4 hand and slab built raku clay torsos, drying in the studio of Tammy Vitale

Monday I had the blues.  No reason I can ascertain.  I have just come off a glorious week of dropping more work than I thought I would on the Outer Banks, and had a very busy week in the studio as you can see from pictures here, and yet there it was.  A vague feeling of discomfort/unhappiness.  The blues.  I want to cut my hair.  Big time blues.  So I went and did some retail therapy and found a few blouses that I like.  Impossible Thing #1.  Retail therapy is great, but it doesn’t really cure the blues.

Outside the weather has turned unseasonably cold by about 10 degrees lower than normal, according to the channel 4 weatherman, Bob Ryan, who I believe.  Lots of wind, which I love (especially at night when I hear the trees laughing and I’m snuggled under my feather quilt).  The front lawn is littered with white pine needles – their time of year to shed, much like the oaks and maples.  Many people would see work, I see free raku fuel – much needed (see the four torsos drying above).  Impossible Thing #2.  Feeling poor in the face of nature’s generosity….boy you should see the acorns this year! (heavy winter coming?)

In the studio I have discovered:  (1) Beach B has no integral hanging holes that I put in all my torsos.  I’m not sure I can trust the small d-rings I use on my tiles so I may go back to material and goop.  I know it doesn’t look professional, but I have a large piece that’s been hanging outdoors for 3 years with that combo with no problem, so I may have to go with what I know there; (2) I am running out of places to hang torsos; (3) the 2-peice mermaid torso is having problems.  Because I fired the pieces separately, they didn’t fire so that they fit together seamlessly.  I knew that – so my plan was to put shells on one piece to cover the joint and join the two with blocks of wood on the back.  Then the tail blew out – which I fixed but am not sure it will support the weight of the rest of the tail – the blow out is at the waist line.  I will have to work harder on this than I thought.   Impossible thing #3:  a lack of adventure in the clay studio.  New things always bring puzzles, even when I KNOW how they’re going to turn out.

Yesterday I received an email from Kathleen at Island Artworks.  Lilith (my favorite and thus my highest priced piece) sold to regular customers of hers from Michigan.  Lilith (below left) will soon be in her new and permanent home.  She was the first piece of raku I make in the raku kiln Husband made for me for a Chistmas present.  He and I worked on that first load together.  Bar none, she has been one of the best pieces I have ever made (although Fern comes in a close 2nd, and I’m hopeful to approach the technique results in the 4 torsos resting above).  I’m going to miss her presence and/but am happy that she has found a home where she and her people can exchange stories for a very long time.  Impossible Thing #4:  really letting go of some of the pieces that come through me – do we every let go of our "kids"?

Today I will prepare for Unique Boutique coming this weekend – my first time showing with this group.  And continue working on pieces I need to fill a very large wall at Joie de Vivre for my show there (Nov – Feb).  After Unique Boutique I will have an idea of how hard I have to work to restock smaller work.  I’m still playing catchup with the torsos.

thought for the day:  …I thought about the voices of all the people I’d met on the campaign trail…It wasn’t just the struggles of these men and women that had moved me.  Rather, it was their determination, their self-reliance, a relentless optimism in the face of hardship.  It brought to mind a phrase that my pastor, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., had once used in a sermon.

The audacity of hope.

That was the best of the American spirit, I thought – having the audacity to believe despite all the evidence to the contrary that we could restore a sense of community to a nation torn by conflict; the gall to believe that despite personal setbacks, the loss of a job or an illness in the family or a childhood mired in poverty, we had some control – and therefore responsibility – over our own fate.

It was that audacity, I thought, that joined us as one people.  Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope:  Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream

Impossible Thing #5:  that we will miss an opportunity to elect as President this man who has arrived on the scene with a new story (finally! – one not of fear but of love and connection!) just in the nick of time.