No pictures, but we got it done

Hi all.  Well, we taught our summer school class some ceramic art.  Eleven little girls, who sat for a total of 30 minutes during the 3 hour class.  They had a lot of fun, but we were too busy to take pictures.

I was really glad Sue had thought of another project.  If we hadn't had that tile for them to paint, I'm afraid we would have had a big chunk of empty time.

I'm rethinking how I want to do the next section.  I want to do a story to go along with what we're making, so it's more cohesive.

 

A new gallery...

Yes, I know this isn't the greatest picture in the world, BUT.....

Clay Hands Gallery in Tubac is going to start carrying my luminarias in the fall.  She's taking 20 in October and possibly another 20 in January.  And since that's my busiest time of year, I thought I would go ahead this summer and make them ALL.  

This is my first 13.  Got them out of the kiln yesterday.  I have 8 more glazed and ready to be fired, and 10 more at home, so I figure another 10 and I'll be good to go.  I'll probably do a few more, so that I can have a few for the fall sale at school.

I tried a new glaze this time, Sylvan Green.  (Made by Sylvana, of course).  I really like it for textured surfaces.  There are two in this picture, bottom row, 2nd and 4th from the left.  

Progress in my chosen profession.  Love it!

Kids: Vacation together, teaching a class!

We took two of our grandkids up to Payson this last week for a little vacation.  This is in the Natural Bridge Park.  It's a little water grotto, with about a million steps down! 

This week my friend and I are teaching a kids class at Vision Gallery.  We're making ceramic items for an art show they'll have the next day.  If you have kids that you'd like to get into art, the classes that Vision Gallery has for them are great:  www.visiongallery.org and click on Vision Kidz.  They also have winter classes.  I'll be teaching two of those:  Pencil Drawing in November, and Watercolor in April.  

I'll keep you posted  on how this first class goes.

Well Worth the Wait

I've been waiting for awhile for these to come out of the kiln, and, to me, the results were well worth the wait.

These luminarias turned out exactly as I had hoped.  I think they have a lot of personality, don't you?

I haven't put candles in them yet to test them out, but I bet they're gonna look cool.  


The bowl has a variation of a glaze combination that I had tried before, and was happy with, so I thought I would try it again.  


Someone in the studio said it was a happy accident, and I replied firmly that I PLANNED it that way.  The weird thing?  I actually did!!!!

A table of my very own

We got some new patio furniture last week: a love seat, and two chairs in the resin made to look like wicker.  

I've decided I need a coffee table out there, so I'm going to make one.  I have a potential client for a coffee table so this will be a good learning experience for me.  

I'm using the "store bought" blank tiles on this one to see how they work out.

I've applied the white background to the top tiles, and still need to do the bottom ones.  Then the tiles need to be glazed and fired.  


I'll keep you posted as the work progresses.

 

What do you think?

Isn't this cactus gorgeous?  I took this picture a couple of months ago when we took the grandsons to Boyce Thompson.  If you've never been there I highly recommend it for early spring.  Lots and lots of stuff in bloom.  

I'm thinking of doing this as a very large acrylic painting.  Then again, I'm second guessing myself, wondering if it's too busy, and I'd make myself crazy doing it, or should I make myself crazier and do it in watercolor?  

What do you think?

Photography in the studio

Today was the first time that I had used the light box set up in the studio to photograph some of my luminarias.  I may have a place in Tubac that will carry them for me.  But she wants to see pictures of them first.

I never completed my effort to have my own photo setup for picture taking so today took advantage of the setup in the ceramic studio.  Sylvana and Ted helped me set up my stuff, and gave me invaluable hints on how to do it right.  The pictures look pretty cool, huh?

I hope the lady likes my work and will take a few of these.  Especially since they seem to be the focus of my first week of summer school.  (I've made 8 in the last 2 days).