... learning ...

i think we all learn new things every day ... but we don't always know it since we aren't really paying attention ... we are not being intentional about learning our "one thing" so sometimes when we learn it, we forget to revel in the moment ....

for instance, and this is completely off topic to this blog post, but, for instance, today i learned that my little.e.beck.artist is much more of a ham and a performer than i ever would have suspected.... she is in a puppet show ... in a drama showcase ... and she is the princess .. THE princess as she told me ... and as they wrote the puppet show, the group named the princess gloria ... cue my daughter singing the 1982 (billboard #2 spot) disco anthem gloria, gloria by laura branigan ... and then, because the puppet princess has long locks she breaks into "i whip my hair back and forth, i whip my hair back and forth" ... a la willow smith, 2011 .... not sure if it's on top of any chart ..... i also just learned that disco branigan died in 2004 ...

so ... learn something every day ... at my last pottery class, my lovely teacher brought in a sculptural piece of ceramics ... it looked like this ... please go look at it ... i didn't want to steal the image from the smithsonian ... and here's another similar one .... the cermamicist was brad miller ... and carol had taken a class from him long ago ... and had bought a piece similar to the two in the smithsonian ... hers did not have as many pieces .. nor has she ever untied the string for fear of never getting it back together ....

I LOVE IT .. i loved it ... i badly wanted to untie the string and touch the separate pieces ... and put it back together just so ... and then she taught me to make it .... yes she did ... that was my something new that day ... learned about the artist brad miller .. and learned about using flour, yes flour, in my pottery ... to keep the pieces perfectly formed to each other but not stuck to each other ... it was totally cool ... i was so excited to learn about it that i was finishing her sentences trying to figure it out myself rather than just sitting politely and learning ....

i floured my clay and made my artsy little lump ... the one that i saw was so sensual and sleek and organic ... it looked so vegetable it was hard to believe it was mineral .... mine ... well ... it looked like a tall doughnut... or wheat bread ... or ginger snap dough ..... but, i'm just learning ...

so, usually, i make pottery in class and i leave it there to dry and it eventually goes to the bisque kiln .. but not this one ... i brought it home to babysit ... and put it in my studio and promptly forgot i'd brought it home .... so much for babying it ... but yesterday i happened upon it and my heart sang ... i had a clay lump with flour coating and it looked cool ... and i picked it up .. and it was a titch stuck together, but without much effort i got my bits separated ... yay .... and then i put them back together ... yay ... and then i separated them ... yay ... and then, yes, i put them back together ... once i was sure i could do that, i worked on smoothing it .. buffing it ... burnishing it .... the artist brad miller put his pieces in a softly lined rock tumbler ... a tiny cement mixer sorta thing .... i'm pretty sure i don't have the spare pocket money required for that investment! ... so burnishing it will be ...

anyway, i don't know if this one will turn out REALLY how i want it ... there are already things i would have done differently ... change the clay color, make it bigger, more pieces ..... but, for now, i think it's a groovy experiment ... it's been sitting on my kitchen counter now for 24 hours ... and my family has one by one marveled at it ... just 2 minutes ago, mr.e.beck.artist, just back from a trip (loudly)said WHAT's that? .... i smirked .... no really, what is it .. he said he thought it was clay but that it kinda looks like squashed together cinnamon sticks .... oh, it's just art, honey .... and he asked, is it supposed to be a pepper ... no, not exactly ....

and tomorrow i'll go to pottery ... and get it bisque fired ... and glaze some other pieces .... and maybe make a new one, right? bigger? more pieces? squashier? we'll see ...

 i do not listen to music while i write .... but i do have gloria earworming me ... at least it isn't the whip my hair song ....