New Work! Part Two

Here are the rest of the pics from the glaze firing I unloaded yesterday, and there will be one more post yet with what comes out of the kiln cooling down now!

Polar bears, one of the larger figurines from yesterday's pic along with a second one, bear bowl, figurine

Beaver bowl

Beaver bowl top view

Beaver figurines

Bighorn Sheep figurine

Black rabbit figurine

Bobcat - glaze didn't turned out as tawny as I'd hoped, oops, should have tested it first

Two buffalo figurines and a "bowlfalo"

Calico Cat figurine

Chickadee figurines

Deer figurine

Elephant figurines

Fox bowl - side view

group pic of fox stuff with that black rabbit

Fox figurines

Grey and white cat figurine

Mallard Duck Bowl

Mountain Goat Bowl

Mountain Goat Figurine

Mountain Goat Figurine and Bowl

"Nutmeg Glaze" Rabbit bowl

Same bowl as above, side view

Pileated Woodpecker figurines

Rabbit figurine group shot, two of these have been in other pics

Suffolk Sheep figurines

Shih Tzu Figurine

Snowy Owl Figurine

Snowy Owl Figurines, group shot - the 2 small ones are quite small, one is 'average' size and one is larger

 

New Work! Part One of Three

Yesterday I unloaded the first of 2 glaze firings and was very happy with how things turned out! It's nice to have some brand new work finished.  Here are some of the pics, and there are lots more to come, the second glaze firing is happening now so I'm hoping those things turn out.  Almost all of these pieces are cone 6 stoneware.

I've now uploaded all the work, in three posts.  Here are the links to Part Two and Part Three

Sleeping Fox Bowl, view one - hard to photograph in one shot

Sleeping Fox Bowl - view 2

Turtle Figurine -  this and the next figurine are all one colour versus having eyes painted on with underglazes, I'm thinking I like having the variety especially where this particular glaze breaks nicely.

Wolf Figurine

Rooster Bowl

Polar Bear, Fox and Owl "large" figurines.  In this batch of work I've tried making some big figurines as well as tiny ones, to have more variety in size and price points

Squirrel figurines - 5 of these are the size I'd been typically making, plus a 'large' one and a tiny one. 

Real live squirrel that was hanging out nearby during my photoshoot munching out on some cached nuts and chattering some commentary that I couldn't understand.  This is perhaps the same squirrel that ran through my glaze/kiln shed while I working, scaring the crap out of me.

Rabbit Figurine - there are few in this firing

Dragon figurine

Bottom of the dragon - glazed because I finally got some stilts and have tried using them for the first time.  Success!  I'll be glazing the undersides of more of my pieces from now on.  Thanks to my husband (quality control) for suggesting numerous times that I should glaze the bottoms of my pieces.

Horse Figurine

Ox Figurine

Rooster Figurine (earthenware)

Monkey Figurine

Tiger Figurine.  What does this tiger and the previous six figurines have in common?  Chinese Astrology animals.  I also have a bunch of sheep in this firing, a rat, dogs and a snake.  Just missing the goat and pig.

Brown bunny bowl

Same bowl, top view

True story: shortly after fussing over the brown bunny bowl and taking lots of pics, these 2 real live, wild rabbits appeared and started chasing each other all over the woods while I was trying to photograph the next pieces.  Law of attraction?   Like with other animals around our place these ones seem to want to be captured on film.

Wild Rabbit Action Shot

Snowy owl bowl

Same bowl as above, side view

A second Snowy Owl bowl.  While all my work is one of a kind/no molds; it's more efficient to work in series.

Little brown bear figurine, I'm smitten with this glaze combo: a Red Iron Oxide slip on white stoneware clay, with Raw Sienna glaze (from "mastering cone 6 glazes") over top.

Small turtle figurine

Fun with figurines: a beaver and seagull wearing Sou'Westers, and a polar bear with a heart, many months early for next Valentine's Day.

A gaggle of Sullivan's Pond Geese getting ready to migrate from this pond to Dart Gallery in Dartmouth

Another view of the geese

That's it for this post; there were some more pieces from this kiln load that I didn't photograph yet and hopefully by tomorrow afternoon I'll have the next kiln unloaded.

This Week's Favourite Things! Monday April 20th - Sunday April 26th 2015

1.  This episode of "The Trews" by Russell Brand, in response to the CEO of Gravity Payments slashing his salary to pay his staff more; and how various reporters cut him up for it.  Wow. Interesting that people would publicly bash this CEO for doing something nice, makes me glad I don't have cable and live in the woods.

2. The Emperor's New Clothes, a brand new doc by Russell Brand and Michael Winterbottom about income inequality and how we've all been duped by the financial system.  It's awesome!

3.  This quote by Lao Tzu

4.  Glazing!! waiting for the first of two glaze kilns to cool down, hoping things turned out. We'll see!  There's some irritated rodent occupying the shed who gave me an earful the last time I went in there to work on glaze firing number 2...  SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK  hopefully whatever it is, is cute and small and likes to stay hidden.

This Week's Favourite Things! Monday April 13th - Sunday April 19th, 2015

1.  The big demonstration of support for the Nova Scotia Film Industry last Wednesday, in protest of the cut to the film tax credit.  I think the thousands of people taking to the streets of Halifax indicate how many people are affected by this change.  Even William Shatner tweeted in (pic in the above link).  This industry provides good jobs for younger folks and brings a lot of economic activity throughout many sectors, hopefully this abrupt cut to the tax credit didn't just axe the industry.  I hope the government can see how dollars spent on this sort of tax credit might possibly have a higher 'velocity' than money sunk into the coffers of already profitable big businesses.  In any case it's good to see people getting involved.

2. Random links found on twitter:  I love this video from Emoi Art in Ireland, it's cool to see artists using video and music (drums!) to promote their art. Play The Move (Freedom of Art) from Ontario is "a transparent and fully engaged social art network that helps solve the ever increasing need of emerging artists.  Up with freedom!  City Calm is also great and has lots of links for things like yoga and vegan recipes.  Nice.

3. This CNN article about the CEO of Gravity Payments taking a 90% pay cut and slashing company profits in order to increase his employees salaries so they could enjoy a better standard of living.  Bravo!  Now if only more CEOs would follow suit the global economy could be saved!

4. How to activate your super conscious mind.  Cool youtube video, I might have linked to it before.

5.  The Prince Ea Channel on Youtube.  Found this via a post from Collective Evolution about "Why I Got Rid of All My Friends".  Lots of neat videos here.

6.  This week's bisque firing!  Hooray I fired my kiln and realized things have been taking so long because I actually have two, not one, kiln loads of stuff.  I've decided it's good exercise and a nice part of the process having to carry things from my studio room on the 2nd floor of the house across the yard to the kiln shed, and a lot cheaper than figuring out how to have a studio all on one level.  And where these firings have already taken 3 months longer than I thought they would, what is the hurry.  Getting closer to having new work.

7. Wildlife! Birds, squirrels, deer.   It seems that in exchange for being fed through this hard winter the local wildlife have been especially photogenic.  This pics were taken by my husband.

We have a metal bird feeder now, this one got chewed to bits.  It was difficult to put the lid on properly but made for some funny photos:

Squirrel with 2 American Goldfinches and a Chickadee.  Pic by Brendan Labelle.

Chickadee and Squirrel having a conversation.. Chickadee -"What the F are you doing in my feeder?"  Squirrel - "Eating sunflower seeds obviously".   pic by Brendan Labelle.

Three of the White Tailed Deer that having been hanging around the compost box.  Brendan started feeding them apples, carrots and assorted vegetable scraps.  The deer on the right has an apple in its mouth.  Pic by Brendan Labelle

8.  Various videos on psychopaths/narcissists. 

Narcissists Destroy Who They Cannot Control 

How To Deal With a Psychopath - I like point number 3 of the above videos "the psychopath has the uncanny ability to turn anything you say against you".  mmm hmmm, been there and have experienced that.  And in point 5 "maybe someday people who trusted you will see the truth.  But even so if your psychopath was a masterful one they will wonder about you, even after the true colours of the psychopath are made known".   Sad but true I think.  Oh well. It's okay.

Psychopath BBC(?) Documentary - the last couple minutes are cut off on this link.

The Psychopath Next Door CBC Doc Zone Documentary

 I was going to totally stop blogging about this topic out of fear that it makes me look like a whacko and get on with my life, but I find I can't help myself.  Up with looking like a whacko.  In fact in order to prove that I'm not afraid of looking like a super whacko I'll admit that in pondering whether or not I should keep writing on this topic I did one of the free Oracle Card readings from Doreen Virtue's awesome new website.  The reading was in favour of passionate sharing.  Goody.

I guess it's common for those who have been affected by the psychopath issue to want to spread the word to help others, and I watched some good videos about it in the last week.  One amazingly positive benefit of my experience and new insight into this issue is that I've pretty much stopped caring what people think of me anyhow.  It's nice! Up with fearlessness!  

I've previously been brainwashed by a skilled manipulator to think a former target is the incarnation of evil (sorry former target, I cannot apologize enough and will always feel like a big douche for this), so I can see how it could happen to people I know or knew.  But I can take it on the chin as my karma for being so quick to believe negative things about others in the past.  Bring on the karma. 

After spending a sunny day in the garden this past week pruning various things I was struck by the sheer abundance the earth wants to offer all of it's residents, how easy it is to grow healthy food, how bright the sun is, and how we've all seemed to have forgotten that all we humans really need to get by is food, water, shelter and community.  Somehow a whole bunch of us have been bamboozled into thinking that what we've ended up with - an epidemic of wage slavery to big corporations, corrupt governments and financial institutions, unhealthy destructive agribusinesses, - is "normal".  Ba ha. This made me think that the upward mobility and deceitful ways of the psychopathic among us might be a big part of what has kept so many in oppression as resources are diverted from the many to the pockets of a corrupt minority.

 So up with spreading the word about sociopathy/psychopathy, the more that people are educated, hopefully the less likely they'll be used and abused by those among us that lack a conscience.  And it's not just money, it's time, energy, passion and personal power that gets bled out from the empaths that they trample over; which is too bad because it is a lot easier to be led than to lead, and the world perhaps could use more empathic leaders like that Gravity Payments CEO guy.  Luckily he didn't get derailed from his vision.  More reason not to keep quiet about the psychopathy issue.  Note that I'm not advocating some sort of witch hunt, because I don't think it is someone's fault if they were born without a conscience, I'm just suggesting that maybe let's all wake up and quit helping them rise to positions of power. If that feels agreeable.  Up with freedom. 

And here's a Doc Zone article from the documentary, which includes a link to a modified online psychopathy checklist quiz based on the popular test developed by Robert Hare.  For the record, I scored a 3 on this, so pretty much the opposite of a psychopath, believe it or not.

And here's an article on traits of the psychopath's victims.  I had a bunch of these! But a fortunate outcome for me was that somehow my experience healed a bunch of them.  Hooray for me!  To quote a tweet I saw today from @ItsKylieJenner "Once you get f**ked over, you stop giving a f**k about a lot of things." In my experience this has been true.  It's nice.   Maybe that's why doctors used to used leeches to heal people.  Who knows.  Actually it looks like leeches may be making a comeback in modern medicine.  Same with maggots: "Maggots and Leeches, Old Medicine is New". Interesting!

This Week's Favourite Things! Monday April 6th - Sunday April 12th, 2015

1.  The Nova Scotia Potters Guild.  Nova Scotia has oodles of potters and an active friendly guild - the Annual General Meeting was yesterday with more workshops planned for the year ahead.  Anyone into clay can join and the yearly $25 membership gets you a web listing on the spiffy guild website, which everyone in Nova Scotia and beyond should check out, as well inclusion on the email list to receive notices of all sorts of awesome clay related stuff.

2. The Collective Evolution website and Facebook page.  Nice. There's a lot of feel-good items to see here, good news to beat world blues.

3. The Dartmouth Makers.   This is a new group in Dartmouth inspired by the popular Halifax Crafters market.  The Dartmouth Makers spring show is coming up May 2nd/3rd at the brand new and stylish King's Wharf condo complex in Dartmouth with 38 juried vendors. 

4.  Art Zone Gallery.  This is a new gallery in downtown Halifax, I haven't been in yet but hear it is beautiful and owned by a really nice couple.  Here's a cool news story about the space.  Sounds like they just want to provide a nice resource for the Halifax Art Community.  Bravo! The next show is a group photography show opening reception this Wednesday April 15th 6-8.  I've heard the receptions at this place are awesome.

5.  These articles which made me feel much better about life in general and are probably a good read for anyone who has ever been on the receiving end of a crime (I don't like the "v" word at all).   This first one is good for anyone who has experienced trauma and/or worriers:  10 Primary Cognitive Distortions (Negative Thinking Styles).  
Also excellent is Coping With the Aftermath of a Fraud: 12 Steps to Get Your Life Back.  Very helpful!

This Week's Favourite Things! Monday March 30th - Sunday April 5th 2015

1.  Jane Goodall's 81st birthday was April 3rd!  She's so awesome.

2.  Reeny Smith's performance April 3, at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax.  Wow.  Star power.  Reeny's from North Preston and opened for Lisa Fischer who was also great.  Reeny can really belt out a tune and has some lovely lyrics, really a moving act with her backup band including members of her talented family.

3.  Sara Macculloch's current show, at Studio 21 in Halifax.  Beautiful work, on display until Wednesday I think.  It really pleased me to notice that her pieces weren't framed.  Rather, the paint of the paintings often slopped over the sides onto the light coloured canvas in a joyful, free way.  Nice.  Fine Art.  Freedom.

4. The story of the Taoist Farmer.  Thought about this a lot this week, that sometimes what looks like bad news only looks that way because you're just part way through a bigger story.  
Here's a link with several versions of the story.  Version 1 from the link:

This farmer had only one horse, and one day the horse ran away. The neighbors came to condole over his terrible loss. The farmer said, "What makes you think it is so terrible?"

A month later, the horse came home--this time bringing with her two beautiful wild horses. The neighbors became excited at the farmer's good fortune. Such lovely strong horses! The farmer said, "What makes you think this is good fortune?"

The farmer's son was thrown from one of the wild horses and broke his leg. All the neighbors were very distressed. Such bad luck! The farmer said, "What makes you think it is bad?"

A war came, and every able-bodied man was conscripted and sent into battle. Only the farmer's son, because he had a broken leg, remained. The neighbors congratulated the farmer. "What makes you think this is good?" said the farmer.   

At the end of the link above is a story called "Three Questions" by Leo Tolstoy that I've never read before, but it's lovely too.  A good reminder on the benefits of staying present.

5.  This youtube video with an interview of Warren Buffet and Bill Gates, where they both share their secrets of success.  They're good pals and look like they have a lot of fun doing what they do.  Last week I linked to Jamie Johnson's doc, 'The One Percent' where there is an interview with Warren Buffet's grand daughter who wasn't happy about her granddaddy not sharing more of his dough with family.  In this video Warren Buffet explains his rationale for this, which is ironically refreshing especially in the context of Jamie Johnson's documentaries in the first place.