Fascinations with Robert Ivey Ballet

This post is coming a few days later than I had hoped, but I think I needed time to process the whole event.  This event was so great, in so many different ways.  We had a Fascinations performance both Friday night and Saturday night, (Jan 18 and 19) and I really loved seeing it both nights.  I was able to take in more on the second night; little details of the dance or costuming I hadn't noticed before.  This was a huge experience for me.  I think I am very, very glad to have participated in this event. If you want to read about how this came about, check out the post here.  It's a cool story about synchronicity, written by my good friend Laura!  And painting on such a scale, what an eye-opening experience that was!  It truly is a full-body movement to get paint on the canvas when you use giant brushstrokes like I was doing.  And a ladder.  One must have a ladder to reach up so high!  So I was climbing the ladder, and flinging paint around with my 4" paintbrush, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Just before we delivered it to the theatre.

After the show I was approached by someone who is in charge of outdoor murals around Charleston.  He invited me to do a wall of my own!!  I was thrilled, and I have a feeling I will be tackling that project soon :)  It's called the Outdoor Art Initiative and Gallery; Check out their Facebook page; they have some pretty cool stuff over there.  Everyone in this group seems very open and friendly, and I am excited to learn more about what they do.  

On stage!

One other cool thing about this project is that both of my girls were involved in this project.  Especially my 4 yr old.  She loved it and she was inspired to work on a larger scale too.  She actually decorated the back of the couch one night recently with sidewalk chalk, and I couldn't be mad because I know where this came from.  It was from watching me paint so big; she only wanted to do the same.  I thought a good way to channel this inspiration onto a more suitable substrate would be to hit the art store and buy a canvas for her.  So that's just what we did!  Here she is starting to work.  I love how kids just jump on it; no hesitation or concern about how it will turn out.  They just get straight to work :)

Can you guess her favorite colors??

So yes, this was quite the experience for the entire family.  I want to thank my hubby for going the extra mile on this - he helped me get my canvases home and then delivered to the studio.  He watched the kids, so I could work, and he gave me feedback when I got stuck or panicked.  He's the best.   Pure Theatre also played a big part in this.  They gave me my canvases!  They had used them in a previous play, and the canvases were just sitting in their storage area, so they saved me a lot of time by me not having to build these canvases.  Thank you!!! If any of you are local in Charleston, you really should go see a play over there.  Those guys are super passionate about what they are doing.  And they are doing a phenomenal job of it!

Wall Birds

I've been working a little here and there, when I have a little time, and I have been making these bird ladies to hang on the wall. They're pretty small, about 8-9" tall (i think) and they have not been fired yet.


I've made a dozen of them so far. I like how they look; in fact, I'd like to see them on bronze too! Even though I don't have a studio yet, I wanted to get a head start on creating some small pieces to fill the kiln, whenever I get that set back up. So I'm just stockpiling a few pieces until then :)


I am starting some other small pieces too - I'll post them after I've made a few more. On the studio construction, I've got a lovely concrete slab that is just ready for some framing. Boy, I'm excited to see that get started! Maybe I'll have a studio early in the new year... Just in time too- I'll need every second to get ready for my ACC show in March... Thanks for hanging with me in these past months when I've been posting so irregularly! I'm feeling a bit better these days. Little baby Finley is sleeping through the night now, and that makes ALL the difference! We will talk soon, Kelly

Next Group of Birdies

Hi Everyone, I hope your week is going well. I've had a couple of really good days back in the studio this week, where I actually had a nice window of time to work, instead of grabbing an hour here or there. I took this photo for a possible client the other day, and there are some new birdies pictured in here. I am having fun doing the bases in different colors, and that also suits my ADHD too. :) I get tired of doing things all the same color all of the time.



In other news, I spoke to a fellow sculptor the other night at my art guild meeting, and he told me of a foundry that's closer to home! I loved the guys in Florida that I used, but if I can use a good foundry closer to home... Well, that would be just awesome. So I'm going to set up a meeting with these guys and see what we can do for each other. Maybe I'll get to have some new bronzes in the near future! I'd love to have some smaller sculptures cast in bronze... Hope your week finishes up on a happy note! I think I'm going to head to the gym this morning and try to keep this body healthy.. ~Kelly

This One is Near and Dear To Me

I just finished this little sculpture. I actually made it several months ago, but just last week, I finally finished glazing it. This little piece is very personal to me; it represents myself and my mother, as she lay so very sick with cancer just before her death. I'm not even sure I can sell this piece; I don't believe I can part with it yet, but I wanted to share it with you. I'm wishing you love and happiness this Thanksgiving, and I hope that you are able to spend the holiday with loved ones. Thinking of you~ Kelly

Sneaky Peek of a Sculpture

You guys were right,

It is SUPER hard to hold back images of things I've been working on in the studio. So, I have decided to share a little tidbit of info with a picture. Ever since my mother died, back in Feb.of '09, all of my bird sculptures have been without wings. Or if they had wings, they weren't for flying, but for protecting or something else...

But then, last week, a change happened. I built a woman/bird/girl (birl? boman? wobird?) with wings. Wings meant for flying or at least growing into wings that could one day fly. That's all I'm going to say.

I am sure am having fun with it and I can't wait til she's fired and finished. I think she's going to be one of my favorites... But we will see what the kiln gods have in store for me!

This past week was a crazy one in our household with no school on Monday, then the kiddo was sick with a touch of bronchitis and ear infections, and then hubby came home Friday morning. I'm hoping that, starting tomorrow, we can get back to a routine... which translates into studio time for me!

Here you go, Birdie

HI again!
I'm back from our short trip to Napa, and we had a fabulous time. No cell phone, no internet, and no TV! We were staying at my hubby's cousin's house out in the middle of no where, and no, I didn't take pictures. Not much view to capture, just a lot of trees pretty tight against the house. I am not a talented photographer, and I wasn't sure that I could capture the landscape properly. My hubby's cousin is just awesome, and he and his wife are so generous about sharing their space with friends and family. It's all very relaxing; you read books, swim in the pool, take a walk down the driveway, paint each others' toenails. (There wasn't a man at the house that didn't have orange or purple toenails!) You barely shower while you are there, and no one gets real riled up about cleaning either. Just ignore those dead bugs in the corner. :) It makes for a wonderful, relaxing and peaceful weekend. So, so nice.

But, I seem to remember promising you guys another journal entry. It's not my favorite, but I'm not redoing it either. There are things about it that I like...but mostly, I love the memory that goes with the saying in the middle. It came from a day last week when we were sitting in Union Square, in the shade of a tree, watching our daughter feed the birds. She kept saying "'Ere you go, birdie", and so it burned into my brain. And I'm so glad it was. I hope to remember that day forever. Wonderful.

More Bronze??

Now that I'm getting ready for the foundry tomorrow, I'm starting to wonder about all sorts of things. Like, these little Peeps that I do, I wonder if they would look good in bronze? I don't have to do solid brown as a patina... there are all sorts of options out there for patinas. I do like them just as clay pieces and in all the underglaze colors that I can use, but I wonder how they would translate in bronze?? What do you guys think??

Preparing for our trip to San Francisco

The countdown has started. We leave town on July 11th for 6 weeks in San Francisco and we have good friends coming into town on July 1st. So I am trying to get all travel arrangements planned out before July 1st. I don't want to be racing around doing all this stuff when my friends are here! I want to be able to enjoy their visit. This is an annual gathering that we have been doing for several years now, and it has been interesting as families are started, and then more kids are added into the mix. Last year we had a total of 8 adults and and 4 kids in the house and it was absolutely insane. Insane and fun too. But back to San Francisco! The whole idea for our trip was based on the realization that life is so short. My mother had just passed away, and my in-laws were dealing with some health issues too. I was feeling kind of freaked out that life was slipping away and I wasn't doing everything that I wanted to do. It was this feeling inside me, screaming DO IT NOW, DO IT NOW, and so that is exactly what my husband and I decided to do. We started planning an extended trip. By going for 6 weeks, we will be able to get a true feel for the city and see it as residents, rather than 1-week-tourists. We will have a sweet townhouse just off the Presidio and I plan on spending many days there with the kiddo and my journal. It would be too hard to take my clay for sculpting, but with the art journal and the plethora of galleries in SF, I believe my creative side will be satisfied. There is one sculptor who offers short, workshop-style classes out of her studio, and I hope to be able to take one of her classes. I believe that there is always something to be learned from others, and even though she works in a different style than I do, I think it would be beneficial to take her class. At least I can meet others who are interested in similar things! And speaking of meeting others, I have already connected with another artist in my ecourse class who is in SF and we have already agreed to meet for coffee somewhere. It will be so nice to meet another classmate in real life! Follow the link to check out Tiffany's blog. I know we will have so much in common! So if you have any favorite galleries or shops or restaurants from SF, please let me know in the comments section. I'd love to hear from you! I know one thing I look forward to seeing is the wild parrots. Have you heard of them? I wrote about them in a previous blog post. They sound incredible! In case you didn't know it already, I am kind of fascinated by birds....

Hooded Mergansers!

How cool is this guy?? The other day in the studio, I looked out of the window as I was forming a ball of clay in my hands, and saw this guy and his friends in the tidal creek that runs to the side of my house. I tried to get some photos of it, but my little point and shoot doesn't have the zoom to make it a worthy picture. I love being so close to nature. My studio is elevated, because all new construction on Folly Beach has to be due to flooding, and so that puts me right in the trees. And there are quite a few trees outside my window, so I can watch the cute little birdies doing their thing. Anyway, back to the duck. I always thought this guy had a strangely shaped head, but it is actually just a crest. They can lower it or raise it depending on what they are trying to say to the other ducks. I watched these guys for a few minutes, and they were just having the best time, diving for fish. It looked like they were playing. But BRRRRR! That water has to be cold, but it sure didn't bother them! Birds and ducks are amazing that way. They have all these built in mechanisms to keep them warm in the cold. I'm sure some of you in the north with all this snow are wishing for the same mechanisms! I was actually making a small clay bird as I stood there, watching the ducks. Studio time has been going pretty well lately, and that is a fine thing as I have the ACC show coming up. I'll post some pictures of some finished pieces in the near future. There are still a few finishing touches I have to do to some of them. That's all for now!

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

Last night we watched the film "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill" that we had netflixed. It was awesome. It was about this guy who lived in a little cottage, free of charge, and took care of these birds. He had all the time in the world, because he didn't really work, and he developed the most amazing relationship with these beautiful birds. He had names for them and studied each one, until he knew its story. Some of these parrots he had know since they were babies, and he knew their entire life story! It was totally amazing. If you like San Francisco, birds, or just cool stories, get this movie and you won't be sorry. Aren't these guys beautiful???

Birds, birds and more birds

This is an entry from my personal journal: "Why Birds? Why Birds? Why am I totally fascinated with birds right now? Marley loves them too - maybe that's part of it. Mom loved birds too - she was always sculpting them, and even painted them a bit. Birds can seem strong and scary or dainty and sweet. Birds can fly high or swoop down or ride with the wind. Can birds fly all the way to heaven and back? Can I be a bird - fly up high, visit Mom and then return to the ground for my life here? Don't we all want to be birds at some point and just fly away when things get a little rough? If I ever become home-bound due to illness or whatever, I want a bird feeder - fird beeder - outside my window so I can watch their comings and goings. " I wrote this one night and I was just letting my brain run wherever it wanted to go. I think that these thoughts are what's behind my latest sculptures. Other ideas that are all mixed in are: motherhood, passing the torch from my mother to me, raising and protecting kids, transition, and more. Ever since my mom died, I've been feeling all these emotions and they are all mixed together. It is not just one feeling, but a crazy, mixed up pile of emotions, all tied together. I think that for me, sculpture is the only way to get it all out. At least I hope so. Maybe if I get it all out of my system, I'll be able to sleep at night! Soon, I'll post some more images of my current clay sculptures.

iPhone Damage!

Marley's two favorite things in the world: her pacifier and my iPhone. But then she had to go and drop my phone on the concrete and cracked the hell out of the face. It still works for the most part, but you can feel the cracks and I'm afraid someone is going to get cut. Lucky for me, Charlie gave me a gift card to the Apple store here in Charleston for my birthday and voila! A new iPhone 3GS, with video even! I haven't had a chance to really play with it yet, but I have a feeling I will be posting videos on here, now that it is so easy. Thank you Marley and Charlie! As for things in the studio, I've been making some small-ish bird sculptures and I guess that will be my next post. Not quite sure how I want to glaze them, but I think I will try some different finishes. My gift to myself for my birthday was a propane torch, and I cannot WAIT to "fire" that thing up! I'm thinking melted wax finishes, or maybe melted crayons..... There is no telling what the future holds!

Completion of Address Pot

Yay! This morning I got up early, before anyone else in the house. I made a cup of java and headed out to the studio to work on the Address Pot. I knew I was close to being done, and yesterday was frustrating since I only had 25 minutes in the clay studio to work. I seem to be a little obsessive about leaving some projects unfinished. I like to stop at a good place, and when the completion of a project is near, it is ALL I want to work on! I'll let dishes pile up and bills go unopened, just so I can get some work done. That is how I was feeling yesterday! So this morning, when I woke, I thought "Carpe Diem!" So off to the studio I went, and I was able to finish my birds and thus the address pot is complete! I need better lighting for the final shot, but you can get an idea here. There are detail shots in previous posts.. The finished height is right at 6' tall. There are 5 sections, not including the three birds. I think I will epoxy them on after firing. I think that bond will be stronger, and I won't have to worry about accidentally snapping them off. Let me know what you think! This is the tallest project I've ever made and it took me over a month just to build it. It will be a while before it gets fired....

Three Little Birds Sitting on some Foam

Three little birdies sitting on some foam. I made these birds to go on my address pot. I am a bit obsessed with birds right now, and so I expect they will be showing up in my new work. And now I can get started on new work, now that I have this monster of a project complete. Whew! I don't think I have ever spent over a month working on a single project. I'm usually looking for the end, already thinking of the next piece I want to make. But anyway... these little guys kinda made me smile, all sitting there together on the foam. Or laying on the foam...they DO look a little like three dead birds on foam don't they?? :)

Work in Progress

Finally! I have finished building the main body of the address pot and now I'm just making birds to attach to it. One big bird on top and a few on the ledge of the pot. I was working on the birds today in the rather warm studio (my AC is out!) I am having a blast sculpting the birds. I can't wait for the next project, so I can do more bird-related stuff. I've been thinking about that... I seem hooked on birds and all things birds recently, but that is a whole 'nother post. I will put some photos on when my camera and my computer begin to play nicely again.

WIP

Oh my god, progress on this big piece is soooo slow. I just don't get much time in the studio these days, and so I will put a coil on whenever I have 30 minutes or so to work. Normally, that seems to get me somewhere, as far as progress, but when you have about 35" to build, one coil at a time goes pretty slowly! Think about it: If I get to put on one coil a day, it will take me about three weeks just to build this one section!!! It gets so frustrating if I spend too much time thinking about it, so I try not to! But here is a photo of the "address pot". I am currently working on the column part, where the numbers will go. You can see the sketch on the blackboard in the background...

Morning!

Well, I have had an amazing morning already! It's 6:30 am and I just finished eating toast, having a cup of coffee, and watching a powerful storm roll in. Listening to the birds, the frogs, the thunder... Nice. Now I'm heading out to the studio to unload the kiln!

Great Horned Owl!

Last night, the coolest thing happened. Charlie and Marley and I were upstairs playing on the bed, when I heard an owl nearby (the doors were open). Charlie went out onto the deck and very quickly spotted a great horned owl sitting in one of the pine trees in our back yard! It was dusk, so it was easy to see his profile. His "ears" were very clearly defined, especially with the binoculars, and he was just the coolest thing to see. Every time he hooted, he would sort bend over and fluff his tailfeathers. We made a sort of hooting sound, and he turned our way - and I got to see his face! He was so beautiful and strong. Living here in the new house, has been such a new experience of Folly Beach. It is so quiet and we get a lot of wildlife that we didn't really have at our old house. Our backyard is the marsh (as you see in the photo) and we get to see so many marshbirds. I love the way they sound so exotic as they fly down the tidal creek. I 'm so fortunate to love where I live and I am looking forward to raising Marley in this place.