Work and Play

I can’t believe this is the last day of July. Where did it go? I look back and see a blur of hot days where working in the studio, especially with clay is hard. With no air conditioning and dry weather, clay can be cranky. 

Ok, so can I if it’s too hot. In spite of it all, I’m surprised at what I did get done. And how much fun it is to share my studio with emerging artists. 

Meet my young visiting artists. 

Meyer is 8 years old and a very busy girl with gymnastics classes, horseback riding and many family vacations. Her summer is booked. But I was so happy to have her visit my studio 2 weeks in a row. Here she is doing watercolor painting which she loves. 

The newest visiting artist was Madden, age 18 months. This is his first visit to my studio. We see him every week, and we go to the park, play with toys and books. But he’s not been ready to make his mark in the studio until now. Here he is concentrating on his art. 

Playing with a new idea. 

I don’t know why I started making these new pieces. Just one day, I took out the clay and a tower appeared. I didn’t even know what to call them. Or what they would be used for. I showed them to my daughter and she immediately said, “It’s a fairy house.” 

So there you go. I’ve now made four fairy houses which are slowly getting a paint job. Will I make more? I have no idea. Just like I had no idea I would have a cast of weird animal characters appear in my studio. But, I think, maybe that’s what creating is all about. 

Rolling out clay. 

Not thinking or planning or designing.

Just putting my hands in it,

Letting it take shape

And letting it shape me. 

Hot Fun in the Summertime

 

It’s hot here in Oregon right now. This is not just uncomfortable for me, but it’s definitely not the right weather for working in clay. So, what do I do while waiting for the rain or cooler weather?

That’s a good question and I have my own answers. 

Paint. 

I have a shelf of newly made pieces waiting to be bisque fired. Before I do that, I paint on colorful underglazes to add detail and texture. Here are a few I got done this week. 

Because I don’t have air conditioning, I just do a few pieces at a time until it gets too hot. Then I stop. 

Watercolor fun. 

I’m very lucky to have such adorable and amazing grandkiddos who like to come over and play. Sometimes, we go to the park or play outside. But with the weather this week, we found ways to play inside. 

I learned to paint in watercolor when I was 16 and now I’m passing this on to my granddaughter, Meyer. We had a great time doing the wet into wet. Adding salt was a surprise to her and a delight for me. 

Baking. 

Yes, you read that right. Hot weather and baking don’t usually go together, but I love to bake. So when my daughter-in-law asked me to make my delicious shortbread into hearts for Meyer’s sleep ‘under’ party, I was happy to help. 

I’ll admit it took a little time to figure out how to cut out my buttery shortbread into enough big hearts for all the girls but it all worked out great. 

Reading and crochet. 

My other hot weather past times go back to my childhood in hot, humid Ohio. As a girl, I spent many a summer on my neighbors covered back patio reading Nancy Drew and learning to embroider. Now I crochet. A lot. 

So, while I sit in the ‘cool cave’, I read silly mysteries and crochet for my grandkids. Right now, I’m working on a polar bear security blanket for the baby. Do I have a pattern? Nope. I’m just  figuring it out as I go which for me is the fun of it. Right now, it just looks like a small blanket but that will change. 

Too hot to work with clay

What do I do?

Play like I did 

Back in the day

Kid fun in a new grown up way

Hello July!

I can’t believe summer is rolling by quite so fast. Roses are blooming. Tomatoes and zucchini  are ripening. And the smell of lavender out in the yard fills the air. It is luscious.  

To add more summer fun, our neighborhood had a small 4th of July parade. When my children were little we had a big parade complete with a Mom flag drill team, Dads with lawnmowers, kids with decorated bikes and wagons. And the local fire department truck leading the way. This year, new neighbors put together a short parade with a firetruck too! It was so fun to see my ‘kids’ and grandkids having fun marching through the neighborhood once again. 

Madden Mondays and Meyer Friday. 

Every Monday, little Madden comes to play with us. He goes for a walk around the lake while he naps. He rolls on his blanket, grabs his toys and giggles. He takes his bottle and plays some more and naps. He’s a delightful, little guy.

I used to watch my granddaughter, Meyer on Mondays until she started kindergarten. I loved it. And Meyer and I had some wonderful times: baking muffins, playing with play dough and painting in the studio. This last week, we had 2 days to play! We went to the park. And played in the studio with real clay making plates from porcelain clay. So much fun!

Slow clay. 

I said I was taking the summer off so I didn’t set up any expectations for my studio work. I let go of my old routines and process. Things sat. And I didn’t do much of anything for awhile. 

But a strange thing began to happen: small animals started showing up on my studio shelves. Little flower characters popped up. And a few penguins waddled in to visit. 

I just went in to play around and now, look what I found!

Life is full of surprises. Some good. Some not. One thing I’m learning is to let the feelings flow and take the time I need to take care of myself. Reading and resting. Walking a bit slower while my knee heals. And letting the clay play itself out into whatever form it wants. 

Taking the summer off isn’t what I’d thought it would be. 

It’s not boring or lifeless

It’s calm and restful. 

And surprisingly creative and fun. 

Clearing and Experimenting

 

Taking the summer off isn’t all play and that’s a good thing for me. With all the life changes flowing my way, having things to do and feeling productive is grounding. The key to doing this without stressing myself out is space and pace. 

Clay, crochet and cleaning are on my summertime agenda. But instead of pushing and striving and making lists, I’m leaning into them softly. 

New clay. 

I wanted to try out some new clay options for small to medium sculptures. The first option did work but I wasn’t a fan of working with it. Then I got a sample of some new clay from another clay artist to try. This was a porcelain sculpture clay. It’s white, smooth and lovely.

It rolled out well. I liked working with it and the small figures seem to dry well. I didn’t have enough clay to try a larger piece, so I’m not sure how it would work out. But it was fun to play with a new clay. And to fire my kiln with some new landscape and sculpture pieces. 

Calming with crochet. 

Ok, I think I’m finally hitting that stage: Gram is making baby blankets. I taught myself to crochet about 20 years ago and focused on Freeform crochet, lacy angora scarves and felting. It’s always been fun, creative and calming. 

Now with 3 grandchildren and a need to ease my stress, I’ve been making throws and crib blankets from craft store yarn. It’s easy. The super soft yarn is not expensive. And there’s no complicated pattern, just chain and crochet until it’s as big as I want it to be.  

One slat at a time.

When we built our home 30 years ago, we had 9 custom wood blinds installed in the downstairs. It was a big expense then and an even bigger expense now. Before the downstairs flood, I looked into updating and replacing the blinds. But because of our back door configuration, the more up-to-date 2” blinds wouldn’t work. 

After all the demolition and reconstruction, the original wood blinds were filthy. There was only one way to get them clean: swifter dusters and Murphy’s Oil Soap. After dusting, I wiped across and under each and every slat. The kitchen sink was the biggest challenge. The only way to do it was to climb onto the counter and maneuver myself behind the sink. 

Releasing the old dust of the past, cleared my mind,

Crochet softened my heart, 

And new clay opened up places for new ideas. 

Isn’t that what Summer is for?

Taking the Summer Off

 

As an artist and mother, I’ve always worked year round with an occasional family vacation. And believe me I full intended to keep on, keeping on regardless of the changes in my life. In fact, I can get very stubborn about sticking to my work schedule which I’ve developed over the last 20 years. 

But now, I just can’t. 

Life changes and losses have hit me hard, leaving me feeling overwhelmed. Unresolved grief is sapping my energy. The more I fight it, the harder it is. Finally, I figured out forcing myself to keep marching ahead is just not working. 

Time to chill. 

As the traditional school year winds down, I started to remember my childhood summers. I biked to the woods and rested under trees. I read outside on the neighbors covered patio. I splashed in the community pool and played hide and seek after dinner until it got dark. 

I think the key words here: Play and Rest. 

While I love creating in clay and paint and glaze, my goal is to make work that sells. And I’ve been showing and selling my work for over 20 years now. Yes, my work has changed and so have I. When mentioned that to a fellow artist, she said that art is supposed to evolve. I felt a weight lifted. 

A balance of work and play and rest. Yes. 

There’s always something that needs to be done, but do I have to do it right now? Probably not. And has my creative work become less fun? Probably yes, because it’s become work. With all the life changes of the past 3 years, I’m exhausted.  I need time to feel the losses. Feel the sadness and tiredness. Find ways to heal and fill my soul again. 

And as much as I want to feel better fast, the more I push, the worse it gets. I can feel that what I need to feel better is to stop pushing myself. I need to slow down. But I know myself and doing nothing is not the way out either. 

The other day, the 3 C’s came to me. Three things I can do: crochet, clay and cleaning. Crochet is easy and comforting. Clay, now for play only, helps to feed my soul. And cleaning helps to clear my mind and my home of cobwebs. 

A summer to rest. 

Let myself live easier. 

Breath by breath. Step by step. 

Doing things that comfort and clear. 

And bring more ways for me to play. 

An Appetite for Creativity. And Fun.

Are there times when you feel restless? Like there’s something there and if you just put your hand out, you’d catch it. But you don’t know what it is? Instead there’s a space like that feeling you get before you know you’re hungry. But you don’t want food for your body, you want food for your spirit. 

Creating feeds my spirit in many satisfying ways. It’s play. It’s work. It’s problem solving and it’s mystery. Even as I complete something new, I find a new sound, smell, color, shape, texture to puzzle and entice me. I wonder if I’ll ever really be finished?

Then an answer popped up my inbox:

“You created something amazing, and now you get to do it again.

And you get to do it again and again and again and again your whole life long. It is natural to feel a creative hunger for the next thing when we have completed the arc of creating the thing before. It is healthy. It is for the good. In fact, it is how life keeps us in the flow of life. We need to give ourselves permission around this. Permission for creative appetite.” Author, Tara Mohr

Completion and beginning again. 

Two sculptures I’ve been working on are ready for the last phase: glazing. Instead of feeling that satisfied feeling, I got restless. Instead of glazing these two sculptures, I started looking at two different sculptures on my top shelf. 

I took them down, held them in my hands and wondered. What to do? What colors did these pieces want? How to reveal the textures? Where was the story? 

I knew I needed to finish the other pieces and yet, I yearned to work these two, too. Instead of forcing myself to completion, I let them show me their colors as I painted. I let my creative appetite lead me. 

The result? Now instead of 2 sculptures glazed and fired, I’ll have 4. 

Fun in the sun.  

It was hot, hot, hot here. Although Darby came to us from California, he was hot too. Instead of hiding out with my R2D2 room air conditioner, I decided Darby and I needed to do something different. Like a Dr. Seuss book: it was too hot to play and too cold to stay, so Darby and I decided to go out and play. 

He was not sure what to do with this plastic pond. He sniffed it. He circled it. He ran around it. When I threw his ball in it, he delicately put one foot in to reach his ball. Finally, I used his favorite thing, the hose and got him in the pool.