Flower Picking

Tra La La... This morning we went flower picking. It's so beautiful up here and I am inspired by the sights and smells around me. My nose was treated to the smell of damp earth, sweet herby sage and wet pine needles this morning because it rained before I got up. John and I took our scissors (and firecrackers to ward off the bears) and skipped up to the meadow for some serious flower picking.

I go to pot daily (downstairs in the studio). Last week I cranked out 12 pitchers. I will bisque everything up here in my tiny manual kiln and then take them home to glaze. It's kind of great having my studio in the basement. It makes timing the drying process so much easier - because we are so high up here everything dries SO quickly.

We took a throwing workshop this past weekend at Sierra Nevada College taught by Andy Ruble. It was great, just what I needed - fun to review basics and learn some new tricks. Andy is primarily a sculptor but is capable of throwing HUGE pots. As sometimes happens when I take workshops I do the opposite of what I'm being taught. So he threw big and I threw small, concentrating on a cool faceting trick he showed us that makes undulating flower forms. I am now working on some small oil or perfume bottles. I'll take photos when I get the stoppers figured out. I love exploring a brand new form. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't but the creative energy that goes into trying to figure it out is invigorating.

Even though the internet connection up here makes reading blogs painfully slow I really enjoyed one black bird's guest blogger, Laura Zindel's discussion of green ceramics this week. If you haven't already read it be sure to check it out.