Pixies, Snakes and Anniversaries

Well Evangelina and I made it to Number 9...Number 9....Number 9 and celebrated our anniversary last night. I had bought tickets to the Pixies as soon as I saw they were playing in Austin. Evangelina and I have slightly different taste in music. I'm an aging indie rocker who was skateboarded and playing punk rock in college...She likes Jimmy Buffett.

I was getting the feeling that she really didn't want to go to a show for our anniversary so I surprised her with a dinner at Hudson's on the Bend. They specialize in wild game and I'm not that adventurous of an eater but a good bottle of wine was enough magic snake oil (pun intended) to try their famous Rattlesnake Cake. Think Crab Cake but a little more cowboy. So, we had a fantastic meal with rattlesnake, smoked quail, seared duck, trout and a variety of other deliciousness.

I definitely got some good husband points for the surprise change of plans. And, at least one of our good friends was able to enjoy the show as I seem to be running a part-time ticket agency.

So now that we've had our wild game for the week we're off to Dallas tomorrow for a quick weekend without the kids. The Texas State Fair starts tomorrow so if we leave the poolside margaritas we may have to try some of this coronary inducing goodness.

Blurry Snake Photo from Maggie's Austin

And, since I forgot to post my Musical Tuesday here's a Pixies Classic that we listened to on the way to the restaurant last night...

Calatrava Cups

I'm getting ready for tomorrow's Art of the Pot Workshop at Eye of the Dog Art Center so I'm playing around with some decals to demonstrate with tomorrow. I'll print out some of my Old York decals but I also wanted to try out some new ones. I found images of some Calatrava bridges on the intertubes and I'm working some things out with regular paper before I print it on the decal paper.

I thought I'd put up two images, a cup with a sample decal image and another cup (cappuccino cup from the other day) with a similar incised line deco. I like the play between the two styles of decoration.

So I think next up it's time to bitmap and print.

Sneak Preview

Some fresh fall pots and I'm in that in strange place somewhere between expectations and results. Give me a couple of hours and I'll figure out what I think and where I'm going next. Still liking the cityscape design and I like the sharper lines.

I used some underglazes to get some color (gray and blue) on the insides of some pots. Not too many this time, just testing it out but I think I'll play around with it some more. (Does gray even count as a color?)



That's definitely blue.

Hopefully some real pics to follow.

Soup or Cappuccino?

Can I interest you in a cappuccino or perhaps a cup of soup? These are my newest (to me) multi-use pots.

I missed some of the how-to images but you'll have to use your imagination of how they magically got connected to the cups....sorry.

They'll set-up for a little while under the plastic and then will get some deco tomorrow morning before waiting for Friday's bisque.

I wanna...

...go to the AIA Austin Homes Tour. I'd also like a house with those sliding glass corner doors.

And I think I want to be an architect when I grow up.

Garage Parking

I've got a huge glass commercial garage door here at the studio but I think I need to find a new parking spot for my motorcycle.

Bridgework

I'm playing around with some designs that sourced from bridges. I showed Javi a picture of some of them and he immediately said that they remind him of bridges...does that mean it's a successful endeavor?

I'm excited to try them out with some decals as well but this first round of work is all getting lines on them. Next week I'll be starting to make some decalware work for the next firing.

Bisque #1 of the fall was fired on Friday and I'll start glazing up today and hopefully be firing tomorrow.

It will be nice to have some new pots before I head to the Art of the Pot Workshop out in San Marcos. It's not too late to sign up...there are a few spots left. Check out the Eye of the Dog Website to signup. It's only $100 and it will be full of information by all 5 AOTP Hosts.

Guided by Voices

And Musical Tuesdays continues....

Guided by Voices is coming to Austin soon and I'm about to grab some tickets before it's too late.

Bridges

Looking through some source material for designs on my new pots. I love the internets and I love all of these bridges.

Handling it

I don't think I can work without this attachment slip from Matt and Dave's clay anymore.



Here are a few cappuccino cups/soup cups attached with that magical goodness.

(trying out blogpress for iPhone so we'll see how it works.)

This was posted with my iPhone including any and all typos.

Designing and Making

I've started to hit a nice little groove in the studio after struggling to find my skills my first week back. Last week was productive and I got about 50 small pots made. It had been a very long studio layoff while we played, and played, and played on Cape during the summer.

I'm getting ready for a few shows this fall and right now I'm focusing on the waxed/incised/slipped deco. I am planning on getting some decalware made for the shows but I'm really going to focus on 2 forms for that work. Most likely just mugs(or cups) and tumblers. The trouble I ran into in the spring with the decals was that each form required a new template in Photoshop or Illustrator for the decals. With two forms, I'll only need two templates and I'll be able to experiment more with each image while not worrying about how they'll fit on each piece. I think the long term solution is still slipcasting cups for the decalware...I actually can't wait to start that. But for now, it's time to keep throwing in the studio to take care of what I do know how to do.

Some basic basketweave patterning on the mugs.

I like this design and I think I'll keep playing around with it...perhaps there's some color in all of that open space?

I threw a dozen tall soup bowls this morning.

I thought I would try some larger porcelain bowls(9 pounds).

Some even larger ones may appear on the table tomorrow.

Hurricane Earl whimpered through the Cape last week but today we're feeling the effects of Tropical Storm Hermine and it's been absolutely pouring here today and is supposed to continue on through Thursday. Good thing....we need the rain down here.

Musical Tuesday...again?

Why not?

Here's one from Ratatat's new album. They're playing Austin here in a few weeks and I'm looking forward to seeing them again...and there's some Skidmore pride since they both graduated with a degree in art from my Alma Mater.

Hi Earl

While we're sitting here in Austin enjoying the heat and humidity, our old stomping ground of the Cape is getting ready for a visit from Earl.

Right now, according to my friend Bruce's photo, all is normal. (I found a blog that has been updated less than mine)

I'll get some pics from my folks, who are still on Cape, as the storm rolls through and we'll see what happens.

Great Texas Clay Symposium

I'm excited to be part of the First Annual Great Texas Clay Symposium hosted by the great folks at the Eye of The Dog Art Center in San Marcos, TX.

They have a brand new building and I'll be there along with my fellow Art of the Pot hosts, Ryan McKerley, Claudia Reese, Chris Campbell and Lisa Orr. We'll each be demonstrating our varied techniques and having a lively discussion throughout the day.

It's a full day workshop, 10am-4pm, on September 18th. Check out the EotD Website for more info and to sign up. It's limited to 40 participants and there's still a few spaces left. Sign up before it's too late.