Stewart Creations

Our young friend, Victor, the artist, is coming over for dinner. He’s bringing someone from the Curley School bunch that I haven’t met, Denny. I am eager to meet him because he is the guy who hung the last show and I have sent some bad vibes his way. I need to figure that out.
I am putting up a Red Hat Lady doll in the upcoming Red Show. Every time I finish one of these, it’s a little like giving birth, I have the urge to hand out al capone cigars and say, “It’s a girl!”

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So far I have 9 boxes that I am happy with. Happy enough to bisque fire, anyway. These are going into the Red Show in February, so they all will have some variation of red as the main color.

Today I worked on the berry bowls after doing the finish work on the three boxes I built yesterday. I think I will have five berry bowls for Morgana to choose from. It won’t be long before I can do a bisque firing, I’ve almost got a kiln-ful already.

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My bisque firing went well. On Saturday I will load the glaze kiln, Yippee!!
I have great gifts for my aunt and cousin in Joshua Tree/L.A.
It’s not as fancy as Black diamond earrings … no, wait: it is! The gift is: original arrangements set in hand-crafted pottery vases. Holiday-themed colors and silk flowers. My friend, Sue, of Sue’s Trading Post, is planning the arrangements and I’ll easily have them in time to mail. She makes the most original and beautiful arrangements I’ve ever seen. I’ll get pic.
Those vases are done and Sue has them right now. I have some other things, like Justice’s acorn box that came through the bisque and are ready for clear. I can’t wait to do that.

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It is time to start thinking more specifically about Christmas gifts. I want Sammie to have a knife block this year. She has some really nice, sharp knives but they’re in a drawer, and I want them up on her counter-top.
So you know me, I have been shopping on-line. There’s all kind of options, from Martor USA utility knives to Ikea, and pre-shopping can narrow it down some. I actually am looking for something plastic and bright colored, but I might end up with a light-weight traditional wood block.
At any rate, shopping is fun!

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We went to the opening of the Day of the Dead show at the gallery last night, here’s a pic of my dolls, which are hung almost completely WRONG!!! Am I a temperamental artist or what?

They are all about three feet tall. I wanted them hung straight down with space around them so people could walk around them, but they are smack against the wall and I am not happy about it. Oh yeah and I wanted their feet to be on the same level, not their heads. The more I think about it the madder I get.
Oh well, people seemed to like them.

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I submitted three skeleton dolls, they are not hanging yet, but the grand opening is Saturday (with wine and snacks). I’ll get pics and post them here.
I’m going to wear one of my new velvet blouses. Darn I didn’t bring the velveteen jacket. I’ll look around for a shawl or something, the temperature has dropped and it is at last cool enough to wear clothes.
When I get the pics of the show, I will post them somewhere on a digital scrapbook site. I really like some of the newer ones. I don’t need to be confined to the few I have used in the past. Some of the newer sites are easy to use even for me, digitally challenged as I am.

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I’m almost over my big 10-month-long infatuation with the skeleton dolls. I can rarely summon up the ‘ah, so cute’ feeling when I see them. Here is the red doll finished.

Maybe it’s because I have been so long working on them like a house on fire. In a big hurry to get them done for the gallery. I will have three and maybe even four done by the time I have to hang them for the “Day of the Dead” show.
They are actually pretty cute, but the big romance is gone.
Gah!

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The Red Hat Lady day of the dead doll is almost done. I need to find the right-sized magnum of champagne for her hands and maybe take one more tuck in the dress, raising the hem a little, then she is finished. She’s so pretty!

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everything came out great from the medium kiln, so now I have dolls to put together. I also know the routine for the medium kiln and can use it pretty much any time. Feels like freedom.
I might even get a couple more batches fired before the gallery opening October 3rd.
There is a Pagan Pride celebration and swap meet that a friend of mine has a booth at and she would like to sell some of the dolls, so maybe I can get a few more done by then. I will try to get a bunch of sage smudge sticks and some more tarot card bags done for that, too.

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The big kiln has been having some problems; first there was the element that burned out, next it seems something is wrong with the thermostat.
I fired a huge shelf of stuff, this pic shows about half of it, and it didn’t get up to cone 06. I didn’t know it had mis-fired, so when the kiln was unloaded down to the bottom shelf I put my stuff in a box and carried it home. Sadly, it was still fragile, and I had a lot of breakage.

The good thing is that the most fragile piece, the one that I particularly worried about, did not break. Yippee!
I have fixed what I could and put it in the medium kiln, it filled it completely and I even left out everything that wasn’t a rush. The large kiln is cheaper for my needs, but at this point I am close to panic about the Day of the Dead dolls. They are due in the gallery October 3rd, so time is screeching up on me.

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Two items are listed so far, well, no, more like I have 2 items to list in my etsy store, one is listed and one is on its way.

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You know how you’ll have this little problem over here and another little thing that needs attention over there, you know, just paying attention to your life as it unfolds? So a couple of the problems I have been living and meditating on lately have to do with who I let in my life and who I don’t. That has become a can of worms, a big personal and moral issue to me, involving humbleness, openness, and a bunch of other worms in that can, and after almost a year of thinking about it I’m still a little conflicted. I also have been meditating on why I feel so firmly monogamous in this relationship with Dear One – and when just exactly did this happen? I remember questioning our togetherness in the first ten years, but it’s been that long again where I feel settled and perfectly in love. (Underlying question: is that hormones or love? An age-old problem.) I also have been studying surface decoration in my clay work, since I don’t have a glaze mixed up yet, but I am testing slips. On that subject, there is also some financial points to consider, so naturally I have color/cost possibilities rolling around in my mind. It’s pretty busy up there in my head, and I know what a luxury it is to be able to live on purpose, making personal and informed choices, and not have to scramble to exist (like a lot of the rest of the world).
I’ve found a piece that represents many of the points I have been pondering lately.
http://www.ceramicartdaily.net/booksales/makingmarks.pdf
I tested it and it works better if you paste the address in your browser bar.

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Now that I am a card-carrying member of the Art Alliance, I have a market for Prints and might actually try to sell some. I am still in love with the idea of driving over the press with my Miata to get the effect of an actual roller-type printing press. It’s not too early to think about Christmas Cards if you nedd a lot of them and want a great design. Beat the rush, is my motto.
I’d like to sell the camel in the moonlight print, that is my best and I have five good prints and several mono-prints that are good enough. I only need a few for myself. I have been thinking of re-visiting the camel on some of the tile I picked up at auction. It’s different size and texture, and seems to carve real soft lines.

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I’, trying to not be hard on myself and indulge in any kind of negative ‘self-talk’, but it’s hard when I pull a real bone-head move. I wish there was Wholesaleinsurance.net to cover silly mistakes.
For instance: I cleaned out a little desk a few weeks ago, packed my camera and charger in a nifty little black bag and got rid of the rest of the accumulated junk in those drawers. Today when my camera finally blinked ‘low battery’ I whip out the very organized pack and find that the charger is the wrong one. Wonder what I did with the right one?
Yeah, I guess I do need insurance.

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We fired raku today and I did the sculpture of the boxer, but the copper sulfate cooled a little at just the wrong time and his hair turned green instead of coppery. So now he looks a little like Dr. Frankenstein’s monster. The crackle came out just right on his face, it’s a pity about the hair. I left him in the ceramics studio for the last class show-and-tell.
It’s just the head, I didn’t want to have to fabricate nba shirts or any other kind of wardrobe, but I wanted to try this technique. David Bradley showed us after he discovered it in an Appalachian workshop, you throw a cylinder and divide the pot into quarters with a thin line, then push out for the eyes, nose, and lips. Then the ears. You work fast on wet clay, it can be tweaked later, but the best stretching happens in the first half hour.
I’ll post a pic later.

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Art books refresh my creative juices. I just finished The White Rabbit and Other Delights by Alan Bisbort.

http://openlibrary.org/b/OL988301M/white-rabbit-and-other-delights

What a long strange trip it’s been. I will give this book to my friend who is moving to Arkansas next week. We are getting together tomorrow for lunch and to say ‘goodbye’.
My friend is an artist. A REAL artist, and she will love this book. Even though she is younger than my son, she still finds the sixties art interesting and inspiring, and understands the philosophies involved with being a seeker and a slacker.
Don’t expect wedding invitations from her, she’s going to Arkansas to stay with her Dad for a surgical procedure. The reason she’s actually moving there, is because she wanted to move anyway and her lease is up, and it just seems like a good time.
I remember being that loosely tied, back in the sixties.

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I loved looking around the artist colony at the restored Curley School in Ajo, AZ the other day. The cheapest rent is $207 for a studio apartment plus about $60 electric. Phone and internet are high in Ajo, like $80, and not exactly speedy, but the art colony has set up a computer lab with ten or twenty ‘puters on line for use, so that’s a non-issue.
A really great web site http://www.isdanet.org/ to look at the set-up. I would consider it for a summer, maybe.
I have cut all my expenses, my car insurance rates, even pedicures. I am in dire need of a pedicure, but too cheap. I don’t want to have to go to work. I’ll have to break down one of these days, I know.
The pink quilt is looking good, I am attaching the front and back now, with just one layer of medium batting. I like the blankies to be easy to wash and dry so they get a lot of use.

This has been changed since the pic. It now has narrow dark stripes down the middle parts instead of the wide ‘cross’ effect. It got to creeping me out, looking all Christian like that. It’s nicer now, I’ll take a pic soon and post it.

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This little plate is the best thing I have made so far in ceramics class. It is about 8 inches by 10 inches.
I signed up for the 3 credit Mata Ortiz ceramic class/trip. Mata Ortiz is about 100 miles south of New Mexico a little northeast of the Casa Grande ruins. I hope we get to go see them, the ruins, while we are there.
I will be back in early June and unemployed. I might take a Spanish class this summer, but that won’t take a lot of time and I have my eyes on the evening class anyway, I have heard good things about the teacher for that particular class.
I love sales, and have even thought of commission only sales for the summer, which is the easiest job to get in this economy. I looked here life insurance lead . Just not sure what I might find, but I AM half-way looking. I don’t want to work hard.
Paris came up with ‘posterior glaucoma unemployment’ which translates into ‘I can’t see my a55 getting a real job’. That’s me.
I also am looking into an internship with Shell. They are one of my most promising targets for Planet Cornucopia money, as they donate a lot and have a large non-profit unit. I would consider working in the non-profit part of Shell Oil, and an internship would be a great place to start.

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Computer Graphics Art class today. The one my son is taking with me. We get to make posters. I’ve been focusing on my non-profit business this term, so the cards, logo, stationery, all have the non-profit business on. So will the poster.
Thing is, I hit a snag. I had been planning my first official project to be in Honduras, but in the last couple of weeks everything to do with money has contracted. The stipulation that the grant or donation be spent in the US is increasing.
My MacroEconomics class is teaching me that closing your borders is the wrong thing to do in a recession or depression. Oh well, not my decision, I just roll with it.
I need experience anyhow, so how about I put away the Samsoniteand do projects here at home for a few years while I finish school and the economy gets better? (Is that wishful thinking?)
Course, I have to change the logo on all of the stuff, but that’s the fun part.

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so I think I’ll go to ‘first Fridays’ with some pals this weekend and stop in to see Norm’s show at Space 55 gallery. It’s downtown Phoenix and First Fridays is the big night for them.
Actually, they have live theater every weekend night at 636 E Pierce. It’s just south of Roosevelt on 7th Street. There is a coffee house at the same location called 7th Street Cafe. It’s quite a find, gallery, theater and coffee. very funky atmosphere.
Last week I was so tired from setting things up for Norm along with the school stress, that I didn’t well sleep for a couple of nights in a row. A friend gave me some sleeping pills she uses, she has a lot of pain and takes pain pills and these little blue things regularly for her health problems, so she said she takes two or three, I though ok I’ll take two and see how it goes.

I slept 15 hours!!!! and the whole next day, Saturday, I was sleepy, too. Took two long naps and still slept hard on Saturday night. Pretty funny. Just the opposite from taking something like diet pills.
I heard about alli diet pills , seems they work real well to keep you from being hungry without causing jitters. Something to look into if I ever decide to get rid of all this extra weight.
I started seeing a tutor for Spanish today. I can get free tutoring at school, and a gal in my class wants to get together to practice conversation with me, too. Maybe I can actually catch on. Hope so, I need the grade.

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I am shopping for more memory, going to get 100 more mg, k or whatever RAM. My son says if I want to simplify my whole livingroom, I should look into getting a HDMI switch . So that’s something else I need to look at while I am in my friendly neighborhood electronics store.
We went to Norm Pedersen’s photography show last night at Space 55. It was great, of course. Paris and Heather went with us, and we picked up Norm on the way.
There was a live presentation going on at the theater, but we didn’t go in there, just looked at the pics.
After, we went for pie, Norm and I had coffee, everyone else was afraid they wouldn’t get to sleep if they had coffee, but I wasn’t afraid. I really like coffe with my pie, and Norm agreed that it was the best way to have dessert. Slept like a baby.
I’d like to attach another of Norman Pedersen’s posters that I did for his show, but I’m having some kind of problem. Later.

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