a sweet deer and a sweet dear

You know Penny and I go to Longview senior residence every Monday.  Gosh we meet a lot of people and have friendly fun!
Before we go in we walk the extensive woodland trails outside of Longview, so Penny can burn some energy before we go in.  Yesterday a deer walked up to us! So friendly! Then Penny went bananas and it moved away a little bit....
Penny likes elevators, as you can see....she pretty much likes everything....except other dogs....chipmunks, and, well, deer.....





You will remember that me and my pals are gearing up for an online pottery exhibit, starting Wednesday! We challenged ourselves to make bottles! More on that tomorrow, but dig this resealable bottle TODAY, for sale now at my etsy shoppe!

supremely delicious!

OK, I am taking the box of pasta off the shelf at the store, a new one to me, and I see this recipe on the back...hmm...chili mac! I have a good recipe at home, but realize this one on the box has some simple and tasty aspects...MAYBE I should combine them, one awesome new recipe? OH YES......you know how to make cornbread, but the chili mac recipe comes after the pic....(btw, we had all these Cincinatti relatives visiting recently, and they do FUNKY THINGS with chili...pasta, cocoa, cinnamon, who knows? the wife goes through this impossible list of things they do...well, anyway....)

 Gary's chili mac!

1 1/2 cups dry macaroni
diced onion
diced bell pepper
diced garlic
1/2 pound diced (soy) sausage
lots of chili powder!!!! (or tons of paprika and red pepper flakes)
1 cup spaghetti sauce
many shakes basil, oregano, black pepper
15-16 oz can of kidney beans, rinsed etc.

-boil pasta and drain
-saute onion, pepper garlic abt. 5 minutes
-add diced sausage, kidney beans, saute further 5 minutes
-add sauce and spice, simmer 10 minutes, stirring from time to time
-add the pasta, stir, heat together, turn off stove, leave pot on warm burner
-cover the chili with one cup cheese, let sit covered 5 minutes for cheese to melt

WICKED EASY and tasty!

stick a robot on it...

You will recall that a week or so ago I was walking along with the dog and began wondering if I could make a robot on a pot...and I did!  I have made some sugar bowls with them, and this is a robot on a bottle.  Sure, that is a cork on there, this thing is ready for your olive oil or your...whatever! Sure looks like a whiskey bottle to me....
I was inspired to make a robot bottle because me and 2 of my pottery pals challenge each other to make and exhibit things here online...more on that later this week....

detail, robot bottle by Gary Rith

robot bottle by Gary Rith

I am extremely FAMOUS....

Tom is a neighbor a few doors north.  He is super friendly, and when he retired a few years ago took up biking.  Then walking and running.  And swimming! He lost 80 pounds quick as can be, and is this 70+ year old tri-athelete, and Penny and I see him chugging along out there every day.
Yesterday he stops me on the street "GREAT photo, congratulations!".
An hour later, Pat, who lives in the pretty house around the corner, comes out of her house with her paper which she hands me and says "I had no idea!".
Its all part of my most recent 15 minutes of fame......
Let me explain.  Saturday I am at the public library while the wife is out shopping, and I poke through the local paper, the Ithaca Journal.  My hororscope tells me (and anybody else who is Aries)
"You don't need a lot of extra bells and whistles to get people to pay attention. to you. People will pay attention simply because they are impressed with who you are and how you live your life". Well then!
Then I start flicking through and HOLY CATS there I am! Page 3!  Friday night at the Ithaca Artist Market the photographer is wandering around taking hundreds of pics and she tells me "don't be nervous" and I quick strike a pose pretending to be doing something and tell her "I am not nervous, I am posing".  I mean, c'mon, I take my own picture all the time, I am an old pro....

that is me and my buttery yellow display brightening up the Ithaca Artist Market

You will remember my mother-in-law gave me some birkenstocks last week.  I dunno, I don't like sandals, I am not much of a birkenstocks guy, you know?  I mean republicans try to call it "a lifestyle choice" but I really think some people are born that way, right?
I realized yesterday morning the fact that I am, like Jeff Spicoli and zillions of other cool kids, I am a Vans man....
Note Jeff's (Sean Penn's) footwear...

you know its a great FAIR when:

You know its a great fair when your LAST customer at the LAST minute gets your LAST business card!
I was at Ithaca Artist Market in the permananent outdoor pavilion at the Ithaca Farmer's Market on Cayuga Lake last night...its a big deal event for summer, live music, wine, beer, food, and 70-80 local artists! Good golly it was GORGEOUS and one of those rare times that a guy like me who never goes anywhere or does anything realizes that he knows HUNDREDS of people around town!
Like, for example, you will remember my dental hygienist, Mary with the magic fingers?  I have chatted amiably with her for years about what I make, and she has told me about her daughter...well, there they were! Now Mary knows me for my than my dental health....
Anyway, the best single day fair I have had in years, yippee!

It has been the busiest month of my life...wicked awesome....but summer is going past too fast....

I was all big smiles all evening...one lady told me to keep on smiling...I was having a wicked good time...

I chose a spot with a long counter and sat on it in the corner, looking like a hooker in Amsterdam or something....

my display

my display at the permanent Ithaca Farmer's Market..the wife see it and says "your display is so bright and inviting!"

my besy pal Christi was down the way, dig those BOOTS

got home and somebody had taken my spot in bed....

big shindig TONIGHT

My robot pots make their public debut tonight.  I am going to exhibit 2-8 pm Friday at Ithaca Farmer's Market, along with about 70 other artists and a boatload of food, drink, music etc! Come on out!

You see here a group of the first robot sugar bowls...I was checking glaze schemes and holy CATS they turned out neato....

robot sugar bowls by Gary Rith

my optician called and my newly refurbished 20 year old ray bans aviators had the new prescription lenses, so Penny came with, and we went over to Cayuga Lake for the hike too....gorgeous place, gorgeous day...

robot pots by Gary Rith, lookit this glaze!!!!!!

its not all about CHOLESTEROL....

People who are 40 plus on the down slope to FIFTY may talk a lot about cholesterol...young people probably roll their eyes and assume, correctly, that older folks are from another planet. The planet DULL, the planet CHOLESTEROL, the PLANET OLD, BORING AND CLUELESS.
The rest of you, my awesome Generation X friends and baby boomers etc, you KNOW how fun it is to talk about cholesterol!
OK, so despite being a tiny little physically fit vegan, I have the high cholesterol, a hereditary thing, right?  As my Chinese-American doctor says "my mother will only eat a spoonful of rice with a forkful of fish and she has cholesterol of 340!".  Mine was high last summer, not 340 but bad enough, which is SO unfair, you would think that I survive on bacon cheeseburgers when I haven't had meat or dairy etc. in years.
Anyway, 11 months of oatmeal and green tea:  DROPPED 22 critical points to a normal level, yaaaaay! I ran out and got myself new running shoes and clothes to celebrate :)

Alright, who give a sh!t about all that....
me and the wife were at an antique store the other day and there was a real preserved alligator head there, small, holding the dude's business cards in its mouth, hoo hoo, haha! You KNOW I had to go home and make one!

alligator card holder by Gary Rith

croc card holder by Gary Rith

the wife and I went shoes shopping for her yesterday evening...and celebrated the patience of man and beast by walking at Cornell's Beebe lake...

am I the kind of person who wears dark socks and birkenstocks????

Gosh, who wants to look at my FUZZY LEGS and are those SKULLS on those socks???? What kind of idiot goes around in dark socks and birkenstocks???? Ithacans of a certain age, that's who....NOT ME really!

You may know my pal from Georgia, potter Lori Buff. Lori is one of the 3 Potter Blogging Buddies Group I belong to, right? Along with Meesh, who is the third member. We exhibit together, plan challenges together, this type of thing, even if hundreds of miles seperate us in reality. We have a bottle challenge going up soon!!!! Watch for it!

OK, so Lori is involved in a class at Emory and is interviewing people.  We talked Monday, and an abridged version of WHO AM I is below.   I surprised myself, I yakked a LOT to Lori (potters can bore the hell out of non-potters, when talking about glaze etc, so talking to another potter is tres fun).  Lori on the phone surprises me--her online presence always seems focused and serious, but her reality is very light-hearted and fun loving and quick to laugh.

Just for the record???? I AM NOT the type of person to wear dark socks, baggy shorts and birkenstocks. Those socks have skulls on them.  My dear sweet and generous mother-in-law just sent me those birks to replace an ancient pair she had also given me 12 years ago....I rarely wear shorts, and only wear sockless sandals around the house...REALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. How would you describe your art?	I have about 3 different ways that I go depending on the day of the week. I have a short attention span and I get bored really easily. That's why drawing and sculpting are important to me. The more imaginative the piece is the more appealing it is to the customers.
2. Do you make a living out of your art and related practices – or do you combine it with another job?	Yes
3. How long have you been working professionally as an artist?	About 15 years after leaving teaching English and pottery to special needs students.
4. Have you had a big break? If not; any turning point?	Big Break- in NH 2003 the craft league, I got juried in and that helped me get into galleries and shows. But them I left NH and moved to NY where the internet thing has worked for me. Then the local TV station asked me to do some interviews, that cost me nothing but gave me a lot of contacts, I'm still working off that several years later.
5. What is your primary client base?	I used to say the lady with the coach bag at fairs was my customer. You can guess a lot of things about that person. Now that's still pretty true although local demographics have changed.
6. Describe your work environment. Do you work alone or with others? In a studio or at home? Does this arrangement work for you, and if not, what would your ideal work environment look like?	Half the house is the studio, I enjoy working alone more & more as I get older. I miss the interaction at Cornell but having half the house is great for doing visits. I may start charging for demos which would be applied to purchases.
7. Do you have a typical workday? How much time do you spend creating and how much on business related activities?	I'm a very routine person, I get a lot done early in the morning, then an early lunch then back to work in mid and late afternoon, I even work into the evening when I'm excited about a project. I do work 7 days a week. I can go back and forth to the studio easily so I do that when I am in the process. Somedays I have to do paper work & I don't like that, it feels like I haven't gotten any work done when in fact I have.
8. Which marketing strategies have/have not been successful in advancing your career?	On-line interactions are easy for me. It's so fast & so easy. That's the miracle of our tine
9. Can you share any tips on business organization or financial planning that have worked well for you?	I married a book keeper who is very thrifty. I have a natural thriftiness which has helped me. Nothing hang hanging over my head.
10. Do you have any advice on how to rebound emotionally from rejection or difficult client situations?	It can effect you very hard. Some people are tough about that but I'm not. However, I usually feel better the next day especially as I get excited about a new project.
11. Based on your experience, what suggestions or lessons learned would you give to someone starting out as an artist?	Keep overhead low, work hard on what you think is the right thing. The more individualistic your work is the more marketable it is. We shouldn't try to compete with pottery barn. We should do what we love and have fun doing it. Have a routine.
12. How do you determine your pricing?	It's always tricky, I don't like dust to collect on my stuff. I think my prices are in a competitive range. My price depends on how much time I put into something and how much I would pay for something.
13. What are your long-term career goals as an artist?	Wouldn't it be great to get into the Smithsonian show?
14. Finally: Can you share something inspiring?	Everything good in my life has come from clay. It's almost like magic.
Your first name	Gary
Your last name	Rith
Your email address	garyrith@yahoo.com

Lori Buff Clayworker, Future Relics Gallery

lori@FutureRelicsGallery.com | www.FutureRelicsGallery.com

Reply to:

danger W!ll Robinson Danger!

YOU KNOW what inspires me don't you?  Everything!  So, you will recall, I have been making robots recently.  I had been walking the dog and it came to me "could I make a robot on the wheel???" and you KNOW it is tremendous fun.
The wife DEMANDED we keep the first of these sugar bowls "we need a sugar bowl with a robot on it so we can put olives in it" and I got a special spoon at an antique store for that very purpose....
then yesterday, when I went to make more?  I wondered if I could make a jar that IS a robot...

the only thing cuter than babies is STUFF for babies

Well, puppies and kittens are mighty cute too.
A longtime customer of mine says "my daughter is about to have my first grandchild...any chance you could try a divided baby plate with a duck, pig and bunny with a matching bunny cup????" and I have never done anything like that before...but I think about it, and decide it would be fun to try a divided plate, and I even painted the animals on there too!  It was a boatload of work..if I made one again, I would not add the dividers....Bunny cups, large or small, are routine of course....

baby plate and cup by Gary Rith

Penny and her pal Soupy the corgi were playing at out place Sunday, more adorable than babies or baby gear, right?  Also adorable is our HUGE friendly cat Spike ....the wife was sleeping in Sunday with them, had to get the pic....

short order.....

Short order, ha!
I didn't get the usual action shots at the salon, but Friday evening the wife and the cousins were with me at the Viva happy hour...and then she and I had the hair appt. at 5:30. That is, I must say, a good combo:  some beer, some burritos, some cousins then some hair cutting! Michelle did the usual magic with our hair, as you see on the wife here the next day.  Curly!
I had to make the exploratory trip to Binghamton to view 2 possible stores for me.  One I liked one I did not, but we BOTH liked Danny's Diner!
Badass mugs below by me......

mmmm, tasty!

(wall piece by Gary Rith)
Godzilla up there sure looks cheerful, hmm?  Chomping down on a tasty human?
Look at this bumper sticker I saw yesterday when I was riding around with my adorable beagle:  it is true! Who rescued who?  If you brought home a sweet shelter pet, you would understand :)
Have an awesome weekend!

robot loooooove

(wall piece, Robot hugs Godzilla by Gary Rith)
Thursday last week I am walking the dog and begin thinking "I have drawn robots, I wonder if I could make them????" and as you recall, we had a zillion guests, but I have been sneaking around to make them.  This wall piece is first!  I was talking with the visiting cousins about it "you remember the creature features, Saturday afternoon???" and they are like "OH YES" and naturally we start waving our arms around saying "DANGER WILL ROBINSON!".  When we were kids, if we were not out playing, Saturday afternoon TV had a delicious selection of trashy sci-fi and horror movies from the 30s-60s, like Godzilla, of course, and you will also remember the TV show LOST IN SPACE....
GOLDEN!  Totally inspiring! Now I am putting robots on everything this week (not to sound sexist, of course, but this seems like a very BOY thing to do, doesn't it?)
Today I am thinking I will make Godzilla eating a robot.....

Spike and Penny were, well, having the usual nap Thursday, and I saw their logic and .......well.....

4 cups

LC is like, and she is Canadian so you KNOW she is serious about tea "I'll need the 2 cat cups and a big 4 cup teapot to go with it" and I am like "righto, eh?".
Of course, when you make something, you know it will shrink 10-15 percent at least, and I am one of those vague and imprecise people who does not measure things, so I just dumped a large lump of clay on the wheel, and voila!
As the wife says "the mugs are big, at least one and a half cups, so this teapot is perfect.  Each person has a mug of tea, then there is at least one cup of tea left in the pot to offer the guest or split".  And I am like "SURE, that was what I intended all along....."

teaset by Gary Rith

magic hat....

(before and after with a glaze firing, I am SO excited)
Its not like the front of our house is all that interesting, but I am such a horrible gardener, I just want to show off a couple of successes:  I love the magenta hanging flowers with the purple house, and my potted sunflowers are starting to bloom!  Somebody the other day wondered if there was a beagle sculpture amongst the pots out front:  YES, cutely mixed with the morning glories (which are taking over:  GO FOR IT purple morning glories!)

Magic hat is an excellent brewery in Vermont (I had some Monday! #9!) but I was thinking "what if I made a mug that looks like a magician's hat, and inside is a bunny????"