THING ONE and THING TWO and the creative process....

Penny is like, all crazy ninja all over Spike. You'll see more of that below, she was in a MOOD yesterday...
anyway.
There is a certain favorite book of mine, let's call it the Cat in the H#t, and it has a fish in a teapot, which I have always thought hilarious. And as a potter, you're like "I wanna make that!" and so finally yesterday I made 2, one stand alone fish in a teapot, one for a wall plaque. Super good!

the heat is on......

Me and the wife went on a wee road trip Tuesday. Last stop was Alto Cinco in Syracuse, a Mexican restaurant (for hipsters? they didn't throw us out, maybe we are hipsters????)
We have superb Mexican here in Ithaca, but the fun thing is, Alto Cinco is also superb, but with an entirely different menu and ingredients, and an espresso bar!
They have a huge mural of fishes made out of bottle caps and beer cans.
Prior to that, as thanks for her help, we had been shopping, and I ended up getting stuff for the wife for Christmas. She deserves it BUT the real purpose of the trip was delivering pots for an exhibit I am participating in at Clayscapes: they are also my clay supplier, of course, and we got a boatload, well, a carload of clay too.








So cold and damp this week...had the heat on a bit Tuesday and today.....

havn't seen the dream hamster in awhile....

Many of you remember that I have a hamster living in my dreams, and have for years. Typically it is something I remember belatedly to take care of, as in, oh crapola, I forgot to feed the hamster for 2 days! or something like that. Its name is Robert. He has been in my dreams for years. Saw him last night in entirely typical fashion: it was Monday and I suddenly realized I had a hamster that I had not cared for since Friday and I ran home and found he was fine but out of food and still had some water but that his bedding was smelly. So I am dreaming that I am cleaning a hamster cage. Last night the hamster cage was a CD jewel case. Not sure how he fit in there....
I know I know, a close examination suggests that I am worried that I am forgetting to do SOMETHING. The self-employed person's constant refrain. But actually, I am quite on top of it all :)

Now for sale, skull mugs, piggy banks and other groovy stuff at my etsy gallery.

a-b-c of ME! because I am utterly fascinating and famous

ABC's of Me :) all my pals are doing it, now me TOO!
A - Age: 44

B - Bed size: full. Serta. Omigosh it is so comfy. We had a futon for years and I had a sore back and neck everyday. I iwuv our serta.

C - Chore you hate: every single one of them. No. I like to cook, bake and grocery shop :)

D - Don’t eat: I am vegetarian, no dairy, although it is easier to say VEGAN. But then the nitpickers are like "do you eat honey?" and I do plus I like eggs here and there.
E - Essential start your day item: le coffee

F - Favorite board game: its been awhile, but I always liked Monopoly and scrabble

G - Gold or Silver: GOD do I look like the kind of person who cares about gold or silver? OK. I choose GOLD except our cute car is silver. So maybe I choose silver.

H - Height: 5'8", well, almost 5 ninish

I - Instruments you play: zero, zip, don't know anything about it but would be a drummer if I could

J - Job title: self employed artist, potter, sculptor

K - Kid(s): 2 dogs and 2 cats and they are all wonderful and cuddly :)

L - Love or lust: good lord, who thought of this sh!t?

M - Mom’s name: no comment

N - Nicknames: Teddy! middle name is Edward, therefore....

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: aftermath of a head injury in a high school football game, YES

P - Pants or pantyhose: if I was gonna rob a bank, pantyhose of course, but usally just the pants. My favorite pair..well, I love my black jeans, both pairs, but this tan pair of pants I have is a favorite.

Q - Favorite Movie Quote: "scuse me while I whip this out"

R - Right or left handed: Right

S - Sibling(s): no comment

T - Time you wake up: between 5-6

U - Underwear: you would probably guess COMMANDO now wouldn't you????

V - Vegetable favorite: that is, frankly, all I eat..except for the beans, fruit, and grains :)

W - Ways you run late: I never f##king run late...no, not true. Sometimes I am with the wife, and, well...........

X - X-rays you’ve had: cat scans, see head high school football head injury above

Y - Yummy food you make: OK, it is all yummy and perfect, but the potato burritos just eaten were quite tasty

Z - Zoo favorite: I love the big cats...and the little monkeys...and elephants....and arctic foxes....

the wife was messing with her hair....

Yer gonna get yer money's worth today, but I am sure that sitting there at yer job in BIG CORP or wherever you are, this is just the kind of entertainment you need today, MY WEEKEND :)

OK, have you awakened from a nightmare so bad with your heart beating so fast in your chest you understand how some people are found dead in their bed? because their heart couldn't take the fear and stopped???? That was me last night, what a dream! I was trapped in some kind of apartment with a team of murderous sadists who were slowly and happily squashing a group of people like bugs, or I should say, creatively killing all of us. I was hiding in different spots and escaped. They say if you die in a dream, then you are COOKED, but I escaped. I usually have great dreams, wow. Yuck! BAB-BOOM goes the heart when you wake up!

So that was how the weekend ended. The weekend started with a trip to Rachel with me and the wife getting the hair cuts...mine was SHAGGY. Like the old dandelion going to seed. Who knows what Rachel and the wife were cooking up? You can see it here. PRINCESS was mentioned I believe...then of course, it was open studio and I didn't get any pics of visitors but at least I got pictures of US and some shots of the studio. YOU should come over this weekend or next! Love to see ya!

Then, as you see below, Sunday was so sunny and the trees around our house so colorful, gosh fall is pretty, and lastly, the wife made this devilish good dish with sweet potatos and ginger. Don't you love ginger?????

quiet Sunday.....

(pottery by Gary Rith)
Sort of still caught up in my dreams: back to my high school, trying to figure out what glop in the cafeteria I can eat...a nightmare believe me....;)

open studio Saturday!

C'mon over! 1-5 today (first Saturday of every month, plus more in the fall)
540 Main St, Etna, NY, (rte 366, the purple house)

BAMF ART BLOG BUNCH Tim Burton*ish show

We are the BAMF Art Blog Bunch a group of eleven artists from around the world and we have a group blog full of nonsense and creative fun at the BABB Blog.

We decided that for fall and October we would do a theme related to the illustrator-director-story teller Tim Burt0n. The entries below are all our seperate and creative takes on the theme and some of our relatives are also exhibiting, tres exciting, have a look!



Gary Rith
I have been fiddling with skulls on black pots for awhile. At one point, Kasey mentioned "teh goths rock teh black and red" and she was right, and I added red with the black, and another time kasey was like "OH! I love hearts and skulls!" and she is getting married and I made sure she got a teapot with hearts and skulls, but this week for this exhibit I wanted to take the idea a little further. I wanted a spirally teapot with a groovy handle, but then I was wondering if I could also paint on a spooky skull.....and I did :) These cups and teapot are available by emailing me at garyrith@yahoo.com and other items like them are already for sale at my etsy gallery.My name is Gary Rith and my blog is here. I can be reached at garyrith@yahoo.com and my website is http://www.garyrith.com/ and my etsy gallery is here.

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Becky Jo Brandow
It's kinda JACK-like. :)




I love a Nightmare Before Christmas.. Jack might be my favorite non-human character ever.. he's creepy, he can be nice, but mostly he's just a fun weirdo character. I wanted to get a little bit of Jack into my BABB Tim Burton*ish project, so I just planted him in the bottom of a Halloween colored bowl. This bowl is available in my Etsy Shop or you can see more photos, plus fun pottery stuff at my BLOG. If the bowl is already sold, I'm making a few more... you can contact me at RebeccaJDBrandow@yahoo.com if you just can't live without one. :)

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Jill Sneed Brown
Hi folks! Typically I am a portrait and wedding photographer, but I have this lovely image of my daughter. I picked it because it's kinda spooky looking with her running in the woods in a white dress.... like she's being chased by some spooky creature. With it's creepy yet whimsical feel - I thought it would be a perfect fit for the BABB Tim Burton-ish Show!

My website is Jill Brown Photography
My blog is Jill Brown Photography Blog
My Etsy

Kerry Barnes

I bring you...

Walter Scissorhands!

Why are you hiding back there? You don't have to hide from me - I'm Peg Boggs, your local Avon representative and I'm as harmless as cherry pie... Oh, my. What happened to you?

I'm not finished.

The years spent in isolation have not equipped him with the tools necessary to judge right from wrong. He's had no context. He's been completely without guidance. Furthermore, his work - the garden sculptures, hairstyles and so forth - indicate that he's a highly imaginative... uh... character. It seems clear that his awareness of what we call reality is radically underdeveloped.

Hold me!

I can't.

Stev0
When I think of Tim Burton, I think of a spooky atmosphere, but there also seems to be a story behind each image. The first image is from an abandoned Fort Williams in Maine.

The second image is from an interesting building at Cornell University. In the fall we have a lot of dreary cloudy days. This is an excellent time to capture a spooky mood with black and white.

Check out these photos, and other photos at my SmugMug site.

Stevo

Maureen Johnson

This piece is called "Oogie Boogie Blood and Guts Bowl". When thinking of Tim Burton and his wonderful animations mainly the "Night Before Christmas", which George and I adored what comes to mind is always the macabre . His creations always hold me spellbound even though they are at times gory and somewhat repulsive to the Max.

The character I created was to represent his wonderful animated characters. This one met his match and wound up squished into a soup for a Monsters dinner.

It is made out of stoneware, fired to cone 6, the character is hand sculpted.
The soup consists of tomato soup, salsa, pasta, and provolone cheese cut into bones. MMM so delicious and rated four stars by ghouls, trolls, monsters everywhere
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Kasey Baker

Our entries. I decided to name it because that's what you do with FINE ART such as this. So, this is Creature in Love. When you're not really human, not really alive and not really anything found in nature you just sort of creep about in graveyards when you fall in love. I can't tell you why because I am a human most days.

So my entry is the drawing. Scott's entry is he colored in my drawing. We're a team and humans.

You can find more art HERE. At my facebook page. Be my friend! Follow me on twitter! Read my blog.

Send me emails. Not spam emails. Send me fun-time emails and amuse me.

Ghosties by India Haines

India created this painting using acrylics, paper and ink on canvas. It is inspired by the many Tim Burton movies she has watched over the years. Ghosties, and more of India's work can be seen at her Mom's Blog. This work and another mysterious collaboration piece by India's Mom, and Brother Mason will soon be available for sale on Zibbet, just follow the links in the sidebar at Lizziespots