Linda McFarling

Here's one of the Linda McFarling pieces in our collection - crackle slip on soda fired jam pots. I love her forms. She also happens to be one of the nicest people around!

We're starting slow this morning after a late night and a restless one for me. We watched the woman's final of the Australian Open which wasn't one of the best matches; but it was nice to see Serena Williams add another major title to her list of career wins. Watching her play earlier in the week, we didn't think she'd be able to raise her game enough; but she fooled us and many of the broadcasters. Safina not being at the top of her game also helped. I think the nerves took over and that definitely puts lead in the feet and shoulders. I used to play a lot of tennis and recognize the symptoms. :-(

I'm off to to the studio for the day. Dinner is leftover ribs from Cheddars,and all I have to do tonight is bake some potatoes for the potato skins for tomorrows Super Bowl viewing. I found the recipe on line for Ruby Tuesday's potato skins, posted by someone who worked there and figure this would be a good time to make a batch from scratch. I have pate already made and bought grapes and cheese and other munchies for the game. As Jim likes to say "honey,we're stylin"!

Till later,
June

Mark Peters wood/soda fired

Here's another pot from one of our very talented local artists - Mark Peters. This was fired in both a soda kiln and wood kiln - a lovely piece!

Our construction shopping trip was a bust other than the purchase of a pedestal sink for the smaller upstairs bathroom. At least we had a nice dinner at Cheddars with friends. Next week we'll have to check out our local plumbing supply store for the bath fixtures for the remodeling. We did get a couple of tile samples. The one I really liked was way too expensive for a bathroom we never use, but if I found a couple of neutral less expensive choices with some textural interest in the glaze that we're hoping will work.

Today is just yet another no studio day. We had to get one of our dogs to the vets by 8am where he's spending the day for a series of tests that have to run 8 hours. After dropping him off I had to get to the hospital for my own sonar scans which took longer than I thought. Tests came out fine, so by then we were ready for a big breakfast since I hadn't eaten since dinner last night. By the time I got home it didn't seem much point changing into work clothes to just work for an hour, since I had mail to read a dog to walk, and the taped semi final of the Australian Open tennis to watch.

Ceramics Monthly and my Cooks Illustrated arrived so I'll peruse them for a bit before we head back out to pick up Shanti at the vets and do a short grocery shopping stop - another very busy day with no time for the studio!

Till later,
June

Shopping day ahead

I spent the morning taking some photos of some of our local artists for the blog. Here's the first one - a large wood/soda fired jar from Ruggles and Rankin who have recently relocated to New Mexico. I'm glad I purchased some of their work while they were still here.

Last night's Tilapia dish was disappointing after all that work. The fish tasted great but the rice with the salsa, black beans, pineapple and cilantro was a bit strong for the fish. That recipe does not go in the recipe box!

They should have the front porch finished today and I guess they'll start tearing out the upstairs bathroom tomorrow or Monday. The new porch is looking much better with the larger, 6" posts replacing the 4" ones.

I spent the morning on picture taking for the blog, cooking and computer work. After lunch we're heading for Elizabethon and Johnson City, TN, to buy sinks, a tub, tile, and fixtures for the bathroom renovations. Hopefully we can buy everything and be done early and head for an early dinner at Cheddars with friends.

Time for a light lunch, read my mail and sort through some of this paper work. I'm planning on working over the weekend to make up for the studio time lost this week on vet and doctors appointments, and these construction projects.


Till later,
June

Robin Hopper slab bowl

Here's a Robin Hopper slab bowl that my husband bought for me years ago - an interesting piece.

I'm definitely in cooking mode these days and finding that doing as much prep in the morning and then getting in a bit of studio time later makes for us getting better meals but me getting less studio time, at least for now.

The pinto beans yesterday were the BEST! I didn't do them purely vegetarian. After tasting them I felt they were lacking a bit of depth of flavor, so I added three pieces of applewood smoked bacon pieces for a bit of smoky flavor. I imagine one could try just a bit of smoke flavoring to get the same effect without adding meat.

We've never had a "just beans and cornbread" dinner and we will be having this dish regularly! It was a big hit and we have leftovers for another day.

I'm eager to try more recipes from this new vegetarian cook book; but tonight I'm making tilapia filets marinated in a lime, orange juice, garlic, etc and then baked on top of white rice cooked in chicken broth and then mixed with a mixture of fresh pineapple pieces, black beans, salsa, cilantro, etc. Most of the pre-prep is done so I'll be able to get several hours in the studio after lunch before I come in to get it all cooked.

Time now for a quick salad lunch and on to the studio.

Till later,
June

Cooking beans half the day!

Here's a really nice bowl that we purchased from a gallery in Rotorua, New Zealand in the 80's. It's wood fired with a rich, rust shino and what appears to be wood ash over on the upper third.

Rotorua is this unworldly looking, and feeling, amazing place. From our hotel window we could see all the volcanic steam vents which are all over the town. The Maori still use the hot springs for boiling food and some cooler ones for soaking. It's a country we really loved and if I were moved to live in any other country at this stage of my life, I think it would be my choice.

The climate, like California, runs the gamut - from sub tropical in the North to temperate in the South. The people are warm and wonderful and the country is pristine with beautiful beaches, glaciers, rain forests and plenty of potters. One small town, Nelson, had 80 potters in residence when we were there. There are more sheep than people and many times we had to to wait while some of the huge groups had right of way on the roads. In fact the sheep actually cause a bit of a population problem from their gaseous output! LOL

I thought I'd get a 1/2 day in the studio but our contractor wanted a morning meeting about the upstairs renovation which went of forever. The only studio time I got was to go in at 7am and cover some pots I threw yesterday.
The rest of the day was spent cooking a pinto bean dish from my new vegetarian cookbook, corn bread, and salad dressing, unpacking groceries, doing email, phone calls and a few other house hold chores.
Time to stir the beans again and get the salad greens prepped.

Till later,
June

Following a day or rest

Here's a wonderful salt glazed slab plate by New Zealand artist Merilyn Wiseman which we purchased when we were visiting Auckland in the 80's. It's a wonderful piece with various slips and flashing on a intriguing shigaraki type body.
I found this link for her web page if you want to see more of this artists work:

http://merilynwiseman.com/gallery/index.html

Yesterday was definitely a day of rest. I was prepared to get in the studio for a bit and instead wound up doing glaze chemistry, paper work, cooking, re-potting some tropical plants and watching the Australian open. The day just flew by.

I was up before 6 am this morning so used the time to take a few more photos from my pottery collection for the blog. After breakfast I'll be back in the studio. There are pots to slip and more throwing to do today.

Workers should be arriving early to replace a heavy shelf in my studio and begin the rebuilding of the floor of the front porch. As I suspected on Friday, they didn't show because the wood wasn't delivered until the afternoon. I'll happily take refuge in the studio after breakfast, from the construction noise!

Till later,
June

Robin Hopper Pitcher

Here's a really nice pitcher from my collection by Canadian potter Robin Hopper. Robin lives outside of Vancouver and if you're ever in the area it would be very worthwhile to visit his studio. He has a wonderful Japanese style garden that he's been working on for years which is an extra plus in addition to seeing his shop and gallery which include his domestic ware as well as his one offs.

I actually got a few hours studio time in yesterday between taking the dogs to the vet, doing lunch, walking the dogs and meeting friends for an early dinner. The job I wanted to finish was cataloging and storing all those tests tiles covering the slab roller and I was able to get that done and finish the note taking and had a little time leftover to trim a pot before I had to come in and get ready for dinner at the Japanese restaurant in Burnsville.

The new vet did some blood work on our 12 year old Lhasa, Shanti. She thinks that his balding tail and thinning body hair and swollen stomach may be a disease that is treatable. If the results of yesterday's blood work indicates a problem, we'll have to take him in another day for a round of testing that takes 8 hours to completion. We came home wondering why the other vet never tested him for this since that balding tails and other symptoms have been obvious for over a year! The younger one (4 years old today), Bodhi, came through his physical with flying colors; but Shanti the 12 year old is definitely showing his age with some clouding on his eyes and dwindling energy; but he still gets around pretty well, especially when the smell of food is wafting from the kitchen!

Jim and I found it somewhat ironic that our dogs get a yearly physical and we don't!

Today will be close to a full studio day. I'll quit around 4:30 to come in and make a new pasta dish from my new Italian cookbook - linguini with clams casino and then relax for the evening going through some pottery notes while we watch the Brit Coms - our Saturday night ritual when we're at home.

Six hours is about max for me in the studio these days. I'm hoping that once I reach the one year anniversary of my hip replacement surgery that I'll get my energy up to the pre-surgery level and be able to spend more time in the studio and garden. I've ordered a great many plants and seeds the past couple of days, including 2 American persimmon trees I ordered from ebay this morning, and I'm going to need that elevated energy this spring to get all those things planted!

Some of the things I planted in our lower meadow died from the poison exuded from some of the black walnuts trees down there and persimmons are one of the plants that aren't affected by those toxins so I'm going to give them a try.

Till later,
June

Sesame seed toaster

I didn't have time last night to take more photos, so here's another pot from Japan. It's an open body meant for toasting sesame seeds.

Another non studio morning - the dogs have to get their annual physical and shots today, so the morning is spoken for. Hopefully we'll get home in time for lunch and I may actually get in some studio time after lunch before we have to join friends for an early dinner.

Yesterday was another non studio day since the workers showed up to do another coat of sealant on the basement walls and finish some electrical work in the house and studio. My friend Jim got my new compressor oiled and working so now I have no excuse to start playing with my pneumatic extruder again. Now I just have to find some time to get in the studio! He over filled the oil and had to spend about ten or fifteen minutes removing it from the monster compressor.

I made good and fun use of the non studio time and got out my companion planting book "Carrot Love Tomatoes" and drew up my vegetable garden plan for this season, watched some of the Australian Open Tennis and prepped some meals and did some computer clean up.

The workers will be here this afternoon to start on rebuilding the floor of the front porch, and replacing a studio shelf, if the wood delivery arrives on time. Jim will be home so I won't have to baby sit our rescue dog Bodhi who freaks out when people are working in or around the house.

We found that one of my heavy, wood shelves which houses small, but heavy buckets of raw materials had not only warped but was pulling away from the wall. Good thing we caught that or I would have had one huge mess on my hands if that shelf gave way.

Time for breakfast and off to the vets.

Till later,
June

Doug Lawrie Shino Bowl

Here's a Doug Lawrie bowl from my collection. Doug lived and worked in Japan for years and moved back to Santa Barbara in the 80's. He does the most amazing brushwork and this shino bowl is a great example.

My intention of working in the studio yesterday changed when workers showed up to do waterproof painting in the basement and some electrical work. The painters were here all day, so I never made it to the studio other than to give some instruction to my electrician friend, who went out to get some supplies and didn't return, so I suspect he'll be back again today. Instead, I used the day to go through just about every seed catalog that had arrived the past few weeks and got all my spring seed and plants orders finished. It was a nice job on wintry day!

I ordered vegetable and flower seeds, raspberry, boysenberry and blackberry bushes, more asparagus plants, sweet potato slips, a bunch of perennials and an apricot tree. Hours later when I ran the list through my mind I realized that I'm going to be doing a lot of digging this spring, so I'd better get back in the studio this afternoon.

I'll be house bound this morning since Jim is off to the dentist and one of our dogs Bodhi, who is a rescue dog, freaks out with strangers in the house and one of us needs to be here. It was also one of those days that the phone never seemed to stop ringing. Before I knew it, it was around 4:30, the painting crew was leaving and it was time for me to start dinner while musing on how fast the time goes these days and how little seems to be getting accomplished.

Till later,
June

A do nothing day

I thought I was done with posting some of the pots from my Japan trips, but Michael Kline's has been posting his new yunomi pictures on his blog so I thought he'd enjoy this hakeme yunomi with thisclassic pine tree design.

As I suspected our day was spent mainly in front of the TV enjoying the Inaugural events. What a joyous day for America and the world!

I did manage to get meals on the table and go through many of the garden catalogs that have been arriving the past couple of weeks. I've gotten some seeds ordered already and now I'm taking my time not to get too carried away ordering more than I can plant! As Michael Cardew told me years ago, when I admired his vegetable garden "we can't make it too big or we'd have no time to make pots!".

This year I'm going to plant a couple of elderberry bushes - an homage to my youth and picking the wild ones with my grandmother in the woods of Pennsylvania so uncle Georgie could make his elderberry wine. He had a very small wooden barrel which was usually pretty empty by the time the wine was actually ready because he and his friends we're always tasting the batch checking for readiness! My cousin Anita and I would sit on the swing under the grape arbor hand picking those tiny berries off the sprays. Nice memories.

Today will be a studio day. I hope I have more energy after breakfast!

Till later,
June

Mashiko temmoku/kaki plate

The Japan pottery collection show comes to an end for now with this lovely temmoku plate with kaki and white glaze pours from Mashiko. I have a bunch of smaller items - sake sets, yunomis, etc. that I may post in the future. It's time to give a couple of other countries in my collection some blog space.

This plate is typical of the work being made and sold in Mashiko -a lot of clones of Hamada's work. A huge, chun platter that I had the hotel ship (wrong move), arrived in pieces because the only wrapping they did was put two thin sheets of tissue paper around the platter. And I paid for that packing!!! AARGH!

I don't know what if anything I'll get accomplished in the studio on this auspicious, history making, Inauguration day. Between the Inauguration ceremonies and celebrations and the Australian Open tennis (we're big tennis fans), I suspect we're going to be glued to the TV most of the day!

Till later,
June

Japanese plate with pine tree design

Here's another one of my purchases from Japan. This potter was known for his orange teapots, but I spotted this charming plate which spoke to me more than his orange teapots. He gave me a big smile of approval when he saw my choice and told my friend I had a good eye. I still remember this little old man's amazing vitality and hospitality.

Today was a studio day - finally! I got some mugs trimmed, pulled some handles, threw a few things and in between came in the house to make some corn bread for dinner. After dinner I went out again to cover pots and sweep up.

When I came in, I worked on some glaze recipes. Some needed tweaking, so I'll try them out in the next firing.

Till later,
June

More Oribe pots

OK, Michael, here are a couple more oribes. The tiny box is black oribe and the others are the tiniest sake cups - really sweet - begging for lots of refills! The lighter color on the box isn't true. It's more of an off white/light cream.

I'm taking your and Jim's advice and staying out of the studio. My knees are also a mess from the rigorous athletic pursuits of my youth and a lot of hard court tennis when we lived in California.

I've made good use of my non studio time to take a few more photos. This is the end of the Oribe pics. There are a few other pots from Japan that I'll post in the next couple of days.

Till later,
June

Another small antique oribe plate

Here's another antique oribe piece from one of the Japan trips. I had a few of these, which we're obviously part of a set. I gave one to my friend McKenzie and have a couple left (every potter should have at least one piece of Oribe :-)

The icy snow mellted and I was able to get out into the garden to pick some sage leaves for the chicken. Got all my veggies prepped for dinner, so now I'm going to have a light lunch and then work on that glaze chemistry for a bit before I start dinner.

Till later,
June

Contemporary Oribe Serving bowl

Here's another contemporary oribe bowl that I bought in Japan in the early 80's. As you can see, I'm definitely partial to Oribe!

This morning it's cold and icy here in these mountains. My husband came in after walking the dogs and feeding the birds and the feral cat and suggested I avoid the studio this morning. If I took a fall, I'm afraid my new titanium hip which is only screwed in with one large screw may decide to pop out and since I have no desire to repeat that surgery and recovery time, I will heed his wise counsel.

The pots I threw yesterday and others which need slipping and decorating are covered. The studio plants are watered, so I think I'll get some of my dinner vegetable prepping done this morning. On the menu tonight is a mixed herb and garlic roasted chicken on a bed of chopped vegetables with white wine, garlic mashed potatoes and honey ginger carrots, so I'll just get an early start on all the peeling, chopping and dicing.

I also have a couple of glazes to tweak using my glaze chemistry software, so I'm not lacking in things to do without studio time if the weather doesn't improve.

Till later,
June

Antique Oribe basket

Here's a lovely antique Oribe basket that I purchased in Japan. It's one of my favorites.

I didn't get very much work done in the studio. When I went in, the pipes were frozen, but there was some water in my throwing bowl so I threw a few pots and did some sorting of my soda/salt test tiles, came in to make us some hot chocolate for lunch, took some photos for the blog and then back to the studio. By now the water was coming through the pipes, but I wanted to continue on the tile project. At 4:30 I covered pots and cleaned the wheel and tools and headed back to the house to get dinner ready.
After dinner I took more photos and now I'm going to relax and watch the Brit coms!

Till later,
June

ORIBE YUNOMI

Here's a modern day Oribe pot that I bought in one of my Japan trips in the early 80's.

It was 2 degrees here this morning, colder than they've seen in these parts for a long time! I got a couple of hours work in the studio just doing a bit of trimming and putting some handles on some mugs. The studio was warm enough because I keep the heat up for my tropical plants who are wintering in there.

Even the dogs did their morning business as fast as they could this morning, for which I was very grateful!

Till later,
June

Michael Cardew Pottery teapot

Here's a sweet little stoneware teapot that I purchased from Michael Cardew on a visit to his studio around 30 years ago give or take a year or two.

Today is another cooking day. For some reason, I arranged my recipe selection to require two days of intense peeling, chopping, slicing and cooking. Yesterday's beef stew took over 6 hrs (the recipe said 1 1/2 hrs), to cook. That must have been the oldest steer in North America; but the new recipe with Porters's beer was wonderful. Thank goodness I started the recipe before noon! Needless to stay, having to hang around the kitchen stirring every 15 minutes for 7 hours kept me out of the studio!

On the menu today is a Tuscan vegetarian stew with cannellini beans, porcini mushrooms, tomatoes, carrots, onion and a lot of chopped kale, 8 cloves of garlic, and vegetable broth,which looks healthy but I'm not sure of the smoky flavor from the porcini mushrooms. I've added a lot more herbs than it called for to give more depth of flavor. Maybe the post cooking sprinkling of parmesan cheese will help.I hope we like it enough to save the leftovers since there's a lot of it! In any case, to help it out the texture of the meal I'll make some garlic bread to go with it.

After lunch I'll be able to get in my studio time. Mugs need handles and some bowls need slipping and decorating.

Till later,
June

MASHIKO KAKI BOTTLE

Here's another pot from one of my Japan trips. This is a typical Mashiko, kaki glaze over a resisted panel of clear glaze with enamel decor.

The past two days have been filled with the busyness of life - yesterday we had to go to Asheville for food shopping, a few items at Highwater Clay, get the car serviced, have lunch and get me a new orthodontic pad made. There was no time for the studio and so far, today is also getting filled up with non studio things!

This morning I had to bathe and groom both our dogs after breakfast, get myself showered as well and deal with some computer problem and order some new shoes.

Now I'm going to get started on tonight's dinner - beef stew and hopefully once I get it started cooking, have a light lunch, then maybe I can get some studio time in before dinner.

Where does the time go!!!

Till later,
June

Tom Coleman Shino Bourbon Pot

Here's another pot from my collection - a Tom Coleman Shino bourbon cup.

Today wasn't much of a work day - put some handles on some mugs, mixed up a flashing slip and dipped a few bowls, worked on a friends blog and did some cooking.

I found a book of Frontpage 2003 that got good review from Amazon customers, and ordered a copy. Maybe it will be more user friendly than the original manual. One can only hope! LOL

Till later!
June