It’s been awhile since I wrote anything here on the blog. This is mainly because I have been enjoying the amazing summer and fall here in Colorado. I’ve been playing a lot more than working, especially with Paul now retired. We’ve been exploring just what that means to daily life around here. And I’ve been branching out a bit in the art department, after taking a short class on oil painting in August. I think I am ready to do something that is not focused on horses all the time!

Here’s my first painting. It is from this photo that I took in the ancient walled city of Mdina on the island of Malta in the Mediterranean not too far from Sicily. We spent a week there last September. It’s not quite finished; I just need one more session to put in the street lamp and a few other small details.The point wasn’t just to exactly reproduce the photo. In fact I think the photo is amazing and like it better than the painting. But it has been interesting making the painting work as well. I am pleased with how even though everything is more simplified, the essence of the scene is the same.

Paul’s dream has always been live in the mountains and to ski every day. After working so hard for us over the last 30 years I agree he has earned that dream! Next week we close on our purchase of a 2-bedroom ski condo up in Avon, Colorado. Avon is the town at the foot of the Beaver Creek Ski area. We’ll be just a short walk or free town bus ride to the new gondola lift they built to get to the slopes. Right now the plan is to spend most of the winter months living up there. I’ll probably go back to Boulder more than Paul, in order to keep working on china projects and check on the house, etc.

But I am becoming comfortable with the idea that I can retire, too. I haven’t felt very interested in doing much of anything this fall. I hardly ever spend a full day working. The work comes in little bursts of activity. I get all fired up for a day or two, and then can’t get back to what I was working on. Then I get excited about something else. I am all over the place with my work! There are so many things in the studio in various stages of un-finished-ness. I had several days of very good work on the “Roundabout” cob sculpture earlier this month, and now he has sat there in the middle of my studio for weeks. I see him every day out of the corner of my eye and just observe… but not ready to work the clay again yet.

This week I got into china-glazing mode. Fido The Kiln was happy to have some attention at last. I had two pieces promised for people that I will see at a show on Saturday. A firm deadline can be a good motivator! I finished this pretty “Heart of Darkness” and this bay H-R “Amir” yesterday.

Here’s a sneak-peek of another china horse I started glazing yesterday.

This one will be finished within the next two weeks and I will be placing it up for sale on MyAuctionBarn site.

I really do want my main goal to be getting “Roundabout” finished this fall. But what I want and what my muse wants are two very different things it seems! I am discovering that I enjoy my creative life a lot more when I just don’t set ANY goals. It feels great now to just wake up and decide what I will do that day.

This ski-condo is really going to upset things but I am staying open-minded about it. I am going to bring the sculpture and my oil painting supplies with me, so that I will be able to work on SOMEthing when the urge hits me up there. Also, I can cast some china horses in the molds here, bring all the clay pieces in their damp-box, and stick them together while I watch the snow fly.

A morning of new powder and an afternoon painting or sculpting looks like a fine way to spend my days this winter!

I thought I had a buyer for this piece several months ago but now I haven’t gotten any replies so I must assume they “just aren’t into it” anymore.

This is an earthenware china “Optime” Arabian Stallion in glossy finish, custom glazed by me. It is a flashy dappled grey with hints of rose in the coat. Seeing my work in earthenware has been quite a revelation: the detail in the castings is a lot better than what we would get in the bone china versions!! All the crisp details I had in the original sculpture are there, where they went sort of soft in the bone chinas. I can only conclude that earthenware holds the detail better! It is a delight to work with these now, though I still do love the color and “feel” of bone china.

It is still in-progress. Just the last details to go: the eyes, mane and tail, hooves, and put some pink into that white on the nose. You still have the chance to tell me how dark you want the mane and tail. Asking price is $1200.00 postage paid.

I only have one more earthenware bisque in stock that was cast (by the experts) at Alchemy Ceramics in the UK. I have no more bone china Optimes in stock, and no more will be made. From now on they will all be castings I make myself from the molds. No telling how long it will take me to successfully make pieces good enough to glaze and sell. And my focus will be on customizing the body on those. So if you were looking for a straight custom glazed Optime this is the time to grab it!

I love change and frankly thrive on it. I am not overly sentimental and don’t look back or dwell on the past. I especially love the distinct change of seasons. Fall is especially invigorating. The only time I get the urge to go out and buy clothes is in the fall when I can pick out some new cold weather clothes—because I’m utterly sick of shorts and tee shirts. Now that summer is over (though you’d never know it from the amazing warm and sunny weather we’re still having here in Boulder), I have cleared the decks of everything I had committed to, finished our summer travel, and cleared other obstacles and baggage in the way of me getting back seriously into the studio.

I have such an embarrassment of riches in my work life right now. Looking ahead to this time over the past few weeks while traveling, I was feeling a bit paralyzed by too many great things I could work on! I can start pouring slip in my ceramics molds and learning about getting china horses made. I can get going on the nice waiting list for china glazing commissions; I’ve got enough work waiting there to take me through next summer. I took a beginner oil painting class in August and need to finish the painting of Malta/Mdina begun there, and get other paintings started that I have in mind. And last but not least, I can work on sculpture.

This week I decided that Job #1 absolutely needs to be finish the Roundabout sculpture. Having a finished horse sculpture would drive energy in the studio in so many ways. When molds get made for it, I can cast chinas of it along with my others. I can then glaze Roundie chinas along with other pieces. And I need another “game piece” (to borrow Sarah Minkiewicz-Breunig’s great label) for my participation in the model horse showing hobby. For some reason I am not great at multi-tasking. It is hard to switch tools and workspace from any of the above tasks to another in the same day or even the same week; it’s a tough mental switch too.

Soooo, I’ve just spent 2 good days on Roundabout V2. I call it V2 because I’m using the 2nd armature that I started over from scratch with in the UK last spring, after The Boat critique. V3 is the one I started here in July before V2 arrived back here in the shipment with all our UK goods. V3 will just become something else someday; I didn’t get very far on it that day when I was itching to sculpt!

Here’s what Roundabout looks like right now. It isn’t balanced right at all yet but at least he looks kind of like a cob again. If I really commit to working on it at least a part of every day I could get it done by the end of October I think.

There are only FOUR DAYS LEFT to bid online on the two ceramic cat medallions donated to the Meows and Minis live show. All proceeds will go directly to Cat Guardians, a no-kill, cageless, non-for-profit cat shelter in Lombard, Illinois. Since Meows and Minis began in 2003, they have raised over $5000 for this wonderful shelter – which in turn has found homes for THOUSANDS of cats. Please take a moment to look at these items and bid for a very good cause.

http://www.modelhorsesalespages.com/sales/view_details.asp?id=800838
This is part of the artist editions of Becky Turner’s beautiful cat medallions sculpted in honor of the Meows and Minis show. This is a custom glazed earthenware medallion. I glazed this one a stunning snowy white with grey points and piercing blue eyes!  CURRENT BID:  $35.00

http://www.modelhorsesalespages.com/sales/view_details.asp?id=800837
This is part of the artist editions of Becky Turner’s beautiful cat medallions sculpted in honor of the Meows and Minis show. This is a custom glazed earthenware medallion. I glazed this one a luxurious tortiseshell to represent “Heinz”, a cat at Cat Guardians!  Heinz is a favorite cat at the shelter and can usually be found curled up in a ball with her feline friends!  CURRENT BID: $65.00

If you would like to bid, please e-mail Chris Wallbruch at wombats@earthlink.net and send her your maximum bid ($5 increments only).  You will be notified if you are outbid and all final bids will be announced after the show. The bidding will end at the Meows and Minis show on September 11th, 2010.

I finally finished glazing the Breyer porcelain Giselle and Gilen mare and foal. They are now both glossy bay with minimal white markings. Many collectors have mentioned the lack of “plain” solid-colored horse models being painted so here is a set just for you! I think the almost-black Giselle is really attractive and looks totally the sport horse broodmare in this color. And I thought long and hard about just keeping this sweet Gilen for myself.

I am offering them for sale now for $850 for the pair, postage paid. Sorry, but no time payments. If you receive this notice via the blog’s email, serious buyers can reply directly to this email and your email will come to me. If you see this on the Facebook feed, you can send me a message via FB.

A complete set of photos are here.

Many thanks!