Art Smorgasbord

I'm so far behind in blogging about my creations that I'm just gonna put them all out here in the post for viewers to look.  I haven't created nearly as much art as I thought I would since I moved to SC. Frankly, I've struggled a lot personally with adjusting to living in a very different culture, becoming accustomed to new job that is very different from what I was doing, living in an apartment again in close proximity to other people yet not really knowing them like I did my old neighborhood, and adjusting to a new relationship that is long distance.  Frustration, sadness, loneliness, excitement, joy, tiredness, boredom, annoyance, lost, and happiness have been a daily part of my adjustment to all of this "newness".

I hope to continue to be and find inspiration and to create more. But until then here are some things that I have done over the past few months.

These were the invites to a work paint night party I through in late February. About 6 to 7 of my coworkers showed up. We had a ton of food, some rockin' 80's music and a lot of fun painting an abstract piece of art. I've even seen some of their paintings in their offices.

One of my off site referrals is cardiac rehab at a local hospital. The supervisor there asked me if there was anything special I could do to help them celebrate heart awareness month. My friend Libby helped me to make many Gelli Prints on paper that I later cut up into strips that I put in a basket and brought around with a marker to all of the client's that came to cardiac rehab.  I had previously cut a heart out of form board (not easy) and glued it to a piece of black form board.  The question I asked client's to complete was "My heart has helped me to ________". The end result turned out really well and something different for the patients and myself to do there.

I wanted to make something to bring for Rob's mom when we go to Puerto Rico where I'll be meeting his parents and the rest of his family for the first time.  He shared that his family especially his mom really like "Wally World" from National Lampoons Family Vacation movie so I surprised Rob by backing him to with me to the pottery place where he helped me made the moose from Wally World.  I'll be heading there soon so we'll see if his mom like's the moose. :) This was a really fun afternoon adventure to do with my boyfriend. I think he even liked it.

Some stretches from my new 2016 sketchbook.

A card I made for my grandmother.

A bday card for neighbor Bob.

A piece of artwork I made to help my work team raise money for Walk A Mile In Her Shoes event taking place April 14th in Columbia, SC to help support and spread awareness of sexual assault. For anyone who donates even a dollar they will be entered to win this piece of art.

https://www.stsm.org/walkamile

Pottery Fun!

I purchased a Groupon to Created By Us pottery for my mom for Christmas. She fought a wicked snow storm last weekend to come up and visit with me.  We went to create our pottery pieces and as part of her birthday present I told her she could pick whatever piece of pottery she wanted. We decided to paint each others pieces. We both picked out the colors we would like but the other person chose the design and painted it.

We had a ton of fun creating. I just went and picked up our pieces after they were fired. Unfortunately for my mom she has to wait another month before I see her again. My mom created a business card holder for me and I created a fancy candy/party dish for her.

Before final fire.

Before final fire.

All completed.

Special purple glaze. My mom's favorite color.

Finished piece.

Mud & Merlot Pottery Class Update

Finally without no further delay here are the finished projects from the Friday Fling- Mud and Merlot Class my mother and I took in October.  I think they turned out awesome but will admit I think they shrunk a little more than the 15% we were told.

To check out the original blog entry detailing this adventure click here: http://creativecaseysblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/friday-fling-mud-merlot.html

My pieces.

All pieces.

My mom's pieces.

Friday Fling! Mud & Merlot

I finally made it to this Friday night mud and merlot workshop at Genesee Pottery; http://www.geneseearts.org/Genesee-Center/Genesee-Pottery-Single-Class.php?refno=2985.  There was wine and appetizers and you received a brief lesson on throwing on the wheel. I've been intimidated to throw on the wheel since an undergrad ceramics course where we were on the wheel for only an hour and it was tragic how untalented I was at it.

However my mom and I have enjoyed taking art classes when she visits so on this trip up we tried our hand at making pottery and we had a blast going to this workshop.  My mom flung her clay at people a few times and kept throwing her sponge all over but eventually she managed to make a couple of awesome bowls.  I was uber excited because on my first try I made a cool bowl. It then took me 3 more tries before I made another awesome bowl and they even let me make one more in which I was daring and tried quite a few of the techniques they taught me throughout the evening.  It's a pretty awesome workshop that'd I'd recommend to anyone. When you are done you pick out glazes for your pieces, the instructors will fire the pieces and glaze them for you and then you go back in a bout 2 weeks to pick up your pieces.   I would definitely try working on the wheel more in the future. Maybe mugs and a vase next time. :) Check out our adventure below.

This was my first attempt and it was successful!