messing around...

(new pottery by Gary Rith)
Sorta along the lines of the pitchers in the post below, but now teapots. Have an excellent evening :)

Benji comes OVER and 5 years in the purple house PLUS other goodies....

We moved into the PURPLE HOUSE 5 years ago today, HUZZAH! Fast five years. It was 70 degrees that day, hot and windy (several inches snow expected today, actually). We wrote the biggest check of our life that day and moved in with our 5 dogs and cats (of that group only Buster remains, the rest are in the pet cemetery out back) and golly, I love it here. We are very fortunate. :)

SO, Benji comes over yesterday to see Penny. Benji is not a dogs guy, but he wuvs Penny, as you would. As Benji says:
"Penny is such a small dog, but she has such a BIG personality". Benji has also known her since the first days we got Penny, 4 years ago and he is like
"She was such a scrawny little stray back then, look at her now, a beautiful and healthy dog".






I have been fiddling with a lot of ideas, and goldarnit, they are LOOKING GOOD aren't they?




(new pottery by Gary Rith)

"I just wanna make love to you, underneath the STROBE LIGHT!"

Ahem.

Spike, me and a big bowl and me goofing off: the evidence

Poor Spike, SOOOO hungry for his dinner. When I loaded it I noticed the last movie I made, starring self, working on a big bowl.....

"I never expected to be eaten footfirst by Godzilla!"

Good lord, if you can't laugh at the world, what can you do?


(new wall sculptures by Gary Rith, on sale at his etsy gallery too!)

I made a red car!

(new pottery by Gary Rith, showing the glazing stages before)
OK, so I was dreaming that I am down at a mall parking lot and my friends are all racing motorcycles and hot rods around and here comes this demented vampire and I kill him through the heart with an icicle....it was time to wake up :) BUT LOOK what was in the kiln, fired yesterday, out NOW (had to wear gloves to hold the hot car when I pulled it out to photograph).
I told you about making cars, and had made 2 plus a pickup. I just fired the second car. I wanted it glazed red with subtle color under showing the windows and tires, and it worked super great.

Speaking of cars, hot rods, motorcycles, my dream was a bit like this....

"the bigger the cushion the...."

Spinal Tap for Heavy Metal Monday......




The sun patch at our house yesterday. At one point Spike was playing with Penny's tail: NOT cool. beagles take their tails seriously.
I am up to many important things. Fingers crossed and a wee prayer for a good glaze firing today, alright? Then we can see the results tomorrow....

DO NOT LOOK if you cannot stand the sight of BLOOD....

You know this blog is (nearly) every little detail of my life, no matter how mundane or boring? WELL, the highlight of yesterday morning was lacerating my finger whilst scraping the crusty kiln shelves. I looked down and there was a satisfyingly nightmarish quantity of blood all over, so I grabbed the camera, as you might expect. NO, had not noticed it before that and NO it did not and does not hurt and NO it did not need stitches, according to me. Looks gruesome, eh?
Have an awesome Sunday!

used to have a truck.....

.....and after that a station wagon, but last summer the wife was like "let's get this cute little silver Subie" which is pretty awesome 99 percent of the time, except when you are used to tossing EVERYTHING in your vehicle, big or small. I had the lawnmower tuned up, but transport involved a LOT of rope. You're driving up a hill hoping it doesn't fall out the back, which in a movie, it would. Natch, it seems funny, snow all over the ground and falling from the sky, but my lawn mower is READY...if ever.....it gets.....sunny and green....
btw, even with a small silver subie, let's say you're at the pump? Still, there goes 40 bucks in the blink of an eye....


I was working down at the Cornell studios Friday with many of my pals. Tommy was making all these bowls....the University wants to close the studio in 2 months. Dang, what an AWESOMEly nice place it is. We are trying to rally the troops and keep it open....
below: Spike is a naughty cat. He likes to get onto the counter and attack the pineapple. Although I s'pose if that is the whole list of his misdeeds, it is pretty small.....
have an excellent Saturday :)

go groovilicious badass for high five Friday.....

You know it: FRIDAY. You earned it, share it with your friends. Celebrate high five Friday with the world....



(new work by Gary Rith, on sale now at his etsy gallery!)

later that same day...

A very snowy day...Penny does not always want to walk across the bridge over Fall Creek. Good thing she is small!




Walking in the snow early this morning with a rather NICE sunrise (the grey house is Terri Ann and Chris across the street--pretty, eh?)

the many joys of the northern spring...

Yesterday the lady on the radio is like 'snowsnowsnow' and sure enough, it starts to come down. Not the worst storm ever, but slick and slushy and yucky, and then we got some MORE snow.
Agway calls yesterday afternoon: "we are done fixing your lawnmower!!!!" and me and the guy have a good laugh, because I will probably never need it.....and outta trade it in for a snow blower.

toad food and wabi sabi 2

My old pal Alex used to call tofu 'toad food' which is hilarious. Of course, toads eat bugs, not soy. Anyway, my cholesterol, even though I am a vegan and eat a boatload of soy and nothing animal at all, is crappy I find out today. I have bad cholesterol in my genes, dammit, and I swear I can bring it down naturally, but ANYWAY
like I was saying below, following one step after another? Making cars last week has given my ideas to build on, and I am like, working on this teapot just now, and seeing new possibities..oh so exciting. It is very big and will be hard to glaze, so I outta make more like it, but smaller....thanks for listening :)

(new work by Gary Rith)

wabi sabi

I was thinking of WABI SABI yesterday. What is it? A Japanese principle, that, in my mind, signifies natural imperfection, beauty, simple and modest and heartfelt work. There is a lot of stuff swirling around in my head lately, and the idea is, slow down, try it out, be patient, work things through naturally. The creative process to me is step by step through working, although I see some artists who do a lot of staring and thinking. No. New ideas and making things for me are about the experiments that explore the idea and move ahead. Be calm, carry on :)





You can dig this penguin mug for sale now at my etsy shop.....

"its not my fault!!!"

CM orders a yarn bowl for herself and another sent to her mother, both in different parts of Canada. Her mom gets hers in a week, CM never gets hers. Month and a half goes by, ah HA! Here is this mushy, smashed, OPEN box back in the US at my PO waiting for me, having traveled to Canada and back, CM's order. The box did not survive, but the pottery did. Luckily CM is my best pal and we will see her later on and pass it to her in person.....

Speaking of all this, you could order something like this spiffy frog in a cup from me, now available at my etsy gallery! Be daring! What will the PO do to your order, and will Gary have packed it well enough to survive????? (YES!!!!!!!!!! It will!!!)

Sin City on Saturday

Like I was saying yesterday, spent Saturday in NY city. LAST stop was the Sin Bin for beers with various sisters.....
below, you can see this noteworthy sign from the john on the bus. If you are wearing a hat, sit down on the toilet!!!!! Also, don't throw any thumbtacks down the bus toilet!
You can see me and my best buddy Julie down at Murphy-Gonzalez for lunch, maybe the only Irish-Mexican pub on earth? they are big ketchup enthusiasts there, as you can see....and coffee! I love coffee so much, and the nice lady gave me at least 3 cups....if you know NY city a little bit, you can find the nicest people and the best deals---Murphy-Gonzalez by NYU = A plus.


Like I was saying, hanging around some of my old downtown haunts, got a clever photo of self looking through the Washington Sq arch up 5th ave and the Empire State Building there...
....Greenwich Village used to have many more sex shops...there are still a few....
The big goal of the day was to visit Greenwich House Pottery and see the Sam Chung pottery exhibit, examples here, which are somewhat mind blowing....
THEN me and Julie took the Roosevelt Island tram to meet Seth! Seth works out there, and I took that as an excuse to go out there and meet up with him.....the tram recently reopened and is the most fun thing you can do for 2 bucks ANYWHERE.
My sister-in-law lives in a brick building below left on this pic....
below, Seth and Julie at the Roosevelt Island welcome center: tres cute....


so, below, we are wandering around this island in the middle of the East River looking back at Manhattan---there is a ship coming downriver there, and next to it, on shore, is a yellow brick building where my father and grandfather both grew up on East 79th St, living as they did with my great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother.....
There is the tram, a wee box waving around in the wind....

Seth and Julie's cat Milo loves me.
3 bears sculpture in Central park....

The Plaza Hotel framed by an ugly and large sculpture....
A pissed off and surly mime. Giving me the evil eye. probably charges $ for a photo and I snuck a pic....