One Clay Bird at a Time


 

“Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report written on birds that he'd had three months to write, which was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books about birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him put his arm around my brother's shoulder, and said, "Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.”  
~Anne Lamott 
Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life



Summer is about over and I still haven't gotten what I needed to do done. Feeling a bit overwhelmed, I have no words at the moment.  I think the sun ate my words and spat them out over the ocean.  Maybe they will come back riding on the next high tide.  Or return to me, bird by little clay bird.  In the meanwhile, here's another very short video.


Comments

  1. love watching your hands work! no words needed!

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  2. Sssshh please - magic at work.

    Wonderful totem talismans, Charlene!

    Your video really makes me want to get back to sculpting. Love that feeling of helping the spirit of clay come alive... maybe next year, once the Christmas-New Year markets are over.

    Thanks once again - love your inspirational videos :)

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    1. You're welcome, Vicki. One can get lost in clay...by the way, I love your ceramic tags on your sachets!

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  3. I was going to shrink at the end of the film because I thought it was a real one. I am scared of skulls. I like the film and the music. They go together! : )

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    1. I do have a real sparrow skull in a tiny box for reference. I purchased it at a store called The Bone Room nearby Berkeley. I do shy away from most of the skulls, but the little bird skulls are so fascinating and quite beautiful with remarkable lightness.

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  4. Really lovely video :) Thank you for sharing Charlene.

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    1. You're welcome, Ilona. Thank you for letting me know you enjoyed it:-)

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  5. Really enjoyed watching part of your working process, thank you, Charlene. I have only made a bird skull once, as part of a porcelain sculpture called the Plague Doctor. They are fascinating objects..I was watching an archaeology documentary last night and marvelling at the textures and colours of a skull which had been buried since the 5th Century AD.

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    1. Hello Mark---Sounds like an interesting documentary and sculpture! Nature and time seeped into that skull. It is all so very fascinating.....

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