Update: May

New Puppy

     Since Derby weekend I've been running in circles here on the farm. We got a new puppy, got new windows in the house followed by a visit from the in-laws for a weekend plus my stepson graduated high school. To prep for the visit and graduation, I planted the garden, scrubbed the kitchen floor and painted the walls a lemony yellow before my in-laws arrived. I hadn't wanted such a long hiatus from the studio but finally I'm back at it, reclaiming clay, wedging, coiling sculpture forms and glazing again.

Only one layer of oak planks, layers of old wallpaper and
some drywall separated us from the heat and cold.

     We live in an old farmhouse, one of the first built on my road so I've been told, and since I moved in back in 1999, the windows have been non-functional. Basically, I had "holes with glass" as my sister aptly put it. Now that the stepson is legal and graduated, time to upgrade the living quarters as he makes his way in the working world before he goes off to college in the Fall. For the first time since 1999, we can open the kitchen window! I cannot tell you how exciting this is. Almost as exciting as when I got a septic system installed in place of the original straight pipe that ran out the back. I suspected that the straight pipe was an upgrade to an outhouse long before I bought the house. Ah, rustic Kentucky living!

Ah, the mess of renovation...

     The new puppy and his energy has pushed me out on the trails behind my house. This is a good thing. I revel in nature. If you just stop for a second or two, there's so much to see and discover, so much we don't see, so much we gloss over. For instance, there is some lichen around that is the most awesome combination of colors!

Just luscious!

     Vibrant, eye-popping-red knots on stems that hover over minty, sage green of branching lichen. But it's small and tiny and you have to get down to ground level and scan the forest bottom slowly. Plus the amount of seed and nut forms that litter the floor gets me all gooey inside and excited to make things  when I get back at my table. And that's where I am now, working on three forms simultaneously from April, May and trying to get a jump on June's sculpture. I want them to hang at eye level. I want them to come off the floor. I want to make what you miss when you walk through the woods. Work, work, work.