Beach B, hand and slab built clay torso, almost finished, by Tammy Vitale

Shan, over at Thick Paint, writes more today on what is art/how it’s defined.  Since that’s an on-going topic in my own mind (and on the tongues of lots of people I meet – who should get in a show/gallery, who shouldn’t – having been closed out way too much myself, I’m on the "let in anyone who self defines as an artist" side) I’ll give you a piece of her blog and tell you to click over and read the rest (and subscribe – when she blogs, she’s got something to say.  And her paintings are great – she posts them.  And I only know her in the blogosphere so thank you blogosphere!).

Here’s another great blog to read with tons of great connections (it’s exponential – there simply isn’t enough time to read everything):  Kats Paws.  She does this thing:  one a day.  In November.  One piece of art a day.  I figure I already to that in clay but if I were to do it in another medium it could be a nice "break out" period of opening consciousness to new things via different materials.  I wrote her.  She wrote me back.  She sets up a page for folks who are doing the one a day with her to display their one-a-days.  Sounds like fun and inspiration to me!

Yesterday’s kiln load yielded the disappointment that the mermaid’s tail blew out.  Am working on piecing it back together now, but am not sure I’ll be able to do the 2-piece thing I was thinking about (keeping the two pieces able to separate for travel purposes).  I may just have to glue it all together, ring the waist area (which is the area that blew out) with shells, and let it go at that.  Luckily the tail wasn’t glazed as I plan to finish that with stain.  The top torso was glazed but it made it through firing just fine.  Beach B, pictured above, leaned up against the fire wall and brought away two tiny pieces of firewall where she touched (she must have shifted – I very carefully leaned her away from the fire wall when I positioned her to fire).  I can fix that with some acrylic paint.  As you can see, I still need to finish her belt and give her her bellybutton jewelry.  I’ve liked her from the beginning.  Her "top tee shirt" cracked when drying but a heavy application of glaze filed that right in.  I had cleaned the break line – rounded the edges – after it first cracked, but instead of just looking like a crease, as they dried the edges shrank away from each other, so I was glad this glaze is a filler inner (not good for details – just flat work).

2 raku torsos ready for the fire, but I don’t have enough for a kiln load just yet – well, maybe I do with my sculptures from the beginning of the month…I have to do some glazing there before I fire.  I’d like to do at least 2 more raku torsos so that I could do a run….but 4 torsos is about 4 hours and that’s a lot for raku, so maybe two at a time is better anyways.  I could do that by myself.

thought for the day:  Elections are coming.  Pay attention!  Am reading The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama.  If elections and politics have got you down, read this book!