Tea Bowl Addendum

     Still excited about the new tea bowl form, I'm making about one per day. It's a nice way to relax after a long day's work at the kilns. In the open-air studio I sit in the low shade as the birds come in for one last drink and the house settles down without me.

My Latest Tea Bowl Form

     After a long time away from them, I decided to take up the tea bowl form again. I had struggled in the past to develop a form that expressed how I felt about clay and the wood-fire aesthetic. Yesterday I spent some time playing while waiting for the pug mill to mix clay for the upcoming wood-fire and kiln building workshops. I decided to approach the form as though I were making a small sculpture and hollow out the bowl afterward. I made two of them, was pleased with the results, and decided to take some clay home. I set up a table in the backyard near the bird bath and feeders. As the goldfinches whistled and the pine-siskins buzzed I set to work. About an hour later I had the third and most successful tea bowl of the day. I'm hoping the form will continue to develop into a staple of my works in clay. If nothing else, it was a very tranquil time in the outdoors and I plan to do it as often as possible. The workshops kick off in a little more than a week and I hope to sneak these into the kiln.

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Camping Out

     Yesterday a few of the older kids and I drove out to the forest near our home for a little over-night-er. We set up camp beside a broad meadow and enjoyed clear skies and gentle breezes. As evening approached we hiked around the area. Some of us discovered the beauty of the moon through binoculars for the first time.

 
     As the sun set behind the towering Ponderosa Pines, the yellow primrose opened their broad petals to their faithful night-time pollinators. Almost on cue, what looked like a Sphinx Moth put on a lively demonstration for us. As we headed back to camp for the night the twilight glow illuminated this blossom from behind giving stark contrast to the surrounding shadowy ground.

     This morning, after a hike to a nearby cattle tank for looks at Turkey Vultures, Common Ravens, Violet-green Swallows, and one unfortunate drowned sheep (hence the vultures), we settled near a beautiful cluster of cactus discovered the night before, and waited for the perfect light to hit its blooms.

     Thirty minutes later we were on the road home with hungry bellies and minds full of memories.