More cat stuff

Since I've visited my blog here, I've been continuing to make ceramics and GUESS WHAT MORE CATS.

I was jokingly/cynically trying to make a fast/cheap thing to sell, and as it turns out, that's impossible.  Even a form I can make relatively quickly is a canvas for a drawing that I can get overly involved in.  

This was one of the first ones:

Kitten vase
stoneware, glaze, underglaze

 Simple, yes.  But even a line drawing needs to be done to a certain standard, so these took a little more time than my original goal.  (A big part of the time factor is that underglaze really looks best when it's applied in three layers, so I had to go over lines multiple times.) Then I got addicted and decided to make a few dozen, because that is how I do everything.  Some of these are available in my online store, and some I'm holding back for the KC Clay Guild Holiday sale happening Dec. 3rd - 5th.  I'll be set up at the Mother Ship (the Guild itself, 200 W 74th St, KCMO), as opposed to cleaning my own space at home and hosting there.

The pieces are still affordable, but not, like $15--you want stuff like that, go to a big box store and buy junk made by a robot or underpaid labor.

Cat vases
porcelain, underglaze, glaze

mugs!
porcelain, underglaze, glaze

I started out just making drawings from my memory of what a cat looks like (I'm pretty familiar), but then I started looking at cats I know and using their markings as inspiration.  Prepare for cuteness:

Zevon

Clover

Tilly (foster)

Bruce (foster)

Pauline

It's been a while, hope you come around my many digital neighborhoods and reach out if you ever feel like it.

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Back on the Wagon

It's been A WHILE since I've put paint or vinyl to aluminum.  There are a few reasons for this, but this post is about DOING not NOT DOING.

I took my least favorite small piece and decided to cannibalize it...it just never brought me joy.

Meh. I tried.
24 inch diameter

I put some paint on it.  Then more paint and dragged through the paint while wet to make a texture.

Yum.

Then I put more paint on!  And the magic happened when the sandpaper met the surface, revealing the ridges...

Magic.
I like that you can see some of the old piece in a ghosty shadow.  It is the foundation of this work, after all.

Time to add orzos.  It took some work to figure out exactly how it needed to terminate.  I added and subtracted several times.

Subtle changes, but it took some walk-aways to think it over.

I think it's finished.  Feels great to have a new piece I like.  In 2020 I'll have a show at the Johnson County (Kansas) library, so I'm going to polish some old pieces.  But, honestly, I don't actually NEED to make more work, because I OVERFLOWITH.

24 inch diameter, as yet unnamed 

I'm looking forward to choosing a title, going through my on-going notes of phrases and poetic bits I find here and there to make a perfect match.

More of the day to day on my Instagram!

Wake Up, Sleepyhead

So the blog has been quiet for a year now.  I've been lazy about writing.  I'm still making stuff, though!

Fast highlights I will elaborate on soon:

I've had many companies ask me to hang my work for the Now Showing program at ArtsKC.

I was in a group show at the KC Artists' Coalition.

I participated in Art Westport, the Plaza, and some smaller ceramics sales through the KC Clay Guild.

I've had some home projects, the biggest being completely gutting and remodeling my bathroom.

I've replaced my manic Dumpster diving with flower collecting (dubbed by a friend the Urban Flower Rescue Mission) both around empty lots in town and along country roads.

I've been making planters and larger vessels, and some cats!

Stay caught up on INSTAGRAM because that's my main show-off place right now...

And stay tuned.  Thanks for sticking by me.

Three Small Collages

So, these aren't "mini" compared to what I have been making, but many other artists would be happy to label them such, because they're only 5 x 7 inches.  Therefore, my distinction for them is "small."

Drops No. 5
hand cut scrap papers, ink, matboard
5 x 7 inches

Dyed
found and cut magazine papers, matboard
5 x 7 inches

Shake Before Using
cut and found vintage wall paper, magazine cut outs, matboard
5 x 7 inches

You guys, I have so many magazines now.  IT'S RIDICULOUS.  However, they are in neat stacks in my studio or in tubs in the basement, so it's not a hoarding situation, technically.  Also, I'm using them.  Recently, I have helped a friend with her attic (so much left!  so many goodies!), found a tasty hoarding house down the street, came across some sweet nudie mags at an estate sale, and started in on a spot at the farm that I'd not discovered until a couple months ago.  I have a nice cache of found photos and other weird ephemera, too.

Guess I better make some art, yeah?