It’s been a while so let’s get down to business with the really important stuff. The butt dictionary…
It doesn’t have all of them but there’s a few new ones. It is currently spring break here in Louisville and we spent a couple days down at Lake Cumberland at some friends’ “camp”. I use the quotes there only because it’s nicer than my house. Here’s the view from the deck…
A brief history… Lake Cumberland is actually the dammed Cumberland River. Years ago my friends purchased property on a bluff overlooking one of the many many arms of the lake that were formed when these “hollers” were flooded. The property is only a parcel where there are probably over a hundred lots. When my friends started building, a problem occurred with the dam and the lake had to be partially drained. It was supposed to be fixed and return to previous levels within a year or so but it apparently presented more problems to the Army Corps of Engineers than initially suspected and now it’s been 8 (I think) years and although the water level has increased finally in the last year or so, it’s still quite low. The good news as far as I’m concerned is that the drained lake put the kibosh on building of camps and we were literally the only ones there… not another human in sight save a few bass boats that tried to make their way up the creek that was once the lake. The first day we went down to the tributary in front of the camp and explored with the bug. She found toads…
And here’s a rare pic of Mom with the bug…
So it was a few days with no internet, no phone, too much food and much peace and quiet. One highlight for Sofia was the campfire. Just typing that makes me cringe with the realization that we are not spending enough time out in the woods. Anyway, there’s no bigger bunch of firebugs than potters and this may be where it all begins…
Another highlight that I didn’t get pics of was a small pond with, really, hundreds of mating toads. Under the surface of the water were wads of what looked like yarn but were in fact long strands of eggs. There had to be tens of thousands of them. In other news, we broke down and got an iPad which has allowed me to use instagram. I read that someone (I think it was Carol Epp) said at NCECA that instagram is the crack c0caine of social media. I can see why. I had tried it before with an old iP0d but the resolution was low and I didn’t like the picture quality. Needless to say, it allows me to post in progress pics without coming upstairs, downloading pics from camera to desktop, resizing in photoshop and then posting. Here’s a collection of some of the greenware I’ve been working on…
I’m happy at this stage of the process and am looking forward to seeing them finished. As always, there’s that one last hurdle and I’ve got a bunch of new color combos I’m itching to try out too. I was invited to participate in an Emerging Artists show in Houston at the 18 Hands Gallery. My friends Mattie and Katie in Houston went to see it and sent me this pic…
That’s all I have for now.
Sofia's Dad's Pots 