Once a month I get together with a group of local artists. We eat, talk and support each other's artistic endeavors. Last week we got together at Leata Judd's house. She and her husband Tom live off the beaten track and they have been there for a while.

When Leata gives directions she says, "You'll know you have arrived when you begin to see the faces on the trees." Miraculously I did not get any pictures of the faces on the trees, but I took pictures of many other faces. I wonder if Leata might get a bit lonely in the winter, thus her the focus on faces.

It was so much fun to wander around her place looking at her work. The following are some of the pictures that I did take. I would like to share them because Leata, who is a paper mache artist and sculptor, is such a special person with a wonderful sense of humor.  I hope you enjoy them.



























All these sculptures are © Leata Judd.

The teacher, Larry Clark, gets an "E" for effort. He put a lot of effort and energy into teaching and shared his expertise generously, answering my persistent questions. I became so involved that I let many of my other artistic efforts fall by the wayside. It became clear to me that clay, for me, can be addictive.

A big part of this class was being a part of a community of artists and hanging out with younger people. I enjoy their energy. With creative projects they are so cool because they don't know they can't do something so they do it anyway.

I learned that for the 20-30 something age group, there is absolutely no stigma about being a single mom, something that is different from my generation. One of my classmates, when asked if she was going to marry her boyfriend/father of her child remarked, "Gee, after you have a baby with someone, you learn things about them that make you not feel the need to marry." Yikes! What an interesting statement.

At NIC, there is an electric kiln and a big honkin' gas kiln. When pieces are fired in an electric kiln it is like putting them in a toaster, predictable. The gas kiln, on the other hand, is a trial by fire and the results can be either great or desastrous. It is best to not be too attached to a particular outcome.






A few of my pieces.






We had a sculpture assignment. My intention was to make a couple of spiral shapes. I didn't have much more of a concept. When I started doing the project, I was very aware of the space where the clay could go and then the clay just started growing and this weird creature thing happened. I say happened because I felt I wasn't the one doing this. It was transformative for me. Don't know if anything like this will happen again.






Does anyone care to help me with a name/title?

Yesterday we did a raku firing at North Idaho Colllege. Raku is a low fire ceramic technique from Japan.The kiln is portable. The top is pulled up, and when the pots are red hot, they are carefully taken out and placed in a trash can with straw. This treatment gives the bare places a black color and the accent-glazed places, hopefully, an oil-slick irridescent quality.

It's a social event. Everyone needs to cooperate and there is time to wait for things to happen. We all brought food, talked, ate, and admired each others work. With raku pieces, it's not a good idea to become too attached to a particular outcome. Lots of things can go wrong. It was fun watching the very young college coed trying a lift a heavier pot of mine with the tongs and failing three times. I was certain she'd drop it but she finally managed.












 
Black cracks in the white glaze are desirable.



Concerned NIC students shielding the pots on the top of the kiln from rain while they warm.

The kanji character for the term "raku" means enjoyment.

Martha, this is for you.

The sun came out today and we went for a snowshoe. Some pictures:

Occasionally my Tai Chi teacher gives us lists of Tai Chi concepts. These lists can be pretty heady. One of his recent lists is as follows:

1. A waking up out of the [contradictions] (he put contractions ?) of our "mental myths" and "family movies."
2. A spiritual re-parenting.
3. Learning where awareness is caught in the stories.
4. Relationships and life...after all, what else is there? Earth, self, parents, food, nature, pleasure, pain, T.O.T. and animals.

The list goes on but I'll stop here.

I asked him, "T.O.T. What does that stand for?"

His reply, "You know, That Out There."

This was his attempt to name the divine in a way that would encompass all religions and philosophies?

These simple letters sent me onto a journey of thought that sent me to the outer reaches of the solar system and back again to the smallest particle of matter. I thought no, That is not out there, That is in here. And when I looked in here I couldn't find anything either. Elusive that That. Hence the title for this mandala.

Season's Greetings to all !

Yikes! We just got about 4 feet of snow last night. Had to wade out the wood shed and dig the off the roof. It took me a couple hours. Who needs to be a member of a gym when there is all this great exercise right here. Wonder when one of my nice neighbors will come help plow the driveway?

Thanks to Martha for giving me the idea for this blog.

We all have our deal makers and deal breakers.  I have listed some here. Perhaps these give us a clue about what we will tolerate and what we won't. Please add to this list.

Deal breakers:

- For my brother-in-law, if his bride would not give up her name and take his, it was no deal.
- For a friend of mine, I Love Lucy, was the last straw that dissolved her marriage. She told her husband that they needed to have a talk and he said, "Fine  honey, as soon as I finish watching I Love Lucy." That was it. He was outathere.
- I had a friendship that ended because this friend refused to identify herself on the phone even after I tried to gently explain to her that we did not have caller ID and there was a certain amount of confusion concerning who was calling. She said she didn't need to identify herself on the phone to a friend and never called me again.


Deal Makers:

- Deal makers don't seem to be as dramatic as deal breakers. Sometimes the little things are what seal a deal. I had a part-time job at a winery. On payday the president would hand you your check, smile and say thank you. Even though I was in the lowliest tasting room sales postion, I probably stayed as long as I did because I felt appreciated.
- One of the first things my husband did for me when we were dating was give my car a tune-up. Made big points with me.
- Anyone who gives daughter Lauren positive energy and teaches her something immediately has my undying love. Example: When Carla came to visit, she taught Lauren how to bake a pie.

A long time ago I had this idea of making subliminal erotic art depicting the female form as landscape. At the time I was dating this guy and I told him about my idea. He put me down quite ruthlessly for being so silly to think of such a thing. This made me feel bad and here is how I got revenge.  I made a painting for him (not the one above). It was a picture of an lsland in the ocean with a sailboat. He liked sailing. The island was actually a female posed in a seductive manner. Her body was half submerged in water and her skin was painted island colors. The sail boat was on a heading directly toward an especially, humm, how can I say this, vulnerable (?) crack in her anatomy.

I waited until his birthday and invited him over for mid-winter birthday luau. He showed up in the middle of January wearing a Hawaiian shirt and sporting zinc oxide on his nose - nice touch. I cooked him a nice dinner and bought a well-aged bottle of tequila. After dinner when he was very mellow, actually very drunk, I finally presented him with his painting, matted, framed and wrapped up with a big bow. Well, he was quite pleased. He even liked it after sobering up. He took the painting to work and hung it in his office. Tee hee. Then finally a couple days later after all his co-workers had seen this object d'art, he really looked at it carefully. He was pissed and we didn't see very much of each other after that.

Another way that I got rid of a man was to give him a black eye. I had this boyfriend named Stephen. He was a big guy. I used to play racketball and I was not bad at it. We played one night and I accidently hit him with my racket right above his cheek bone. Lucky I didn't get him in the eye. (Since then I refuse to play with anyone unless they are wearing eye protection.) I was hitting an overhand shot and he ran right in front of me directly into the line of my racket and I got him. He soon looked like he'd been in a fight.

What I learned is that just because a guy is big, doesn't mean he's tough. He wanted to go to the hospital to have his head x-rayed. The bad thing was, I laughed. I don't know why. It wasn't funny. I guess it was my way of giving off tension. The other bad thing was that the next day he was meeting with his boss to go over his job performance and discuss a possible promotion. He was in sales. I never found out if he got his promotion. I never heard from him again. Stephen, if you're out there and hear this. I'm sorry I didn't mean to laugh!