at around cone 1 and all would be well, no glazes would come close to refluxing again.  But noooooo, I was sadly mistaken. The porcelain cone 10 plates from Pottery Barn were fine, the Magpie Pottery plates, cups, and vases, much less so. The firing was just a wee bit hot and all the decals just fired out! There was nothing left of the images except a faint whisper... Not what I was going for. I spent late last night and this morning reapplying  all the images on most of the work... All made just a little bit more fun by the fact that the power was out for most of the night so that  I couldn't sleep for worrying  if I would have electricity to fire today. It had to be today, tomorrow or tonight would be too late to get the work out and to market by Saturday. Argggg...

Then as I was cleaning the studio up,  I came across this picture of I think around 2007. And I realized that it can be worse, your entire booth can get destroyed  along with all the work in it during a show. Suddenly I felt better. Whats an extra morning, a higher electric bill, a few more sheets of expensive decal paper? I mean at least a microburst has not ripped through your EZ-Up (and 39 others) and taken out a month's worth of work. Ahhh, I'm truly feeling better now....

Garden Morning, Slideshow Night

Day; 167. Sunny and hot, beautiful late summer day.. Temperature on outside kiln; 87 degrees.

Spent the morning in the garden with the dogs, with all the rain this year it is so very beautiful. A little tired from watching the kiln until the wee hours so I needed a slow morning...

 Puppies in the garden...

 Marshall Redcloud and Leona the Lioness having nothing to do with the young'uns....















After recycling 200 pounds of clay, I am off now to see a slide show at Santa Fe Clay by the potter Victoria Christen whose work I really like... so playful and loose! Nothing stiff about this work!

What is Art Worth?

Day; 166. Hot and sunny after a big drenching storm last night... temperature on outside kiln; 83 degrees.

After reading Robert Edsel's book Saving Italy recently,  I decided to watch the movie Monuments Men (based on the book) again last night ( no, not because George Clooney stars in it, but god knows that's reason enough..) Both are written by the same author and both deal with the same subject; the theft of millions of pieces of Renaissance art (and 20th c. art as well) by Nazi Germany.

Prior  to Herr Hitler becoming the Chancellor of Germany in 1933, he was denied admission to Vienna's Academy of Fine Art, twice. Considering  his ego-manic/physchopathic  leanings, this must have chafed the little man from Austria to a very large degree. But why he chose to plunder a major portion of Europe's art/culture from museums, castles, churches, and private collections,  like no one before or since,  remains up for debate.
In response however, the Americans, headed by Roosevelt, created the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archive section of the military. The Monuments Men were charged with finding, protecting, and returning the hundreds of thousands of masterpieces ( including pieces by Leonardo, Titian, Raphael, Botticelli, Michelangelo, and Rembradt, to  name only the most famous)  looted my Hitler and his goons.

You will have to watch the movie or read the book to find out how they did this, but the scene in the movie that really stuck with me today as I worked in by own studio all day, was the very last scene, actually the last two scenes really. After months of running around war-torn Europe with absolutely no support from the military, (not even transportation) and after losing a man trying to save the Bruge Madonna by Michaelangelo, George Clooney is back in the States giving a report to President Roosevelt about how it went. At the end of Clooney's  presentation to the president, Roosevelt asks George's character if it was worth it; was it worth the men that they lost to save one piece of art? What would the soldier that died think?  Would anyone in 30 years time see the Madonna and think yes, it was worth it? Clooney pauses for a second and then says, emphatically yes, he did think one piece of art was worth it , and moreover he also thought that his fallen comrade would agree with him. Cut to the final scene in 1977 (30 years later);  George Clooney, an older man by then, standing with his grandson viewing the Madonna.. And he says, "Yep, it was worth it"  The End...

Wow, as an artist that  really brought up a lot of issues for me today...Did I agree, disagree? I don't know if I came to any conclusions but I did flashback to a scene in my own life in 2005; Florence, Italy, The Uffizi Museum. After walking through the museum with hundreds, perhaps  thousands of visitors that day,  in order to view the most famous of the Renaissance masterpieces, including Botticelli's Birth of Venus, I realized somehow I had missed that particular room in the maze of viewing halls. Now the Uffizi is only  one-way, you can only enter and exit in one long continuous walkway squeezed in with hundreds of other people going in the same direction. When I realized I had missed one of my favorite paintings of all time, and that I couldn't go back to the beginning and start the museum over, I walked through the Uffizi backward, against thousands of people going the other way.  I wanted to see The Venus, damn it! And I did, and I was glad that I was maybe the only person who ever did the entire Uffizi in the wrong direction, against a tide of humanity, but it was worth it.

Now I am the opposite of nationalistic, but I have to admit that I am proud of  what the Americans did to save European art/culture in the 1940's. Was it worth the lives that would lost? I just don't know, but I do try to honor and keep alive the memory of the men and women who died trying...

Out Of the Studio and Into the Woods...

Day; 165. Started out beautiful, ended with a dramatic rain storm; thunder, lightening, heavy rain. Temperature on outside kiln; 73 degrees.

Non-studio day... We decided that the dog sled team much deserved a day hike somewhere new, somewhere cool, somewhere fun.... After sitting in the back yard for two weeks waiting for their dad to come back from Alaska, and then 4 more days while we both were in Colorado, the 4-leggeds were treated to a special day today in the Pecos Wilderness. It is amazing that this beautiful, high altitude, lush, alpine environment is 30 minutes from our house.. Here is the Eldorado Dog Sled Team having the best day of their short lives, so far! (notice the wide grins!)

Back to getting dirty in the studio tomorrow...

10 Habits of A Successful Artist...

Day; 164. Sunny and breezy. Sun starting to shine at a different angle as of mid-August. Not as hot this morning. Do I detect the slightest shift from summer to a feeling of fall in the air? Maybe it is just the breeze... Temperature on outside kiln; 80 degrees.

After reading Art and Fear for the 3rd time a few years ago, I distilled it down to these 10 points that most spoke to me. Every so often, ( like after a really big show when I never want to see clay again..) I read this again and it helps to push me back into the studio looking for inspiration...

                                               10 Habits of a Successful Artist


1. A deep tolerance for uncertainty/doubt about oneself and one’s work. An overriding  willingness to embrace mistakes and surprises along the way.

2. A tolerance for, and acceptance of,  imperfection.  A knowing that the failed pieces are essential. They teach you how to make the small percentage of your work that really soars.

3. A strong focus on perseverance rather than so-called talent. A continuing practice of listening, looking, and making.

4.A tolerance for the “revealing” nature of making artwork. An ability to embrace the truthfulness of its feedback.

5. A willingness to challenge fears about oneself and artwork. Fears that often masquerade variously as laziness, resistance to deadlines, irritation with materials, distraction over the achievements of others.

6.An acceptance that vision is always ahead of execution, and it should be.

7. Expectations are based on the work ITSELF. What you need to know about the next piece is contained in the last piece.

8. Possession of a sharp eye for synchronicity; a fortuitous inter-meshing of events.

9. An acceptance that you find your work all over again, ALL THE TIME. IT DOES NOT CHANGE; an artist needs room to maneuver on many fronts, mental, physical, and temporal.

10. A  realization that  art is the surface expression of a life lived within productive patterns.
These are canons, they allow confidence, concentration, and not knowing. They are useful forms/small conventions/rituals that keep us working,

To Properly Procrastinate....

Day; 163. Hot and breezy. Beautiful summer day. Oh please don't go... as August ripens to September.... Temperature on outside kiln; 89 degrees. 

 For months I have meaning to post this very lovely reading on procrastination sent to me by my even lovelier friend Susan, but well....... 

Today seemed like the right day at last as I struggle to start a new body of work after being cleaned out of inventory last weekend in CB. Does one just remake pieces that sold, more of the same, or settle in for some new ideas to percolate....?  While I need to produce some inventory for the next 3 Saturday Railyard Markets, I hope to have time to meander and  properly procrastinate long enough for something new to surface... Turns out it is not a dirty work after all....

 This is sooo lovely Dear Reader, so please I implore you, read it slowly and to the end... 

PROCRASTINATION

is not what it seems… What looks from the outside like our delay; our lack of commitment; even our laziness may have more to do with a slow, necessary ripening through time and a central struggle with the core realities of any endeavor to which we have set our minds. To hate our procrastinating tendencies is in someway to hate our relationship with time itself, to be unequal to the phenomenology of revelation and the way it works its own quiet way in its very own gifted time, only emerging when the very qualities it represents have a firm correspondence in our necessarily struggling heart and imagination.

… Procrastination when studied closely can be a beautiful thing, a parallel with patience, a companionable friend, a revealer of the true pattern, already, we are surprised to find, caught within us; acknowledging for instance, as a writer, that before a book can be written, most of the ways it cannot be written must be tried first, in our minds; on the blank screen on the empty page or staring at the bedroom ceiling at four in the morning. Procrastination enables us to understand the true measure of our reluctance.

An endeavor achieved without delay, wrong turnings, occasional blank walls and a vein of self-doubt running through all, leading eventually to some degree of heart-break is a thing of the moment, a mere bagatelle, and often neither use nor ornament. It will be scanned for a moment and put aside. What is worthwhile carries the struggle of the maker written within it, but wrought into the shape of an earned understanding.

Procrastination helps us to apprentice our selves to our own reluctance, to understand the hidden darker side of the first enthusiastic idea, to learn what we are afraid of in the endeavor itself; to put an underbelly into the work so that it becomes a living, satisfying whole, not a surface trying to manipulate us in the moment.

Procrastination does not stop a project from coming to fruition, what stops us is giving up on an original idea because we have not got to the heart of the reason we are delaying, nor let the true form of our reluctance instruct us in the way ahead. To properly procrastinate is to be involved with larger entities than our own ideas, to refuse to settle for an early underachieving outcome and wrestle like Jacob with his angel, finding as Rilke said, "Winning does not tempt that man, This is how he grows, by being defeated decisively, by greater and greater beings."

©2015 David Whyte
‘PROCRASTINATION’ From CONSOLATIONS: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words

Summer Cold?

Day; 162. Hot and sorta muggy, overcast and windy right now. Temperature on outside kiln; 89 degrees

I don't know if it is allergies or a bad summer cold, but I am down for the count today... Tried to work in the studio and get a bisque kiln load going, but I kept wandering back to bed. Around 2 in the afternoon I gave up trying, took my book and lemonade, and got comfy for the duration. Still there, watching the news, reading.  and SNEEZING!...

Back to the Wheel and Slab Roller Post-CB Show

Day; 161. Really gorgeous summer day. Sunny and hot. Temperature on outside kiln; 93 degrees.

Back in the studio today after singing with the girls (Maggie and the Magpie's?!) for 2+ hours. Working on  our same 2-set list of 17 songs, of which I sing the greater part of. After running through it again acoustically,I think we are ready to go for the Dixon Farmers Market on the 19th of August, big time!

After a brief nap with all 4 dogs, I had to pull myself out of bed and start throwing some special orders/replacement pieces from last weekend's show in Crested Butte. I also threw a few large bowls in an attempt to restock some inventory and fill a kiln. I can't remember the last time I came home from a show with so few pieces. 1.5 bins of remaining work is nothing. After talking to Miya Endo today, the other potter who plays ukelele in the Magpie's, I realized that what was different this year in CB; there were so few functional potters in the show,  I had very little competition. There were just no other booths along Elk Ave. were one could buy a decent cup or bowl. Works for me! Here is partially what I started with....

...and here is what I ended up with...

I sold every mug, breakfast and lunch  plate, tumbler, and large bowl that I had. I also sold many pairs of earrings, lots of buttons and several serving dishes. If I had had more bowls and cups for the last day of the show on Sunday, I would have sold those too. Many customers waited until  then to purchase and were sorely disappointed.
All this in the rain too! How nice it was to just enjoy the drizzle and not stress that it would ruin the show or blow over the tent. I had sold so much by the time it started raining, I didn't care, that never happens! Rain is usually a show breaker, but it didn't seem to matter. I loved standing in my tent watching the gentle rain come down...

The sun did eventually come out however...

And the show commenced again....

Jesus,  I hope they jury me in again next year....
one never knows, but until next year, I Love You Crusty Butt!

We're Baaaack!!

Day; 160. Sunny and warm in Santa Fe. Billowy clouds but no rain. Temperature on outside kiln; 85 degrees

After 2 days on the road and 3 days in Crested Butte, Colorado, we are back in Santa Fe today...
First things first; coffee in  Downtown Subscription's garden followed by a gleeful trip to the bank with a pile of cash and a few checks. I spent the rest of the day unloading the truck/trailer and organizing my home/studio to begin again. This was interspersed with lots of dog-hair cleanup and loads of laundry...

I also paid a very large pile of bills that were awaiting my return from the-big-summer-show, thank  goodness it was an outrageously good show. It feels good to get everything paid down...

Oh how I wish every show could be like Crested Butte, in every way possible , not just the money... It is just so; beautiful, fun, lucrative, inspirational, gorgeous... with lots of; friends/ex-husband, good artists, great music, fantastic return customers, cocktails, laughs, green meadows, misty mountains, old buildings, singing, fluffy dogs, vintage bikes, blue skies, clean air, cows, MAGPIES, fishing, full creeks, etc... you get the picture, right?!
One of the more amazing/feel good facts of the Crested Butte show is that my current husband and  I stay with my ex-husband (JC Leacock) for the duration of the visit (4 nights!). He and his wife Kriste have a gorgeous house up the mountain from town on the way to the ski hill..

I have stayed with them here at The Chalet for the 10 years that I have been doing the show. As JC is also an artist,( www.jcleacockphotography ) he is often in the show himself, as well as running his gallery at the same time.
 I think of it as The Big Chill weekend, those of you familiar with this movie will know what I mean... Lots of old friends coming together for a long weekend; eating, drinking, partying, singing, playing music, reliving old times, fornacatin*, etc... old lovers, new lovers... everyone up early having coffee together... Usually there are at least two more new mexicans/californians  sleeping in the driveway, down  in the studio, in the music room... artists, potters, friends, family..., but this year we missed potter Miya Endo  as well as the Singing Cowboy from San Diego... It was a smaller party this year but still great fun with jeweler Nina Morrow from my same neighborhood..

Nina and I always start out/end  the show in the same way;  at the Cocktail Cabin (aka The Dogwood)...

 A lovely old cabin turned dark rustic bordello-like watering hole... It's just a good thing I don't live in CB I would be there every weekend.. drinking, our all-time favorite, Beatnics! (A sublime combination of beet juice, vodka, and ginger...)

After 300 miles, and one of these (all you  need!) we were off to our temporary home in the mountains and a good night sleep before putting up the show in the morning.... Stay tuned for further photos of the Crested Butte Art Festival in tomorrow's post...