New Look

I love this new option from Blogger to customize my blog even more!  I had fun playing for a little bit... now I need to get back to making pottery!  Have a great day!

Spring!

"Came the Spring with all its splendor,
All its birds and all its blossoms,
All its flowers and leaves and grasses."

Longfellow - Hiawatha

Roses for Nana

March 4th would have been my Nana's 100th birthday. We have adopted a tradition from one of our friends to go out to dinner in honor of our loved one's birthday and eat somewhere they would have enjoyed and just celebrate the life that was.
On the 3rd, we went out for Italian (Nana was Italian) and had a wonderful meal. Afterward, we were in the grocery store and I saw these gorgeous pink roses. Pink roses were Nana's favorite. I bought them. This is a photo of them in the morning sun the next morning, which was actually her birthday. They lasted a week, but have gone on to rose heaven...

A productive day!

Here is a closer look at he Ebony Porcelain coffee pot and mugs... the sugar and creamer set was not in this photo... but this is the mottled chocolate brown glaze on the set that sold at the Arts Infusion Show.
I spent today casting the mugs and all out of porcelain and stoneware... I have to try to get some cast each day if possible.
Maybe not as productive a day as I would have liked to have, but definite progress was made, the slump is over!

Give Away!

Over on MaryLou's Art Adventure blog, there is a great give away.
You see, MaryLou won a $1000 gift certificate to ArtBeads... so, she is doing a give-away herself of a $25 gift certificate to her Etsy shop.
You can go to her blog Time2Cre8.blogspot.com and find out the 4 ways to enter... and you can enter ALL 4 ways if you wish!
(Just let me win this one!... I wanted the $1000 from ArtBeads!)
Well, I didn't win :( but that's OK, someone did, and that is a good thing! Some day I'll win...

Inspiration has returned!!!!!

This past week I entered 2 'pieces' of artwork in a small first-time show to benefit people who have little or no insurance to cover chemotherapy at the AnMed Health Cancer Center Infusion Center in Anderson, SC.

One of the 'pieces' I entered was the Victorian Vineyard vase and the other was an ebony porcelain coffee set similar to the one in this photo. The one I entered had 2 mugs, a sugar/creamer set and a coffee pot. The lid of the pot and the rim of the mugs were glazed in a mottled chocolate brown.

Last night was the opening reception for the show. I attended; and when I arrived, my friend Melanie was eager to show me that my Coffee set had won a blue ribbon, AND it had sold! The woman who purchased it works at the hospital.

I went back today to bring a riser to place the vase on top of and the Coffee set was gone. The gal in there told me that the woman who purchased it wanted it so badly she took it already!

I happened to be there when Mom & Terri were looking over the show as well (after Mom's chemo treatment) and they asked if I could bring in another set for the remainder of the show (it is a 2 week show), she said yes. So, I hope to send one over there on Monday morning.

Terri also entered a mixed media assemblage in a shadowbox with the quote "Leave room in your garden for angels to dance". It was exceptionally well received by all! Her garden was 3-dimensional and the angel was only about 3/4" tall - - all cut out of paper! If I could figure out how to copy her photo from Facebook to here, I would, but that is a little beyond my capabilities...

When I posted the news and photo on my Facebook page, I got a lot of positive feedback, even some purchase inquiries!

Then, today, in the mail, was the official acceptance letter for the Celebrate Clayton festival in Clayton, GA at the end of April. It will be the 4th year for me to do that show.

Needless to say, with all of the positive vibes these last 24 hours, motivation and inspiration are back!

inspiration?

What inspires your creativity?
For me, I envision a piece and then try to create it, whether it is beaded jewelry, paper arts, pyrography, or pottery (to name a few). The finished piece does not always end up as envisioned, which is alright with me, I usually like it better.
Sometimes I see something that inspires me to create something else.
Right now, I am not seeing anything that inspires me to actually get in gear and create. And I have a show to do in 2 months! That is not a lot of time!
Yes, I have made this or that, and done a little, but then I lose all interest and momentum.
I have it set in my mind that I will spend Sunday morning creating. I re-set my work table so it is ready, my molds have been cleaned and my clay is ready and waiting... and once I get started, I should be able to do a little each morning and evening during the week (unless I have a class to teach at the store). Sounds like a plan...
One friend on Facebook suggested I try to slow down the rest of my life to find that creative vein again, unfortunately, that is much easier said than done these days. Someone else suggested I find a bigger shovel to dig myself out of this creative slump I've been in.
I'm looking for feedback. If you have any additional constructive suggestions for lighting the spark of creativity, please let me know.