look! brocoli!

Is this not the cutest picture ever?
This is our first of many brocoli that we started a couple of months ago. We ate it in a fresh spinach salad with grapes, snap peas, chicken, cheese, peanuts and to top it off ranch dressing of course! It was tender and delicious!

Blooming

Here is the camilla I featured earlier this spring that had bud on it. Isn't it glorious? Isn't spring the best time ever?
I am amazed at the fact that I used to secretly laugh at my friends and family who spent hours in their gardens thinking to my self, "what a waste of time." And now half of me and Will's convesation is about flowers, trees and the veges that are spurting up so quickly. I won't even get into the fact that I am a closet bird watcher and can be caught exclaiming at any point, " look at that bluebird! or I wonder what those vultures are circling?"
Who knows what other surprises I have in store for myself.

My newest

So today was mom and dad's drawing class and they did so good! We started with color washes in ink. We put color where we thought the objects would go. And then with pecil or india ink we started with one of the objects and put it in relation to all the other objects. Ultimately finding how wrong our first impressions of how things look really is. This technique also is very freeing because everything always ends up outside the lines.

Dad's Newest

Mom's Newest!

First Harvest

These little buggers are the first things to come out of the garden this season. ( We have had tomatoes from the front yard....which apparently is like having a old buick stacked up on cement blocks according to a neighbor of mine..i.e....we are rednecks...) Anyway, AREN'T THEY CUTE!
We have about 92,000 radishes all ready to eat and guess what, I hate radishi. They are so bitter and taste a little like dirt. What else can you do with them? I'm thinking about picking them all and getting some pretty ribbon to tie them into bunches. And then plopping them down on the neighbors stoops as a spring present. There has to be someone out there who likes to actually eat them.

Excuse the belly

My name in lights

We (me and a group of friends) have a show this weekend at the upstairs gallery and here is my name in LIGHTS!!!! Can you believe it? All of our names are in lights and there are 6 of us. But it just seems so cool to have your name splashed in red all down Battleground avenue for the world to see...or some of Greensboro to see. I made Will drive me down on the motorcycle to take a picture and it was a wonderful afternoon together. There is a bottle of champagne in the freezer for a toast to my show and Will's end of the semester and the start of summer.
Yay Summer! Get out those tank tops and birkenstocks.

More of the frame

I didn't finish yesterday but I got pretty far on the water and the birds in the tree. The frogs are coming along too and I hope to be done with this one tomorrow evening.
We'll see.....it always takes longer than I expect it to.

New painting

This new painting is on a frame made to house a mirror. My dad is making the frames and I am painting them. We are making them together and the proceeds will go to help pay for a dream trip to Italy. I need yo get busy if we are ever going to get to go.
This frame is titled spring and will have birds and frogs and some butterflies when it is all done. I plan to spend the rest of the day working on it and potentially getting it finished.

peony

Look T roses and peonies!

Here are my Flame roses that I started 4 years ago. I thought they would be all down the fence by now but alas....they are just seeming to get started. But aren't they gorgeous? And here is a small peony that I also planted 4 years ago that is also just beginning to give me flowers. This year I have 8 buds and last year I only had one! So I am super happy and constantly walking over to them to see each flower opening slightly more every day.
I planted a surprise gerber daisy in the front hosta garden that has a bud tucked down in it's leaves. I can't wait to see what color it comes out to be. I love flowers.

My 2 great students

This first one is dad's 6 th drawing with brush and ink. A still life I set up with 2 of my sculpture legs from the Alice show and some glass objects. It's amazing!
The second picture is mom's 3rd drawing with pencil. I love it and she worked so hard on it. They are both coming along amazingly and for being married 40 so years...they are so different.

Other pictures from the show

Those crazy boobie looking things on the left are funnels. I needed one and couldn't find my old beat up metal one so I made myself a new cool black and white funnel. Of course I found the old funnel right after I made the new one...oh well I think they are cute anyway.

Latest Show

Latest show. It was a home show at another artists house. We had a great turnout and everyones work was awesome! We are planning to do it again next year. Hopefully it will be just as successful.

My little friends

My little friends have been molting or shedding or whatever you call it when a bird loses its feathers so that it can change colors. I have been watching these gold finches and purple finches swarm my feeders with their greyish winter suits waiting patiently until I can see their glorious colors! And they are here, finally, and I can feel my heart lift everytime I see flashes of bright yellow and red pass my window while I'm working.

Spring Spring I love Spring

Here is the yard with my camilla bush blooming. It reminds me of the rose bush in Alice and Wonderland where the cards are trying to paint the roses red. the colors are so gorgeous I just want to eat the flowers or put them in a big bowl of ice cream.

Cutest Dogs Ever

Look at these dogs cuddle on this recliner. I couldn't resist wrapping them in a felted wool blanket to keep warm. Aren't they sweet?

To This

Here is one of the best pots from the firing last thurday. I love this glaze. The turquoise is so satisfying and makes such amazing variation. It is a high alkaline copper glaze that I got off the internet. http://www.garyrferguson.com/rakuglaz.htm
The glaze itself is the 2nd alkaline blue on the first page.
Frit 3134 60
Soda Ash 30
Whiting 5
EPK 5
Copper Carb 3
It also is very consistant and as far as I can tell doesn't run.

From This

Here is my 10 year old little tiny raku kiln that I have been dragging all over creation. It has held up remarkably well and I love her.
Imagine that something that looks like this can produce some of the most gorgeous pots.

More of the Painting.

New Creature

Angels and devils...thorn in my side.

Dorothy and Miss Witch

Just a picture to document the path of this painting.

Bird Queen

I made some white clay that ended up too hard to throw and so I used the mess to make a bird queen . I wanted to see what it would look like to make a sculpture and then carve it like I usually do pots. I like it and the idea but the rough texture from my finger marks is hard to carve. Slab made sculpture is a thought.
This picture isn't the best to see the carving but she looks super scary!
I like her crazy teeth.

And Another

Closer Look

Dorothy and the Wicked Witch

New painting for the July show.
I've been reading the original book and come to find out Dorothy was a blond with glasses. So in this painting she will be cutting her hair for the transformation to brunette hair. Of course the witch will have something to do with this. And i'm making the witch pretty in my show because she will be more powerful that way. Two beautiful women fighting against each other makes it hard to choose a side. I want the witch to have her side of the story told.
So...i'm changing the story, quite a bit, but it is my show.

ps. Miss Grey do you remember this song?
Last Dance with Mary Jane. I love that saying so up it went. I was feeling awfully
strong and wily that day.

Legs

This is a leg that is in the studio left over from my Alice show last May. They were hanging from the ceiling as if she were falling down from above. I have started making more legs for my upcoming show in July... Wizard of Oz theme at Urban Artware in Winston.
They will be the Wicked Witches legs from underneath the falling house.
I haven't decided how to do the house yet but may end up making a wooden version.

Giraffe Lovers

These are my Giraffe lovers that are obviously necking. I was doing a series on camoflodge and being hidden in ones skin and they started as a part of that series but have become their own series now.
I love their sweet faces and elegant gestures.

Another Rooster

Crow Loudly

This plate is a new image that I recently started. It is a group of roosters and I just love making them!
What fun they are with all their feathers and cocky spirits!
An excellent animal to draw and make up stories about.
This ones name is Chouder.

New Shiny Pictures from my Last Show!!

This Platter is a little dark because of the lighting at the show. In reality it is a bit more white than the image. The whole saying on the platter is, " the voice of the frog is a gift of song from God."
I especially am excited about the flies in the background.

the prince as a frog. the other side has a girl puckering her mouth for a kiss. SMACK!

Angel cat will be glazed purple or chartruse. Who knows what good works this devilish angel can do?

New Work for Ragpoets

here is some new stuff to go to Ragpoets for the season.

more...

and more pics

more pictures

Show at 2 Sisters

Her are pics from the show at 2 sisters gallery this month.
It is me and Lisa's Black and White show.

Shows coming and I'm not ready!

2 WEEKS! that is it before our studio tour and I'm never going to be ready!
I'm taking pictures today to post the new work on the web. I feel like the work is going well and that I am happy with the general way things are going. The direction I am taking is new and I like the look that I am getting in the pieces. It is clear and compact as an idea and also has a lot of room for growth. I'm also working out the kinks in the glazes and all in all they are beautiful and consistent.
Now if I can de-stress a little and not panic it may just go okay.

New Work

I have new work and I think that it is going really well and in a slightly different direction. I am starting to carve with no slip...white on white in hopes of glazing with a transparent colbalt blue and light green. Very Japanese in the tradition of celedon glazes.
Here are some pots in the raw. Of course I can't ever resist that black slip.