organic

PCAGOE recently did an interview with Kate of OrganicOdysseys. Her work reminds me that there's a few experiments I want to try with plants+clay+miniwax. Especially while my bleeding heart is still in bloom. Plus it just makes my eyes happy to look at her stuff.

the wonderful world of biology

When artists speak of being inspired by the natural world, they seldom mean at the molecular level, which is a shame. Nature's exquisite forms aren't limited by the resolution of the human eye.

I just wish that I could have reached this conclusion other than by pondering the nasty cold I appear to be coming down with . . .

hope is the thing with feathers

From wikipedia: "The mythology of the bluebird of happiness has deep roots that go back thousands of years. . .It is the most universally accepted symbol of cheerfulness, happiness, prosperity, hearth and home, good health, new births, the renewal of springtime, etc."

And sweetest in the gale is heard/And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird/That kept so many warm.

Confucius say

While looking up Confucianism this afternoon (and realizing once again how patchy my education is) I found this picture, which is perfect for something, I just have to figure out what.

creative taskmaster

I wish I knew of a good 'to-do' online widget. Right now I use listography, but it's far from ideal for that.

BOHs - soak bottles, sketch out ideas
Pansies - add more pastels before sealing
Faces box - second sepia wash
Teapot box - major repairs with ivory
Tea cozy - call Yarns Etc to see if they have the yarn I need
Knitting markers - test rings idea
Mesa beads - finish reaming

I also need to clean up both my craft area - it's starting to get a little cluttery - and the room around it (which is long past cluttery). Also I need to revamp my creativity folder and expand the area for ideas. And, unfortunately, it's time for Gikow's book to go to the library. That's a book I'd like to own.

Also the trash needs to go out. But that's neither here nor, unfortunately, there.

Need Inspiration?

This is an amazing tool. Seriously.

teapot, tempest optional

This is the teapot box I'm working on currently. It's my most 'in progress' project at the moment; i.e. it's the one I work on first when I have a minute. The top is built, finally. Now it needs crevice filling with TLS and some serious sanding. The bottom, on the other hand, is barely begun - and I still don't know what I'm going to do about the spout. It took me two days to figure out the relatively simple handle. Maybe while I'm sick and can't work (or sleep!) I'll look at some online and try to figure it out. Also I need to decide how closely I want to follow the shape of the actual box on the bottom. Right now I have one tier of figural decorationy stuff underway, but I'm wondering if it wouldn't look better with a second of about the same height but a smaller diameter. I can't wait to get back to work on it - a cold has destroyed all my energy and powers of concentration, and so my poor lonely teapot sits, gathering dust . . . Of course, my enthusiasm was dampened somewhat when, while trying to find inspiration for the spout online, I ran across these lovely teapot boxes. Surely I can't be the only one discouraged instead of inspired by obviously superior work? It's why I have a love/hate relationship with various professional polyclay galleries. I immensely enjoy looking, but it fills me with despair, then, when I return to my own work. This isn't that abnormal, right?

hopefulness

I've been thinking about the bottles of hope challenge, and collected these quotes:

The phoenix hope, can wing her way through the desert skies, and still defying fortune's spite; revive from ashes and rise. -Miguel De Cervantes

We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope. -Martin Luther King Jr.

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. - Hebrews 6:19a

Hope is the golden thread that should be woven into every experience of life. -anon

No winter lasts forever; no spring skips its turn. -Hal Borland

Such is hope, heaven's own gift to struggling mortals, pervading, like some subtle essence from the skies, all things both good and bad. -Charles Dickens

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul -- and sings the tunes without the words -- and never stops at all. -Emily Dickinson

Fear cannot be without hope nor hope without fear. -Spinoza

Brainstorming: bottle with wings, phoenix (flaming or chick from ashes), HOPE in illuminated manuscript style, lit flame/aladdin's lamp, four seasons mosaic, yin/yang