Look what arrived in the mail today.
I am feeling a little bit stunned by Mrs Oh’s amazing generosity. Well maybe stunned isn’t the proper word to use. How does totally gobsmacked, overwhelmed,thrilled to bits, and giddy with excitement sound instead?
Every time I pour my heart out, here on my blog, you my lovely internetz always hold me up and give me solace. Mrs Oh is a motherless woman as well and her thoughtful comments on my saddest posts always make me feel that is okay to miss Mum. Even though my grief causes Mrs Oh to be reminded of her own, she still takes the time to console me and because of that care and compassion I know that I am not quite so alone.
This is the beautiful joy of blogging, the fabulous sense of friendship and community shared by bloggers who have never met in person but are privy to each others hopes and dreams, heartaches and despair.
And I thank each and every one of you for being my dearest internetz.
Now back to the chocolate. mmm.
I squealed with excitement when I saw these Almond joys.
I don’t know how to accurately describe the excitement of receiving a chocolate that I had only read about or seen in the movies. so you will just have to imagine me jumping up and down going SQUEEEE!
Then there were all these little treasures.Turtles and Watchamacallits and Hershey bars and Hershey kisses and and and…
Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.
Thank you so much Mrs Oh. I am in chocolate heaven.
When I returned to ceramics after a break of nearly twenty years, I became obsessed with perfectly formed objects. I lusted after Korean celadon tea cups and Japanese woodfired tea bowls. The perfection of Les Blakeborough’s porcelain made my soul shiver and Gwyn Hannsen Piggot’s still life arrangements were to die for.
In my first year of ceramic study I only kept one piece of work and I was incredibly hard on myself. I set my standards so high that I was destined to fail. I don’t know if this was a subconsciuos act of sabatoge or not, though I suspect it probably was. At the end of my second year of study I had relaxed a bit and was starting to produce work that had potential.
The last three years have been incredibly difficult as well as incredibly rewarding. I have learned to relax and I have stopped being so hyper critical of my own work. Stopping drinking has been the catalyst for this new kindness to myself as has the support of you my internetz.Through your eyes I have been able to view myself as a bonafide artist, though I still have moments when I am sure someone is going to look at my work and say that isn’t good enough you aren’t an artist at all.
I have come to a place where I am happy with myself and with my work. I have stopped fighting my nature and my ceramics have improved because of it.
So instead of trying to make delicate teacups that look capable of floating off the table. I am making work that soothes my soul. The dead albatross bowls and handbuilt platters make my heart sing. My slipcast work satisfies my longing for beauty and elegance though they will never be perfectly formed and will always look very hand made. My catch cry of late has become if you want perfection go and buy it from the kitchen section of a large department store.
Now I am making ceramic rocks. These rock bowls are a beginning of a ceramic exploration of ideas. I am trying to get an earthy, natural feel balanced with a crisp inner beauty. The outside surface will remain matte and rock-like whilst the inside should be lovely and shiny and crystalline.
These bowls are in the kiln at the moment and I will get to see whether they have worked or not on Wednesday. They are very heavy and I will have to work on that as they will cost a fortune to ship. It would be like I was trying to post a brick.
So this is where I am at, at the moment. I still haven’t started on the dragon eggs yet, though I have started an extensive programme of glaze testing. I am planning on using the Easter break to make the dragon egg mould as well as a number of other projects I have on the go.
This is a question I asked on twitter last night as I tried to de-stress from a hectic day in a classroom where the forces of stupidity were strong.
There are two students in my Art theory class who need the simplest of concepts explained to them in great depth making a simple fifteen minute introductory session, stretch into an hour of eyeball stabbing frustration.
There is also one rather large bombastic young man who very seriously told me that he had never been a teenager because he had been a chef at 15. I couldn’t think of a reply to that statement as I was trying not to choke on my coffee.
At least in this group we don’t have the obligatory over sharer who feels compelled to regale the class with anecdotes of their time living in a grass hut, building fires from camel dung and drinking yak milk smoothies or some such other sensory delight.
To be totally honest I know that I am the flippant smart arse in the group who, when things get particularly grim in the stupidity stakes bursts out with a one liner and of course that wastes more time.
Sometimes listening to one of the students carry on I feel like Yoda is on my shoulder whispering to me, “The stupid is very strong in this one.” I am in danger of developing a nervous wince when ever they open their mouths and even now I am shuddering as I remember a particularly painful question and answer time.
On the upside the class is interesting and I keep on thinking of that old saying no pain no gain.There are also some really talented people in the group who are as frustrated as I am. I just wish that sometimes the painfulness of being in a group situation where the class moves along at the pace dictated by the slowest learner in the group wasn’t quite so sharp.
The random integer generator has spoken and the lucky comment was number two.
Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:
2
That means the winner is Tiff, from My Three Ring Circus. Congratualtions Tiff, something blue with butterflies will be flying up to you very shortly.
