minimalism: drawing the LEAST possible bit

I am not skilled at drawing which does not stop me from fiddling and doodling.
Maybe because I am not trained or skilled I just plow ahead and do what I wish? My sketchbooks would show you dozens of the SAME thing drawn over and over until I master it.

I found a brush on the sidewalk last spring, much fancier than what I use on pots.  Those are like 2 bucks eash, but the one I found was in a bag with a receipt of like 15 bucks.  The thing is SUPERB.  I like drawing on pots with black underglaze on a brush, then clear glaze over.  So, practicing with a superb brush and ink on paper makes sense, right?
The other day I was drawing Spike in what would become something like the squiggles to the left above.  It suddenly seemed fun to draw something through the merest SUGGESTION of line and shape.  Then I drew Penny above, and hit the jackpot.  I need to work on more minimal cats and other animals...

a hard working therapy dog....

As you know, my beagle Penny is a therapy dog.  The vet told us some time ago as she was giving Penny yet another painful vaccination shot which she seemed to enjoy greatly while kissing and loving the vet  "my gosh, she is so friendly, she should become a Cornell Companion* therapy dog and go to Longview!" and we did and we do.

Somebody asked the other day if she had a lot of training before becoming a therapy dog and I was like "welllll....um...." not saying that the type of therapy dog SHE happens to be is merely, um, PROM QUEEN style.  Meaning, she uses her naturally outgoing, friendly and sweet nature to bring fun to other people.  She is not especially well-behaved or obedient BUT she is enthusiastic and outgoing and full of kisses!
*Cornell companions is an official program from the University Vet School to train and place dogs who qualify in locations where friendly dogs can bring some cheer.  She is a Cornell Companion, but our gig at Longview is Senior Living is a seperate volunteer thing....

sometimes it is silly but you do it anyway...

I was insisting to the wife "I make GREAT plain goblets, really I do!" (center of pic above) in the aftermath of making Godzilla goblets (top of pic).  But I went on
"but I have been wondering about lizard feet and some kind of grotesque face on a goblet too..." so Sunday, I finished both.  A goblet with feet is pretty damn silly and may be the only I ever make...but they did crack me up!
Then, of course, you realize that there is a terrific name for them: GOBLIN GOBLETS.

looks like a famous holiday cartoon around here....

We walked over to the PO yesterday and the wife got video. We live on one side of the brodge, the PO is on the other. There are maybe 300 people in the village of Etna, outside of Ithaca, and yes, we have a post office, and bus service! I only mention it because....

 

one last

Still time to ship orders?  Sort of!  I will trust the PO to ship from here to the eastern US by the 24th, otherwise....
See the cuties below?  One left at my etsy shoppe, only one! Have a great Saturday!

(mugs and bowls by Gary Rith)

salt pigs and pugs!

it might be kind of an old fashioned English idea maybe:  a salt pig would sit on the kitchen counter, a pot with a side/front opening.  The baker reaches in and grabs a pinch of salt as they stir the dough, etc. I think they are pretty darn funny, and a customer asked for 2 small ones for the table...and ALSO SALT PUGS!
Have a great Friday!

(salt pigs and pugs by Gary Rith)

CHIPS!: Order-ly and DIS-order-ly....

I was thinking the other day "how come I have never tapped into the LUCRATIVE Comic-con--sci-fi--dungeons and dragons--Trekkie market???? You know, the people who spend outlandish money on sh!t like Godzilla goblets?"  because it is well known that there is a certain type of geek out there who will pay out the nose on a perfect Batman costume or... Godzilla goblet!  At least, I am guessing that those who spend a ton of money on sci-fi junk would ALSO overpay on a Godzilla goblet.... or perhaps I am just having fun making these....

Here is another good story my good friend T.'s father comes over to the studio, he is a NUT FOR PIGS and loves mine.  Tells me he needs a HUGE coffee mug, holding like 6 cups, with a pig as the handle...could he order, could I....?  AND I CAN.
His story goes like this:  just like Ponch and John, he was a California Highway Patrol (Chips!) motorcycle officer in the '70s...in that climate and time, cops were called pigs...he embraced it, and began a collection of pigs.....

the good, the bad and the ugly

We had a helluva gorgeous pink sunset through snowy trees yesterday, as you can see!  It is always hard for a non-photographer like me to get photos of such things...pretty, huh?  You always GROAN "oh winter, so ugly and horrible!" but then you see pretty skies and a cardinal flies past and you remember winter's subtle to spectacular beauty.  As long as you are dressed in your parka and woolies!

In other news, who WOULDn't want to eat out of a troll or ugly ogre, hmm?
(New bowls by Gary Rith)

maximum PIG

OK, you know:
a)  that I love pigs and
b) that lately I have made huge sculpted hippos and elephants as mug handles, right?


I remember seeing this hilarious video back when the wife and I honeymooned, 20+ years ago, speaking of pigs...

in which I receive a MARRIAGE proposal...but I am not a polygamist....

There I was, at the FAIR of the century!  The MILLENIUM!  The best I have had since 2000, WOW. Blockbuster! I mean it!* And the weather was not too bad...

ANYWAY, so there I am at this fair chatting with 2 women, one says to her friend "I'll buy you that for your birthday!"  indicating the fabulous whatever-it-was and she pays and moves on, and the future recipient sticks around and asks
"hey, are you single?  My friend there is so sweet and kind and artsy and beautiful, if you're available would you marry her....?"
and I am like "well, uh, I am married, thanks though!" and her friend comes back, the beautiful, kind and artsy one I am NOT marrying, and cracks me up, telling the matchmaker "you'll get the gift, but I get to keep the bag!"  and I am thinking "there's a consolation prize, lady can't have ME or my pottery, but she gets the paper bag (I get bags free from the store and draw doggys and such onto them)...."

My best pal Christi was there too, AND from time to time I bump into my very best pal Dean White...I was Dean's apprentice, as you will recall NEARLY 30 years ago AND as he has told me "I have had hundreds of students and apprentices but only one became a potter...YOU".

I tell ya, I lead a priviledged life, I really do... have a great Monday!





* You're always like "wow, what a great fair, here I am stuffing the bank this holiday season!" and then property tax bill comes January 1 and you hear that giant sucking sound and you realize that the total amount of millions mugs sold barely covers the tax bill, DANG that is humbling!  And they better keep the county roads in good repair and the little sh!ts at the schools better be taking good care of the textbooks I paid for....

"......so this is Christmas, and a happy new year!..."

SO, like I say, I spend the weekend at the largest fair of the year, for me, at Nottingham HS on Syracuse, NY's east side....put together by the Syracuse Peace Council, actually....I was tempted to post the Twisted Sister Christmas thing (ok, click here if you wanna see it.. awesome :) ...but OH, you know how sweet this is....catchya Monday :)

 

running to Youngstown...

OK, for real, I have the biggest fair of my year in Syracuse Sat-Sun at a high school.

Maybe that is why I dreamt just now:  I was a high schooler myself, and surrounded by ...well...other high schoolers, UGH.  Who wants to go there again?  Anyway, at an outdoor assembly I screamed at the assembled crowds "fukk all of you!" and gave them all a meaningful rude gesture to show I mean it.

Then I ran....I was with a couple of other like minded friends, and it was clear we would be torn to pieces and we agreed to split up "let's all run to our girlfriends' houses!" but mine was hundreds of miles away in Youngstown, for some reason, hundreds of miles away... I figured I would have to run a 26.2 mile marathon each day for...several days.

It has been a super busy week.  I have odds and ends to take care of today, like pack pots into our wee car.  I made a stack of pots early this week, dried them on the heater (see pic, pots and laundry drying!) and they fired to 2200 degrees yesterday...and I can pack them later today.  I can move fast sometimes: a bag of clay on Monday is a bunch of mugs and bowls by Friday....

she has her fans.....

It happens every day:  people use MY dog for their fb profile pic, or they make appointments to come over to see her to rub her ears and belly, or they call her on the phone...all for a little one on one beagle time....
some mugs and ornaments from the studio today! have a great Thursday!

Where the w!ld things are: more gruesome BOY pots!

Not to offend, but like I said yesterday, indeed, I look at some of the things I make (cars, rockets, planes, dogs, fire trucks!) and say "Gary, you make pots a little boy would want to make".
INCLUDING this new line of lizard cups.

Yesterday I showed the first in the series. This one is the second...and it got me thinking "what if the handle became a tail and then I added the face of a MONSTER???


And I finished that monster and I was like "dang, he looks a lot like some w!ld things I have seen before..."  which, for the sake of copyright etc, I will emphasize I said that AFTER I made them and it is just a passing glance and has nothing to do with any famous author's work, book, etc.
I remember hearing that author say "I was a little boy and we visited my old aunts and uncles and my characters are based on them and and their ugly old selves" or something like that....

ANYWAY, I do not make many face jugs these days, but starting the mid-80s I became very interested in southern face jugs...this is a favorite mug of mine, from around '89 next to a small vase from yesterday...character, eh?

Have an awesome day!
(all pottery by Gary Rith and any similarity to anything else is purely coincidental)

when pottery BITES BACK!

I make a lot of BOY POTS don't I?
I wanted to make lizard feet on a cup...and so I DID....and more Tea Rex too, right?
Gruesome!  No, wait, cute :)
Have an awesome Tuesday....


(cups by Gary Rith)

more wag less BARK!

The antidote to crabbiness eh wot?
It is a well known bumper sticker around here that makes me laugh, and it occurred to me that my beagle would look rather good, drawn on there....underneath is the whole saying, but I thought it a bit clever to SHOW it...
have a great Monday!

(mug by Gary Rith)

now for the next thing....

OK, November open studio GONE, done, in the rearview mirror!
I hadn't expected ANYBODY all weekend, and was therefore very relaxed about it all, but both days people were in the door before opening, WHOA.  Super grateful for all the fun visitors..
My buddies Kerry and Terry were the last to visit, and Spike and Penny knew that it was all about THEM.....and the new toy they brought....
Today I run off to Gallery 41 in Owego to mind the shop, HUGE fair next weekend in Syracuse, orders to take care, Oi! its a fun ride to Christmas!

 

day TWO open studio

(new bowls by Gary Rith--I have been fiddling with this dark green glaze, dang it is a nice color, with a metallic sheen...big surprise!  It shows ridges and textures nicely, and is always begging for FROGS)

So busy open studio Friday I didn't even GET PICTURES?  NEVER!
I figured it would be quiet Friday, unlike my October open house when the weather is nicer and tourists are out.
NO NO!  A minute after opening I have the nice people in here looking around...as a matter of fact, yesterday was TWICE as busy as the October open house, gosh I am grateful....I explain to people that "If I worked at WalMuck everybody and anybody would come in...but here?  Ohmygosh, only the absolute nicest people ever seem to shop for pottery!".  I mean, wow, a cold day of warm fuzzies!

It was a hectic day.  I have 2 cat sitting jobs this weekend, Scoop and Puffy!  Talk about WARM FUZZIES! Have a great Saturday yourself!

MY black Friday...

Open studio here today 11-4, tomorrow too!
If you can't come over (540 Main, Etna, NY) then never FEAR!  Click here and shop online. Have a great Friday :)


(new pottery by Gary Rith--the above vase is new but an old favorite shape of mine, and below?
I keep making covered cups, wanting one for myself and this one is MINE--the appeal, I have found, is you have a built in saucer, but also I make tea in the kitchen and wander off to the cold studio, and sip here and there, this can keep it warm, it won't spill as I walk AND keeps tea warm while it steeps if I don't use a teapot! One last thought the lid can also hold your teabag...)

small blessings..

As a full-time retailer for 16-17 years,  Thanksgiving weekend has always meant BUSINESS (click here for my online etsy gallery!) I have open studio tomorrow, Friday-Saturday, and then gallery sit Sunday at the coop in Owego.... I also have, as you know, the pet sitting business with 2 cat jobs this weekend...today I empty the kiln, and get the studio ready, visit Puffy the cat, finish making some orders, then Friday it gets REALLY busy...for a month, or until the 24th.

SO, as I have said, Thanksgiving is something I looooove.  People make the mistake of thinking when I tell them it is a working weekend for me "poor Gary!" said my mother-in-law...and I had to tell her, aside from the fact that I love to work and DO NOT work at Small Mart "are you kidding?  It is HEAVEN getting paid to do this".
I suggested to the wife that she visit her sisters and Girl With a Pearl Earring on display in NYC.  So, in minutes, I clear all the gawdamn snow off the car and we go to the bus station...

We had Thanksgiving eve celebration yesterday, HOLY CATS so yummy, as you see in the pics:
--gluten-free sweet potato latkes, a new recipe for me, baked in muffin tins!
--curry chickpea fritters with bell pepper, spinach and carrot
--sliced avocado, spinach and tomato and
--another new recipe for me, cranberry chutney with hot peppers and a ton of ginger, yeOW!
--and finally, no dairy no gluten rice flour crust pumpkin PIE (look at the picture--has Spike cat fooled, right?) which tastes MORE delicious than the average pumpkin pie I swear

So, basically, I am the opposite of a traditionalist...you could say "he doesn't give a sh!t about family or tradition, all he does is try to make money!" and, well, if I don't make money we can't buy groceries, and I have NEVER paid any attention to tradition.

Small blessings:  to do what I do for a job, DANG it is fun
-we make ends meet, do what we want, eat what we want
-we are warm inside and it is fiercely wintry out there
-we have great friends and neighbors
-my sweetie:  it will be a tart and sweet ache in my heart all weekend, her off partying in NYC with her sisters.....