Focused Energies!
It’s as if I just looked down for a minute & WAM! Two months have passed since my last posting… I have been so focused on clay, mostly working towards making some cool stuff for our annual winter sale (Nov.19th & 20th).
I also finished the latest Phoenix called Motherhood. Some pieces end up far from those first images that flash in my head and yet are exactly what they are supposed to be. Others, rarely, come out of the kiln a physical manifestation of those first visions. Motherhood is the latter. When she came out of the kiln I had to catch my breath it was so eerie, like the clay & glaze had a direct link to my mind without the usual noise & clutter, not to mention the foibles of air pressure, time & kiln moods.
Please understand that this is my concept of Motherhood and since I am without child it will be from that perspective. She has such an intense vulnerability and yet, with her heart nestled between her breasts, intensely protective and nurturing.
Damn Nagging Birds!
Once upon a time I created this monstrosity of a bird feeder, it truly was an engineering obsessive disaster. I wish I could tell you that all my creations are amazing but… well not so much. But I put it out onto the balcony off my bedroom, the one with no door (to the balcony, not the bedroom). Don’t ask me why there’s no door – it was the 60’s & the builder was doubtlessly imbibing some of B.C.’s bud.
I had decided since I had a cat, she could have the big balcony and the birds the small one since it was unlikely they would need a door. They were very kind and didn’t hold the ugliness that held their seeds against me and would gorge with abandon. The problem was I needed a door to get out and clean up their mess as well as refill the feeder. This meant climbing over my worktable and out the window. Needless to say this got old quick, especially in the winter with gale force winds trying to suck me off the balcony.
I just realized this has developed into quite a long story, sorry. But there is a reason, which is that even though there has only been seed out there intermittently over the last 10 years those damn birds have generational memory and sit out there chirping their wee little hearts out causing much guilt for me and distraction for the cats. Normally I could tune them out especially if it was sunny and warm and there would be a kajillion things that needed doing outside and away from clay. Sadly there is to be no sun this summer and really instead of bird feeders I should be building an ark but that’s not going happen, so the birds win. I am now thinking, dreaming, and fussing about the feeder designs – again. This time I am going as simple as humanly possible, really. Ok maybe a little somethin/somethin goin’ on, like wind chimes? Do birds like wind chimes? Colour, what colours do they like… hmmmm google time!
Do you have a fav bird feeder? Share pics and stories…
Bird Feeders in the Making!
You can just see the door-less balcony in the background, so you can see how daunting that would be!
Distractions
Doesn’t life has a way of hip checking you out of the game, (like the little hockey reference there? Sooo Canadian, eh?) the good stuff as well as the bad.
The good is obviously the sun, summer is doing its best to burst through and the ground is gushing forth with colour and life.
Birds greeting the sun at Sandoval Lake, Peru.
I feel like these birds, face to the sun and sucking in all that glorious warmth. Ahhhh. My creativity is pulled outside to my little balcony garden and I am enchanted with all the wonderful gardens on my route. It is like I am shoring up the sights, smells and touch for my next clay days. What inspires all you creative types? The gardeners, the cooks, the decorators, the crafters – you know who you are. Share and maybe I’ll discover a new one to check out.
The bad, of course, is the postal job action of which I am a part of. Both sides have taken their positions to the court of the media and the public. It is so stressful dealing with the various fallouts, the unknown not being the least of them. I’m finding myself distracted and deleted by the fear and haven’t figured out a way of using it to fuel my creativity. Have any of you? Please share cause I could use some help on this one.
My poor abandoned work table.
donnae.ca 
