Halloween Chinese Celebration and other tales

I had never been to a Halloween Chinese Celebration until....

yesterday.

Something is in the air and it makes the kids more creative and spunky.

As I was making our homemade pizza and salad for dinner,

the boys were feverishly creating an act to perform.

They gathered their props, made some tickets, set up the 

viewing area and proceeded to invite us to the first

Annual Halloween Chinese Celebration.

Puppy (a stuffed animal) and I were given tickets for row 4.

Dragon and Jay sat in row 5.

We put our tickets in the top hat, took our seats and the show began.

There was dancing and banging of drums. It was wonderful. The sun was setting,

the wind was blowing, we were sporting jackets from the chill and the kids were just plain excited to be alive.

Afterwards we fill the hat with coins and clapped profusely.

Here are a few shots of the event but none do it justice, except maybe Jay sipping a "hot" drink at intermission. (hot water from the tap ;o))

Influences and  the subconscious can rear their heads at the most unusual times.

I posted on throwing slabs and was not sure what I was going to do with them.

I have made some new cyber clay influences recently and one of them is Tracy Broome.

I love her hand built barns. The textures and detail are amazing. The layers of textures  and colors make it have the appearance of wood and that comforting, alluring quality that all barns have. She has also been super encouraging through this rediscovery of clay....

I have also enjoyed Vicki Hartman's hand-built work. The simplicity, bold colors and drawing intrigue and demand attention. 

This got me to thinking about

Chuck Chamberlain, my friend and previous professor at ECU. He made these incredible, elaborate,

organic, church like structures. I tried it once.... too many years ago and still have a result of one, 

sitting in my garden.

Well, between the three of them and my experiences in life... I decided to begin a series about sacred spaces. It is more about architecture and light and surprises so I am not quite sure how it will all turn out. Here is the first one I have been working on.

It is now finished but was not in the photos.

I started a new one today that will have a dome base... not sure how it will progress but I am excited. I like to work on the inside of pieces to so that the viewer has surprises to find... my Chagall influences I guess.

My headache:

It is still not working and still having trouble ordering the right parts.

I had spent 40 minutes in front of my kiln explaining to the person what I needed and still did not get the right parts!

I am hopeful the new shipment will be right but that makes it another week with finished work piling up and me wondering if I will ever get it firing.

HOPE. At least I have it right now and persistence.

This WILL happen. I just have to make it happen.

“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan "press on" has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race”

Calvin Coolidge quotes