A picture is...

worth so much more than a thousand words.  Have been meaning for far too long to get more family photos into Dad's room - his Alzheimer's has him far past the stage of any likely recognition, but it's always back in there somewhere.  Dance classes today provided lots of imagery to play with and I actually took it with me for further exploration.  As is usually the case, really enjoyable ballet & contemporary classes, but especially for the energy brought back from NYC from friends/teachers!  Trying to get out of my head and into the music - that's we learned today.  "It's not just dancing to the music, it's dancing in the music."  Can I pull a Charlie Sheen here (now that's a loaded statement) and say, "well duh, winning!".  Really, though, we can apply the dance lesson to all aspects of life.  Even doing the creative things we enjoy, be it making dance or making pots, it's not just about the making, it's about the being.  Like planning a trip - suddenly you find you're no longer thinking about - you're on it, you're in it.  Tomorrow at the studio, I shall be in the clay... hopefully something other than myself comes out of it.

Post 3: Saturday

What a beautiful sunshine-y day!  Have somewhat updated Blog, adding profile info (ooo, look at me, I'm a blogger!).  Thinking about friends returning with inspiration from a professional & recreational trip to NYC and finding the focus for own inspiration in the pottery studio tomorrow.  Inspiration comes from within and without - we must always be on the lookout for it, yet know to accept it when you never expect it.  With regular Sat. dance classes off for March break (and the teachers being in NYC!!!), I was able to get a private lesson with dear Miss Jill.  At a spry 80 years young, to say she is an inspiration is a huge understatement.  The fact that she had lots of comments (ahem) but filtered them so as not to completely throw me off my new shoes made for an even more valuable lesson!  Not that I haven't been the recipient of this in the past, it was just one of those effortless things.  That's how I need to approach starting new projects in clay; don't take yourself so seriously.

Yikes!

Quick look at Blog in daytime, on different computer reveals much work needed!  Perhaps approaching the task with a proper glass of vino rosso will help.  I mean really, who sets out to create a blog about (primarily) raku pottery [Zen Buddhist tradition] supplemented by random snippets of la dolce vita [dreaming the sweet life in Italia], with a glass of French Cross Sauvignon Blanc?!?

Post 1: To Blog or Not to Blog?

Methinks 'tis time to Blog (after just admonishing a dear friend and dance artist, "blog, schmog").  Welcome to my Blog:  one of the now perhaps less self-indulgent outlets in the interwebs world of social networking.  As a part-time ceramic artist (okay, I'm just a potter; I throw things of clay on a wheel), it seemed blogging was just one more thing to take precious time away from my art.  But just about everybody's doing it - people have even written books about it, books that were sold for movie rights, and then the movies made with lead actors of considerable note.  I would cast Julia Louis-Drefuss, but I digress.  Still a lot of work to do in actually setting up the blog, but this is it:  notes on observations, relationships, happenings, mostly in and around my world of ceramics... and whatever else comes to mind as I set forth to justify my existence and share that with everyone for whom I will be grateful to have as Bloggee!  wendy