Monday, February 27, 2012

More Maps


I make maps while I listen to my audio books. Right now I'm getting ready to start The Night Circus. But in the meantime we've been catching up on our Netflix.  Here are some 5-star recommendations:
Margin Call
Ides of March (very eerie at this point in our election cycle)


More recommendations:
At Close Range (if you are a photographer you'll love this one)


and
The Tunnel
(we thought this would be too long but it totally held our attention)

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Map of Don's World


Susan has a blog named MapOfMyWorld that she rarely updates anymore. So I stole her title and now it's mine! After all, Texas IS a community property state. If you've been following me since the beginning, you know that I used to make metal art and I now make jewelry art and ceramic sculptures. Add another item on to my Bucket List: I make maps.

We both love to read books and look at art books but I'm a pokey reader due to dyslexia. AudibleBooks to the rescue! The problem is that when I'm listening to a really good book I can't be doing something that requires a lot of thought and attention or I will lose track of the story. But I don't like to just be sitting there idle. Susan taught me a little bit of Zentangle so I started doing that while I listened to the books. Eventually we figured out a way to help me branch out into my own style of map-making.


A good book on making maps:  Jill Berry's Personal Geographies.

A good book to listen to:  Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Baby, Baby, Baby

Looking at these past few pieces you would probably think I was pregnant. Nope. Not a chance. Not unless pigs fly. I have no freakin' idea why I've done baby bumps and babies. (Piece shown above is unfired.) I'm desperately try to get my head in a different place and I think it's going to be ... boats.  Below is a copper one I made years ago, when I was doing metal stuff.

 Now I think I want to try ceramic boats. We'll see.  When I first started in ceramics many years back I took two workshops from Debra Fritts - a great instruction and motivator.  She traded me some small ceramic birds for one of my copper boats. The piece she made (image below) was called "Tall Tales" -- what a creative use of a boat! I am humbled.

Monday, February 6, 2012

I'm On A Roll Here!


Another Dude made (unglazed)!
Don't get in my way, don't stop me now -- when dinnertime comes around just set the food out and stand back.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Bumping Out


I wanted to do something different so I decided to make some Dudes that are expecting, or as is commonly said today, Dudes with a Baby Bump. This is the first one, she hasn't been fired yet. Susan critiqued it and told me she needed to have a sway back. I wasn't exactly sold on the idea so she googled images for me and sure enough, the belly goes out and the back goes in. So I gave the Dude a little back dent. She told me to make the next Dude with one hand on her baby bump and one hand at her aching back.

I've never had a baby so I don't know these things. Susan's never had a baby either but somehow you women all know these things anyway.

By the way, I'm not going to refer to a female Dudes as Dudette or Dudess, these are all unisex "Dudes". It's my vote for gender equality.