what does today hold…?

WElllll…the kiln unexpectedly misfired, or didn't fire, or I am not sure which…so I need to take it apart early today and see if I can figure it out, reload and refire.  Finish a bunch of other pieces.  Roast and sweat, myself, golly it is hot and humid…that is August, right?

New pitcher with a different wavy groovy glaze idea…..

NOT a cat on a hot tin roof...

…a beagle breakdancing on a hot front yard….

SO, as I said yesterday, I had an IV iron treatment for anemia yesterday, get another on Friday (I didn't know I would get a chance to get a pic…next time :)  It is brown liquid pumped straight into my arm for 45 minutes.  I felt pretty run down all yesterday but was suddenly hit with superpowers in the evening.  I had wondered about that:  will getting the iron for energy strike at the WRONG TIME?  It is supposed to last 3 months, so you figure there will be an adjustment followed by a new normal…I just don't need a new normal (feeling ALIVE!) at midnight :)

But then I dreamed…I played football in my high school once again (I did, believe it or not, for 3 years) but this time instead of losing all the time we were state champs….

news updates…..and bowls and bowls….

I have been, as you know, working on this wavy-groovy thing….looks good for bowls, right?  Inside or out!

News:  have you noticed that a certain idiotic, orange-faced asshat always seems to be at the top of the news?  His experienced and intelligent opponent is always a quiet second….I find it very disturbing that the news world likes to focus on the bloody car wreck you know?

So lets talk about MY news.  Several years of anemia and today I go to the doctor for the first IV iron treatment…yep.  Hook me up to a bag and fill my veins with iron.  Then they do it again Friday, and if it works, I will have it regularly every 3 months.

Other news--a series of crazy dreams last night, perhaps because the sheriffs and troopers were screaming past at full speed, sirens blaring, lights flashing, for part of the night…and WHY?


And in a return to times of old, here is my song of the summer, love it so much…

gluten-free torte...

I know, every summer I share the torte recipe when the berries are EVERYWHERE.
Blackberry torte this time with gluten-free batter, wicked soft and moist and yummy.  I based the original recipe for this on one shared by the wife's aunt and grandmother…full of butter, sugar, etc, but along the way this became something else entirely….recipe follows and have an awesome day!

Gary's gluten-free tasty torte

1 1/4 cup brown rice flour

2 Tbs (plus one Tbs sugar to top)

2 tsp baking powder

dash of salt

2 eggs 

2/3 cup apple sauce

1/2 cup milk (I use soy)

1/4 cup canola oil

fruit! about one cup of berries or sliced plums or peaches or apple rolled in cinnamon

-preheat to 350, grease 9" circular torte pan or 8 x 8 inch brownie baking pan

-combine dry in a large bowl

-bowl two, stir the eggs then add apple sauce, milk, oil

-add wet to dry, stir thoroughly

-pour into pan

-push fruit into batter, then you can sprinkle one Tbs sugar over the top

-bake 38-45 minutes, until golden brown and toothpick pushed in comes out clean

-cool on rack, slice and eat!

buried in elephant pots...

There has been a lot of interesting my elephant pots.  I have NONE.  You see Yogi here?  All of those sold.  The kiln is filled with more, the table has several freshly made.  I really do love them, and don't mind some repetition, as I am EASILY BORED.  Famously so…..

the badass tea party….

Even monsters like tea! New sculpture by me.
Have a great Saturday!

the "exquisite little item" show...

I am entering a competition soon which wants people to submit their 3 entries of exquisite little pots…in the very small (not smallest!) range.  I have shown you 4 of my possibilities, and this is a fifth.  I was kicking around feeling bad about something and got this idea for a little wavy-groovy pot, I quickly set down what I was doing, and went and made this… I'm in Looooooovvvvve….

baking blueberry tarts during a stinky earthquake...

The house is from 1865 and the road out front is a state highway.  Our front door sits just a few feet from the road, as houses did then, and the level is a couple of feet lower than the road bed.  It is now 2 inches lower than this time yesterday….because every ten years or so, apparently, they resurface the road…never scraping anything off, just ADDING couple of inches.  One of our driveways is fairly level but the other has an absurd upward angle (just try it in winter!) which is now slightly MORE absurd.

Last week, fast moving traffic be damned, a guy with a spray can goes down the middle of the road painting numbers.  Should have tipped me off.  But I have always imagined that before road work a state engineer would knock on the door with his clipboard, and tell me when work starts, and I could tell HIM the state owes me a damn level driveway, so you better bring a few extra truck loads of gravel….but there was no warning and no there was no state engineer.  Just several truckloads of guys and their hellacious equipment and stinky tarmac….it was awful.  I am sorry, I don't like to complain too much, but it was such a BAD day.  The machinery ensured a constant noise and vibration like an earthquake, 7am-7pm, with this foul, smoking paving material, RIGHT OUTSIDE the window….the cat is pretty bold, but he his under the couch.  The dog barked at it….I felt messed up.


SO I baked a blueberry tart.  When I was little my mo would give me the end of the pie crust dough to make a little jam tart, so I made that too….it was all I could do :)

that wavy groovy thing….

SO you have heard me say a time or 2 that I am trying to make these waves on pots, and using my teal glaze called ocean….the idea is working out pretty well, hmm?

a bit worn out, overdone...

I have been exhausted lately, sorry I have not been around visiting other blogs and all…the combination of a fair plus orders plus, well, LIFE has worn me out…

so many of you said such nice things about me blogging (almost) daily for ten years.  What would a blog be without sweet readers?  Thank you :)

I wanted to sculpt a bunny holding a bowl of carrots…so I did :)

ten years blogging…whoa :)

YES, some of us still blog! And as you know, I post almost every morning.
It started with an anonymous myspace thing in August 2006, where I wrote all sorts of ideas….but a little later that August started a blog…the link is below somewhere (I never look back).  I used up the memory in that and started the second, used up the memory in THAT and then got this one going, having figured out how to fake out the memory, mostly….and for years have posted a little on Facebook and then more here.

Back then I knew a lot of bloggers from all over and have met so many of you. The original idea was post what I am doing, my dreams, then music videos.  In the early days there was a lot of music.

It has been an awesome ride :) Thanks for coming along!

New wall piece by me, fresh from the kiln….

so that was an incredibly great day….

Like I said, I was over at the Ithaca Artist Market at the Farmer's Market yesterday evening….

The farmer's market in Ithaca is on the lakefront and is a large and wonderful permanent structure.  It runs Saturdays and Sundays with the usual food, produce, and a bit of art.  The last Friday in July is ALL art…and music and a lot of other things too, and the weather was magnificent, and I had the chance to see EVERYBODY. Keep in mind it snows here 11 months out of the year, and this gives us all a chance to take off the parkas and stroll about and see each other…. And oh goodness, the crowds were huge…one acquaintance told me she and her not too quick husband had parked in some distant spot and walked for nearly an hour to get in, NO JOKE.

This is totally the best event of the year.

Usually you think organizers place different artists together, but probably because we had all unknowingly asked for certain spots there was a pottery row…my old pals Owen Mann and Jill Ackerman were next to me, which, and this is my HIGHEST praise, was exceedingly congenial…Owen makes the big beautiful flowers, Jill the pots….both of them, as you see, have those turquoise-ish greenish glazes there that I would probably KILL to get for myself ;)

OK. last pestering post about Artist Market...

YES, today.  Come see me at the Ithaca Artist market at the Farmer's Market, 2-8 pm! An unusual show time, people come for music and food and drinks and ART, art, ART.  Like mine.  Booth ten, in the middle, near the bathrooms!

Artist market tomorrow!

Friday 2-8 pm, come see 88 artists at the Ithaca Artist Market at the Farmer's Market, yeah!
I am in a new spot, number ten, by the bathrooms, come see me! And pots like this….

change of pace...

My work is all about throwing pots on the wheel, like bowls, mugs, etc, but sometimes I do some sculpting--I just LOVE sitting there with the music and the quiet meditation of making a piggy or cow, etc….and you can see right away what it is going to look like! In progress below….

serve it in a cup or in a bowl...

Elephants, of course!

one frog or another...

I wasn't the first or the last person to put a frog on a pot, but they are ALWAYS a good idea.  Like I said, I am readying entries to a show of exquisite little pots, and these 2 might be candidates...

didn't realize beagles loved zucchini…..gluten-free pizza and zucchini bread

Like I said the other day, we were over at Amy's farmlet the other day and she loads us down with things like zucchini and broccoli.  I buy and eat so much broccoli all year long, do you have any idea how tasty fresh picked, local broccoli tastes??? YUM.  Anyway, the fridge was full but being quickly emptied out as we eat this lovely stuff….yesterday, 2 loaves GF zucchini bread (made with walnuts not choco chips) and GF broccoli pizza, mmmmmm….
and whoa! Who knew, little beagles love zucchini…well, she eats nearly everything, I guess….

small, but maybe a big deal...

As I mentioned yesterday, I am entering a cup competition now and a competition in a show this fall for very small and exquisite items.  I can definitely try to do that! This was my first idea for an entry.  I will be making more….

putting on your A game

I have entered a few competitions in my career. I am entering 2 this late summer, including a cup competition today.  These are my 5 entries.  The fun thing about these, whether you win a spot in the exhibit or further, win a prize, is that you rise to the challenge, making a bunch of awesome work, maybe with new ideas along the way.  In the case of this show, the above mug was a new idea, the dragons below too…SO, win or lose in the show, I have already won big time, frankly :)