there must be a better way

alphabet collage

I made this collage on the computer using images of my alphabet series. The digital form conceals the lusciousness of the actual surface. I put this up to celebrate the completion of an eternity spent photographing and cropping and resizing and uploading images for my etsy store. I have honestly spent two entire days on this and I only added twenty-five images. Perhaps that explains why I am such an etsy slacker. The process is de-energizing in the extreme.

Anyway, the whole alphabet collage series (except 'r') is in the shop, finally. I cut the prices approximately in half from the showroom prices that were listed originally. That's what happens when I am out of sorts from too little exercise and fresh air. Grrrr...I'm going outside now.

*And the 'g'? Goat, grape, glasses, grasshopper, grid, grate

I should seriously consider doing this~ THXTHXTHX

Just in case

Wary of the danger posed by bears, Little never goes anywhere without her foothold trap.

Paper cut rolls (miniature worlds).

"G" is for

'g' is for garden

lettuces and brasicas

so full of promise

Am I seeming a little smug here?A bit too proud? It's just that I am so pleased with myself to have my garden well under control at just the right time of year.

Did you get the 'm'? Mouse, muffin, music, marshmallow, mushroom, morning glory, moth
The "h"? Hen, heart, and a flower that starts with h but I can't remember it right now.
The "e"? Eye, egg, easy, enigmatic

Bark

Just a little something to move the previous post down the page

poppy skeletons

bullet casings

Things from my walk~

path through the woods

Tree blocks

Oh man, I'm an idiot

'm' is for mortified

'h' is for humiliated

'e' is for embarrassed

Here's why~

has two 'i's in it. Rainier. That's RAINIER, people. And to think I grew up in Lakewood, Washington. Right in it's shadow. Gah.

Did you get the "V" (valentine, vine, violet)? And the "Y" (yo yo, yurt, yarrow)?

Very cool laptop

Mt. Ranier tile

Mt. Ranier 8" tile

Once again, I was too rushed to get good photos of this series because I had to deliver them to the client.

This is the only presentable picture I have, but I am happy with all the tiles. The bear here amuses me.

east light in the hall

Isn't the morning light shining down the hallway beautiful? It makes me want to spend the whole day in the garden planting vegetables. Okay then, heading outside now to put in the broccoli and lettuce starts.

Just one more thing.

Worship this

gathering of worshipers

they appear earnest

and rapt

A spontaneous gathering assembled on a stoneware table I made many years ago. Yet another piece I am glad to have, even if only because it didn't sell at the time. Part of this arrangement contains buttons that I made in the early seventies (spoiler alert~ I'm old) for the Ann Arbor Street Fair. I pick up bullet casings on my daily hike on the logging road.

You might recognize the object of worship as the valentine I got from Mr. Cranky two years ago.

Do you think the sentinels represent protection or coercion?

another kind of FBI, clever.

Spring planting

early season vegetable seed from Territorial Seed

The sun's out! I'm preparing to plant the first raised bed today.

cloche ready to plant

The blue tubes lining the south edge are from a defunct waterbed, repurposed to collect and store solar heat. The bunched plastic lying below will be pulled up over the arched pvc pipe to keep everything nice and warm until the weather settles.

Fort Knox of food

Woodland mural, finished

I had to get this out the door before I could photograph it properly. The clients were delighted! If I am lucky they will send a photo of the installation.

helicopter

Happy St. Patrick's day

this makes me want to die a little

The Library of Congress has a flickr account with some great photos of Ireland from the Detroit Publishing Company. Here's the link from the flickr blog.

I am not a huge fan of corned beef and cabbage (soda bread is good though!), so this is what one of  my favorite food blogs does with a beef brisket. I think you could even get away with doing this with tempeh for the vegans in your life. Mmmm... 

Not in Ireland, but, wow.

I could keep this up for eleven more posts

V is for valentine

More of my alphabet tile collages. 

Did you get the images for the "O"? (*Orange, owl, olive)

Y is for yes!

And for the "Q"? (*quail, quilt, question mark, quince) 

Haareis or hair ice, pretty.

Alphabet collage

olive you

'O' collage, made from my boxes of leftover tile.

Q is for...

Question authority, of course.

Click on  keramic.

Tangerine addiction

Bowl of tangerines in the entry room

Mr. Cranky's love of tangerines knows no bounds. You will find them right when you enter the house.

Tangerines on the bench that Tim made

You will find them even before you enter the house.

Tangerines on the table

Naturally, you will also find them inside the house.

Must take them in the car...

But, I'll bet you didn't expect to find them on the car.

Invisible people. I like Rico.

Banana vase

banana vase

An unexpected use for this salt-glazed pot that Mr Cranky made many, many moons ago.

wonky thick stumpy little pot

This has been kicking around holding pencils and paper clips and such. I love the shape, it's heavy and characterful..

Woodland mural progresses

Woodland mural with cobalt wash

Mr. Cranky thought my bear looked a bit like a pig (hmphffff!) so I made the fur look shaggy and bear-like with brush strokes.

pencil sketch on tile

I changed the size of the trees when I applied the blue wash. The view from the window where this will be installed looks out into an old growth evergreen forest, but the trees in my drawing are more like poplars in a deciduous forest. I washed in the thicker areas between the trees instead of the thinner lines in the original sketch to make it more like the deep dark woods that is actually there. I also changed the owl to appear more realistic, and less cartoon-ishly cute.
I have a bit more detail to add and then it will be time to glaze and pray to the kiln gods.

As good as sliced bread?

forty-two seconds of amazingness

via

also hahaha

A small custom woodland mural

My first bear. I like bears.

A little trouble with the deer's face, I'll fix that later.

It's so odd how a deer's face/head is small compared to it's body. It's tricky, but it will look right once I slip-trail the line and put in the cobalt wash. 

I have only drawn my cartoon-ish bears thus far. But I like this guy here: