Garden Party, 24" x 36" acrylic on canvas by Tammy Vitale

I’m in the studio.  Actually, I’m in two studios: clay and painting, the painting studio being the floor of my office unless and until I retrieve my easel from the shed where we stored it last summer as we cleaned out the house supposedly to sell (no, it didn’t sell.  We didn’t even have anyone come through.  So much for trying to sell in the biggest housing market downturn in 12 years).

Garden Party is a painting that’s been rolling around in my head and I didn’t have the canvas I wanted, so I raided the closets where I stashed all my paintings, pulled out one I don’t particularly care for and painted over it.  I love 24" x 36" as a size to paint on and haven’t allowed myself the luxury of buying new ones that size since the 1.5" gallery framed ones cost a lot.  But I’m rethinking that since I do believe more painted women are in line to be born and I need to honor them.

Here are some more Women, VI and VII, that just came out of the kiln.  VIII and IX are ready for rakuing.  Dhyanna and I are set for Friday when the wind chill is calling for 0 degrees and wind gusts of 30 mph.  In other words, the coldest day so far this year.  Figures.  I have to wonder what difference that kind of cold will make in getting the piece from the kiln to the ground fire.  I guess we’ll see unless I chicken out. Dhyanna is just humoring me, I think; and she has a few pieces of her own to raku. 

I’m only posting all this work at once because I’m not focused on writing right now, I’m focused on studio work.  Made a luscious 24" vase with slabbed raku clay yesterday, using my extruder and have a few more pieces in mind around that too.  Of course raku isn’t functional, but if it makes it through it will be pretty; and I’m thinking about smaller bowls around the same theme.  All based on the Jomon vases I posted earlier.  Mine aren’t any where near as elaborate but over time and as I get used to what I can do with the form, they may be.  It’s drying under plastic right now.  When it comes out from the plastic I’ll post a picture.

thought for the day:  The last traces of older civilizations are beneath the water, broken down to almost nothing in the primordial oceans where mountains have become grains of sand.  once, walking on a beach that in another life had been the rocky terrain of dry earth, I found a piece of smooth, gray clay.  A line of sky blue glaze crossed it, but it looked like the clay had burst open, perhaps during firing, and in the center of that opening, a crystal was embedded.  it was clear and faceted.  it appeared to have been intentionally fired inside the clay.  I treasured that tile, which I supposed to be from the ruined, fallen world of Atlantis.  It was my share of hope that there was another, better world than ours.  Atlantis.  Unlike a far heaven, unlike the fiery molten core of hell, Atlantis, whether it existed or not, was a world we could believe in, a land like our own, a society whose fruits were a new, devastating technology, a country peopled with prophets and scientists, a world of lotus eaters seeking beyond their own grasp, dreaming beyond their limits, and finding their ruin within those dreams.  Barbara Kingsolver Small Wonder: Essays