Labor Day, Summer is Officially Over!!

Day; 185. Sunny and beautiful September Labor Day.

Temperature on outside kiln; 83 degrees
Kiln firings; none
Music in the studio; India.Arie

It's a federal holiday today to I am taking it easy. I assume Mr. Obama is doing the same but maybe not...
Slept in and slowly wandered out to the studio after a big cup of joe later in the morning. Loaded the bisque kiln with whatever was completely dry, still waiting on a few large bowls..
After lunch, sitting in the garden, and a nap, I made a few spoons in the afternoon, that was it!

 Not really inspired to do much wet-work knowing that time is up for the Durango show, just firing and glazing for the next 12 days and then off to Southern Colorado...! I love going up there in the Fall, the turning of the aspen trees are way ahead of us here in Santa Fe, I have even driven through snow and hail on the way to this show. For the most part however, I can expect mid-70's, purrrrfect!!

More Laboring on Labor Day Weekend

Day; 184. Sunny with some clouds. Pretty warm.

Temperature on outside kiln; 75 degrees
Kiln Firings; none
Music in studio today;  Van Morrison, one of my all-time faves....

Is one suppose to Labor on Labor Day or rest?! We seem to be doing the former...  Primarily because we are restoring our Dolphin 20ft. RV (Toyota engine) in order to sell it. We just are not using it enough to justify keeping/insuring it.  It has been parked in the back garden for the last several years and makes great guest quarters but we really need to cash it in and buy some windows for the house... they are falling apart!

Today was spakling, painting, scrubbing, chaulking, day....  And now that it looks so good and is in reasonable repair we both want to keep it!....  but we won't.... Too bad though,  it does fit 4 Huskies comfortably...

Needless to say not a lot of studio work today just finishing up the large bowls I started yesterday... The last of the large pieces to fill the kiln on Thursday for the Durango Show.... gettin' there, a  big butt load of glazing is acomin'....

Labor Day Weekend, And I am Laboring...

Day; 183. A bit overcast still from last nights storm. A gentle drizzle this evening.

Temperature on outside kiln; 75 degrees
Kiln Firings; none
Music in the studio today; Tony Lucca, love that gravelly voice....

Suppose to be on the Chama River again this weekend but no dog sitter and we both feel a bit over worked so opted to stay home instead. We love the river but it is a lot of work for the gear boat, Dave must row for two days straight and we have to load and unload all the gear twice a day... Weather isnt great today either so maybe it was a good choice.

I woke up at 5am of course, my body thinking I was going to the market, but then went back to sleep for another 2 hours. What a luxury on a Saturday!
We worked some this morning and then went over to the Community Center to hear American Jem play again. We had heard them on 4th of July and really enjoyed it so went to give a listen one more time. Ellie, the lead singer, is an old student of Dave's so it was fun to hear her sing with her band. The two guitar players put on some really great harmonies, and as a singer myself, that is really satisfying to hear. I got a few ideas about songs; Someday Soon and Never My Love, both beautiful but not exactly up-tempo tunes.
Ah well, maybe I am just going to sing the songs I feel inclined to sing whether it is up-tempo or not!

Hope to have a break from laboring this Labor Day weekend, maybe a hike with the dogs or some such thing. I might just sit in the garden! Also, planning on finishing the last few pieces of work for the Durango Fall Art Festival in order to get them into the bisque kiln early next week. Pictures of the 3 large bowls I made today coming soon.....

Rain!!

Day; 182 (will I ever reach day 200!?) Overcast and cloudy all day, soft rain in the afternoon/evening

Temperature on the outside kiln; 73 degrees
Kiln Firings; small kiln cooling all day.
Music in the studio today; Eva Cassidy. In my dream life I sing like she does....

No Saturday Market this week as I am still working on building up some inventory for the Durango Show. This means that I am NOT out in the rain right now loading the truck for the Dawn Patrol tomorrow!! Yipppeeeeee! I also got my booth number for Durango and I am right where I want to be; in the middle of the show next to the best coffee shop/wine bar in town. These things are important when you have to set up a show in the dark at 6am....

Tired today as  I mistakenly programmed the kiln last night for a slow speed instead of medium which means I was awake until 3:30am last night wondering, "what the hell is taking so long?!"  You might  have thought I would have realized my mistake, but noooooo, I just thought it was the poor overused kiln elements finally gasping their last breath. So I let it run 5 hours longer than it needed to. The good news is I do not have to buy a new set of elements for $300. Next time I will check myself and make sure I am on the right schedule. One gets a little too sure of oneself after 25 years......

Finally got the handle on yesterday's pitcher attached  after a very large espresso, 4 hours of sleep is just not enough for me...  I like the surface texture but the handle is too skinny, I think it needs to be more beef-cake if one is going to grab it fully loaded and expect the balance to be right, I will try again tomorrow maybe...

I Wear A Lot of Hats...

Day; 181. Sunny and hot, nothing much changes! Cooler in the evenings however...

Temperature on outside kiln; 86 degrees
Kiln Firings; 3rd and last firing for this body of work, decal firing to cone 02 (about 2000 degrees F.)
Music in the Studio; Corrine Bailey Rae. Like her music, not sure about the voice.. so little girlish, I need more grit in my vocals....

First Open Studio Tour meeting today!?... for the tour which runs next May!! Jesus it takes a village to put on a studio tour... Of course it is the advertising/publicity stuff,  the hardest part and the most out front in terms of deadlines... Trying to get some ads and copy together for publications in the spring without a budget yet and not even knowing who is even doing the tour yet... arggg, marketing is not my favorite nor strongest part of being an artist, but it must be done...

After that mind-numbing meeting, I actually finished the decal-ing a body of work, loaded the kiln, said my prayers, and turned the thing on... It always feels good to finally get some work into that 3rd firing... sometimes feels like it takes forever....!
Spent the rest of the afternoon making another pitcher out of hand-built parts, not all that happy with the finished version of the first one. I wish I could just throw the damn things but I suck at large thrown forms, I am just not skilled enough to really pull it off to satisfaction. So, I will try again and hopefully after really investigating this form I will eventually end up with something I like...
 Photo coming tomorrow probably, I don't have the handle on yet...!

If It's Wednesday, The Magpies Must Be Due To Land....

Day; 180. Sunny and hot. Beautiful September mornin'

Temperature on outside kiln; 83 degrees
Kiln Firings; waiting for last nights glaze firing to cool, unloaded around 2pm.
Music in the studio; Maggie and the Magpies today! Well at least in the living room....

Only about half the Magpies showed up today, but we carried on nonetheless. Still searching for the elusive up-tempo songs that are not beyond us musically.. we did find a few Bonnie Raitt tunes that had potential. Also worked on some oldie but goodies like Michael Jackson's I Want You Back, tricky to play, tricky to sing! I really like the acoustics in my living room and have had fun these last two weeks practicing at home. However I think the dog pack/audience was less than impressed... but then they sleep through most events...

Got a little work done after the fact, but had to go to Chez Dre bakery first however and eat a very large and incredibly delicious blackberry danish. All fueled up, I finally got around to finishing my special orders from the Crested Butte show. I ended up really liking the plates, and actually would like some for myself, and after all the bitching I did about special orders...!
Well it is true that sometimes they take you places you would not ordinarily go...

Glazing, Glazing, and more Glazing..

Day; 179.  Sunny and warm, just a repeat of most days in the Southwest.

Temperature on outside kiln; 82 degrees
Kiln firings; glaze firing to cone 6, 2210F, with a 10 minute hold at temperature. About 8 hours total.
Music in the studio; Arg...., couldn't settle on anything today. All the prepared stations on Spotify I don't like. Contemporary music bores me; melodies and lyrics any Band 101 member could come up with during the first class session... nothing very complex or meaningful.  I tried but tomorrow I am going back to the 60's and 70's....

Glazing, Glazing, and more f*cking glazing. Trying to catch up on bisqueware, very bad idea to let it pile up..   soooo spent two days mixing, pouring, waxing, painting. I am tired now... !!

Additionally, the publicity for the Eldorado Fall Show and the Spring Studio Tour in May of 2016 has already begun! Amazing how early some of the deadlines are; 4-6 months in advance for print ready copy/images for most magazines. The first meeting for the May tour is on Thursday already. The Fall show PR for October is in full swing. My first application deadline for 2016 shows is in about 4 weeks, first of October. It goes against my lackadaisical nature to plan 6-9 months in advance but as an artist this is what I must do... tonight however something on Netflix or Amazon.....