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You are here: Home / Archives for Roseville pottery

Water Lily, Number 5

June 30, 2021 at 8:53 am by Claudia

Number 5 is finished, unless I tweak it a bit more today.

Water Lily, one of my favorite pieces. I distinctly remember bidding on it on eBay.

I learn something every time I tackle a painting. I am reminded that I am new to this, so I have to be kind to myself while challenging myself to grow. I love really getting to know these pieces of pottery in a way I didn’t before I studied them in detail. And the result is that I fall in love with them again.

I’m not sure what the next piece will be – I have a lot of small pieces and low-to-the-surface planters, etc., but I think the higher, more vertical pieces are best for these studies – at least, right now.

I sat in the kitchen, sweating, for two hours in order to finish this one yesterday. One more day of this dreadful heat and humidity and then we’re going to get thunderstorms and rain for the next couple of days as the system breaks up and moves out. Our brains are mush. Don put the container of dry brown rice away in the refrigerator instead of the pantry. Whoops. Half the time we don’t know what day it is.

Oh wait a minute…that’s normal for us.

I water around 7 am and keep refilling the birdbath all day. Speaking of birds, yesterday, I noticed a robin up in the branch of the black walnut tree right outside our kitchen. He kept moving around and I thought he might be preening himself.  Today, I looked out there and realized he’s making a nest. I mean it when I say it’s right outside our window. Very close to the house. So this morning we watched him work and work at making his nest. He sort of stamps his feet to tamp down the nest materials and his whole body vibrates. I’m going to take some photos.

Of course, this means we’re eventually in for another round of chirping and attacks. But watching all of this happen is an incredible opportunity, so we’ll put up with it.

Stay safe.

Happy Wednesday.

 

Filed Under: birds, life, oil painting, Roseville pottery 35 Comments

Number 2 – Peony

June 12, 2021 at 9:17 am by Claudia

I finished the painting yesterday afternoon. I guess it is the second in a series? I seem to be headed in that direction. I’m finding the process of painting a piece of pottery challenging and exciting and I’m learning a lot, to boot. As I said yesterday, all pottery has texture, of course, but Roseville is known for the lush, overblown-in-the-best-possible-way, use of flowers and texture, gorgeous shapes, and handles that are pieces of art in and of themselves.

This one took a couple of days. I knew I needed to tweak it a bit more yesterday and I also had to add the background. Then I went back and tweaked it some more and finally, I forced myself to stop and call it ‘Done.”

This is Peony by Roseville. I display this vase in my cabinet in the studio.

I’m pretty pleased with it. As with anything creative, there are always things I’d do differently next time around, but I’m pleased.

I like the idea of doing a series; I own so many sizes and shapes of Roseville and some may be a bit difficult to capture at this point in my growing process, but I’m up for the challenge.

Bonus: I get to reacquaint myself with my pottery, to really look  at it. It’s all good.

Some of you mentioned that you didn’t get the email version of the yesterday’s post. Since I also subscribe to it, I’m aware of that when it happens. As I’ve said before, there’s nothing I can do about it and it does happen periodically. You know the drill: I post every day and the email is not meant to be a valid indicator of when I post. It’s fallible. Just come directly to the blog.

Easy peasy.

It’s cloudy today and cooler. We may get some rain.

I weed whacked yesterday and between that and Don’s massive mowing on Thursday, the property is looking much neater. I have pruning to do, but I’ll work on that next week.

A big thank you to my husband for letting me use his laptop to post. After rescheduling my previous appointments at the Apple store (all due to my mood at the time) I’m going there on Tuesday and asking for a new keyboard. Let’s hope I’m not without my laptop for long.

Stay safe.

Happy Saturday.

 

Filed Under: life, oil painting, Roseville pottery 26 Comments

What Are You Reading?

February 27, 2020 at 9:25 am by Claudia

It’s so bleak out there today – rainy and very, very windy – that I felt the need to look at some pretty pottery; said pottery being some of my Roseville. (It truly is crazy windy out there as I write this!) I like taking occasional pictures of the Roseville or McCoy or any of the pottery I collect because I see it with fresh eyes and am reminded of what I loved about it to begin with. Like anything, it’s easy to ‘not see it’ because it becomes part of the daily landscape.

Well, both Don and I woke up at 4 am this morning. I heard him get up and assumed it was later than it was and then I couldn’t turn my brain off – I had an unsettling conversation with someone yesterday and it was on my mind. So I gave up and got up. I’m sure we’ll both crash this afternoon, but I do have errands to run today so I’ll get to those as soon as possible.

I finished Hi Five  by Joe Ide this morning. Terrific read! Now I have to return it to the library and figure out what I want to read next. I have Thirst  by Jo Nesbo here (also from the library) and I have three stacks of books that I’ve purchased ready and waiting to be read. Since I’m sleep deprived and a bit off, I’m finding it a bit hard to make a choice.

I couldn’t get to your comments yesterday and as I’m so tired today, I probably won’t. Thanks for understanding. I will answer today’s comments.

Which brings me to our favorite question – what are you  reading? Please share! I love hearing your answers and I always find new titles to write down and eventually read.

Happy Thursday.

 

Filed Under: books, Don, Roseville pottery 68 Comments

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Welcome!

Welcome!

I live in a little cottage in the country with my husband. It's a sweet place, sheltered by old trees and surrounded by gardens. The inside is full of the things we love. I love to write, I love my camera, I love creating, I love gardening. My decorating style is eclectic; full of vintage and a bit of whimsy.

I've worked in the theater for more years than I can count. I'm currently a voice, speech, dialect and text coach freelancing on Broadway, off Broadway, and in regional theater.

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