Sun rays

Some days it just takes your breath away, doesn't it?  It's not often here in Vancouver, with the mountains on one side and the ocean on the other, that we get such amazing sunsets with actual rays of light fanning their way across the sky. 

Thank you to all the lovely blog posts and mentions about my vases at the West Elm Vancouver store!  I managed to check out the West Elm opening for all of 15 minutes (Dean and the boys stayed in the car so I could jump out, have a drink, check out the store and get back in the car during the opening- not really much time to actually shop...).  In all fairness, the 4 Etsy featured artists were only sent the invite the day of the invitation-only opening (hmmm), so things were a little complicated schedule-wise by that time.  Anyways, if you are interested in checking out the shop, please do- such great stuff and it was great to be included in such a fantastic store. 

A pinwheel of sorts

I don't know about you, but I could use a good dose of colour and light!  Jan over at Poppytalk is hosting her famous Flickr Colour Week next week!  (How do you like the pinwheel pencil one of my boys made?;)

Thank you to everyone who stopped by this week to comment on some of my ramblings and my artist statement too.  I've got a few things in the works for next week here including a give-a-way (it's about time!) and another studio visit, so please do come on back!  Have a great weekend!

Some lovely links (please do check them out- they are well worth the look!):

A new to me blog (thanks Sarah!) and new to me artist that's super inspiring!
My new glasses and the mystery behind why the photo has all those views after being on Flickr for a couple of days...(where are all these views coming from???)
What is your most treasured ceramic object in your home? 
My new favourite Etsy shop for vintage mid-century modern ceramics!! Seriously...

In season

 

Every March I head over to my local florist to ask whether the Ranunculus are in season yet. For 3-4 weeks in spring you can get them in shades of red, peach and this lovely white with a deep purple on the tips of the blooms. These are really romantic flowers- their stems and leaves like to curve all over the place, their petals are so soft and delicate but they open up to these great dark brown or black centers that really remind me of my 'poppy' design. The red and peach ones sure look great in my poppy vases, so if you have one of these around, stop by your florist to pick out a few stems.  Mine were only about $1.50 a stem- not much for a good week of enjoyment, especially if you keep them out of direct sunlight.

It's Spring Colour Week over on Poppytalk and today is pink, tomorrow is chartruese green, wednesday is yellow, thursday is mauve/purple, and friday is robin's egg blue.  Here's looking forward to a colourful Spring Break week!

'Poppies Up-date'

Just a quick up-date on the 'Poppies Award'- I was so glad (relieved & thankful) to see my favourite HANDMADE ceramic artists on the podium over at the Poppytalk blog.  Both the jury and people's choices were all really amazing shops highlighting my favourite artists and creators.  Congratulations to all of them:) especially the ceramic shops- Diana Fayt, Ayumie Horie, Up in the Air Somewhere, Ray Dunn and Brooklyn Rehab! Yay for handmade!

**UP-DATE: Faythe Lavine included all her favourite choices on her blog and my shop was in her ceramics category!  It makes me so proud- thanks Faythe!**

Lucie Rie

As far as historical ceramics goes, I've always been enamored with Lucie Rie's pottery.  In love, actually. If I ever came close to a piece of hers, I think my heart would skip a few beats!  My good friend Lise Kuhr actually 'dared' (her work sells upwards of $40 000 for a bowl) to hold a piece that was up for auction at an auction house in London.  She got all dressed up, walked right in, and asked to see the bowl that was being auctioned off. Picked it up and held it.  I was jealous when she told me.

Lucie Rie's work bears a style that is truly her own.  When I first saw the grouping of her pots in the first photo on the blog 'an ambitious project collapsing' I knew instantly that they were hers.  The beauty about someone's style being so distinct is that everyone who tries to 'copy' it can't really compete with the real deal. 

That's something that I wanted to do when I started my ceramics career.  I wanted to make pots that didn't leave an ounce of doubt in someone's mind that they were mine. I didn't even want someone to have to flip the piece over to check the stamp/signature out to have to confirm who made it. And that's how I measure a good pot these days- by someone's signature style that is so distinct from the firs time you lay eyes on their work. 
There is one more week to vote for the Poppies Ceramics category on the Poppytalk blog.  There are some really amazing other contemporary potters (with distinct signature styles) to vote for along with myself.  Please vote (I'm not at all impressed with who's in the lead, hoping someone who really deserves the award will actually win it!)

Vote for me!

Well the final nominations over at the Poppytalk Blog are up and lo and behold,  I've made it in the final ceramics category!  I'm thrilled to have made it this far, now here's how you can help my Poppies get a Poppy!
The voting will remain open for for one week effective today through to Monday January 25th, 2010 at 11:59 pm.

 

Here's how the voting will work:

 

One vote will be allowed per computer and one vote per category. 

Vote for me OFTEN during the voting week -  by posting something from my blog, email newsletter, site, facebook page or twitter.  

There will be two awards for each category:

1) The Peoples Choice Award
2) Jury's Choice Award- (Jury to be advised).

And the PRIZES (drumroll please...)

For each winner of each category (chosen by you)

1. A one month's free participation at Poppytalk Handmade
2. A "I won a Poppy" banner/button for your site or blog!
3. A one year's text link from the Poppytalk blog's main page under "The Poppies" category
4. Traffic to you from Poppytalk

Final overall winner (chosen by a jury of select bloggers)

1. A three month participation at Poppytalk Handmade
2. A "I won a Poppy" banner/button for your site or blog!
3. A one year's text link from the Poppytalk blog's main page under "The Poppies" category
4. Traffic to you from Poppytalk

Blogland links and awards

A few links that I forgot to mention in the last post

Just saw the new Niche Awards site with the Finalist's section including my Poppy Vase under Ceramics, Molded category.  It's really interesting to see who my 'competitors' are- the work in my category is all soooo different that it will be interesting to actually see who wins the category!

Poppytalk has a new contest called 'the Poppies'- a little award for the best of!  I'm just off to do some voting for my favourite shops and thought maybe you might like to as well!

Some good blog reads that got me thinking and leaving replies as of late were: this one by Bliss in a Teacup all about connecting online and leaving comments to connect with other bloggers.
And this one by Kristin Kieffer, all about finding one's 'Signature Style' and how finding your own style will inform your work and make it your own.  Both things I've been thinking about as I embark on a new year!
Happy reading!

Brown for Thursday

You can't talk about brown with out talking about coffee. I'm a big coffee fan and snob, I might add. Our favourite local coffee roaster, JJ Bean, makes one of the best lattes in town, with latte art to boot. That was my inspiration for these low latte mugs of mine. Low so that they fit under the home espresso machine, wide so you can attempt to make that foam look pretty. Look pretty that is, until you pour the raw sugar on top and have to stir:). Dean drinks espresso- no milk and no sugar. I'm determined to make more of these little brown espresso cups in time for Christmas, but they are usually at the bottom of my list. I'm still not sure about the design too- will have to tweek out a few thoughts on these once I get at them!
And last, my new uniform for the fall, this great Ralph Lauren Plaid shirt I found at Value Village for $4 that feels too cosy to even take off at night. I know you can't really tell what it looks like on me here, but my good friend Sherri did a swell job of making it look great on me here!

Orange on Wednesday

Continuing in line with Poppytalk's Autumn Colour challenge today with Orange! Fall orange colours are starting to pop up everywhere and what a better way to celebrate, but with some Etsy finds using the key words rust and orange!
The list from top to bottom, left to right:
Vintage Orange Paper Pumpkin from Opendoor Studio for $3.50
Closet Mob Rust Cowl by Vintage Etc. for $28
Poppy Orange Creamer from Callooh Callay for $20
Gaggle of Geese Pillow by Olive for $29
Autumnus 2 Photograph by J.Beaudet for $20
Mims Nap Sack/Shoulder Bag by Mims Maine for $89
Beaded Journal by Prairie Garden for $22
Harvest Hoodie by Modest Maven for $56
Harvest Tupperware from Iones Attic for $9.99

Yellow on Monday

Jan from Poppytalk has started an 'Autumn Colour Week' over on her blog and asked others to join in. Yellow on Monday, Green on Tuesday, Orange on Wednesday, Brown on Thursday and Red on Friday! What a cool challenge!
So my two 'polaroid' photos for Monday, a classic sunflower and my very retro, yellow/gold kitchen.
Check out the other blogs that are joining in on flickr too!

a quick note of thanks!

Just a quick post to thank Jan from Poppytalk for including my Vase give-a-way on her blog and for all of you who have come by to leave comments about your favourite go-to flowers! I've really enjoyed reading everyone's fav's- some are mine too, while other flowers I've had to google- what fun! There's still lots of time to enter so continue to pass it along! I'll be announcing the winners on Friday (it will be a random draw) so stay tuned for that!

Mid-Summer Checklist

We've had a complete heat-wave hit our normally mild West-Coast climate and it's really taken a hit on my energy level this past week! I think it's normally pretty hard to work during the summer; when the weather is so balmy and beautiful, all I want to do is hang out with the boys at the beach or the river.
I've started keeping seasonal checklists for myself to attempt to keep some balance in my life. I've put a list on the sidebar of this blog (just scroll down) to remind myself to enjoy each season and to make goals that aren't just 'work related'. This week I was able to check a few things off that list- namely going to the Theatre with the boys, and making strawberry jam! I had high hopes for those apricots (photo above), to make some sort of apricot tart or something, but they all just got eaten fresh!
On the studio front I was finally able to list a few of my tile frames (photo #1) on Etsy this week, only to have 8 of the 9 sell within 2 days of listing them. Wow! I had no idea they would be such a hit. Etsy gave me a little love this past week (photo #2) and my ginko leaf mugs got on the front page so that was nice. And my Ginko Teapot made it to Poppytalk's front page with some wonderful reasons to buy hand-made! The 70 reasons to buy hand made has been a great list, not only as incentive for me to further buy hand-made, but also as more reasons to keep making handmade!
I'm off to the Island this weekend to visit with my sister and then it's back here for another week until we are off on vacation. I'm on my own with the boys this week as Dean is leaving tomorrow on his big Roadrage Skateboard tour across the Okanagan with 150 teenage skaters. I'm always extremely thankful when they all get home in one piece!
Have a great BC Day long weekend everyone!

Handmade Nation Film Premiere!

Well I didn't want to be cheesy and ask for a photo op with Faythe Levine so here's a picture of my table for the craft showcase part of Handmade Nation coming to town! It was a really great evening, with the theatre nearly full, the people from all over the greater Vancouver area and even into Seattle! The people behind Got Craft put the event on, which included the craft showcase, a photo-booth, some sweet swag bags (by the look of it) and the much anticipated FILM!
I really thought the film was great on many different levels. I appreciated following a crafter throughout the film as she heads out and sets up her wares at a Craft fair. I thought the story line on her, in-between interviews of other crafters, artisans, store owners, and then the more academic crowd talking about the movement surrounding craft and diy, tied the whole film together. I appreciated how authentic the people were, it was them in their studios and homes, being real about how they got started and what they do and why. It was empowering to see all those women and oftentimes their families, using their hands to reinvent craft. Certainly there were some real characters and excentricities that were fascinating to watch!
Thank you to those of you who came by and checked out my work- the lovely comments were great! Again, it was great to chat with Faythe Levine over my work! She even bought a vase for a wedding gift, so that was kind of cool! Also one of my big highlights was meeting Jan from Poppytalk! I think I am convinced more than ever that the 'industry' of craft is much broader than just the maker. There are so many levels to that maker being able to sustain their craft professionally, and people who promote, educate, and enlighten the general public on craft play such a significant role in enabling the maker to keep at it!

A good start to the week!

I was so excited to see an etsy interview with my friend Jinsil from elephant and chickpea today! Her hand-made house shoes are really extremely sweet, they are all from up-cycled clothing and I'm really digging the ones above. Just my colours!
There was a lovely little plug on Poppytalk about the Poppytalk Handmade Artist blog along with a link regarding my Mother's Day Mug give-a-way! There are so many great things coming out of that blog and I really love to see what everyone is up to!
In other news, I finally picked up some more shipping supplies and was able to find a source for some corn starch peanuts for packing! I had been re-using a bunch from a previous shipment, ran out and wondered where to find these eco-friendly shipping peanuts that are compostable and just discintigrate in water!

The Rick...

Jan at Poppytalk had a special request last month asking if anyone had any ideas about how to display/store a guitar collection. I just had to join the Guitar Home flickr group on this one! I don't quite have 12 guitars to find storage/display for, as she does, but we do have quite a growing collection of 2 guitars, one banjo, one massive music man amp, 3 violins, and a record collection that, in my opinion, is out of control. She is once again requesting photos and ideas on displaying guitars, so if you or anyone you know has a little music room that is full of instruments and is well displayed, take a photo and pass it on!