Unexpected Relaxation

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!?

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

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!

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!

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

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.