Playing at the Marina

You'd think we live by the sea. Today A and I went down to the Treman Marina near Ithaca. We had launched kayaks there two days ago. Nice light this morning so we took advantage of it.

Images, choices, and changes

It seems like everyday I watch this kid becoming more and more of an adult. When they were all out sailing on Friday, it was fascinating to watch the kids yacking among themselves and to see who was doing what with whom. This is a marvelous age. Independence is coming and obstacles are purely temporary. Pretty wild to see these HUGE growth spurts too. A few weeks ago and this kid was a good 3 inches shorter.... BOOOOM.... add water and ZZZZZOOOOM there she goes. And somehow, with all that growing, she is still finding time to do fun things with Nancy and I. Today it was kayaking off of Sheldrake Point. Tonight we're heading to the CSA for this week's produce. Always fun stuff happening.

More Images from the Lake

I am still trying to deal with the fact that my kid sails. Not that she sails with other adults in command... but that SHE sails. On her own if need be. Talk about a great experience for a kid!

Summer Day Spent Sailing

I dont think it is possible to imagine anything better than a blue sky day, nice breeze and a sailboat out on the lake. Cornell University offers a day camp where kids get to sail (2 kids to a boat). This was A's first time in this camp. Talk about LOVING sailing. She was already a water-rat... but this was just too cool. Since we hadn't seen her all week, I figured I would surprise her today by slipping my kayak into the lake down near where her group launches. As things would have it, there was also the Empire Games holding their sailing races for the Laser class. So... a crowded launch and after that, the lake was nice, quiet and fun. With the exception of a few powerboat wakes giving me a thorough jostling, it was a fantastic day to be out on the water.

More images

N & I reflecting on things inside and outside, in Seneca Falls, NY

N's shot of some very fun glass block, in Seneca Falls, NY

Red RED fire hydrant, in Seneca Falls, NY

There is a lot to be said for thunderstorms keeping me out of the kayak and off the lake. I had planned to have a quick morning excursion but after checking the radar this morning, I decided that getting into the studio would be a much better use of time. After a very full day getting a kiln tightly loaded and some more small platters trimmed, I was ready for a break.

There is something very exciting and at the same time relaxing about working on photographs. I think the retouching aspect reminds me of my old darkroom days. Details details details. Here's a quick glimpse of tonight's fun stuff.

A day off

We made some pretty big decisions over the past few weeks. We basically have scrubbed all of our summer shows... leaving us with only two remaining shows for the year... the Fine Craft Show at the Memorial Art Gallery in November, and the Mostly Pottery Show at the Museum of the Earth in Ithaca in December. Other than those two shows... we are DONE with shows. Period.

To celebrate, we took the day off today. Nancy's back has been bugging her so she wanted to find a way to walk around and DO something at the same time. So we went on a photo excursion up to Seneca Falls. There is so much to see between here and there, it supply us with decades of ideas for great photos. Today's light was pretty weird, overcast and grey, but with almost lavender light bouncing around. Very hard to get great colors. BUT it was definitely worth looking around and figuring out what we HAD to shoot the next time we have great light.... post rainstorm, before a snowstorm, after dawn... just before sunup... things like that.

So, here are a few of the shots I will be playing with over the next few days.

It's just the heat and humidity

The past few days have been muggy. Wet leathery days where the sun glares, the clouds sweat, and the air just hangs there. Like passing time in an old locker room. It got to the point yesterday where I HAD to go find someway to cool off. Ended up spending gas money as an escape. We had planned on going on a little photo-safari but the glare and overcast nature of the day made it useless for photography. Was hoping this morning might be more conducive to taking pics... nope... instead we are getting more sweaty skies. Not enough water to classify as drizzle or rain, but enough humidity that one could squeeze the sky and wring out bucketfuls.

Guess that means I need to be out in the shop working on mugs. Seems like EVERYONE wants footed mugs this week. The last batch that came through the kiln was just amazing. Would have been even better without the catastrophe 2 weeks ago. (this is where you imagine me reflecting back, back....) Left 2 boards of footed mugs, decorated, footed, the works.... all sitting outside, drying,... while Aurora and I went off to Ithaca. Came home to find the rainstorm had filled them all to the brim with water, but now had soaked through the bottoms and everything was melty-melty. Talk about depressing. In all my years, I have never had this happen. Chalk this one up to a learning experience.




So, I am off to make footed mugs for the day. Need to make platters too. Had a run on platters earlier in the month.

Gettin' a Handle on Things

After an hour of handles the clay starts to really flow. After three hours I wonder when I will see the last board of oval pitchers and oval vases. I just took a break for lunch and need to get back out there to work on the next few boards. Maybe I will have to get Aurora to come out and shoot some pics of today's fun!

How'd you spend your weekend?

This past weekend we were in Rochester at the Corn Hill Arts Festival. Corn Hill may have been an art show at one time but lately it has really become more of a food fest and a chance for folks to buy art-on-a-stick. The booth next to us was selling dried flower arrangements.... for WAY more $$$$ than our pottery. Depressing.

Saturday was about as hot as it can get here without people bursting into flames. Sunday started off okay, then rained till just about closing. Made for an uneventful Sunday. The sun came out and all was beautiful.... right as it was time to go home.

During our copious free time we wandered the show and came across one of our woodworking friends... Marc Freedman. I love Marc's work. His sense of line and his obvious devotion to the materials and attention to detail really makes his work stand out! Here are a few images.

Upcoming - Ithaca Ceramics

Julie Crosby, Trumansburg, NY

Julie Johnson, Interlaken, NY

Jeremiah Donovan, Groton, NY

Alex Solla, Trumansburg, NY

Momoko Takeshita Keane, Ithaca NY

Eric Seritella, Newfield, NY

Cary Joseph, Ithaca, NY

It is getting to be that time... time for the SHOW!!

Here's a brief preview of some of the work in the show.
Unfortunately there is no web presence for this event. Argh.
BUT, thanks to the web, we can sneak a peek. There's LOTS more but I only have time to put up these few pictures of some of the participants.

Back to the Mud

Today was a splendid day. Fired off a bisque before 8am. Had a bunch of great customers throughout the day. Managed to get a slew of batterbowls trimmed and ready for handles tomorrow. Got through the hottest part of the day by remaining in my kayaking duds from my early morning foray. I went out into the lake on a blustery day... winds whipped the waves up into some nice steady chop. In the end, I came home mighty wet, but happy! Topped off the day by UNLOADING the aforementioned bisque this evening, washed off all the pots and even managed to get everything waxed so tomorrow morning I can dive straight into glazing!! Fun day!

Nancy and I took a field trip on Sunday to the Johnson Museum to see the Ithaca Ceramics show. Opening will be this friday from 5pm-7pm. Hope everyone can come!!! It is a very interesting show. Wide range of styles and aesthetics. All in all, a very well put together show. Dying to see how the opening fares.

More on Lighting Up the Sky

In all my years of shooting pictures, I have never tried to capture the bizarre light streams created by fireworks. So, last night Aurora and Nancy agreed to play grip to my my photog. We weren't quite tripping on each other, but it was close sometimes! Some of the pictures we captured were just plain lucky. Others were more focused and deliberate,...but not necessarily better. In the end, I think playing with flashlights in the dark was the most fun I have had with light in YEARS! Today I had a chance to give it a quick run through my favorite software, Nik Capture. It allowed me to change some of the colors selectively. Too much FUN !!

Sky Flowers

My mother says my blog entries are too depressing. Hmm.
That makes me sad.

No, seriously. I never intended to write anything generally considered morose. If anything, I hope to share some of the fun stuff, the odd insights, and the general mirth that fills the house and studio of a potter.



Tonight was the 4th of July. Well, not really. Today is the 2nd, but Ithaca is weird. They do fireworks early. Maybe it is cheaper? Dunno. But we had fireworks. The plan was to be down near the lake before they started shooting off fireworks. Plan worked well, except the fireworks were sort of late. No biggie... got Nancy and Aurora around to play with light and to help me figure out some of the more esoteric manual modes of my camera. To that end, here are some images of us playing with light. Oh, and some sky flowers.

all done with an LED flashlight and a 2 min exposure!