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Goddess, 11.5" x 14" crayon on dry media by Tammy Vitale

I continue to play with crayons and find that I can work through these pictures very quickly and find it very satisfying.  I have probably been too long away from clay – my studio is still clean, except for the work that needs putting away from last weekend's show (which is in the garage – which is more clean than not these days).

The problem is that I am out of space, out of places to sell (and out of people to buy in this lovely economy) and almost out of clay.  I find myself hoarding the last boxes as if I could never get more.  I tell myself I need to use up, wear out, recycle and I have 5 bins of recycleable materials to use for something (how about the pond wall for starters?).  I seem to already be in the throes of SAD and it's only September…so I color with crayons.  It is a relief and an outlet while other things interior and exterior sort themselves out.

I am even coloring the pieces I don't very much like.  Of course not all the sketches work out the way I anticipate and in the past I've just let them sit.  But coloring is coloring and so yesterday I colored a piece I'm not delighted with and found it just as soothing as the ones, like the one above, that work out exactly as I had hopes.  Here's Woman with Bird for your viewing pleasure and to assure everyone out that that being an artist doesn't necessarily mean turning out perfection or even close to it every time.

Also good for the spirit is trying out new things.  Yesterday, thanks to the generosity of local bead artist Sue Page, I started making glass beads!  I LOVED it!  We determined that I will probably best like  flamed glass – which is sculptural – as much as bead making.  Below, you see my beads (on the bottom) and Sue's demonstration beads on the top (the flamed glass being the two leaf beads – well, mine sort of looks like a leaf), including the two goddess torso beads she made.  I am in awe of them – the white one she made for me (because, as I said, she is generous) and the other one, somewhat malformed she was disparaging, but of course I loved its character so she gave me that too.  And then tried to give me one of the lovely little fish beads she is making, but I declined simply because they are so lovely (and alas I do not have a photo) and I felt like it was too much.  I have to tell you that the 3 hours I was there was closer to 15 minutes in feeling the passage.  It was very soothing and meditative.  The glass doesn't cost a lot, but the setup (the torch, oxygenator and a kiln small enough to use just for beads) can run up a big tab quickly, so I will have to make do visiting with Sue, which she offered anytime.

thought for the day:  We see that creativity is a way of living that considers birthing holy and that puts birthing ahead of controlling, ecstasy ahead of objectifying and celebrative sharing ahead of conformity.  …All birthing takes discipline; it takes cognition as well as insight and form as well as ideas.  To be creative then is to make demands on oneself and one's possibilities. … Creativity is a way of living, a spirituality…It is a way that all persons travel in responding to life and we call it "the art of survival."  Everyone who survives, we might say, has proven what an artist he or she is…Matthew Fox, A Spirituality Named Compassion