I have left this new Life Boat at my studio to dry at a snails pace for a few weeks. A large porcelain piece like this tend to encourage tiny cracks here and there so I put Time in charge to be on the look out for any signs of danger.
There are lots of backing and forthing going on here, I don’t know even the half of it ~
This one has 3 portague figures carrying a life-canoe.
Yes, those are cowboy boots. There’s a story here.
I always start with an owl at the helm and it goes on from there.
~ to be continued ~
The Elephants are traveling, single file, right into a soft cushioned box bound for SaltSpring Island BC
after much wandering, they will be happy to be found and taken to a loving home.
They all know they will be admired
There is magic to be discovered with these beings
~ light and shadows, candlelight and flowers ~
I have a little show at Circle Craft down on Granville Island in Vancouver this month
here is a little peak
a real softie under that tough exterior
I conjured up the Spinster years ago. She helped me find my own way…. Of course I had to make it a creative and whimsical journey. So here she is ~ The Spinster ~ She Flies She Fights She knows her Rights!
©1982 Nancy Walker (All rights reserved)
I’ve been going through my old files, so old, they are PAPER! So much paper of bits and pieces and OH! How and Why did I collect so much!? It’s kind of amazing and humbling at the same time. I have recycled MOUNTAINS of paper …. and it feels … GREAT!
but
I saved these for you
I found this little one hiding under a board way up high on the freshly swept deck. A bright green spot in an impossible place. Once safely in a jar I carried this little frog out to the rock garden and opened the top. “You’re safe now, you can go out to your world.” 
She climbed to the rim and just stayed there. Her heart was pulsing so rapidly, maybe from the fright of this adventure. 
I waited and waited for her to leap off to freedom but she just sat there and so we waited together. 
M Until finally, she leaped out into the green. 
And now it’s a hide and seek game. Can you see her?
a little turtle named Tortallini
to a kiln full of Imaginaries
~ a Good Fortune Bowl ~
I’m thinking that this specimen is going to be 2 dresses in one. See how Great this looks Inside out?! If I am feeling especially creative and funky, I can just wear it Inside Out and if I happen to slip it on the ‘wrong’ way one sleepy morning, no matter, what the heck!
In one of Josh Bennett’s knitting classs at my first Vogue Knit Live conference, he talked about a sweater he designed with a beautiful fair isle collar knitted inside out … intentionally! Being the sort to like that kind of knitting blasphemy, I took to that idea …
Ya! Why Not I say!
This is not to say that the Front side is absolutely Glorious!
I will be wearing it the ‘correct’ way a lot I imagine
Knitting slows me down in a good way … so I say ~
Slow Down and Knit
Look at things Inside Out
I’ve been busy in my clay studio making Imaginaries. They are little fine porcelain creatures that come right out from my imagination straight into being
Some are always ready to catch a ball or
ready to run and greet you at the door after your long day
Some are peaceful
(that little guy in the background is one of those always ready to chase a bird or is he just watching some one climbing a tree?)
They are little Connectors.
Each one has a story to tell. I quietly listen and search as they take shape and form through my fingers and understandings. They don’t leave my hands until I feel a connection with them, until I have found their story. This interaction assures the possibility of someone else making a connection and hearing a story too, of their own making.
That’s the plan anyway.
It might even be a small story like this one ~
“and … I’m just wondering if you you might perchance have a yummy delicious little sweet for me in your pocket? I do so love persimmons.”
See what I mean? They are always chatting me up.
im over here today
It is Spring
Spring is Here
It is the hour of the Garden Goddess
and to all those back East who cannot see Spring coming, we in the West say
it will arrive before you know it
‘I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain, I’ve seen sunny days I thought would never end” …..
Sometimes you just have to Leap
to land in a new place
So, I am driving along looking for a 2 hour free parking spot down town. This requires a lot of quick focus if you are alone. But something caught my eye.
Do I continue on with my parking drama? or do I stop for a better look?
I stop
because I need a closer look at this.
Clearly it is a fairy house, you can see her resting over to the left near her fire truck and her silver car. See her pink wings? Such a tidy little home she has.
* * *
So, I am walking along my sometimes usual path to shop for supper when I notice this ~
I’ve seen this tree trunk many many times, but this time I saw it … upside down
and I could see exactly what was missing
* * *
So, I am walking along a city block looking at all the amazing magnolia blossoms that are getting really serious about the coming Spring
and I wonder
will this bird be back?
I now have a name for these little thoughts in clay. I have a show coming up in July and I want to make many many many of these.
I notice that they all seem to be asking a question ~ 
ok, this one is just flirting
and these 2 are just old friends having a moment together
Every had a scattered week? Well that was me this week, lots going on. And it is wet here in Vancouver. We don’t have to shovel but the endless grey takes it’s own toll.
Maybe some one just HAD it with their kids playing inside for days on end … I hate to think
… this was by the trash bin in the alley
as I mentioned, it’s been raining ….. lots
spotted by Bettina Matzkuhn on her bike ride home
but work I must, I am going to make some more of these guys, They will focus me
I do have a knitting blog and I am blogging about this little project over there but there is
so much colour, challenge and fun, it has earned a place here in my nws blog ~
it is about folk art, sculpture, colour, construction, materials, creating
Here she is ~ The Lidiya knitted dress
(designed by knitting artist Kaffe Fassett)
and this is the 100 row pattern. Yes, you read it right, One Hundred Row Pattern!
Needless to say there was much sorting out, planning, strategizing and practicing.
It felt like I was preparing for a long … long … journey, which I was.
~ a Scenic Journey ~
Finally I just had to dig in and start even though I didn’t feel ready
I was pretty intimidated, ok, Scared! (you saw that pattern!)
Once I jumped in, I was Totally sucked into the Lidiya Dress Vortex
It is Screamingly engaging!
I am always knitting with 2 colours, and every 5 rows, 3 colours ~
that’s bit tricky but it has a rhythm to it
Every stitch speaks, I mean …
SINGS!
(I will be blogging this entire scenic route through color land here)
https://knit2purl2repeat.wordpress.com/
This is what Vancouver looks like in the rain…
Pots of flowering umbrellas by the doorway of every shop
Leaves and houses go all Bright & Shiny
and all the colours go deeper, clearer
then, Suddenly, it can go all foggy and blurry
and of course there are Puddles …
you can feel like a grown up and avoid them
or not
I spent a long time painting each surface made up of 25 tiny cubes
taking great care with each cube, I even posponed my firing a whole day so I would not feel rushed to start firing so late in the day that I’d be up all night keeping one eye open on the kiln.
It’s a story made up of 25 cubes, 6 sides. You have to rotate 5 cubes in a row at a time to find the story. It’s a puzzle. It has particular beginning or end. I’ve posted just 2 of the 6 panels of the story here. I got so involved painting, I forgot to photograph what I had done. Photographs are the Answers to each side, so I’m cooked if I drop it, I’d have to sit down and solve each side like anyone else.
When I finally finished painting each side, as planned, I loaded the kiln the next day being careful, taking my time and double checking that everything to be fired was in. I placed my little kiln dog on top and started it up and it wasn’t until hours later when I went to turn it up on high that I realized that I had forgotten to put this little puzzle in!
Nothing to do but let my anticipation go …
Now I will have to wait till next month to see how this comes out …..
It’s a lesson on patience
First there’s a mound of well kneaded clay.
and some tools. Then a little form begins to emerge. Who is there?
four legs and a body is a start.
Twisted horns are requested.
Ears and a Tail … I’m being bossed around.
a quick look out at the blue foggy late afternoon sky
This one is so proud of its horns it prances about …. but wait …. something isn’t quite right. What is it this time? A what? Really?!
A beard ~ I never would have guessed
Very Dapper!
An observant woman died one day, and found herself waiting in the long line for judgment. As she stood there, she noticed that some souls were allowed to march right through the pearly gates into heaven.
Others, though, were led over to Prince of Darkness, who threw them into the burning pit.
But every so often, instead of hurling a poor soul into the fire,
He would toss a soul into a small pile off to one side.
After watching him do this several times, the woman’s curiosity got the best of her. So she strolled over to find out what the devil he was doing.
“Excuse me, Prince of Darkness,” she said.
“I’m waiting my turn for judgment, but I couldn’t help wondering,
Why are you tossing those people aside instead of flinging them into the fires of hell with the others?”
“Ah, those…” Satan said with a groan.
“They’re all from Vancouver; they’re too wet to burn!”
~ and into the New Year we go ~
These caught my eye out there in the real world
funny place to put the serving spoon eh!?
this frosting job looks like a cartoon character.
I did a double take on this one
Would you go here?!?
look closer …
I see, screaming green apple
waiting at a bus stop, I felt like I missed my ride!
~ what can I say ~
