New Year's Resolutions

I'm not a big fan of New Year's Resolutions, mostly because when the dust settles and the resolutions are left by the wayside, I don't like carrying the guilt around. So most years I skip the resolutions. But this year, for unknown reasons, I felt compelled to resolve. And, my big, huge, amazing resolution for 2011 is to try to be less of a procrastinator. When I dusted off the cobwebs on my blog, I realized that I have a serious case of procrastinatoritis. I can't believe that I haven't touched my blog since July. Granted the last post about my cowboy boots is pretty spectacular and I love pulling up the blog and seeing the photo of the boots. But seriously... July?!

Anyway, one of my first self-imposed assignments was to get to work on pulling my receipts and invoices to get prepped for tax filing. Mission accomplished! I'm happy to report that when the W-2's and 1099's come in I'll be ready for filing. This opens up new worlds for me in January. What an incredible feeling. One thing that really helped me this past year was to update Quick Books as I made sales so that I was able to use the data for my quarterly state sales tax filings and as a result I had alot less to input at year end. I was also able to work during the year at plugging in my purchase receipts so the task of finishing up was a lot less than it would have been if I had to plug in the whole entire year all at once.

Next, I've been putting off and putting off going through my really, really old inventory as well as pieces that I've been hanging on to that had glaze problems. I like to smash them up and put them up for sale for the mosaic makers on Etsy. I sell them for a price that covers the shipping and listing fees. It's cool for me because I know that they're going to be put to good use and it's certainly better than adding them to the landfill. So this week I had a smash-fest and put together my first Flat Rate USPS Priority Mail box, I listed the box on Etsy and pretty soon after it sold and I was able to send it on it's way to a new life as mosaic pieces. Now my challenge will be to continue the momentum and get another Flat Rate box smashed and listed.

Another major accomplishment - I usually wait until the last day, last hour, last minute to send off submissions for my favorite teapot shows. One show in particular is the Mad Hatter's Tea Party over in West Palm at the Armory Art Center. It looks like this year I'll actually be sending off my entries early!!! I ran a glaze firing a couple of days ago and was able to finish up the embellishments today on two of the teapots. I'm sharing photos of one of the finished teapots in this post. I have a third teapot in today's glaze load and I'll be adding her wire, beads and earrings tomorrow. Even though this is the first week of January in the new year, I'm really liking the feeling of accomplishment and I'm also enjoying the new less frenzied pace. I don't want to set myself up for failure, but it sure would be nice to turn over a new leaf and shed my procrastinatoritis.

The Boots

I was asked to participate in an exhibition fund raiser. The gallery is the Great Art and Frame. A portion of the proceeds from the show are going to the Quantum Leap Horse Farm. Quantum Leap among other things uses horses as therapy for disabled vets. Anyway, my friend, the owner of the gallery, Joose Hadley talked to me about what sort of things I could submit. The theme of the show is the Divine Equine. Most of my art buddies are submitting paintings or photos of horses. But Joose said that I could expand the theme out to such horse related items as horse shoes, cowboy boots, etc. My first thought was to make a horse, and I found out that horses were definitely out of my comfort zone. Then I tried making a boot. Then I made a boot, Then I got worried, what if the boot exploded in the kiln, cracked, what if I drop it, what if, what if, what if. So I made a second boot. I'm happy to report that I made a boot, I made a back-up boot and both survived. I'm also happy to report that neither boot exploded in the kiln, survived me carrying them from drying shelf to kiln and all other potential dangers that can befall pottery while it's in the making. Because the boots are patterned after a pair of my boots, I tried to stay close to their models and painted them in the same colors as my boots. Also, I was forward-thinking enough to make a right and a left, so they are a true pair. Now, all that's left is delivery to the gallery and the opening of the show, which is Friday, July 23rd. If you're in the area, please stop on by. There are a lot of very talented artists that are part of this show and it's guaranteed to be a fun evening.

Unloading the Kiln

It's not that often that I have a kiln load that's dedicated to custom orders. I guess today was the exception to the rule. I had three orders that were in yesterday's glaze firing load. There's a certain amount of anxiety that comes with doing custom orders. I want the pieces to live up to the expectations of the customer and I don't want any unexpected problems, because that'll just delay delivery. So yesterday's glaze firing was dominated by the butterflies. I took this as a good omen, when I saw a Monarch butterfly fluttering through our front yard right before I opened the kiln. It's like Christmas, unwrapping the presents that the kiln delivers. First shelf looks good and ironically are two Monarch butterfly plates; second shelf looks good, third shelf looks good and finally fourth shelf looks good. I can now take a breath. One slight problem with the non-butterfly yarn bowl. Perhaps that will be a lesson to me that the butterflies prefer to be on their own, no outsiders allowed.

Spilling Oil

It's hard when disasters occur that are devasting and life altering because as human beings we have an inate urge to do something to help. The straw that broke my back with respect to the BP oil rig explosion was the online slideshow of the birds, fish and dolphins that were covered in oil. The images brought tears to my eyes. I wanted to, needed to do something. Luckily a group on Etsy banded together to try to raise money to help. A brand new shop was opened. The word spread like wildfire. Artisans and members of the Etsy selling community flocked to donate items to the new shop, Help The Gulf Coast, http://www.helpthegulfcoast.etsy.com/. was created. So far they've raised over $2,000. The first of many contributions has been made to Oxfam America. Our individual contributsions are tiny in comparison to what this disaster will end up costing the Gulf. By pulling together, we are making a difference. Check out Help The Gulf Coast's blog http://www.helpthegulfcoastetsy.blogspot.com/

And visit the Etsy shop at http://www.helpthegulfcoast.etsy.com/

Together we can make a difference.

Something Old... Something New

http://www.etsy.com/listing/48273997/glass-tile-photo-mosaic

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&op=listing&product_id=1488315

One of the wonderful things about being in the art community is the amazing atmosphere of sharing. Every artist that I've ever run into is ready and willing to share techniques, experiences, and information. One fun new discovery that I recently made, thanks to an art friend, Roxanne Tobaison, is the glass tile pendant. I ran into Roxanne at an art festival and spotted her pendants, this was the first that I had ever seen them. Roxanne explained the technique. At first glance I thought that Roxanne had gotten into glass fusing, but she set me straight. A little bit of time went by and I started to do some research on the internet. Lo and behold I found a plethora of information, online tutorials, suppliers for the glass tiles and all of the supplies anyone would need. What fun.

When my orders arrived I went to work. Learned a lot about how to create the proper glass tile, then moved on to scrabble tiles, then moved on to wire-wrapped glass tiles and on and on. True to the artist that I am, I even came up with a few new ideas. One that I'm really excited about is a glass tile mosaic. Another idea that I had was to create the tile out of clay and in the process add the channel for the wire wrap.

As with all of those that came before me in the world of glass and scrabble tiles, one piece of information that I will share is actually a cautionary statement, be careful if you use Super Glue. I was a bit messy, got some on my fingers and I've been spending the past hour trying to de-glue my fingers. Live and learn.

A Day In The Park

This past Saturday, March 27, 2010 to be exact, I was a participating artist at the 2nd annual Arts in the Park at the Carrollwood Cultural Center. I don't usually do outdoor shows, festivals, or fairs so this was a real treat for me. It's a lot of work packing and unpacking and setting up and I have a real sense of admiration for those artists that make the curcuit doing art festivals one weekend after the next during the spring and summer months. It was great to get out there with my cats, fish and butterflies and get feedback from the passers by and customers. I also got to catch up with some old friends. We really got lucky with the weather on Saturday, it could not have been a more beautiful spring day. We were oh so lucky that the event was on Saturday, because as nice as the weather was on Saturday that's how crumby the weather was on Sunday. Now it's back to work in the studio to replenish stock.

Recharging

Sometimes I get to feeling like I'm stuck in a rut. Happily that doesn't happen to me very often. During my latest rut I was lucky enough to have some activities that made me get myself cleaned up and out of the studio.

The art group that I belong to just finished installing a group show at Ruth Eckerd Hall. It's so much fun to get with my art buddies and see what everyone's been up to. This is a big show for our group. For more info on the show head over to our group's blog:

http://www.westchaseartists.blogspot.com/

Yesterday's outing was to get back into the routine of volunteer work at the Tampa Museum of Art. The Museum was closed for reconstruction and the brand new Tampa Museum of Art has reopened. I must say that it is wonderful. The special exhibition is A Celebration of Henri Matisse. I led a tour yesterday and had a blast.

Visit the museum's website:

http://www.tampamuseum.org/

After a busy holiday season it's hard to keep the EverReady Bunny going. Major lesson learned here is that in order to be energized sometimes we have to step out of the rut and into something new and different to recharge our batteries.