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)

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.

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.

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.

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.