Progress and Headaches

Since my last post I have cleaned all the greenware and rebuilt my bowl.  I was not intending to rebuild my bowl, but I had frosted it with slip like a cake which made it extremely wet.  This soggy condition caused it to stick to my batt.  No problem, I should be able to just cut it off with my wire tool, but my stupid arm jerked as I was cutting it off and I cut half the bowl bottom off.  It required reconstructing in a very delicate manner that took me about 3 hours.

I'm meeting with my mentor on Thursday so I wanted to make sure my fragile items were at least in the bisque phase.  They are super thin and small and I think trying to drive all the way to Seattle with them will just cause too much damage.  I went to fire up my kiln to find that the new house did not have a 220 with a 50A draw.  It only had a 30A.  So I had to call an electrician for rewiring.  The kiln has been fired.  Now I'm just waiting for it to cool so I can see what damage was done on the inside.  Hopefully, none. 

I've constructed my purchased stretcher bars, stretched and gesso'ed the canvas, measured and drew the devises, painted my warm white on two of the canvases and applied my underpainting to one of them.  I'm a little disconcerted with the results thus far, but I have been thinking on the matter of preciseness and I've come to some conclusions as an artist and person:

1.  The Navy trained me to be clean, organized and precise but it is not in my nature.  I'm generally somewhat sloppy in everything I try to tackle.

2.  I believe conclusion 1. can work in the favor of my work.  My work is a commentary on perception, and attempting precise without achieving precise nails the Navy right on the head in my mind.

3.  I have to work within the limitations of my physical condition.  Shakes, jolts, brain fogs and pain are part of my regular routine, and beating myself up over things I have no control over will not complete anything or get me anywhere.

Thursday after my visit with my mentor I will be visiting Seattle Galleries and attending an opening.  I will be posting again with updated product pictures and pictures from the galleries.