My Greyhounds sleep around me as I make the figures for my memory boxes. They make handy models – being right there. Here is a memory box waiting to be bisque fired and Winchester sleeping on the couch. Isn’t he sweet?
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The gritty details.
The drying racks in the studio are filling up with memory boxes. I tend to work in batches – batches of small sculpture, or tiles, or boxes, or even big sculptures. It’s been awhile since I’ve made memory boxes.
The truth is – they are hard to make. Not the actual construction. There are tools and practice that make that much easier than it used to be. In clay, practice doesn’t make perfect, but it does make “perfect” easier. (Who wants perfect anyway? Perfect is boring. Handmade is interesting).
The reason the boxes are difficult to make is that they are emotionally difficult. Because I know what the boxes will be used for… and that triggers memories of my own losses.
My email inbox always has messages from people seeking boxes. These emails are raw and emotional. I know how it feels – with every email I remember how it has been – how it hurts to lose these creatures – how you are never quite the same.
Strange how thoughts creep in. Like how I’d overheard someone talking about planting trees. “I should plant a tree in the backyard,” I thought. Innocuous enough. But then I realized that I wouldn’t know where to plant that tree. All the good tree spots are occupied. That the yard is a graveyard of dogs past. Really… Even the studio is built over a dead dog’s grave.
I try not to think about it too much, you know? How does an artist bring the emotional sensitivity to the work, without crossing the line into personal grief quicksand? Practice? Ugh.
So as I make this batch of boxes I try to positive. To think of the good parts… There are lots of good parts.
Maybe these memory boxes will bring similar good thoughts to the people who have loved and lost their Greyhounds.
Three days to more clay work.
I had nothing on my calendar this past friday, saturday or sunday. I cannot remember the last time that happened. No events. No library thing to distract me from studio time. Plus sunshine. It was wonderful.
So I pulled out of 25 pound block of clay and began to work. I’ll admit – friday things didn’t go well. I made ugly things. Really ugly things. Wasn’t working. I was fighting the clay.
Saturday wasn’t much better, but I kept at it. I’ve been at this long enough to know there is a time to quit – to shut the studio door and walk away for a better day – and there is a time to work out the ugly. This was the time to keep at it.
The way to get out of the Uglies is to stay on task but scale back. I put the big pieces away and make small heads, or feet – on Saturday I made new stamps to press into the wet clay (for boxes, etc.).
Here’s why this works for me. The stakes are lower. I’m not using large amounts of clay. I’ve solved the engineering and firing problems already. All that’s left is working the creativity muscles.
It’s like stretching before running a race. A warm up. Preparation for the Big Art.
After a Saturday of making the stamps (so much fun!), I started a few of the smaller maquette sized pieces. I’ve sculpted many of these small works. They are the my equivalent of sketches - solving basic problems, working out simple ideas, practicing success. Sunday was beginning to look productive. The clay was fun again.
By Tuesday I was ready to tackle a few Salukis. Here’s the smooth Saluki in a play bow position in the working stage. Maybe a larger piece is in the future?
There is an ebb and flow to this clay work thing. I try to jump in at the middle – to take short cuts. But the process is the process. Even if I try to “cheat”, the process keeps me honest.
On to more work!
Bring the heat.
I fear that the heater in the studio needs to be replaced. Darn it anyway. If I’m going to store boxes of clay the studio is going to need to be heated since clay cannot freeze. And then there is firing the kiln when it is so bitter cold – the computer controllers don’t care for the bitter temps anymore than I do. Plus I do like to work in that place over the winter.
I was hoping to nurse this heater along until the season was over – only a few more months really. That would put it past other bills like taxes and semi-annual car insurance bill. Ahem. Guess things don’t go as planned. Oh well.
Sorry for the flash photo above. A quick capture to get a rough idea of this wall piece. Sculptures are everywhere in the house – my dining room table is covered, the table in the kitchen is covered. There is work in boxes stacked on top of dog crates. Tomorrow I’m going to begin to photograph and pack the finished pieces – just to make room for the work that needs to be completed.
On the plus side, the hounds habit of begging for food while humans are sitting/eating on the couch is nearly broken.
Giveaway details on Friday.
Melt.
Two luscious days of nearly 50 degree weather and the snow is melting. Other things that are melting?
My heart when I see looks like this…
Winchester. Winnie. Winner. Windog. Nubbin. Nubs. Brindledog.
On the art front, still plugging along getting work finished. Here’s the bunny/mask piece sitting on my table. I’ll photograph more work so we can have a preview here on the blog before the big show. And we should have a giveaway again too, don’t you think?
Dog park wish.
The weather was beautiful today. The sun is shining and the snow is melting. I thought we’d try the dog park. Didn’t really go as planned. Going to be awhile. Lots of snow out there. In the photo above Sage hasn’t sunk to the bottom. It is belly deep for him in most places. Wish we could use the dog park…
We came home instead. I tried to encourage the hounds to run in the backyard. Mostly they looked at me, but Annie and Sage did play a little tug to blow off steam.
I have mixed feelings about February. On one hand, I would like it to be over so that we will be closer to Spring. On the other, the deadline for the DSU exhibition is at the end of February. The 25th to be exact.
I know I can get everything finished. But its going to take some work.
I’m shooting for 24 pieces finished and ready to exhibit. Some of those are not fired yet. Ulp.
I’m worked on four pieces today – putting the finishes on them. Several are going to need wooden bases, so that’s sanding, staining, more sanding, and then finishing. I want to start them now so that they have time to dry thoroughly. That’s #1 on the To Do list for tomorrow.
I’ll fire the unfired work on Monday. The kiln is loaded but I’m not *quite* sure everything is dry – especially the trooper’s hat piece. That piece along with the new Prey Drive piece, the rabid rabbit, and the Faith In My Lucky Rabbit’s Foot are all in the same kiln load.
The wall pieces need their hanging devices. Not quite sure how I want to do this yet. This is also on the list for tomorrow. No weekends off until all the work is complete. All the work will have to be photographed before it’s packed to go to the gallery.
Also, I’m fairly sure that all of the work will not fit in my vehicle for one trip to Dickinson. Going to have to make two trips – that’s 180 miles round trip for one trip. I’ll all work out. Need to get to work.
Warp speed.
I’m entertaining titles for this piece. Warped Speed perhaps?
Because we’ve got a warping issue here.
From the side… not too bad. But from the front and the back the trouble begins to be more evident…
This puppy is leaning.
Like a LOT. And see how the right paw is warped too.
First step, grinder.
Four feet all making contact. What Was I Thinking?
(Sorry for the atrocious late night kitchen lighting. I assure you my kitchen does not glow yellow. At least I hope so! And yes that is a yellow snow shovel in the corner of this photo. I’ve worn out a snow shovel this winter).
Slow going.
or Watching Clay Dry. Nothing exciting to report (which is a good thing, I guess). Waiting for work to dry so that I can fire. Hoping to bisque fire tomorrow. Don’t want to be too hasty. Blowing work to pieces is no fun.
Until I know more, thought I’d share a photo of Winchester and Sage – who look somewhat like one LONG dog. Keep warm.
Update post.
The furnace just kicked on blasting warm, dry air. It’s Cold outside. Currently -16 F and dropping. It’s hibernation time.
Hard to believe I took this photo a couple of weeks ago – most of the snow had melted off the deck behind the house and Frank dog sculpture needed his -her?- photo taken. Nearly impossible to get a resident Greyhound to sit like Frank for the photo. We got close…
Also during those weeks I began a nasty rabbit sculpture. Grumpy and it comes out in the art. Hard to find photos of snarling rabbits even with Google images. Not pictured is the nice, but overly eager Greyhound she’s snarling at.
The past weeks have been dog park-less and the hounds have had to be satisfied with occasional leash walks and romps in the backyard. I’ve tried to capture them in the snow in the yard with the camera, but the results have been less than satisfying. Dogs probably feel that way about the quality of the exercise. So much snow, but nothing like last year… yet.
Also worked on a new piece tentatively titled, Faith in my Lucky Rabbit’s Foot. This is a piece that I’ve wanted to make for a long while. I’ll find those original sketches in an old sketchbook and post them. This is another piece I hope will be ready for the exhibition at Dickinson State University in March. Going to be close.
Sage waits for the weather to break. He is a tough dog and tolerates the weather more than any other Greyhound I’ve owned.
But we all want the weather to warm up.
North Dakota winter
If you’ve been counting, which I assure you every North Dakotan has, this is Too Much Winter #3. I realize that for the rest of the US, North Dakota means Cold and Snowy. But Bowman is located in the “Banana Belt” of North Dakota. That usually means that we’re warmer and have better weather than the rest of the state. Usually.
Really, I can stand the cold and snow. I can put up with the layers. The ice layer on my windshield. The ice layer on the streets. The layers of clothing required for any outdoor (and several indoor) activities.
Wish my dogs had a place to run… The snow is too deep and too hard at the dog park. Walks are possible, but the roads are slick and nobody around here shovels sidewalks. Guess we’ll have to check out the indoor horse arena again. Because they are bored, bored, bored.
As am I. In a way. Just too much same-ness. And so I made a sculpture that illustrates (I hope) how I feel about the winter… The dull, underwhelming sameness of winter.
Greyhound in Winter Trooper/Bomber hat. The challenge of fur. I wanted to capture my feelings about winter – I think I was successful and am pleased with the result.
Now onto firing and finishing. I hope to have that done by the time Spring rolls around here.
Stuck in park.
Oh to go somewhere. To get in the car and drive. Somewhere far from icy roads and winter wind chills…
Instead I’ve been finishing up some sculpture for the exhibition at Dickinson State University in March. Like this piece – Prey Drive 2.
You might remember the previous Prey Drive sculpture-
Prey Drive 1 didn’t survive the firing process and was never finished. It hung around the studio for a long while until I finally threw it to Mr. Hammer… sadly. I’d always meant to attempt to remake this piece. These photos and the ability to compare both version side by side show how “remaking” doesn’t produce identical results.
I had every intention of adding more bunnies. I made more bunny passengers. When I placed the driver in this guy’s head one seemed right.
I might make another with more bunnies. But this guy is one bunny. One super cool, top down, wind in your hair (hare?) solo driver.
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