Melinda Michelle Photography

My dear friend at Melinda Michelle Photography visited my studio recently.  She took these amazing shots as we talked and I worked on trimming my previous day's work.  I love the way she captures a moment and frames a still life.

Dinnerware

This morning I unloaded a kiln full of dinnerware that my dear friends and neighbors ordered.  It was a successful firing with a nice coverage of what has become my favorite glaze.  It took a little while to figure out this Variegated Blue glaze, but it was well worth the effort.

Special order dinnerware in Variegated Blue

There is something special about making pottery that you know will become an intimate part of someone's daily life.  People tell me  how pleasing it is to eat and drink from my handmade pottery, and I have to say that I get immense satisfaction from this. I'm a foodie, a food snob to some.  Food plays an important role in my family life, as well as any entertaining that I do.  I enjoy cooking and experimenting with food.  It is only natural to me that the dish have as much care put into it as the food that I prepare.

Salad made of lettuce from my own garden; croutons made from my husband's handmade sourdough; and my very own carrot ginger dressing in a bowl handmade by me.

Studio Improvements

I have decided to be on the map for the Dixon Studio Art Tour this year, as opposed to just having a booth at the Mission like I did last year.  So, with this in mind I have made a few improvements, most of which needed to happen anyway.  The first improvement has been to the half mile dirt road that I live and work off of.  We went in with our neighbors to purchase one very old tractor.  My husband has been amusing himself on it while improving the road at the same time.  He has also used the front end scoop to collect some small boulders to put at the corner of our property.  You can see them pictured to the right, along with an old car or truck part that he dug up out of the arroyo.  Although this has led to a few rather heated discussions, he assures me that he has a vision.  Upon this rusted fender will be a sign for my studio.  So for the time being, this image is a work in progress and not just another New Mexico landscape.

My husband has also tackled the portal, that's a porch here in NM, off of the studio.  This is where my kiln sits and where I mix glazes.  I tripped and fell over the uneven surface several months ago, spilling a rather expensive bucket full of dry glaze ingredients. He purchased some larger pieces of flagstone and revamped the space.  Now I just need to level the kiln again and I am off to the races, or rather the next firing which should be next week.  The next project was all mine.  I tore down these 10 feet tall sections of white board that covered two of the walls inside my work space.  They were used by the previous owner that just happened to be a painter.  He pinned his paintings to them and added some rather interesting quotes, or you may view them as propaganda.  Anyway, they weren't mine and I want this to be my space.  I carefully peeled them away from the wall and was happy that the mud surface didn't came away with them.  I put up a couple of shelving units that I have used for displays and started unpacking the pottery from my bins.  I have had a number of people come to my studio recently looking to buy some of my work and I knew that I needed a different arrangement.  I have asked a local woodworker to build me another unit, so I look forward to that happening so that I can unload that last bin and remove the finished pieces from my "works in progress" shelves.                           

The next thing on my list is paint.  There are a number of unpainted walls with bare dry wall and mud that need some attention.  I have picked up the paint samples and chosen a nice warm buttery yellow hue.  We'll tackle that as soon as the weather cools down a bit....and according to the weather reports, the monsoons should start on Wednesday.  That's a tantalizing thought.  Anyway, please stop by the studio and inspect these changes for yourself.  You'll know that you have arrived when you see the rusty fender.