Our house is full of engaging projects right now. Music, films, artwork...everything has a voice and everything wants to be heard around here. My son is preparing to graduate from high school while filming his final project for video class and my husband is readying to record another album.

And Carrot Flower Creative?

I'm steeped in studio life creating work for the Oregon Potter's Association Ceramics Showcase happening next week from April 21-23. CFC will participate this first year in the group booth while I observe how this showcase functions. The showcase also runs in conjunction with the Gathering of the Guilds. I'm excited!

Additionally, I'm working on a body of paintings for exhibition starting in June in the Providence Portland Community Gallery. I'm using the opportunity to make twelve paintings based loosely on the changing seasons; however my intention with the work is to allow a free form sort of channeled consciousness as I apply paint in unplanned patterns and shapes. I don't know yet how they'll turn out...which is just how I intend them to go.

Our house is the home-base for a monthly women's new moon group. Last night we sat around a pile of magazines, gluesticks and scissors and created our individual vision boards for the coming year. Mine included eyes, light, rainbows, play, an owl, waves, and quiet time for a cup of coffee. 

In the coming year, I'd like to transition Carrot Flower Creative more fully towards offering objects of veneration; however that may unfold. I love making functional ware, however my attention is consistently drawn towards the internal spiritual lives we create for ourselves. The magnetic pull is strong.

I aim to make work that supports the efforts of others as they grow in their spiritual lives. I'm drawn towards awe, wonder and curiosity; and am interested to find how I can embed these sentiments into the work regardless of its practical function.

Nice work to do on rainy days involves sewing up the greeting cards while readying the hanging pots.

I'm having a great time in the studio making slab built containers, vases and tableware. These pieces are made by finding textures such as doilies, lace and crochet samples to roll into the wet surface. I don't have a slab roller (yet) but find my thrift store rolling pin works great! After a bisque fire the surface is rubbed with oxide stains before getting a covercoat of clear glaze. Here are some examples before they get their final glaze firing.

I have been working on these sketches for awhile. This one is for the Aurora Series, a group of paintings based on the archetypal images of the Sacred Feminine found in Grimm's and other common fairy tales. This image is from Sleeping Beauty, and envisions Night (Maleficent the Witch) as the Unseen Mother of the Dawn (the Aurora of Sleeping Beauty).

I found these river rocks and others while visiting my cousin in June with my dog, Sharky. My cousin lives on the north side of the Rogue River down in Southern Oregon and we had the best time visiting him. In the evenings, while Sharky ran up and down the riverbank, I walked along the edges with a bag slung over my shoulder gathering the roundest rocks that I could find.

There is something soothing about holding a river rock in your hand; a rock you know has had its edges softened through centuries of caresses from the water that ran over it.

I don't know yet what I'll do with the rocks, but an idea will come when it's ready.

What do you do when you first walk into the studio? Do you have a ritual that brings your mind into focus? For me it's putting on my apron.  My apron frees me from the tidiness and control of order and allows me to shift into a deeper engagement with the materials at hand. Putting on my apron ignites the anticipation of getting my hands covered in mud or paint or grease or glue or whatever it is I'm working with in the moment. It is a garment whose function not only gives permission to make beautiful messy mistakes, but encourages them as a deeper way of being present in the world.