Clay Pondering with Rain


We finally got some rain and rain and rain.  Last week the sun was keeping me from doing anything productive.  I just wanted to sit on the edge of the deck and ponder in the sun.  Now I just want to look at and listen to the rain.  Still I have to move forward and try to get some clay work done.




It is quite true what Philosophy says: that Life must be understood backwards. 

But that makes one forget the other saying: that it must be lived forwards. 

         The more one ponders this, the more it comes to mean that life in the temporal existence never becomes quite intelligible, precisely because at no moment can I find complete quiet to take the

backward-looking 

position.”

                             ~from the journals of SØren Kierkegaard

beginning of Bird Blind
each leaf is unique like snowflakes
stocking texture done with porcelain slip and mesh


The above head was lopped off this piece.  Too wistful. Pondering.  So this head came off to wait for a different body that has a matching sense of drama.  I intended this piece to have more whimsy.  I put on the first layer of slips and fired Bird Blind.  Here it is fresh from its first firing.  It still needs more glazing and layers (I consider this an adding another chapter to its story.)  I need to mix up some small batches of glazes to continue........and.........



 Yet, I procrastinate.  It is raining still and I so love to look at the rain!

Comments

  1. We finally got a nice rain the other day and it was a light rain all day long, enough so we could keep the windows open and I pretty much just sat there soaking up the coolness, now we are dry again. I find it interesting how you can take one head off and use it on another sculpture, how fun, almost two pieces from one. Great stocking texture, I've been saving shallot and grapefruit bags and using them on pendants.

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    Replies
    1. Nice thing about clay---there's so many different ways to mess with it!
      Sometimes the expression on a head just doesn't fit the body or mood of a piece. This doesn't happen often. Normally I recycle the head into the clay bucket, but if I find the face captivates a certain feeling I will save it.

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  2. Charlene - I love your quote! I just read one the other day - (paraphrasing) that all who live in the present moment have eternal life! Lots to ponder going forward or backward!

    I know we've talked about it before - but isn't it interesting that your piece 'reveals' her story to you and that you listen - change out heads or arms - add fragments and color until she can tell her own story.

    Your work is so wonderful - your stories so intriguing!

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    Replies
    1. Yes, yes! It all that back and forth---ebb and flow--- Oh, how I love that you said "fragments."
      It's that intuitive feeling, the interaction with the making that draws me, that makes me listen. I think all artists do this in one way or another. Making art is story-telling. And we all do it in one way or another to continue to live in the moment. Or to find that moment.

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