November is NaNoWriMo which stands for National Novel Writing Month. People with a desire to write a book sit down and whag out 50,000 words over the course of November. The point being to just sit there and do it, whatever level of drivel or sublime results, to have accomplished this one big thing.

Sadly, I am pretty sure I do not want to write a novel. But I really like the idea of doing something big, and solid, and a real creative stretch. There is also NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) but really, I just don't have that much to say.

Enter NaNoCraftMo – National mumble Craft Month – with a Flickr group to show our results.

So here we go. I am working on a series of 8×10" pieces on the pond, the same pond in the last piece, from different directions and different angles. I prepped backgrounds for 10, I have new ideas for mounting and framing them that should be more economical, and still durable, I have sketches for 5.  I have the first piece laid out and I'll start stitching tomorrow.

Well -I'm in the middle school PTO craft fair, which with any luck will be bettter for business than the last craft fair I went to.

I really have to get a grip on getting things out the door, if I'm going to keep making them at this rate!

lumpy pots
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

Alice and I have finally gotten some of our first pots home.

The process is so slow it is kind of a wonder we remember to bring them home at all. After they are partly dried they get trimmed, then finished drying, following which they get fired once, glazed (dipped into one or another, or a series of buckets of glaze) fired again, and finally finally carried carefully home.

While most of my efforts end up a squelpy mess (Alice’s words) or terminally lumpy and uneven, a couple are getting useful. Shown here is a cereal bowl, in use, a handle-less tea mug, and a micro teacup.

Using my own work for the intended purpose if pretty gratifying. Plus I owe the house some small ice cream bowls, for the ones I broke a couple years ago. I have my work cut out for me.

foot sit (Aerin on Lee)
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

This is a piece of what we do in Family Circus – Aerin goes from here on my feet to a backbend to this amazing balance (that I still can't quite believe I can hold her for).

Back to fabric next time!

Bluebirds
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I was finishing a ride last week, walking back to the barn and I saw a piece of sky fly past me. It was so wonderful, I laughed out loud.

There was a small flock of bluebirds, five or six, nattering together about the trip south, and chasing bugs and loose grain from the horses' lunches. They dodged in and out of the maple tree at the corner of the barn, which is turning already, all oranges and res and splashes of yellow. The color combinations were outrageous.

But it was the bluebirds that lifted my spirits. There is nothing more unlikely than the color of a bluebird. I completely understand why the phrase would be Bluebird of Happiness, and not, say, raven of happiness or goldfinch of happiness. That blue. That astonishing blue.

It made me happy.

laps in the packing peanuts
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

The pieces returned from the (sadly failed) gallery came home in this ENORMOUS box. Once the art was out, and the pillows of air (think monster bubble wrap) the box was still half full of what an old coworker called ghost turds. Alice, channeling her cousin’s delight in packing peanuts, fell into the box with squeaks of delight. After some joyful thrashing around, she settled in with a book, remarking “it is kind of like an insideout beanbag chair.”

Aerin, lacking all dignity when fun is possible (an admirable trait in a 16 year old when personal dignity can sometimes severely crimp one’s fun quota) fell into the box head first, and did some cheerful thrashing of her own.

The art remains bubble wrapped and is now resting quietly in my studio, having had a nice vacation in Wisconsin. Anyone needing a large piece for a Christmas present, let me know, and we’ll work out a deal.

First day of school
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

After a night of fretting, everyone woke up well (for them) and set off for their respective schools.

Ultimately, both got rides with our lovely neighbors, so Alice avoided the bus, and Aerin got someone to visit with to take her mind of her morning miseries.

greek copper horse
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

After taking all summer off, this horse leapt to the top of my pile of things to do, and I finished him. Partly because I am loaning him to a friend to stare at while she recovers from having her hip replaced. He looks like the horse she and her sister use for their farm logo, so it seemed like a good idea.

Apparently I need a summer vacation as much as the kids to.

Bad news from the gallery in Wisconsin – she is forced to close by the economy, so the work that I finished and sent to her has to be shipped home. Which bites.

Image
Originally uploaded by Dancing Crow.

I have been having a Lovely Vacation, thank you!

This is Image, Janice's 19 year old Holsteiner gelding that I am riding a couple days a week. He has a LOT of training, and I learn some new thing every time I ride him. Today we were out in the field because it was cloudy and cool, with the barn swallows sweeping about in front of us catching things along the tops of the grass.

This last month had a Very Large Horse Show in it, that included imposing on my mother (hi Mom!) (Thank you Mom!) and boarding the Canadian girls at the show. It was nerve wracking working up to it, but kind of fun once we were there.

I have stepped away from my studio for longer than I meant to. I finished a trilobite that I will photograph soon. A couple pieces were left in various states of disarray, and I need to get going on them again.

Next week we go to catch up with my brother, sister-in-law (best ever!) and nephew.

Biosphere by Dahlov Ipcar

My step-mother just paid me a lovely compliment! She was looking at postcards of the various horse pieces that I just sent off to Wisconsin (the Bradley Art Gallery in fact) and said they reminded her strongly of Dahlov Ipcar's work. So we sat down and googled Dahlov Ipcar, and Wow!! She has done splendidly varied work for a long time, including (I just realized) writing and illustrating a book my brother read to death when he was small – Lobsterman. I find myself particularly drawn to her Horse Mandala, and one in the Portland Museum of Art called Blue Savanna.