Can't Hurry Love

Twice a year for a couple of months there is nothing but the studio in my life. Covered in clay all the time, I keep coming up with just one more thing I want to do ( and dry and fire !) before the Open Studio date. Then comes the deadline of no more pieces...because they just wont dry in time.

I have reached that point but ideas are still flowing and the call of the clay is too strong to resist. Once again I am faced with the inevitable truth that you cant rush clay anymore than you can hurry love. Which doesn't mean we dont try ...

But in fact, its the clay that makes the decisions for me mostly, deciding when and what it wants to become; many of the pieces just got bigger and different.

I am looking forward to hearing your input.

This is an invitation.

Back and Forth

Another medium is creeping into my life. Going back and forth between clay and canvas is strangely stickier than I would have thought. I haven't yet found the method of parallel work in both 2 and 3 dimensions.
Its a different gut feeling - well of course its a different language. As part of the learning and discovery process - I am finding out where clay and canvas fit into different moods and modes of self expression.Its a bit like translating or writing in two languages with very different cultures.

Is this in MY studio?

Barter is a wonderful way to open up possibilities and enrich one's life. Exchanging sculpture classes for painting classes with Nira Ben-Hur is giving me an opportunity to see what I can do with two dimensions with someone who knows me, knows how to teach and is an artist who's work I have always wished to hang where I can see it all the time.
Its so great to have a studio where I can freely go between clay and paint. Such different kinds of mess! Such different kinds of approach and possibilities. Eventually I hope to find a way to combine the two more than I have done.
But for now, experimenting with brushes, rags and fingers is very rewarding. And oh well yes, lots more clean up.