Summer Trip 2010

We took a family trip to Ohio to visit my family this summer, the cousins in Ohio, Aunt Jendi, Uncle Fred, Pop Pop and Grandma Barb and Na Na Su Su. We had the best time and got a chance to reconnect to family that the visits are way to far apart. Hopefully we will be able to revisit again soon. Here are a few pictures of the kids from the trip.






I urge everyone to stay as close to family as possible and to visit as often as you can! It is difficult to be so far away. We miss you all dreadfully and hope to be back soon.

The rest of the Paintings from my current studies....

So this is it for now, I am and will continue to work on these and others so stay tuned for more paintings. I have some great new ceramic work almost done and ready to post about after our trip to Ohio, so stay tuned. In the mean time, I will post about the trip and family to keep those interested updated! Stay Heatlhy and Keep Smiling! Create something new every day!

New Paintings that I am still working on.......

All of these are in progress and probably will be for a while, I am still learning how to paint within my own style and I struggle with a flat canvas. I am so use to being able to manipulate my material in a three dimensional form that I find drawing and painting a challenge, I was once told that a certain part of my brain works well in a three dimensional capacity and not in a two dimensional world, I know there is something to that, but I know that with practice and diligence I can master anything I set my mind to so I post them for the world to see.... It helps to hold me accountable for continuing in my study of drawing and painting to improve my skills. I know that as I become a better artist in any form it will influence my art in all areas even in ceramics and I am excited about the possibilities! Bear with me on this Journey! Keep Smiling and Creating!

The Oiler "little" boys are painting again!

William's Portrait of someone?

David's image of Penguins

The boys love to paint and create in any way, but when I start painting (which is not very often) then they want to paint with me so the mess begins! I actually love their paintings and their ideas you would think that with us all around the same area our ideas would overlap a little but they don't! The boys are independent and confident in their abilities as artists and I wouldn't have it any other way! Hope you enjoy their creations! They are my heroes and inspire me every day!

Tae kwon Do Belt Racks

I made a customized a Tae Kwon Do Belt Rack for my son David last year when he went to his first tournament. This was a big step for him and I wanted something to make it special, turns out he won a trophy also so he got a lot that weekend! He loves his rack, no one else has one like it, until recently. I am now making more on a commission basis and will customize them also. I can only do a few at a time as they take quite a bit of time, they are cut out and then hand carved and painted. Just one more project to add to my things I can do list. I never dreamed I would be making belt racks when I received my MFA in ceramics. You never know and they are fun to make! Keep your minds open and your spirit free! Keep Creating!

Oiler Boys and their other Passions

We actually do more than just art out here in West Texas and Sports is one of them. All the boys love Tae Kwon Do, although William is on a sabbatical right now, he is playing baseball instead and Brad has found a new joy in the martial arts as he is getting in great shape and he gets to hit things. It balances his life well with art and teaching!

Honey Pots

I had recently made about 80 of these honey pots for a honey farm in Colorado. It was a fun production project and one I hadn't done in many years. It was also great timing in sharpening my skills before I teach the wheel throwing classes this fall at McMurry University. I shipped out 60 and had all the other "good" ones sold within a week, just from people visiting the studio. There are times where I think I should just make functional pottery with nice colors and I will supplement my income just fine, and then I remember my true happiness comes from creating from deep within my spirit. My sculptures... Functional pottery is a process that I love and I will always keep my skills sharp and the pots coming, but I could never give up sculpting and carving. I have been finding some good collaborations between the two while I was working on this series that I hope to show later. It has been a very busy summer already! We are leaving for a family trip to Ohio, I will be visiting my sister with a farm, my mom who is staying with her and setting up my mom's ceramics studio while we are there. Maybe even starting her inventory for her. Then on to my dad's in Columbus to help him with a long list of projects we hope. We like to feel useful and a real vacation is hard for us to take! David and Brad will be working hard on their Tae Kwon Do Skills while we are away, David really want's to test fo rhis blue belt in August! Brad is getting ready to move up to a red belt soon. William is practicing being a Wii master and has already beaten Lego Harry Potter, released just a few days ago and of course baseball! In Ohio we expect to have lots of outside time and I am looking forward to temperatures that are a bit cooler than west Texas provides. Stay tuned for upcoming events and new art. I should be posting about once a week again now. Keep Making Art and Smiling every day!!!

Salt Pigs

SALT PIGS

A new item to add to my portfolio, salt pigs. Every once in a while you get a request from a friend or parent who would really like this item that they saw in a magazine, but they want it in red or yellow, etc... and "could you make it?" If it looks interesting and new I usually will, so now I can make salt pigs. I had made a few extra just in case, but funny thing is as soon as people saw them they all sold. I guess I better make a few more of them~ I will have more available at the McMurry Christmas Art Sale. These are fun and cute and great to have around your kitchen if you are a cook or baker. Just spoon out the salt as needed. Hope everyone has a great day.

new place setting project

Hello again. This year for the National Arts Program Exhibition I decided to go more traditional. I had been working on a new place setting design and glaze combination for our home and came up with this. I really like the combination of the balance between the masculine and feminine elements and all of the pieces work very functionally and of course stack nicely in my cupboard and in the dishwasher. Things I never thought I would consider when creating work. Currently I am overwhelmed with commissions which is a blessing but I am anxious to get back to my work this summer also. I am able to take on a new teaching challenge this fall that I am so excited about. I am teaching the wheel throwing classes beg and advanced. I will manage the lab and help the new adjunct as he finds his way. I am grateful for the help and I hope he is up for the challenge. I did take an honorable mention for this piece at the exhibition so it helped to reinforce I was on teh right track. I also have a more feminine series I am working on. Maybe I can get them done in the fall. The honey pots are thrown and bisqued and ready to glaze tomorrow.

The new thing in my life is massage therapy on a regular basis. It is amazing what it can do for your body! I highly reccomend that if you can afford it on a weekly or bi monthly basis to definitely do it! I have more strength, flexibility and I am in a lot less pain of a daily basis! THis is a big deal for a ceramic artist and teacher!

On a side note William turned 7 this month and David turns 9 tomorrow. What a crazy month! Mom is in Ohio taking care of my sister and her kids as she is recovering from surgery and a trip in July is looking inevitable! My dad also seems worse so the visit shouldn't wait! I just wish we had the time and money for the trip. I will take donations for this trip!!!

I hope this finds all of you out there happy and healthy and doing what you love every day!

Being away from family

O.K. I knew it was going to be hard to live so far away from my family but I had no idea how hard until this past year! My dad had a major cardiac episode and now has a pacemaker (pictured above), my sister seems to be losing her breasts to infection and is having trouble with depression and anxiety and also high blood pressure, and now as of today, my step mom is in a nursing home recovering from hip replacement and today my dad had another cardiac episode, he didn't even call 911, his pacemaker just shocked him and after he recovered, he went about his night. I was lucky he even called. I have the strongest pull I have ever felt to drop everything and go right now to help out. Dad and Barb HAVE to change their diet NOW and that is going to be hard for them! My sister has my mom with her now so things there will be better, I hope, but really..... what do I do? He called "just in case something else happens tonight".... It is a twenty + hour drive, even if I did leave now.... I know this is not my normal type of blog, but I really needed to just get this out before I felt a bit crazy! What am I going to do? I have a commission I have to get done, but I could leave that in others hands. and how will I sleep tonight.? O.k> I will stop whining now and get back to life. Thanks out there for letting me spill tonight. I promise the next one will be more uplifting.

Abilene Autism Extravaganza

David was able to attend this all day conference on autism and meet one of our heroes, Temple Grandin. She and David talked about science and animals and art and she was very encouraging for him. He came right home and wrote about it. David also had over 10 people from his school attend including his teacher and his principal. His new school has been so supportive and his academic life has been changed forever because of it. We have been so blessed be having the right people around us during this entire experience! Thanks to you all and I hope you have a great day!

Texas Snowman (woman) the 2nd

So, here we are in Spring Break in Texas and we are still able to make a snowman. The boys decided to use some tools to carve this one to get more detail to create a portrait of me. How sweet, right? Well at least they are creative kids! Hopefully we are at the end of the bad weather and we can start enjoying the normal Texas heat!

Appendix Out, Studio is coming along..

O.K., I have taken a bit of a break but I did have a good excuse, I had to have an emergency appendectomy. So I am now one organ less and feeling much better, still not 100% but MUCH better. Thanks to all of you who helped out, stopped by and sent food or prayers my way. Doctor said it would have burst before morning so I was very fortunate! Brad has diligently been continuing work on the studio and apartment. Doors are on the spare room, it is also primed and ready for paint, not to decide for a color... I will post pictures soon, I would like to finish the room first though... I am so impatient. We are gathering our inventory in preparation to officially open up as a business, and trying to clean up the studio portion of the shop, but as construction is underway that is a bit tricky. We will make due. We have another opportunity to put our work up in a backroom in a new shop in town to use as Oilerstudios 1 1/2. Very excited about the possibilities there and ready to get started! I am still waiting for our normally very pleasant weather to come back for me to start spending more time outdoors and in the shop, but my teaching and putting classes online is taking up much more time than I was anticipating. Things are slow but they are moving. We are figuring out our place out here int he country and how to tie that in to our city life and teaching life. Scheduling is so much easier with my mom here for a while and I am so happy about that since baseball season is upon us for William. New art commissions are happening and we are getting paid for them! That has been great news!

The biggest recent news of all is we recently held the Third Annual Abilene Empty Bowls Project and raised something just under $15,000. That makes our three year total at $35,000. Big news for Abilene Texas!

I am anxious to get back into the studio to work on my own work so wish me luck there. I hope you are all finding time for your passions and dreams and follow them every day!

Back to the Daily Grind

O.K. School is in full swing, lectures are going, quizzes are happening, projects and research have started, and I AM TIRED~! I wonder if I will be able to keep up this pace all semester? There is always so much I want to do with my classes, with my family and with my art and there is always so much I never get to. Here is hoping for a more balanced semester!

The Abilene Empty Bowls Project

Join us on February 20th at the Highland Church of Christ from 11-7 to end local and world hunger. Donate money, choose a well crafted handmade ceramic bowl and get served some of the best soup in town. Listen to some music, bid on some great local products and art and educate yourself about the hunger in the big country and the world. It is a day of fun and a great project to get involved in. If you are interested you should visit the website at www.emptybowlsabilene.org

Hope to see you all there!

Almost ready, for one class at least....

I have one class almost ready for the new semester to start on Monday! It has two sections and is two thirds of my load so that is pretty good. I am trying something new. I have put it on Moodle, an online teaching site to help organize the class, grades and attendance. I played with it a bit last semester and found some things to be very successful, others not so much. I have a handle on it now and am ready to begin again! My goal is that by the end of this semester with a little bit of tweaking this summer it could be a fully functional online class. So Art Appreciation is changing!!! I am pretty pleased with the results. If you have questions about the program or if you are interested in this let me know, I am for hire.... Now to start the Basic Pottery class.....

The Ladderback Woodpecker adventure

Today my children got to experience a beautiful morning of bird watching. One of our local bird watching groups came out to the property today to count birds. My son was quite taken with this one. I didn't even know we had birds out here. David was so interested he came right in after drinking his hot cocoa and drew his observation.


Not bad! Welcome to the world of Ornithology.