Monster Hollow Studios

Moving!

2010-08-30T10:56:00.000-07:00

This blog has moved! It can now be found on my newly redesigned awesome website http://www.monsterhollowstudios.com/ thanks to the amazing folks at Razeware I have this kick butt new site, enjoy and check often for new blogs!

Get Out of My Head!

2010-08-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

So here's Get Out of My Head, take two of course. This is my photo for submission, thoughts? I was having trouble with the white balance on my camera and taking wall pictures. I followed the wonderful Vicki's advice and created a photo set up on the wall which seemed to work and played with the white balance until I found the one that seemed the closest (Incandescent FYI defiantly thought I had fluorescent lights!). This is the photo that will either get me into my first NYC show or get me rejected. I am a coward and I admit I almost didn't enter this show because I find out whether or not I got in on my birthday but part of being a "real" artist is taking rejection as well as you take acceptance! So cheers to them whether they love me or hate me!

I am also thinking of entering Comedy and Tragedy, thoughts? Are they too boring? Should I try and retake another picture? This one is old and with my old camera.

Sphinx

2010-08-17T18:52:00.000-07:00

There is a serious amount of satisfaction that comes with:

A) Time Management
B) Finishing a large sculpture
C) Going to the gym

And today I accomplished all three! Now that I have switched to morning hours at work(yay) it leaves my afternoons free for ceramics and I am noticing a real difference in how I am able to approach my work and my attitude towards the time I have. I don't feel rushed anymore and I feel like I can once again take risks and start big projects. I have been threatening to make the Sphinx for months and finally did. All in all I am very happy. I gave a nod to the Sphinx in Egypt with his posing but other than that hes all my own take on those mysterious door guardians. I snapped this picture with my phone so its not the greatest but hes laying on a cat bed covered in riddles on top of a stack on answers. He didn't end up as large and mighty as he was in my head, but hes still much larger than normal for me. I worked extra hard to make my hand writing readable for the riddles, as my terrible penmanship is infamous! I hope to keep up on this trend of time management and its wonderful to get these monsters out that have been lurking, waiting to for the world to see them! Next big project the table, gulp!

New Glutton

2010-08-08T15:22:00.000-07:00

Think the other monsters will be jealous of him since hes so awesome? New home guardian for Artsfest!

Yikes

2010-07-29T11:24:00.000-07:00

Panic, code red! Why are you panicking you say? Because I am a planner, its what I do, I show up on time, I pick out my shoes 2 weeks before I need to wear them, I RSVP the day the invite comes and I like things done way way ahead of time. And like Jessi Spano I feel like there's no time, there's never any time (don't worry I wont turn to caffeine pills like she did). My two biggest shows are looming on the horizon and I feel like I don't have one iota of what I want done.

It wouldn't be so bad but I had a huge ceramics disaster on Tuesday, the only day this week I will be able to do ceramics adding insult to injury. I went to sand the piece for show of heads and I broke it, in half. That's right ruined it. So I did what any mature, rational person does, I called my husband and cried, called my friend and cried, cried to the dog, ate some cookies and then made it again. I like the second one better, but that's a whole day gone to making something I already made. Time cost because I wasn't watching what I did.

It seems like I have months but really I don't, I have time I can squeeze in around work and my crazy life. Its time like these I have to remember to breathe, either it gets done of it doesn't. But when I look at the wrecked piece from show of heads, I cant manage to smash it yet, my heart rate rises and I feel the familiar warm fingers of stress inching around my brain and squeezing until suddenly I am crying and eating cookies again. The good news is I ran out of emergency cookies today, so I guess I am going to have suck it up and get to work, that or go to the store and get Nutella, which heals all wounds!

Opinions

2010-07-26T12:26:00.000-07:00

You may notice some few time lapses in my blog here, its not that I am ignoring you dear readers I am just getting used to a schedule change at work, some more exciting things that will remain secret for now (no I am not having a baby, I am not sure why thats what everybody thinks when I say that, is it my budda belly?) and most importantly getting ready for Artsfest! The summer is flying by and with the changing on the leaves comes time for me to panic about getting everything ready for my shows! So I could use a few opinions.

This is the Soulmates tiles, I am very pleased with the glaze its called Northern Lights and its one of my favorites! Do you think it needs a frame? I tend to lean towards keeping things simple which would be just putting the hanging hardware on it and selling it as is. But what do you think would a frame take it to the next level or be too much? And what kind of frame? This photo isn't great I am still learning how to photograph flat things.

This is a cat tile. I have tons of these! I had had hoped to do something more with them but I think I will sell them individually. That leads me to my question of how to hang them. One option would be as is with just the hardware, another would be put a frame of some kind around them as well. I don't really like the frame idea as these are items I can keep costs very low on and a frame would drive up the price. One idea would be to hang them with a loop of cute ribbon glued to the back, what do you think? Ideas, suggestions?Again I am learning how to photograph things that are flat and also things that have glaze, most of my work is red iron oxide so bear with me folks!

I am sure as Artsfest looms closer I will be asking for more thoughts on my work so stay tuned and wish me luck on getting it all done!

New Chucks

2010-07-12T06:30:00.000-07:00

The past few days have made me very happy for a variety of reasons, number one I got a sweet new pair of Chucks for only 20.00!! Whats better than a good deal on shoes?

Well I suppose that would be a good day in the studio! I was also fairly productive on the art side of things as well. I snagged a coffee table for pretty cheap at an antique store (they also had an awesome talking ninja cookie jar it will be mine). I can now start my monster table project that's been brewing in my head for months. I am between a couple of ideas and cant wait to start. Even though its hot I gave up and loaded a kiln so I am excited to get some commissions finally finished! I also made this:

Which I call "Get Out of My Head" for the Show of Heads call for entries. I wanted to enter last year and just didn't have time and was happy to see its an annual show, what do you think of my new piece? Does it fit with the theme? Should I stick to what I know and use red iron oxide to finish it or should I go crazy and try a glaze or something?

Leaving it all on the side of the River

2010-07-06T06:28:00.000-07:00

There is an unexpected thrill at taking off your sneakers and just leaving them somewhere, hoping they will be there when you get back.

This weekend Chris and I decided to surprise Vicki for her birthday. She and her husband are up in Ithaca NY for the summer, I thought I had been there before but I was wrong, but either way I found Ithaca to be very beautiful! Its a town full of sweeping mountain views, deep gorges and rivers. We spent most the weekend hiking and exploring. We decided to just take our shoes off, jump in the river and hike up and were rewarded with a waterfall that was put there just for us. We went swimming and watched the crawdads nibble our toes. Chris and I are not normally the kind of people that would take off our shoes and leave them somewhere, let alone jump in a river that we had no idea where it lead. It was nice to leave behind planning for a weekend and just do something, embrace adventure and life.

Its easy to get bogged down by the little things and I hope Chris and I left some of those on the side of the river too. It was great to see Vicki and Ray and have a little adventure. Now this weeks adventure will be buckling down and working, working, working until Artsfest!!!

A Case of the Mondays

2010-06-28T06:44:00.000-07:00

Lately I have found myself more burned out than usual towards my "real" job. I am not sure if its because the clinic is always busier in the summer and I pick up more hours or if I have just been doing it too long. Normally its those clients that drive you nuts that get me or other workplace drama but lately its been the animals. People often say "oh you work at a vet clinic so you must play with puppies and kittens all day!" Um I wish. Sure there are puppies and kittens that come in and theres often a fight over who helps in those appointments but for every puppy there is 2 sick or old dogs. Its the sadness that's been getting me. Watching an owner cry because their 6 year old dog has cancer or an old mans heart break when he learns his best friend wont make it. Or seeing people who just don't care for their animals, who bring them in when their wounds start to make a mess on carpet. Lately its been too much for me. Normally I can turn my brain off to that, but I am just tired, burned out and want to stay home safe in my studio.

These feelings led to a discussion with my husband this weekend about other jobs. Majoring in art is something I will never regret however I am not sure if it left me with a lot of marketable job skills. I thought about the things I am interested in and realized most I would have to go back to school to do. Like being a librarian, interior designer or a pastry chef. There are a lot of hats I have always wanted to try on. Unfortunately my inner artist makes me a dreamer and like many dreamers I find it hard to focus on one thing and that includes classes and school. I am not going to go back to school, I have no interest in taking out more student loans. For now I will stay at the clinic because its hours are somewhat flexible and I cant find another job good enough for me to leave.

I often remind myself that I wont work at the clinic forever and someday I will do whatever I want to do, be it ceramics or making doughnuts. Five years ago if you had asked me if Chris and I would someday own a house and I would be able to work part time I would have told you no way, so when I get burned out I remember that things can change quickly and its tortoise that won the race, slow and steady working towards a goal. It wont make watching a euthanasia any easier but it gives me something to keep in front of my mind, a dream to actually focus on and keep my anchored when other things get to be too much.

What other dreams have you had? Do you find yourself wishing you had other hats to put on? What keeps you sane when the "real" world is too much?

Figuring it all Out

2010-06-21T04:54:00.000-07:00

This year I will be turning 29 (yikes!) and I find myself spending a lot of time thinking about what I really want. Not so much what I want I guess but where I want to go. I know what I want: to be Chris's wife, a dog and cat mom, an artist, and a good cook. But what kind of artist? What am I really looking for? Where do I want my career to go? What am I ready to give up to get there?

Recently I have been chatting online with another local ceramic artist I previously meet briefly a few times. We have a talked a lot about making a living as an artist and different upcoming shows. Through these conversations I have realized a couple of things. One I really wish I had a studio surrounded by other artists, I miss that. And two I really have no idea where I want my career to go, I know where I want my life to go and am happy with the direction its taken, but I have no idea where I want to take my art or let it take me. I feel a little aimless not sure where to go next. The more I think about it the only thing I know for sure is I don't want to be an artist that makes a living doing "craft" shows. They are a lot of headache, packing and fees. I enjoy Artsfest but I also enjoy not having to do that every weekend. I also like making work sometimes that I know may not sell, if I am going to make a living doing craft shows I can focus only on what will sell. Creating the chess set and the body of work for Embracing Your Inner Monster were two of the most satisfying artistic things I have ever done, neither of those things were right for anything but a gallery setting.

In a perfect life I would have an awesome studio where I could sit all day and just make work and do with it as I please. Maybe I would enter it in a show, maybe I would go to an art fair, maybe I would just put it in my living room. Unfortunately life isn't perfect and without goals what am I working towards? The good news is though I don't feel it I am still youngish and have a whole life to figure it out. My sister likes to tell me someday we will both end up on the cover of Art News, I don't know about that or if fame and fortune lies my way. I know while I am figuring it all out I will keep making monsters, and maybe the monsters will decide for themselves the path they want to take.

Sneaky Mini Vacation

2010-06-14T07:32:00.000-07:00

Last week, like the ninjas we are, Chris and I managed to sneak in a mini vacation that we really needed. To be honest I could so with a real vacation but a few days off is a good start. Through some random miracle we were both able to get Thursday off so we had 4 glorious days to ourselves. I decided I was even going to take few days off from ceramics, after the bookend disaster I need to rethink a few things. So mostly we cooked at home, watched old movies, and explored some parts of Hagerstown we had never been.

A few things of note that happened:

* I watched the original Karate Kid for the first time, I see why its such a classic now. Wax On. Wax Off.

* We finally went to the library in Hagerstown, which to my disappointment we could have put off. Its very tiny, which is fine but sadly has very few books. I found 5 books I would be interested in that I haven't read and took out 3. I love libraries and was shocked my husband had never been as a child. He didn't even know they are free! So here I am talking about how fabulous libraries are, and we walk into a tiny place with empty shelves. Bah. Near the library there were some cute looking restaurants and a used book store, so there is still some hope for that part of town.

*We went to the Hagerstown City Park and that was wonderful! Imagine my shock to find an awesome park hiding in the shabby downtown! Below are some pictures from the park I took right before my camera died. Sookie almost got into a fight with a swan, and I am sure the swan would have won! I saw a kind of duck I have never seen, Chris and I looked it up and its called a Muscovy Duck I think, its third down in the pics.

*Yesterday I went to go see my work proudly displayed in a museum! That is an awesome feeling!!! I had mixed feelings on some of the work, some was really, really amazing, some maybe not so much. But I feel that way about most juried shows and was very honored to be a part of the show, and my chess set is right in the middle of the gallery too! I will blog more on this show when I get some pictures from my friend who was there and extract the few I took from my blackberry.

Sometimes you have to take time to recharge your batteries and Chris and I were beyond running on empty. Its good I took the time to charge up to as I have 3 commissions lined up and a huge clean up waiting for me in my studio and office. Back to the grind!

Lessons Learned

2010-06-07T09:24:00.000-07:00

As it often is in life the best lessons are often the ones that are the hardest and sometimes most painful to learn. This weekend for the first time I did an outdoor demo to promote my work and the gallery I am in Annapolis, Art Fx. I learned several important things, some of the lessons I got this weekend were a little harder to swallow than others.

I learned first off that I actually really like doing demos. People seemed very interested in what I was doing, how it worked and what the sculpture I was making would end up as. Too my surprise because normally I feel awkward around kids, they were the most fun asking the best questions and being the most interested. I also got to try to convince them that my lovely assistant and husband made the giant footprints on the side walk. One little boy wouldn't leave until I put the heads on the dogs I was making! It was a lot of fun to sit outside doing what I love and sharing with anyone who wanted to see, I hope to do more demos soon! It also made me realize that maybe teaching a class somewhere a long the line, might be more fun than I thought.

I also however learned a harsher lesson this weekend, one I should have learned long, long ago. Don't wait until the last minute to do things and to listen to my inner "Joyce". Joyce was my teacher and mentor and Hood and sometimes I pretend there is a little Joyce on my shoulder telling me something isn't working. Unfortunately I have been insanely busy, not an excuse though I used it as one. So I left finishing the bookends to the last minute and ended up with a product I was less than thrilled about and that honestly is below my standards. It ended up being a hard lesson for me to take, I never like to show work that's less than my best and knowing I only had myself to blame made it that much worse. However the hardest lessons are the best and I think given some time I can salvage the bookends and I promise the mistakes I made here I wont make again. I also learned I really need to find out more about woodworking if I am going to continue these kind of projects. Sigh, one more thing to add to the list!

All and all I was glad I signed up to do the demos and I hope I have the opportunity to share my sculpting with the public again soon, however right now I am going to pay attention to another hard learned lesson, when the dog is whining take her for a walk or you may come home to this.

Gargoyles. Gargoyles, Gargoyles!

2010-06-02T14:32:00.000-07:00

Last week my sister came to visit (yay) and while she was here I finally got to visit the National Cathedral in DC. It was beautiful, the architecture was fabulous and the gargoyles of course awesome. My only disappointment and its minor is the gargoyles are hard to see and I was glad my camera has an awesome zoom. Thank goodness for that because we didn't bring binoculars so without I wouldn't really have been able to appreciate the gargoyles. I have had a super busy, fun and family filled week so I will leave you with some pictures from our trip to DC. I highly recommend a trip to the Cathedral bring binoculars and a picnic lunch, the gardens attached are almost as wonderful as the gargoyles!

Check it out!

2010-05-19T16:27:00.000-07:00

I am really excited to unveil the new website for Curious Creatures, Victoria Wenderlich's and my joint artistic venture. When we exhibit together we exhibit under that banner and now we finally have a website, thanks to her and her husband Ray for their wonderful website design! Check it out here .

While your browsing the web check out this website here . Vicki and Ray make a dynamic duo and have created the awesome game Math Ninja for iPhone. I played it, its really, really fun and I hate math. Vicki created all the wonderful art and Ray did all the programming. I mean come on its a must have, catchy music, tomato's and ninjas, and who after all doesn't like ninjas?

And please stop by the facebook page for Monster Hollow Studios here I have updated the events page, so you can be up to date on where to find me and my art this spring and summer.

And lastly I want to promote a book series I love. Its the Breaking the Wall series by Jane Linskold. Her new book Five Odd Honors just came out. I haven't read it, I am eagerly awaiting my husband to get home with it today in fact. But I have read the first two in this series and they are excellent. They are among my favorite in Urban fantasy. I read online last night that if the sales of this book don't do well the publisher wont continue with these books. Whether or not its true I don't know but I love these books and want to read as many as Ms. Linskold wants to write, so please read these books, I promise you will enjoy them! And speaking of authors check out the blog of Lynn Colt an up and coming author, who I can promise will bring good things! Next to art and my dogs there is nothing I love more than a good book, and knowing how hard it is to sell your art I like to encourage people not just to read but to buy books. Writing too is an art and it takes a brave and determined person to put their soul on a page for others to read!

Since this is a post encouraging you to check out various links, I don't have a picture to go with it, so I will leave you with this random adorable picture of Shippo dressed as the pirate First Mate NoPants, risky I know when talking about math ninjas, because as we all know its a fact all ninjas even math ninjas hate pirates!

Possibilites

2010-05-18T07:13:00.000-07:00

Life is full of possibilities, you never know really which road you will turn down next. If you had asked me when I was 18 what I would be doing now 10 years later at 28, I would not have told you happily married to scientist, owning a house, working at a vet clinic and attempting to become a "real" artist. I would have told you I would be traveling the world, dating a rock star (certainly I was NEVER going to get married) and working odd jobs to get by. If you has asked me then what kind of possibilities my life held I would have denied I ever wanted what I have now. I was going to travel the world and never settle down. The funny thing is I really love my life, I love the direction it went in and the places its taken me. I wouldn't change a thing.

Recently as many of my friends prepare to travel, move or have big changes in their life, I realized how differently I view the possibilities that lie ahead. Now I am happy to stay in one place and I don't really want to run the roads. I like my house and I like my bed, I am too old to sleep in the back of a car or on someones sofa. Instead I look forward to exciting vacations and living vicariously through more adventurous friends. Sure there are still days I wake up and say today I want adventure, but for the most part I don't mind that sometimes the most exciting part of my day is taking the dogs for a walk.

Oddly as my life settles into place my art seems to be in a whirlwind. I am ready to try all kinds of new things, I have more ideas than I have time for. I have thought of three new series I would like to make and have an ambitious idea of a gargoyle table. I have always had lots of ideas but never this many. I am not sure if this is because I know I'm not going anywhere so I can settle in and work, or if its because I recently had months of artists block, so all those ideas that built up are free now. Whatever the cause I am happy to have my creative spark back, I am happy to see so many possibilities laying ahead in clay for me. I cant wait to see how many I can actually bring to life!

Like Christmas in May

2010-05-13T16:09:00.000-07:00

Opening a glaze kiln is like Christmas morning! The anticaption, the excitement, knowing there will be atleast one thing hidden under the wrapper you will love. There's even more mystery for me in a kiln than Christmas, considering the fact I never peek into a warm kiln (lessons learned) and my sister and I ALWAYS peek at our gifts! Today I opened a kiln to a few new ceramic loves my life, a couple surprises and no serious dissapointments which is awesome! Heres a few pictures of what santa left in the kiln for me! I am loving the sea-goyle now titled "Ariel" and its a nice surprise how the masks look with glaze. Enjoy! You can see these new creations in person at my upcoming 2010 shows!

Accepted

2010-05-03T07:55:00.000-07:00

Acceptance is there any better feeling in the world? For an artist I think not, we all have to develop thick skins because rejection is a way of life when your selling art but acceptance still feels oh so good. Over the past couple of weeks I have been accepted into 2 juried shows and added 2 more events for this year.

First Vicki and I and our Curious Creatures have been accepted back at Artsfest this year, so look at Solomons here we come! And my chess set was accepted into the 78th Annual Cumberland Valley Artists Exhibition at the Washington County Museum of Fine Arts. Out of 138 who applied only 43 made the cut. This one makes me really proud, they didn't let me in last year and I assumed they wouldn't this year. I know that's no way to think but sometimes I cant help it, rejection for me is easier if I am ready for it and when I got in I was so excited I will admit it I cried. After a winter of struggling and feeling unsure about myself and my art, this was a boost I needed.

I am really excited and proud to be part of all these upcoming events and will send out a newsletter soon with dates and times for everything, if you would like to receive one please send me a message so I can add you to my email list!

Nothing Like a Well Stocked Fridge!

2010-04-23T16:51:00.000-07:00

Look at that isn't it beautiful! That my friends is my clay fridge and its holding 350 pounds of clay! The only thing that could make this fridge more wonderful is if the door was stocked with my new favorite spiced red wine!

And all that fresh clay helped create this beauty, the first ever sea-goyle! She was eastern coiled and each scale hand applied ( I feel your pain Vicki) I think shes awesome! Happy Friday!

Understanding

2010-04-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

Stereotypes, what an ugly word, and there are so many about artists. That we are lazy, unfocused, unintelligent, stoners and hopeless dreamers. Those are a few of my favorites that I sadly encounter often. That kind of thinking makes me angry and takes some of the legitimacy away from what I do. I have fought against this kind of thinking ever since I changed my major to art in college, just because I don't like math doesn't mean I am lazy it simply means my intelligence lies elsewhere. Many people who don't know me well or know me through my day job only I am sad to say assume the worst. They think I come home from work and goof off or are unable to comprehend this is my business and there is stress involved. It saddens me that people have such trouble seeing artists as professionals, just because we are sometimes a scruffy bunch doesn't mean we aren't driven.

I work very hard to make, promote and sell my art in the limited time afforded to me. I dream every day of when my career will take off and I can eek out a living doing only this. Its true that I am lucky enough to love this job and my hands itch if I don't get into the studio often enough, but is it so wrong to love a job? Do others run into this? Perhaps not just artists but others with non traditional jobs or people who run their own business? What is it that drives people to say such things and view my career choice from such a narrow scope?

Cat Tales

2010-04-19T07:05:00.000-07:00

This beauty queen pictured above it my cat Milly. I don't talk much about my cats on my blog, perhaps because the dogs are so much louder. Milly was the first pet I ever owned as an adult (well actually I was still only 19 when I got her but had you asked me I would have told you firmly I was an adult). We lived together in my first apartment that had horrible green shag carpet. Milly has been with me through it all bad boyfriends, bad grades, 9 moves, 2 graduations, 1 wedding and so on. Chris was the first guy that Milly ever liked and I took that as a sign that he was a keeper (and he is). Milly has been my companion for almost 10 years now and shes pretty good at reading my moods. Last week I flopped down on the bed feeling sorry for myself because my face hurt, when she climbed on my back and gave me a massage. Yes shes so wonderful she really will massage your back with her little paws. Normally when she has massaged your back into a comfy spot for herself she curls up to sleep, this time she swatted me in the butt hopped down and left. I took that to mean time get up and get into the studio! So in honor of Milly while I was downstairs making some critters, I made my first attempt at a fuzzy cat. When I showed it to her she stared blankly at it and me, rubbed along my leg with her tail and left, and being that is after all a cat I took that as a sign of her approval!

Again with the flowers

2010-04-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

Yeah yeah I know more flower power, but its just so pretty out!! Last week I went into dental imposed exile and pain med induced sleep so I didn't even notice that the cherry tree out front had finally bloomed! Its too pretty for me not to post a picture when blogging about spring! My mouth is healing up every day and the only thing I have found to really get my mind off the pain is hunkering down in my studio and getting my hands into clay. I was in a lot of pain so its mostly fun stuff I made but I enjoyed it none the less. I will try to post some new work pictures later this week, in the meantime enjoy some spring time on me! These fabulous tulips are sadly now crushed due to the Sookie monster but they were beautiful during their time in bloom!

Sunshine Daydreams

2010-04-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in awhile partly, because well I haven't had anything ceramics related to post on and partly because I have just been very busy. Spring has finally sprung and that meant spring cleaning, including the big jobs of pulling up the icky carpets to revel beautiful hardwood underneath and tons and tons of yard work. I love snow but I really hate picking up all the little tiny sticks it knocked all over the yard, and several mittens none of which were mine and no two alike. So many homeless mittens!

I am hoping that now that house is cleaner than ever before (YAY!) and the sun is shining I will finally get of the deep blue funk that settled in over the winter and get some serious sculpting done. But if I don't I have decided not to beat myself up over it. The sun is shining, the flowers blooming and the dogs are smiling. Its beautiful outside and inside and that is enough to make me feel deeply happy! I'm posting a few pictures of the flowers growing around the house, the former owner of this house was a real druid, enough so that these flowers can survive my black thumb!

Guilty Pleasures

2010-03-26T07:17:00.000-07:00

Guilty pleasures, we all have them. From listening to Brittney Spears on your i pod, spending 9 hours watching a Saved by the Bell Marathon to eating a whole pint of Ben and Jerrys. These are things that we love to do even though we might be too embarrassed to admit it out loud. Well I will admit it. I love Brittney when I am at the gym, I cant get enough of Zack Morris and if I could swim a pool of Ben and Jerrys I would. I love my guilty pleasures. I really do. I love the little moments in time I can steal to indulge in them. I love knowing I am doing something a little bad. These moments are like tiny vacations from my real stressful hectic life.

So imagine my surprise when I realized I have a guilty pleasure in ceramics. And I have perhaps been indulging in it too much. Making ornaments. In some respects considering how limited my time in the studio is, its a time waster. I have tons of ornaments and don't need anymore. But they are so easy to make and I find it to be a huge stress relief. I walk down to the studio intending to start my next masterpiece and instead spend 2 hours rolling out slabs, taking cookie cutters and making ornaments. The repetition of it and the fact I can blank my mind makes it a pleasant task. Knowing they will turn out how I want with little effort eases the stress of drying, firing and finishing.

But the question is how much should I allow myself to get carried away with them? Am I using them to avoid making bigger work because I am so stressed? Or are they a worthwhile exercise, are they really a time waster considering I will eventually sell them? I am not sure of the answer when it comes to me, its probably a mix of both, yes they will make money but I cant let stress bog me down forever. Does anybody else have a guilty pleasure when making their art?

Not so Peaceful Spring Walk

2010-03-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

Today it really is beautiful outside, the sun is shining, the birds singing, all that spring time goodness. I have a bit of a day to myself today so I decided to sleep late and take the dogs for an extra long walk before work. Apparently I should have just slept late.

We were walking along when I spotted a dog chained up in someones driveway, even though it was chained I started crossing the street because I knew the Sookie Monster would bark her head off when she saw it. Sure enough as I was crossing the two dogs seemed to spot each other at the same time and bark off began. I thought that was all it would be annoying, since I have a headache but whatever. Apparently it was not a chain but a rope or something because the dog broke it clean in half and started barreling towards us. This dog was between 50-60 pounds, more than my dogs put together and pissed. Sookie sprang in to action with her hackles up trying to protect Po and I. Po began to panic and started backing up, unfortunately they were on the tandem lead and he couldn't go far so he somehow managed to get his foot caught in his harness and fell on to his back. As soon as he was down the dog was on him, teeth right on his tummy! At this point I started freaking out because I am holding on to a mass of snarling dogs, about to watch my dog get disemboweled. The owner of the large angry dog got there in the nick of time and pulled the dog off as its jaws were closing on Po. Though very scared and covered in slobber everyone was ok, which is amazing as that situation could have been very bad.

We all calmed down and to his credit the guy was nice and worried his dog and hurt mine. I am little pissed though as this the 5th yes 5th time I have been attacked by a dog not on a lead or not on a strong enough lead in my neighborhood. Our dogs are always on leads or in the fence, it really is not that hard to control your dog for everyones safety. This 5th attack was the second the scariest. (The scariest being the rottweiler that knocked me down to get to Sookie).

It really made me think about how things can change in an instant and something you hold very dear can be gone. If that guy had been even 10 seconds later pulling his dog off, Shippo would undoubtedly been injured very badly. Hes a small dog and that was a very large dog with very big teeth. I am not sure what I would do if Shippo got hurt like that. Lately I feel like life is going very fast all around me and I am just sorta watching it unable to catch up or get it to slow down. Time seems to fly and I am realizing how important it is to sometimes slow down. I put a lot of pressure on myself to go go go and always be doing something ceramic related. I talk a lot about time management and worrying about falling behind. I realized today its been weeks since I had time to play tug with Shippo and today I could have lost him forever, the very thought makes my heart hurt. In my quest for time management and finding balance, I am going to try to add in finding time for myself and those I love. Life is really just an eye blink and I realize business success will be pretty hollow if I haven't taken the time to do things I love and be around those I love. That defiantly includes my cowardly Shippo and my brave Sookie!

Two Heads Are Better Than One

2010-03-11T16:10:00.000-08:00

People are by and large social creatures. I think we all function better around others and often work best in teams. I have meant many artists who think of themselves as "lone wolves" and work best when they are alone to commune with their art. Poppycock.

Everyday I am lucky enough to work in the studio I miss having a buddy there. Vicki and I used to share a studio at Hood and I look back at those days as some of the most productive and fun filled time in the studio I have ever had. Having someone there was great, there was someone to hold me accountable for showing up and for slacking off. One the flip side there was someone to drag me out for tea when I needed a break. There was also another mind to bounce ideas off and to catch me when I put fingers on backwards. Now my studio is lonely in the basement where its cold, and since my hubby works long hours very quiet. Last summer two of my favorite artists came to visit, my sister Sumner and my friend Pam. Both times I spent hours working side by side in my basement studio with them and somehow those days it didn't seem so cold.

There are many ways to fix this problem, one would be get my sister to come live down here (are you reading this Sumner?). But other more likely solutions would be to try to take a class or move my studio. I like to dream big of a studio downtown somewhere that I could sell my work, or a more affordable and likely idea would be to move into the garage where there is more sunshine and fresh air. It is however not climate controled and everyone who knows me knows I am a polar bear and need my AC!

I am also glad to be working with Vicki as the other half of Curious Creatures for at least 2 shows this year. It makes those long days in the booth/gallery go by fast and gives me hours to bounce ideas off someone else. Thanks to those days at Hood I have a lifelong friend and show partner. And because we worked so closely in the studio it makes having those sometimes uncomfortable serious business discussions easier. Never under estimate the value of a good studio buddy! Until my downtown dreams come true I will have to settle for the company of the Sookie Monster, occasional visitor and many many cats so many cats. Perhaps I will give up on a climate control and move on up this summer...

Time Management

2010-03-08T07:12:00.000-08:00

I talk, and blog, a lot about time management. Why? Because this is a concept which seems to continually escape my grasp. I am a pretty smart person normally able to figure stuff out but when it comes to managing my time so far I cant seem to do it well. The fact that I don't manage my time well really effects my work and my attitude about it.

This week as the sun comes up earlier making the days seem less foreboding my goal is to better manage my time. My hope is to roll out of bed on the days I work late by 8am and not let myself get started reading a book in the morning so I can get at least 2 studio hours, to if nothing else make some magnets and ornaments. As always its a balance and when the days are nicer I am more likely to want to spend the mornings hiking with the dogs than working.

However because of my lousy time management I feel like my production is at almost a standstill. As the year is getting going Vicki and I have secured the dates for our December show and applied to Artsfest. Granted both shows are months away but just because I haven't been working doesn't mean I haven't been thinking. I am pot boiling over with ideas of stuff to make and when my hands are in clay I feel like I am at home, few things make me happier. This weekend I got a new crackberry with all kinds of scheduling features and alarms and I hope this too will help me in my quest to be more organized. However all of this time management and thoughts on art will have to wait for today until the dogs are walked, this is what I am looking at right now:
A Sookie who's eager to have her walk on this sunny day, who has taught me from past experience if I don't manage my time well enough for her to have her walk (at least 45 mins) then I will come home to something I love chewed up on the floor, if only my life could be as simple as a beagles!

Please Vote

2010-03-07T11:27:00.000-08:00

Please go to this link http://etsymudteam.craft-sense.com/Challenges/viewchallenge.asp?ChallengeID=33 and vote for my mini glutton in the etsy mudd team challenge! Its towards the middle and called Mine. He has some great company in this challenge and if you vote some shops are offering a 20% off coupon! So if you have time please vote and tell your friends to vote too:)

Mini Glutton Finished!

2010-02-26T15:37:00.000-08:00

Its been a pretty slow week here as far as ceramics, as I have been working extra hours and I am pretty much out of clay. However today I managed to finish the mini glutton and hes just so cute I had to share him!

What a cutie!! Hes already up on Etsy so hopefully he finds a home soon. I promised myself I would also get the two applications for upcoming shows filled out today, but I didnt. I find the whole application process harrowing. What pictures should I send? What should I say? What if they think I am ridculous for even applying? Even though I was in Artsfest last year I still fear they may not want me this year. I am going to man up and make myself fill them out sometime this weekend. The worst they can do is say no and as I am growing up a little and getting a thicker skin I am realizing life goes on! Besides who could turn down that mini glutton?

Other Peoples Shoes

2010-02-19T16:52:00.001-08:00

Every once in awhile we all need a real lesson in humility, this week I really needed one. I will admit I spent most of my week in hateful and jealous thoughts. Why? Well I am working more hours at the clinic and being reminded why I didn't like it there full time, I am out of clay so my outlet of art is cut off to me, and perhaps most petty of all as I dive into the blogesphere and the world of Etsy more I am coveting other peoples artistic lives, jealous of how seemingly easy it is for them and how wonderful their work is. Yes I know this is no attitude to walk around in and trust me Chris and the dogs would agree.

Two days ago I was walking the dogs and they were being especially bad, they have terrible cabin fever and because of all the chemicals on the road our walks are short at best. So understandably they were being crazy but it did not help the foul air I was surrounded in. The whole walk I thought hateful thoughts about how someone needs to walk in my shoes and see how awful it is and how much I wanted to walk in someone else's and wake up and say success!

I got home to check my email and in my inbox was my second sale for Etsy. This wasn't enough to pull me out of my funk so I went to check the news and weather, fuming at the horror that is my life. As always the news is full of people, like those in Haiti or those who have lost everything in this economy, who don't even have shoes to walk in. That was a mental reality check for me. I am here mad because I am lucky enough in this bad economy to have a job and I have to work at it and I even have sale on Etsy to top it off. I looked down at my shoes, my favorite pair of chucks and realized even though they are little scruffy I am pretty damn lucky to have them. Success is not an overnight or even an over a year thing, and sometimes we have to work hard to be able to play later.

Its so easy to get caught up in wanting what you don't have or haven't achieved that you miss whats around you. There are people out there who really have it bad and I am so lucky to be surrounded by loving friends and family, a nice house and a decent job. So instead of thinking hateful thoughts all week I thought happy and grateful thoughts. When I am in a bad mood Vicki often says to me say ten good things about your life, so here they are:
1) I have a super awesome loving hubby
2) I have awesome friends who are like family to me and support me like I am theirs and remind me to remember the good things in life
3) I found a pillow that looks just like Shippo!
4) I just got in an order of Girl Scout Cookies for the weekend nom nom nom
5) My little zoo gives me smiles all day everyday even when they are bad
6) My sister is coming to visit in 3 months (yay!)
7) I live a life style where I can afford a lap top and Internet when many others cant
8) I am slowly seeing my hard work as an artist pay off
9) New order of glazes to try came in the mail today
10) I am really really lucky to have all that I do and even though I sometimes forget I am super thankful!

Terracotta Warriors and no they arent a band

2010-02-15T07:00:00.000-08:00

This weekend Chris and I went to see the Terracotta Warriors at the National Geographic museum in DC. I had promised to up lots of photos to gush about unfortunately no photography was allowed in the exhibit. That made me very sad but it was an amazing site to see. As a ceramic artist I always marvel at the ceramics of old. It amazes how they have stood the test of time and left such a mark on the world. These warriors and their horses were pretty amazing from any ceramics standpoint. The warriors weighed between 350-400 pounds each and the horses 750 pounds. Wow.

For most of the first half of the exhibit I kept saying ok but how did they make them? My question was finally answered in the second half. I was disappointed they didn't give more room to explaining the process but I suppose if you aren't an artist you may not find it so fascinating. They were built in teams and pieced together by section. The legs solid and the bodies and arms were coiled and then covered in slabs to be carved for detail work. So they didn't explode the heads were built separately and placed on after they were finished. The really interesting thing is they never found a kiln any where nearby so they aren't sure how these were fired. In one piece? Was the kiln built around and then taken down? I guess that's one thing we may never know.

It really was awesome to see these warriors and it really inspired me to try to go and work on great things. They are there until March and if you can get over there I recommend you do. If you can go during a week day. We went on a weekend and it was packed I suspect a weekday may give you more standing room which is always nice when taking in art.

The rest of valentines day weekend was wonderful including, dinner, brunch, a movie, flowers, finding a pillow that looks like shippo and brownies by the fire! More snow is predicted for today so we will see how this week goes!

Mini Glutton

2010-02-12T15:37:00.000-08:00

Today I finally made it back into the studio to do some work, excited and ready for some serious sculpting for the first time in weeks. Well since I have only sporadically been in the studio since before Christmas making small things I didn't realize I was almost out of clay.

There was only enough left for one project at best so I picked the one that was first in my mind, the mini glutton jar. Those familiar with my work know my gluttons well, they are giant, fat, funny gargoyles. However their size I think holds people back from buying them so I wanted to try a smaller and functional version and I am very happy with the results: His little sign says mine and when hes done he will be a jar to hold something dear to you. I hope I made the lid right, I couldn't remember what your supposed to do but I remembered I cut the lid on the croc box when it was wet. That's the last thing I made with a lid and its ok so hopefully this guy will be too, if not well then there's a lesson there for me to learn.

I am also looking for suggestions for glaze for this:

Its based off a painting I did in college called Soulmates. Its one of the only paintings of mine that I like and I think the design translates well into clay. I am stumped on the glaze though. I am thinking maybe a crackle? I am going to order from Baileys soon and they have some awesome cone 6 sculptural glazes, any suggestions I would love to hear them!

Tomorrow Chris and I head to DC to see the Terracotta warriors and I cant wait, I am sure I will write a big gushing blog about how awesome they are full of pictures! We are dorks but history and art are the best Valentines day presents we could get for each other! Happy Valentines day weekend everybody, hope your having fun with your sweetie or if you don't have a sweetie your with a friend drinking wine cursing those of us who do, cheers!

chihuahua chat

2010-02-10T08:03:00.000-08:00

Shippo here holding down the fort while mom, dad and "the other dog" play outside in the snow. Yuck! Mom claims she gonna do work when it snows but her frolicking shows other wise. This snow is my fault I fear. You see I am a dog of many things: professional eater, handsome, a ladies man some say, and a great dancer. So I did an anti snow dance on Monday and I fear I misstepped, and now 32 inches later I see my mistake! To illustrate my misery I will post a few pictures of my last horrible few hours, please notice the picture of my sister yelling at me, mom says she trying to get me to play in the snow. I know the truth so hopes to entomb me in the heinous white stuff and take my prized stripey bear for her own!

First Etsy order (YAY!)

2010-02-08T11:20:00.000-08:00

This weekend I was contacted about doing some custom work on Etsy, of course I said yes because I love doing custom work. I love the idea that I am making exactly what someone wants and I know they will love it. I enjoyed doing sketches before hand for the customer to look at and enjoyed her feedback. Its just a simple tile with a cat that's "flying" she didn't want wings so I had to work hard to capture that freedom of motion but I think I got it. This order made my whole week as once its finished and shes paid I will have made back all the money I spent to list myself of Etsy, woot!

This weekend I spent some time on Etsy since I was snowed in and I did lots of browsing for myself and discovered the conversation mode on there. I started conversations with many talented artists to find out more about their process or just to tell them work is awesome. I am starting to really enjoy Etsy, its a really cool community of artists. Even if I never get another sale I happy that Vicki talked me into it and glad that I am finding the time to put my whole heart into it. Today I am also exploring joining some of the teams, has anyone done that, and how do they feel about it? One I looked at actually had dues but it seems that its a good group of people and it would help me market my stuff, has anyone had a good or bad experience with the teams on Etsy?

Snow Day

2010-02-06T11:18:00.001-08:00

I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't blog about the snow since everybody else probably is, and instead would blog about the ceramics I would surely get done being that I cant even really open my front door there is so much snow.

However at our house with snow apparently also comes laziness, see exhibit A Sookie tucked in for a nap.

It is doubtful we could even get the dogs out for a walk, exhibit B was taken at about 7 am and what seems to be a foot of snow ago and you can see the snow is already twice as tall as Shippo. He standing on the path we shoveled him. And he is not happy about it.

Instead of getting lots of stuff done be it ceramics or much needed closet cleaning, I am curled up with my laptop and a book in front of a nice warm fire with a cup of tea by my side. And *blushes* joining the masses and blogging about the snow. However it is beautiful and relaxing and my inner Vermonter is pleased to blanketed in the white stuff. So cheers to everyone's inner yankee and to being a lazy bum. Have a nice cup of cocoa on me!

Oh and while your curled up in front of your own fire stop by Etsy my art is featured today under pottery and ceramics and there are some sales up this month, what better way to spend a snowy day than blog reading and online shopping!

Advice

2010-02-03T15:37:00.000-08:00

Today I got my new Clay Times in the mail and I came across an interesting article about failure. It was little stories from several artists talking about how they learned not to write something off as a failure when it doesn't end up the way they thought it would. Several of the stories talked about taking things out of the kiln, labeling them a disaster and not seeing their beauty until someone else pointed it out. I thought it was a great article but didn't think it related much to my work as I normally use red iron oxide stain which always looks the same, so I tend to have very few surprises when unloading the glaze kiln.

Because of another snowy morning I ended up with the day off today and looked forward to starting some new pieces. I am eager to start the dogs playing poker piece but decided to first start with a piece that was commissioned a sculpture of a co-workers dog. Its a little terrier mix that was wiry hair and I thought making a specific breed would be good practice for the upcoming larger dog sculpture.

What I found today was what I thought to be failure. I didn't end up getting into the studio until 4 and probably should have just let myself rest. Instead I was chose to work and I was already tired and was easily frustrated trying to make things like dog hair. Nothing I did looked like his hair, I made three dog bodies and tried what felt like 1 million tools and nothing worked.(Anyone have any suggestions?!) Out of sheer frustration with the last body I rolled up the entire sculpture and started to pull on the clay. As I pulled on it I saw a different shape and let the clay go the way it wanted. What I ended up with is a cool miniature tree looking sculpture with gargoyle faces. Its not the best piece I ever made but it came from what I thought was a total failure. It will make an excellent tester for some upcoming surface finishes I want to try and a fun piece for me to keep. Next time I will come back to the dog sculpture with a better attitude and try to realize no matter what I make its art and even when I think its a horrible failure it may not be!

I also took my friend Vicki's advice (http://vmwstudios.blogspot.com/2010/02/feedback-and-motivation.html) and complimented someones work who I don't know but I admired. In this new Clay Times I also checked out the gallery section and found a piece called "Unfurled Twice" by Lenore Lampi, its a sculpture of two birch trees and its beautiful. I went to her website to look at more of her work and wasn't surprised to see shes a fairly accomplished artist. At first I thought not to email her as her accomplishments speak to her talent but I decided to anyways. Her work really moved me and it made my day to see it. I was happy to see she emailed me back today and laughed that she didnt even know her photo was in gallery section! I am not known for being one who likes to listen to much less take advice but I hope with age comes wisdom and I am hoping I am finally learning to listen to other people, be it someone I know like Vicki or strangers like those who contribute to Clay Times.

Unexpected Relaxation

2010-01-30T15:58:00.000-08:00

Today my hubby and I had plans for a wine night with 4 of our favorite people, but Mother Nature had other plans. We only ended up with about 4ish inches of snow but we feared that the pet sitter wouldn’t be able to make it to our house so we opted out. Initially we were both disappointed as we had been looking forward to a night of fun, friends and not having to take the dogs out ourselves.

I have found unexpected happiness in this lazy day. I think perhaps it is partly because yesterday I did this:
That’s right I made a gargoyle! Ironically it was a chess piece, a replacement bishop the buyer of the chess set requested because the first one had a small crack. But it felt so good to get my hands in clay and make something, and I am hoping my apathy towards clay is lifted and this week I can begin anew.

This snowy day has also provided me with quiet and peace of mind. Down here in the south when it snows no one expects anything of you, it isn’t expected you will go out anyways, you are expected to curl up with a book in front of a fire even if there is only an inch on the ground. So that’s what we did and it’s been wonderful, to make my evening a little better I am going to bake some cookies to add calories to my wonderful day! I will leave this post with a picture of Sookie during our snowy walk, as always Sookie loves the snow, Shippo thinks it is little tiny flakes of torture sent down to make his life somehow even worse and would not hold still for his glamour shots!

Oh when is he gonna call!?

2010-01-28T11:11:00.000-08:00

In July Beth Cavener Stichter is giving a workshop at Baltimore Clayworks and ohhh I wanna go. I really wanna go! Beth Cavener Stichter is well known among the ceramics community and is one of my favorite ceramic artists. I love the idea of being able to learn from her, improve my work, and just pick her brain on her artistic process shes amazing. Unfortunately the workshop is not cheap (and why should it be shes great!) So I am putting some faith in my etsy shop that perhaps I will sell enough to pay for half.

So now I feel like I am back in high school waiting on a boy to call only its etsy not a boy and its not a phone call I am waiting for its person buying my stuff. The waiting for my first sale is killing me! I realize I have already said I need to learn patience and I know I do, but its so hard. I look at the shop and see over 30 people have viewed something and I wonder, why didn't they buy it? I cant help but wait in quiet anticipation checking my esty stats everyday, like I would the answering machine waiting for a boy to call. (OK that's a lie we lived in the dark ages and didn't have an answering machine or cable tv for that matter).

I did learn last year, the hard way, to never count on money from art sales, so even though I want the esty shop to suceed, I am also saving my pennies from work, denying myself sock monkey mittens and yesterday while I was walking Sookie she found 10 dollars! If she keeps finding dead presidents instead of dead birds I will be on a roll!

For anyone interested here is the workshop info, its going to be an awesome one:
http://www.baltimoreclayworks.org/class/mtclasses/spring10/workshops/Ws4_Stitchner.html

The Greatest Sculpture Ever

2010-01-25T11:51:00.000-08:00

Procrastination we all do it, me better than most and I love to not admit to procrastination by justifying that I am putting off the important task by doing other minor but still important tasks. Cleaning is my favorite way to procrastinate which is good as we have 8 fur babies running around here and they love to shed and spit hairballs on things I love.

Lately though I find myself procrastinating on making new work, which is something I almost never do, it’s more likely I do ceramics to get out of something like say mowing the lawn. But I think I know why, for my recent show in December I was able to unveil what I consider to be my Greatest Sculpture Ever. Not the Greatest Sculpture To Date but the Greatest Ever. I made a chess set but it was so much more than a chess set. Really it was 32 sculptures that came together to make one large statement. Each piece, even the pawns, was different. It was an enormous amount of work and one of the only things I have ever made that makes me sit back and say, yeah I'm damn good. But now I feel it’s my opus, my swan song and I can’t get around it. I wanted so badly to start my dogs playing poker piece last week but instead messed around with my etsy page. The Greatest Sculpture Ever now looms over me, what can stand up to it? Should I start an “I have made my Greatest Sculpture Ever” support group?

I realize I am young and have many sculptures yet to come and hopefully someday the Greatest Sculpture Ever will be dethroned by the Even Better Greatest Sculpture Ever. In the meantime I will take this mental block for what it is and not force myself around it. Perhaps it’s my brain telling me I need a break and time to recuperate after a busy year and completion of the G.S.E. I am hoping to use this time to become more introspective in my work so everything I make can become my G.S.E. Its times like these that I also take time to make little things like ornaments and magnets to keep those art muscles sharp, so when it comes time to get back to work (soon I hope) I can flex my art guns, knock the G.S.E. off its throne and start the E.B.G.S.E! Until then support group meets Thursday I’ll bring the doughnuts!

Getting Out There!

2010-01-22T12:29:00.000-08:00

For an artist I think half the battle is simply getting out there. Lets face it, its a crowded market, its a big world and there are many talented people out there. Figuring out where to go next is one of the things that I find to be the biggest challenge, how can I get my stuff out there to a larger market and whats the right market for me?

As with most things in my business I am simply learning by taking a chance. This week I have been dipping my toe in the giant pool that is the internet. I started this blog and an etsy store. I still feel a little like I am diving into the deep end of the pool without learning to doggie paddle, but I am pleased with the feedback I have gotten so far. But how do I get these efforts out there? I doubt that this blog has any readers I don't know and was shocked the see the etsy store had views before I could email my friends to let them know it existed. So though I only have a few readers (I know I know be patient its only the third entry) does anyone have any ideas on where to put myself out there and how to further advertise what I am doing?

Oh and check out my etsy store at http://www.etsy.com/shop/MonsterHollowStudios :)

Whine... I mean wine for lunch!

2010-01-19T11:56:00.000-08:00

Today is a very bad, no good, horrible day. I wont go into specifics besides to say I wasn't supposed to have to work this morning but did someone a favor and the stinkiest cat EVER (I mean it was bad) came in and on my small break between shifts I had a phone call that upset me greatly. I joked to myself that perhaps wine and chocolate were in order for lunch, I mean after all that cat was mega stinky.

What really got me through was the excitement to start a new project this week one I have been looking forward to for quite a while. One of my plans this year is to work on detail and patience in my work. Though many urge me to work bigger I would rather master what I do now first. I can be very impatient and hate to leave projects unfinished, causing me to rush and leave things undone. Often I pull a gargoyle out of the kiln, thinking its perfect only to see I left some small detail overlooked, ruining the whole piece for me.

I am fascinated by the idea of miniatures so to challenge myself I am going to start a fun piece, a sculpture of dogs playing poker (yes like the painting), that I plan to put miniature detail into down to their tiny playing cards. It may seem odd that what calms is something that will surely turn into an exercise in patience and self control for me but the challenge inspires me and thought of having all day Friday to work on it gets me through this week! I am sure I am not the only artist to look forward to something that could end in disaster, here's to tiny playing cards and wee cigars!

Balance

2010-01-18T11:44:00.000-08:00

In early 2007 my husband and I bought our first house, being animal lovers we were almost as excited for the prospect of our first dog as we were the house. We adopted Shippo from animal control soon after moving in. Being that he was a rescue at times he was hard to love his issues almost getting the best of us, but never even during the worst of times did I ever think of giving him away, the love I got from him and the satisfaction of taking care of him and watching him grow was enough to make it all worth it.

Around that same time, I was able to make a decision I had been longing to make for years; I virtually quit my job keeping only 8 hours a week and devoted my time to ceramics. Like Shippo this was a project I was starting from the ground up and at times became frustrating and ended with me in tears. But more often than not I woke each day excited to enter my studio and see what creatures I could bring to life that day. Like the satisfaction gained from spending time with Shippo, watching my skills in ceramics grow and my business become real was worth all the hassle.

Last year in August after much deliberating my husband and I decided Shippo did in fact need a friend, he seemed lonely after playing with other dogs, and even though I worked from home I could not seem to give him enough hours of playtime. We thought one dog, how much harder can it be than two? Shippo took so long to become the dog he is now, surely we can handle anything. So we adopted Sookie from the Humane society.

During this time last year, I began to wonder if perhaps though I loved ceramics and my business was slowly growing I needed to pick more hours up at work to supplement my meager earnings from art. I loved doing ceramics so much I thought how hard can it be to balance more hours when I love ceramics like I do surely, I can manage two jobs, and so began my quest for more paying work.

Though it was love at first sight at their adoption meeting, it has been hate at second sight for Shippo ever since. He has not adjusted well to another dog in his house. Walking the dogs became a chore instead of an enjoyable daily outing, juggling the two dogs and dog leashes often ending with me tangled and in tears. Sookie is a beagle and is all nose, we have learned the hard way when it comes to getting food she is very smart and will stop at nothing, coming home once to find her with a treat jar stuck on her head. Having the two dogs began to seem impossible a drain on my time and surprisingly a strain on my marriage, I am embarrassed to admit I thought of finding Sookie a new home.

Gaining more hours at work seemed to mirror my struggle with the dogs. Gone were my 8 hour days in the studio replaced with rushing through making a small project in time to get to work, only to be stressed out by learning new job skills and peed on by the patients(its a vet clinic). My work and my attitude towards it quickly began to suffer. Why bother with ceramics? It’s not like I will ever be a famous artists anyways, at least this job though I don’t like it always has a paycheck. Perhaps I thought I should quit ceramics and find a job that’s 40 hours a week and do only that. Balancing the two jobs, like balancing the two dogs seemed impossible. Things in my world seemed very bleak.

With the New Year has slowly come new outlook on things. We have started trying a new training regiment with Sookie, and have found toys that interest her keeping her too busy to follow her nose. She really is a wonderful dog, often playing nurse to me when I don’t feel good, always there with a wagging tail to greet you when you return home. It shames me to think I almost gave up on such a good friend. And so it has been with ceramics, though it is a juggling act I am learning to budget my time to both ceramics and work at the vet clinic. Working at the clinic provides me with more money to put towards the expenses of my business and the family budget, allowing me to focus more on what I want to make not what will sell. Like it is with the dogs some days it is still struggle, some days I miss just being in my studio for hours uninterrupted so much it hurts, but in the long run I know it will be worth it. We have two loving dogs and I will have my business which I have worked so hard to start. My dogs teach me many things and they have taught me to never give up on what you love, and that is a lesson worth all the struggle. I hope 2010 brings me more peace as I continue to learn balance these two halves of my life, three halves really that of being a wife and dog mom as well. I know it won’t always be easy but just like catching the dogs cuddling when they don’t think I can see, the feeling I get from sticking to ceramics and continuing to grow as an artist and a person will be immeasurable.