Oh, how I long to be free to just flow with the undulations of the day– the rising and setting of the sun, the passing of the clouds. Right now, I can’t just flow. I have to be locked into the clockwork of a rigorous schedule. I did it to myself, but I know the payoff will be worth it. I can’t help but wish I could just go to the park with an iced tea and my guitar while wearing a sundress. I found a new way of working that lets me express my desire for flow. This is just another experiment branching off of my main work. I made two or three cups shaped like this while in Australia last year, but I decorated them a little differently with Grevillea flowers. It was still done in a loose brush-work kind of way. They ended up being some of my favorite pieces I brought back with me. I love to enjoy my morning cup of coffee out of them. They are loose and playful, yet smooth and delicate, while also strong and rigid, somewhat like dancers. The forms have so much movement, it feels like it could lift off the ground if I just played the right music. With these cups, I really wanted to practice my brushwork with my handmade ink brush. I’ve been making the cups out of pure white porcelain clay using a soft slab technique. I wanted to retain the soft fabric presence of the clay by letting it “billow”.

The spring sale is this week, and I am less prepared than I have ever been before. I’ve had so much else going on that I’ve been neglecting studio things. I wanted to fire a kiln last week, but it’s one of the class kilns and it’s right in the middle of getting their final work fired for critiques, so I have to wait. I am hoping to load Friday or Saturday. The main craziness should be over by then. In the meantime, I need to figure out where to put all of my bisqueware during the sale.