July 12, 2008
The Devil is in the Details
When I was little, I’d run over to grandpa and grandma’s
house next door in San Francisco in socks, leap up the long stair case skipping
rungs, find grandpa in a corduroy and wood sitting chair in the big living room
overlooking the bay watching Russian or French news on TV, and beg him to draw
me a goat. He was a bit of a stern German who knew 10 languages, had survived
Japan in World War II, his mother had died of influenza when he as a child, and
his father had been shot in front of him. But grandpa called me “Schnupsie” and
that softened edges considerably.
He’d get out a white piece of card paper and a stubby pencil
(like the kind at a library’s old card files) sharpened by hand with a knife. A
couple quick fluid fast lines and there was a goat, suddenly. It seemed like
magic. Was that a goat or Chinese character? He knew how to do both. The sketch
had minimal lines but definitely it was a goat. Never any hemming and hawing,
he just did it on request. A couple years later grandpa had a stroke and I
never saw any more drawings.
Almost 30 years later, as a communications strategist and a
potter, I think about grandpa’s simple sketches and how they’ve influenced me
and are a metaphor for how I aspire to be. His drawing was relaxed and
confident, quick and fluid, detailed and minimal.
I’ve always admired how my husband Pete tells stories with
detail — movie plots from one end to another, the politics of family farming in
California through five generations — and can see how the details sharpen his
mind while talking and mine while listening.
People want genuine, open, warm communication not just
between friends, but in their politicians and public speaking of all kinds.
Forget logical professionalism. Emotional connection is key in the relationship
economy. I can visualize exactly what Pete means when he gives all the details
— the why about what he feels, his own valuable perspective, not just an
opinion. And it so happens that one of his favorite sayings is, “The devil is
in the details.”
April 21, 2008
Inspired by the Lake
Someone recently noticed that I don’t have photos of the
lake on my pottery website, even though it’s actually everywhere because horses
are the lake and the lake is horses. Growing up in San Francisco during the
school year, Leonard Lake was the place of freedom during vacations where we
could go anywhere on horseback. After graduate school in public policy, I
didn’t want to leave my heart behind any more and moved here to the same canyon
where Leonard Lake is. I’m so busy with consulting, art making, and my horses
that I don’t often go to the lake, but its water flows by my house in the creek
so I’m already there.
April 10, 2008
New Artist Cooperative Gallery in Ukiah
Last December I joined a new artist cooperative and at the
end of March we opened our doors — Art Center Ukiah’s Corner Gallery — at 201
South School Street in downtown Ukiah. The 24 artists from all around Mendocino
County work in a variety of media. A new year’s resolution of mine was to get
to know more artists around here — I have!! These are great people. Batik
watercolor, aluminum honeycomb, bronze, steel, giclee ... My office for
communications strategy work is 2 blocks away, so I like to swing by the
gallery after lunch. After radio announcements, a front page article, and other
publicity, our opening party on March 28 was packed. People say it’s a sign
that an art cooperative is just what’s wanted here. First Fridays of every
month Ukiah galleries are open til 8 pm.
October 15, 2007
Manzanita Mug Tree
For my next pottery sale, I’ll have a mug tree made from a
manzanita bush ... or so I plan. I’d like to go out in the rain with Pete to
find just the right one, like our walk when we took this photo, along a ridge
covered with manzanita bushes. Their branches are strong and hard. I have to
test them for mug holding strength.
September 4, 2007
Sunday Rest Day
On Sunday I suddenly had a rest day since I was away from
home and could just entertain myself with a new set of watercolor paints and
watercolor pencils. Pretty soon, I had nearly filled the watercolor book with
paintings. Today I took it to my consulting work to show off the results of
sitting around in a sunny library. Japanese brush filled with water, oozed over
the page, rubbed vigorously into color, back to the page to transform white
space into something possibly unexpected. I like best when the page bends the
colors better than I could have ever planned. My fall stint of pottery making
has begun again, so paintings on paper will change to paintings on platters and
mugs. I’d like to find a shelf with small cubbies, each cubby to fit a mug and
show it off in its own contained space.
July 10, 2007
Basket Maker on Cortes Island, British Columbia
Horse trainer and hoof trimmer Frances Guthrie took me to see her parents because her mom
Doreen has an impressive collection of horse hoofs and horse foot bones,
numbered and ordered for comparison. (I’m learning about hoof trimming.) Her
parents live by the ocean on the eastern side of Cortes Island facing tall
mountains on the other side of the channel. Frances grew up here, her mom grew
up here, and her mom’s mom did too. Doreen collects kelp from the beaches,
string from hay bales, reeds from a lake, and other materials to make baskets.
As soon as I had met her, I thought she must do a lot with her hands, because
she’s so direct, mischievous, and sensible, like my crafty sister.
“Would you like to see Ralph?” she asked. I pictured going
for a drive to meet an old uncle. But Ralph was brought out of a back room — a
mountain lion pelt on a quilted backing. Hair that’s incredibly soft, a long
tail tipped with black, a big solid head, claws on his feet, long body. Ralph
was laid on the couch.
Frances’ mom started off her art work early on by drawing,
drawing all the time until teachers chided her for drawing. Later in art class
when a teacher put white paper in front of each student, she didn’t want to
draw because she’d been stopped earlier. But she draws now — landscape sketches
of the ocean and land around her, funny cats, a rendition of an aunt bending
over to smell a rock where Doreen claimed wolves urinated with a caption “I
can’t smell anything” ...
Her baskets woven with thick strands of kelp captivated me and I went home with one. She soaks the kelp so that it’s pliable, and weaves in thinner strands for accents along the rims.
July 8, 2007
Painting Horses for Intention
Freedom, community, vitality and playfulness, flow ...
yesterday and today I’ve been painting horses after workshop sessions in Horses
and Authentic Leadership to express what I want to embody in my life. I’m not
done painting yet :-) the next ones will be steadfastness and care. But often
my hand doesn’t cooperate, and a horse that should have shown steadfastness
looks like something else — maybe awareness — so I then incorporate that into
my life plan as well! Flexibility makes life easier ...
July 4, 2007
Small World on Flight to Vancouver
Last night I flew to Vancouver, and a woman named Julie York
and her cat Jinx sat next to me. She mentioned she teaches ceramics and was
just a resident at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia, I said I make pottery and
gave her my card, she mentioned having studied at Alfred University, I asked if
she knows Hannah Niswonger, she remembered Hannah’s monkey sculptures ... soon
we were talking about her trip to China and mine a couple years earlier with
the same organizers from Alfred to see Chinese ceramics. We reminisced about
the deliiiiicious handmade noodles and soup in the lush quiet green village of
San Bao where water wheels turn to pound rock into porcelain and nearby
Jingdezhen is home to 1 milliion with a city-wide industry focus on ceramics.
Julie’s work uses porcelain molds with lenses to magnify and distort. She just
won a Pew grant to develop her style and I can’t wait to see what her work is
like in a year. Now it’s time for a Vancouver breakfast (Julie told me the best
place), then on to Cortes Island by bus.
June 7, 2007
Breakfast with the Horses
Apparently my internal alarm clock is set to 5:50 am now,
since the sun comes up early and every morning I can’t wait to see the horses
before I head off to work. They had taken off for the Indian Camp yesterday, so
I wiped off the wet seat, put on two sweaters and gloves (yesterday was chilly
when we herded the goats and dogs back down the road), got in the Ranger and
drove down Lizard Road with my dogs in back to find them ... happily eating
green grass by natural springs at the camp. Sunshine wasn’t yet poking through
the mist. The horses didn’t know that I was just bringing them breakfast, and
didn’t necessarily want to go home yet, so it took a while for them to realize
and come over. Psophie needed lots of rubbing on her neck and tail in between
bites of breakfast. It’s so nice to get up early, because I still had time for
eggs and toast in my sister’s trailer and got to work at a regular time. And
came home with memories to inspire art.
June 5, 2007
Details Etched by Sun Rays
Yesterday I attended a workshop at the Occidental Art and
Ecology Center, where I wandered around the fruit-laden and flower-filled
grounds, thinking how I could really create some beautiful designs with this
inspiration. Light shining through digitalis and red poppy petals, with details
etched by sun rays. I’m about to set up my wheel in a corner of a barn
overlooking coastal ridges stretching to the coast. Location, location.
April 12, 2007
Wood Kiln 2007
Yesterday, we finished firing the wood kiln. It’s a big
annual event, with much firewood cutting and brick laying leading up to it.
During the firing, we stoke the glowing hot sizzling chambers about every 6
minutes for 3 days, day and night. My 9 pm to 3 am shift with fellow potter
Megan took place after a long day of fun consulting, exhilarating horse riding,
relaxing museum board meeting, and Mexican dinner with a friend. When I arrived
for my shift, there was a party around the kiln, with old and new friends. Then
they left. Dark and quiet and hot near the kiln. Around midnight, rain started
to fall on the metal roof and splatter into the chimney. The kiln was 2200
degrees. I kept walking out into the rain in between stokings.
November 30, 2006
Brushstrokes that Take Care of Themselves
Right now, there’s nothing I like better than to paint
horses roaming hills on platters with rims notched by a wood tool. After
working in my office and driving to the studio, I take my prize bundle of
bamboo Japanese paint brushes and think about Nicholas Roerich painting horses
and warriors in the Himalayas after arriving at a destination by camel.
At the
Redwood Valley Cellars artisan faire, a friend suggested painting scenes with
horses in mythology. The next day, she wrote, “This is an especially important
and powerful new moon. It is an extraordinary day ... The golden key is coming
from the heart feelings and gratitude.” I really was feeling lucky. I love the
direction my consulting work is going, my horse Psophie and I are in training
learning great things, people appreciate my pottery and give me fabulous ideas,
my sister Julia is back in the area, my boyfriend Pete is super, and more.
That
same day, I painted Apollo in his chariot being pulled toward the sun, 
then
Lady Godiva riding naked through town, all with confident and fun brushstrokes.
If you begin and end a line strongly, the middle takes care of itself, Bernard
Leach said and he seems to be right. My abstract brushwork is rarely if ever
attractive, probably because of my lack of confidence with abstraction. The
lines that represent images like horses and trees and mountains seem to take
care of themselves, in contrast. One of my studio mates, happily for me, in
this new phase of painting scenes from mythology, is a buff in this area who
could give me ideas and story background so I could paint on the spot without
going to my 6th grade lessons to refresh my memory about the Greek and Norse
heroes. A friend who read Lord of the Rings three times last summer had ideas
from that story. I painted the plains of Rohan with galloping horses going off
to battle, but liked the sparseness midway through painting and left off the
warriors and castle.
October 2, 2006
Upcoming Show at Redwood Valley Cellars
Last year’s Holiday Artisan Faire at Redwood Valley Cellars
was lots of fun, with 10 artists and wine tasting and delicious pumpkin soup.
For the Artisan Faire this November 18-19, I’m making mugs painted with horses,
platters with horsetail plants and panoramas, vases with fun patterns ... And
on a different note my sister Julia is coming home tomorrow with big plans for
goat herding so I’m thrilled.
July 19, 2006
I Made my Website!
I’m so happy that this website for my art work is finally
just about ready to publish and let friends know about. This template with .Mac
is the easiest I’ve tried. Super cool. That photo is me on vacation 2 days ago
at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Next day, my website was in the works, then
almost done. Clearly a great vacation.
The sky is clean clouds returns the love of the earth mother!
Posted by: Ajf 4 | July 14, 2010 at 10:51 PM