Work In Progress

glazed, ready to be fired

more mugs, glazed, ready to be fired

greenware cups

Racing and Eating

We're packing our camping gears to head up the mountains for the weekend. The weather forecast predicts a major thunderstorm tonight which will continue on until tomorrow. This should make for a very interesting and adverturous weekend. My boyfriend has a race up there and I'm tagging along to make sure he'll eat. Yes, I kid you not. how can anyone forget to eat? It's one of life's greatest joy. Don't get me wrong. Greg does like to eat. He eats plenty as a matter of fact, just not when he's racing. He looses his appetite then. It is awful timing because that's when he needs the nourishment the most. Greg and his four teammates will take turns mountain biking continuously for twenty-four hours straight. The team with the most laps will win. This race sounds like a lot of fun until you find yourself riding at 3:25am, in total darkness except for the flickering light coming from your head lamp. It is freezing cold and as you are struggling to climb a hill, you can hear the coyotes howling in the distance. It's just another reminder to let you know that you are in the middle of nowwhere land. I don't know why these guys like to torture themselves. You know where to find me at 3:25am this Saturday, I'll be dry and toasty in my sleeping bag ;o)

Dream Life

path to dream studio

dream studio
Where have my days gone? Lately, I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed. The studio remains clean and quiet. It beckons me to come in and I want to. I really want to but this has been my pattern as of late: I would come in, check the drying shelf, look at what is left to glaze, and then walk back out. I cannot muster up the energy to do anything in the studio. With a 9-5 job, home renovation, some traveling, gardening, and training for a couple of up coming races, I get tired by the end of the day, so much so that simple chores like doing the dishes have become a struggle. This is not how I had envisioned my life to be. I dream of living on a farm with a few chickens flocking around. A typical day would start off with a cup of coffee and a laptop (to check current events, emails, etc...), followed by a quick run around the neighborhood. I then take a short walk through the garden to my studio to work until lunch time. For lunch, I whip up a delicious meal on the fly using what is available in the garden at the time. Its fresh aroma would filled the kitchen and drives my cat crazy (and me too!). Afterwards, I head back into the studio and work until evening. Of course, in my perfect world, I would not have to clean the chicken coop, upkeep the house, make multiple stops to the post office to mail my work, or do the laundry. A girl can dream, can't she?

Pictured above is my dream garden and studio. Isn't it perfect? Just looking at it makes me feel calm and inspiring at the same time.

Studio Time

Have you ever had one of those days when you just want to scrap all pre-made plans so you can throw pots until your shoulders and neck ache but you feel completely satisfied? That was exactly how I felt. At the very last minute, I opted out of a mountain biking and camping trip last weekend so I can spend a day in the studio. It turned out to be a good day. The clay felt just right and for a brief few hours, my hands seem to know what they were doing. I am working torward a personal goal and that is to slowly replace all of the commercial dishware in the kitchen cabinets with my own. Wouldn't that be neat? They don't have to all match. In fact, I think it would be fun to have the plates and bowls be of slightly different sizes and designs. The only thing that will make them somewhat uniform is the color white. White is the perfect background for food, similar to a blank white canvas for a colorful painting. I have the feeling this project will take a lot of time.

By the way, do you like the new blog layout? I was getting a bit bored with the old design and felt like a change. Let me know what you think.

Food

It never fails, every time I step foot in east coast, the world would spin at extraordinary speed and before I know it, the trip has come to an end. On this particular visit over Labor Day weekend, family and friends were definitely the highlight, but close in second place was FOOD, yes, utterly delicious food. And boy did I eat shamelessly and without an ounce of guilt too! That is what so great about vacation, you give yourself carte blanche to do as you wish. We attended a cousin's wedding, an uncle's birthday, a BBQ and a scrumptious tapas dinner with friends. To top it all off, my mom made breakfast one morning that is to beat all breakfasts I've ever had. I realized then how much I've been missing her and her cooking. Inspired by all the delicious meals, I'm armed this evening with cook books, determine to come up with a menu for the weekend.

Porcelain bowls: Hand glazed using fine bristle brush