Class forming

The Studio Stroll was very interesting. I learned two things about my artwork:
First that people could sense the energy in my work especially when they held it in their hands.
Secondly, people want me to teach what i do.
So, I'm going to teach a class using journey work to create healing energetic clay forms.

new work emerging from my journeys inward.

Asheville River District Video

this beautiful river is usually crystal clear, but today it is red and full of floating branches, big pieces of trees, and moving so fast, big swirls of intense water...... wilderness energy swirling around and through me. pilamaya.

flooding

yep, the sacred "long one" is flooding....6 feet and still rising. the mother was so very dry, so this heavy rain is running over her and off very quickly and into the streams and the river. a cleansing for the river and a long deep drink for the hemlocks and all the standing tall ones. the road that i will drive out on is on the right side of this picture, under the water!

oh yes, it's working. looks good, these pictures represent the artwork much more accurately. lots of soft detail, colors are accurate and not too much contrast or overexposed like old camera.

new camera test.

A walk in beauty...

Hiking along the Blue Ridge Parkway today on a section that is closed for repair, no two legged humans but me....lots of butterflies, one of them flying ahead of me, leading the way....at one point i happened to look over my shoulder and there was a large black bear walking behind me about 100 feet. WOW!

A little farther on, two wild turkeys cross the road. Yarrow, bee balm, clouds playing in and out of each other. A walk in beauty....

Coil building

fat pony garden sculpture, coil built.

I have discovered that I love coil building!!! So intuitive, and strong. It feels alive. In the past, i've built large sculptures using slabs and armatures. When i build with slabs, first i plan out in advance the piece, draw a full sized sketch and then build the armature. This determines the finished shape of the piece.

But when I am building with coils, the shape can evolve and change as the clay and I participate in bringing the clay being into form. This works so much better for me. No armature, no sketch, just clay and so much fun!!!!!!!!!

........a few pictures of a coil built horse that I'm making this week...

Working with Underglazes

I use underglazes to create the colorful matte finish on my sculptures. I DO enjoy working with COLOR. The underglazes are fun because while i am applying them, they look pretty close to the color they will be after being fired in the kiln. It's possible to see and work with the relationships of the colors; like painting with watercolors.





First, I fire the clay, bisque firing. Red clay looks like this after the first firing....
Ready for underglaze. I paint them on with brushes, my fingers, wires, a variety of tools. I use lots of water to create a kind of wash blending the colors. I start with a base color and begin to see where harmonizing colors want to go. Sometimes i use two or three colors only. Usually i use LOTs of colors. I get a little carried away...I have about 40 to choose from which i have arranged in ice cube trays. One tray for blue, one for reds and yellows, etc. If I get something i don't like, i just wash it off and go again. when it's finished the piece goes into the kiln for the second firing where the colors become permanently fired onto the clay.

artist statement

bLUE FiRE
clay...fire...dreams

I work with clay, fire and dreams. for me, artwork is the practice of perceiving the sacred in the moment..
.....and honoring that truth... bringing sacred dreams from the mystery into the literal world.

......using clay and my hands i bring into form the dreams in my heart...holding my attention on that dream, i work with the clay, co-creating with the clay....watching the piece come into being...this feels magical....i leave the marks of this exciting process visible in the clay surface.... after the first firing, i brush colorful underglazes onto the clay, emphasizing the texture and shapes. the piece is fired again at least once. underglazes while permanent have a soft look allowing the texture of the clay and the forming process to remain visible.
.
.......... art is a sacred process for me....the hand-built clay artworks i create are expressions of my joyful relationship with beauty and the sacred dream of love and power...they are gifts from the Great Mystery, the energetic ocean of Creation...

............. beauty, the sacred made visible .............

bLue FiRE.......
............this name was given to me by my spiritual teacher about 10 years ago. it is the name that describes my sacredness, my truth, my heart. we are all sacred being. my art work is one way that i remember myself, my sacred self.
....i've been working in various mediums since i began this lifetime. encouraged by my father, a professional modern art painter and teacher, i was introduced to art processes at an early age. over the years, a few of the mediums i've worked in are graphic design, photography, silk screening, drawing and painting. artwork is an essential part of my life. i'm grateful now to be working with clay. i've been making and selling my clay creations for 15 years.
... Before moving to the city, i lived in the wilderness in the Nantahala National Forest where i forded a river to get home. my neighbors being trees, owls, bears, stars and the dream of love and power. Inspired by that Beauty, which i re-visit regularly, i'm enjoying working at the Odyssey Center, surrounded by many inspiring artists.

ETSY Front Page Again!

The third Front Page in three weeks! This time it was the Purple Tailed Tittler Beauty Bird that lighted on the Etsy Front page! These Beauty Birds are just being sighted all over!!

Here's the link to the Front Page. http://www.flickr.com/photos/memake/2548095767/in/pool-etsyfrontpagetreasury

Beauty Birds Taking Flight!!!!!!!

....beauty birds...PROCESS

....beauty birds are beginning to fly out of the mystery..........out of the kiln....into my hand, ready for glazes, stains.....colors...it's really interesting to work this way... i feel like i have aligned with an energy through clear INTENT and the birds are just happening. I had a lump of clay where i was putting scraps while i worked and i looked down and it looked like a bird already...they were just flying out of the mystery into the literal, physical, clay. working everyday with the same intent, all these variations come to me... i create an opening, a doorway for creation...my Intent manifests this way in everything i create in my life...art work is a place to witness that process of creation....

ETSY Front Page today! TipToeing Tom Cat!

Wow. Made it to ESTY Front Page today. It was already a great day and then i checked my Esty site...hundreds of hits and bunches of new hearts! Tiptoeing Tom Cat is a right handsome puss!

Beauty Birds flying from the Mystery....

.........having such an interesting time with these birds....they are making themselves... i put my hand into the bag with the soft clay and pull out a lump of clay. i open up my hand and look at it .....it already looks like a bird....i have to restrain myself from doing too much to it, letting the clay form itself....i am witnessing the power of INTENT... the creative force... following my heart to the Mystery, bringing back a new thing...a piece of Beauty...what a wonder!

100 birds.....notes on the process

studio that i share with mother wren
54 birds......
.... 54 birds so far, it's tuesday morning..most are still wet clay....5 of the original 12 blew up in the kiln, i have bits and pieces....shall i replace them?... no, since the birds are evolving and i 'm numbering them in the order that i make them......last nite i fell asleep dreaming of some birds made from white porcelain clay with colors painted on, maybe underglazes? maybe colored slips... i saw a combination of drawing, painting and sculpture. with black ink like brush strokes with colors painted in...like water colors on that white matte porcelain base. ....mother wren was in the studio this morning, her hours are long....her heart strong... she fussed at me today... i'll work in the house as much as possible...i like the way her taiL feathers stick up in back...

100 birds

A little wren has made her nest inside my studio here in the mountains. There's a big gap in the board and batton siding where she can come and go. she's been so busy all day bringing worms, grasshoppers, all sorts of unidentifiable wiggling things to the nest that's like a little tunnel of leaves, twigs and moss up high on a shelf.

She has come to trust that she can come and go to her nest in spite of my intrusion. It helps if i don't turn and look at her, although that is really hard to resist. we've looked each other in the eye a good bit, she with her bug filled mouth.... and me with my hands in mud.

She's worked all day bringing bugs and facing challenges. i will not say she's worked hard; it's her joy. She follows her heart ....around the strange two legged challenge ....to the nest..... I'm sneeking a peek from time to time, learning from her.

so i've started a new project. i'm calling it my 100 bird project. small birds, soft and round that fit in the palm of my hand, turning to look at me, or flying, or carrying small squigglings; all different. maybe i'll number them.

the first flock is in the kiln tonite. look for them at my etsy shop: www.BlueFireStudio.etsy.com

i have lived here before... (pyramid of the sun is reflected in my sun glasses)

looking down from the Pyramid of the Moon

pyramid of the Moon....

Teotihuacan

back to the mountains from Teotihuacan. here are a few pictures...the womens' mystery school....with Pyramid of the Sun in the distance...

owls emerging from the kiln this morning

Here is a peek at new pieces emerging from the kiln this morning. they will be going to my Esty shop soon.

an owl couple
this is a large owl, about 15" tall, still too hot to touch.


in the studio with some other pieces that i'm working on in the background....i changed the eyes on this piece....nice new eyes. she maybe is going to Teotihuacan with me.....

tomorrow, i'll apply the glazes....

too hot to touch!!!

Big Owl Emerging

The big owl has bisque fired!!! After 24 hours in the kiln, this big owl ( about 15" tall) finished and looks good! I just opened the lid on the kiln a few minutes ago, around 8:30PM. Just as i got the lid completely open, an owl closeby in the woods hooted! A single "hoooo".
Wow.
This was not a coincidence.... It was respectful acknowlegement for this creation's emergence! I pray my gratetude with humility for this place that I stand in; I am hands and heart participating in the Ocean of Creation, as we all are. I am so grateful to have this heart knowing, to be conscious of this experience.

Beauty = Sacred made visible

new faces

...newly arrived from the Mystery, the source of all creation..... available at:

www.blueFireStudio.etsy.com

new horses and owls

first peek

Kiln is open now. I'm so happy looking down into the kiln. I love all the new faces looking up at me. Still too hot to handle...so I'll put my camera down into the kiln and look around.....

KILN OPENING TODAY

KILN Opening today, Monday March 24th. This afternoon as soon as the kiln cools down I'll take out the glazed pieces that I've been working on this week. These are the pieces that came out of the bisque / first firing last week. I will select a few to put onto my Etsy site.

transformation by FIRE

....the soft clay which dried for a week or more, was then the fired inside the kiln.... transformed from "green" clay which if very brittle and fragile into a rock solid object.....now ready for the next step... application of glaze/colors.....tune in next week to see the results... finished pieces can be seen at my ESTY shop. follow the blue link at the right side of this page to BlueFireStudio.etsy.com


....ps love this new kiln.. works great, just like the bigger one. with this smaller one i can do my glaze tests...and much more work!

i never know what i'll find

this time, no explosions happened@! everybody looks happy....the large horse in the center is the horse that you can see being made in previous posts. the clay, which is dark brown when wet is now a terra cotta color in it's fired state.

kiln opening

first peep....looks good

Kiln OPENING tomorrow

first load in the new kiln today. 10 owls and about that many horses. tomorrow at this time they will be cool enough to take out. this is a bisque firing, which is the first of two firings. when the pieces come out tomorrow they will be ready to be painted with glaze. then they go back into the fire for the glaze firing. i'll take some pictures.

KILN OPENING TOMORROW >>>>>
10 am (Eastern Time)

beauty

******* bEautY is the sAcrEd made visiBle**********

here's what i know about the sacred. the sacred is all around me and within me in every moment. i can choose to experience the sACRED anytime, all the time. i'm in the process of remembering that all i have to do is be conscious and choose to see the Dream of Love in this moment. it's like there are two universes side by side. One is Love and the other is Fear. (We all know the fear based world. It's expressed everywhere in the mainstream culture.) And i know that i do choose one or the other all the time, in every moment. When i create artwork, i am choosing to participate in the energy of the sacred, ie the Dream of Love. I am choosing to make that visible. It is an energetic assertion that creates healing inside and out. I pray that you can feel that when you look my artwork.

new horses

I've been busy making lots of horses lately. A herd of horses are prancing around the studio, manes blowing in the wind, looking with spirit eyes into the moment, feeling joy, kicking up their heels. Horse energy is important to me...my power animal. This is an energy that i access to remember my power, my essence. In making these horse sculptures, i remember...how i feel when i am centered in the moment, feeling the Dream of Love and Power... supporting... all around me. I am the Dream of Love, creating my life with every choice that i make. Just like creating an artwork, feeling the joy in the moment and choosing from my heart.
In the next week I intend to have enough pieces to fill and fire the kiln. More on this later.

finished first step

i've shaped and carved the clay and reached a place where i am happy with how she looks and feels. now horse will dry for 7-10 days. when it's completely dry it will go into the kiln for the first firing called bisque firing. i'll post pictures of how it looks when it comes out of the kiln for the glazing / coloring part of the process.

wet clay

This clay looks dark brown while it's still wet. When it's fired it becomes a terra cotta red / brown.

making horse from terra cotta clay

I love Etsy.com.

I've been making and selling clay artworks quite a few years. But just recently a miracle happened. I discovered ETSY.com. It's amazing place where an artist can sell whatever they make to the whole wide world!!!! It can just pop right out of my heart and dreams and into the clay. Then I take a few pictures and post it to my ETSY shop and it gets shown all over the whole world all day, while I'm working in my studio and all night while I'm sleeping. And people are loving and buying what I'm dreaming into being! WOW!!!!

Making a horse.

Welcome to my studio. Today, I'm making a horse from clay and dreams. I make lots of horses. They express so well the feeling that I have when i am standing in my center, in my power. The feeling of freedom, joy and limitlessness. ( My horses never wear bridles!)