Crafty

My youngest and I had special time last night and went to a paint-your-own pottery place. I was feeling burnt out and not too creative so initially we just picked something for him to make for his dad (an "I love Dad" mug). I am sure he won't be able to keep it a surprise until Father's Day, and it probably won't be much of a surprise anyway since both my son and I said, "Don't look!" the minute his dad walked through the door to pick him up. And of course, what is the first thing people do when someone says, "don't look?" Of course, they look! It reminds me of a story one of my friends in Jr. High told me about her classmate that slipped in the locker room on the way to the shower and her towel fell off -- I cringe at the excruciating memory of Jr. High gym and the fact that we had to shower (I don't know why; we never had to in high school!). Anyway, I tried to shield the objet d'art but didn't want to touch it because it was wet with glaze, so I am sure my attempt was futile. I am also sure, though, that Dad will be "surprise" when he receives the gift.

After my youngest left, it was grown up time (a friend had met us at the studio). I was having a creative block though. The studio walls and shelves are covered with pictures and actual samples of other peoples' work illustrating various techniques and I was overwhelmed. Should I use stencils or stamps, or puffy or sparkly glaze? I decided I would paint freehand and layered multiple complementary colors of glaze on a little frog with its mouth open that is meant to sit next to the kitchen sink and hold sponges. I've wanted one of those for a while. Just sitting around and painting without having to think about business for a while was a good way to free my mind from a long week.