Guilty Pleasures

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

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

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

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

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:)