My Ceramics Collection--So Far

Siamese Cat Vessel

(My teacher really liked this one!)

Green Teapot with White Flower


Squirrel Teapot

A Potato Chip Bowl

I thought I would use today's blog site to show you all the ceramic pieces I have done so far that are completed. For not having any previous experience in ceramics and glazing, I thought I did pretty well and I'm very happy with the results.

I have been using Thanksgiving break to do as much homework as I can for my art classes. All my ceramic pieces have been made and are just waiting to be fired and then painted. I have a total of 11 pieces. About half of them have been fired and painted.

All my homework for 3-D Art 108 has been done. However, my 3-D art class is going to give us one last project and we only get about one weekend to complete it! But it is a group project, so maybe it won't be so bad. I hope not. I couldn't even use this holiday break to get started on the project because no one knows exactly what type of project it will be. We only know it will have to do with a museum presentation of a collection that is either factual or ficticious.

The Pepe Portrait Commission

It is nice to be well again and cold-free with no more symptoms. Now my husband has what I had and he was just sick three weeks ago with the flu. (Sigh) I HATE viruses!

I have caught up with all my BSU homework for the time being, but there is still more to do. I am going to go into ceramics class this weekend and do one last session with clay before I let them all dry out and get them ready for firing in the kiln. I have nine pieces so far. Do I have time to make one more piece? We'll see.

I just hope I have time for everything I am suppose to do by December 1oth. I have to work on one more project for 3D art that needs to be completed by December 8th. Fortunately, I will be working in a group and will have help. Then I have to have all my ceramics fired and painted or glazed, then turn in a synopsis of photos, etc. of all the ceramic pieces I have made this semester.

In the midst of the obstacles I've had to deal with like my car breaking down, me getting sick, my husband getting sick, something good actually happened! I got a new portrait commission! Not only did I get this commission, but I got paid for it in advance! That rarely ever happens. I will be doing a portrait of a little dog named Pepe who was a chihuahua mix. I say "was" because the dog passed away just last month. The owner found my website and contacted me. Sometimes my website really does pay for itself!

The photos for the "Pepe portrait commission" that I have to work with are not real good--only fair--so I will have to get some of my own references to use to fill in the detail, but I think I can come up with a really nice portrait for my client. I can't even start on this commission until after my classes are over and done with. But that's okay. I will have something to look forward to.

Thanksgiving Break Is Here

I have an entire week off with no BSU classes! It will be very, very nice to have a chance to catch up on things. However, I still have some homework to do. The teachers want to make sure that we don't have it too easy over Thanksgiving break! I may not get much of a chance to work on my own art projects.

The last class days for both my BSU classes are December 8-10. That is only a few weeks from now! Yicks! I have a few more pieces of pottery in Ceramics I need to finish and another project to do in 3D art.

I just found out that the final project for 3-D art will be on display downstairs in the Liberal Arts Building of BSU. There will be a reception and a press release, just like a regular art show. That is cool! This will be sometime around the second or third week in December.

I was eager to go in Friday or Saturday to do some extra ceramic work in class, but I got sick. The dreaded virus that is hitting everyone finally hit me. Fortunately, it is not the swine flu--just a cold. This has definitely been an week of battles. On top of being sick, my Saturn decided to break down this week, so I am back to sharing the truck with my husband until my car gets repaired.

Christmas Bazaar Season

Saturday I had a booth at a Christmas bazaar and sold some art. The bazaar was at my church, the Vineyard Christian Fellowship. This is the first time they have held a Christmas bazaar. I thought there was a pretty good turnout for the first bazaar. I sold enough to make the whole thing worth while. In this weak economy I get a little nervous sometimes when I do a show because I'm afraid nothing will sell, but I was happy with the results I got. It was fun looking at some of the creative things the other vendors had made and were selling. One of the most interesting designs there were hanging metal mobiles that had some beautiful and creative designs cut into them. I even took some photos which I may post on my blog later when I get the film developed. I did a trade with one vendor and got an awesome cross necklace made out of horseshoe nails.

I took some clay home with me from class last week and did some ceramic work at home because I wasn't able to make it to school to work on any of my ceramic projects. I finished the rest of the little figurative pieces for my Lord of The Ring narrative ceramic project. Now all I have to do is scrape out the underneath part of the piece to make it ready for firing and attach the two figures. The teacher said he likes this piece and he gave me some tips to make sure it doesn't blow-up in the kiln! I am still learning about what to do and what not to do when you make things in clay and apparently, when you make a piece that is very solid and thick without any airholes poked into it, it will blow up in the kiln. This actually happened to another ceramic piece I made, but I was able to glue the broken pieces on and after I painted it, you couldn't tell anything had broken off.

Lots and Lots of School Projects!

School work has really been keeping me busy! There is only about one month left of school and it is CRUNCH TIME! Now is the time for me to play Billy Joel's song, "Pressure!" I have been working on several projects for both my classes. It has also been difficult to find the time to look for a part-time job. So until I get an actual job, I am making my living with my art and selling some items on the internet.

I just completed a real crazy project for my 3D art class. This project involves transforming part of the human body into something unusual or wierd--kind of like a mutation. My project involved turning the female body, specifically the breasts and the navel, into hot and cold water valves and turning the navel into a water faucet. This is definitely one of the strangest pieces of art that I have ever created, but my teacher loved the idea, so I went with it. Oh, what we students will do just to get an 'A' ! This piece will definitely NOT end up hanging over the fireplace in the living room!

This Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. I will be selling my art and crafts at a Christmas Bazaar at the Vineyard Church. This is the Vineyard's first Christmas bazaar and I hope it is a real success! All this week I have been busy preparing for it.

I also have been coming into the Ceramics class at BSU one extra day per week so that I can have a large enough body of ceramic works to show for the end of the semester. So far, I have four pieces that have been bisque fired, three that are glazed and finished, one that I have to paint/glaze, and two other pieces that are drying out, waiting to be bisqued fired. Then I have two others that I have started to sculpt, but they are not finished.

My 3DArt Class Project Photos

I have posted photos of the latest projects I have made in my 3-D Art Class at BSU. The bottom two photos are two views of the soap sculpture that was actually my mid-term. This sculpture will be in a student art show sometime in mid-November and I am excited about that. It has been a while since I have been in any art exhibit that was at Boise State University.

The top two photos are from a 3D Book project, which was our last assigned class project. For my project, I made my version (in miniature) of the no-kill cat shelter, Simply Cats, where I did some volunteer work this past summer. The very top photo was a close-up of one of the rooms in the shelter that was especially for the fat cats who are on a diet and exercise program to lose weight. My camera doesn't have the capability of getting really tiny details, so this is as detailed as I could get. You can see the one cat that is on a treadmill machine and the sign above says, "Think Thin!" The other two rooms are the allergy room (cats with allergies) and the kitten room.

The text that you see running through the front of the room are the names of the cats that were in that room at the time I was doing the volunteer work or a name or description of the type of cats that were in that room, like 'Fat Cats' or 'Sneezy Felines' etc.

You can't see it but some of the signs on the walls in the other rooms say, "I'm not allergic to love!" "I don't care what time it is--feed me!" "Another day, another cat-tastrophe!" "I'm not fat, I'm fluffy!" And in the allergy room, I have a bottle of medicine that is labeled, "Freeze-a-Sneeze Allergy Medicine."

The cat project hasn't been graded yet so I can't take it home. There is a chance that it might also be in the student art show but I don't know for sure.

Honorable Mention for Mid-Term Soap Sculpture!

I am happy to say that I actually won a prize this week for my mid-term soap sculpture for my 3-D art class! They had four prizes for the best sculptures and I won Honorable Mention! This was in a class that has about 25-30 students. My prize was a crazy but cute pair of Boise Bronco flip-flops that have little footballs on them. They actually fit too! I have posted a photo of what I won. I will post a photo of my soap sculpture as soon as I can get the film developed.

The other great thing that happened this week was that I got paid for the sale of three prints that sold during my October show at the Garden City Library. Money is very tight for me right now and every little bit helps a lot!

My goal this week is to finish my portrait commission that I have been working on for two months. It is almost done. The sooner I finish this portrait, the sooner I can get paid for it and be free to prepare for the Christmas holidays and the last few months of school that I have left.