Turning Inward

BareDkBrownShell1
Originally uploaded by MysticSpiral.

I've got a lot on my mind at the moment. The romantic Valentine's dinner that my beloved and I had planned was abandoned in light of the expense of the new water heater and the realization that it really made no sense to spend more on a single meal than would be left in our meager coffers for groceries and gas money for the remainder of the pay period after the water heater was paid for.

Speaking of the water heater... The snow created delays for the installation but we have been informed that the guys will be here late tomorrow morning or early tomorrow afternoon. This means that, if everything goes well, I should be able to shower (in my own home no less) tomorrow late afternoon or early evening. My excitement at this prospect knows no bounds.

After reading a post on Her Bad Mother about the pros and cons of posting pictures of our children in our blogs, I've been thinking a lot about the pictures that I've posted of Sprout and why I want to post them. I'll probably be exploring this more in the near future. At the moment, however, I'm still processing it all so I'll just have to tag this as a "place keeper" and come back to it when my thoughts are clearer.

One of my friends from Beads of Clay has started a new site for promotion and sales of ceramic arts. The site is really, really new, but I think that it has a lot of promise. Anyway, I just wanted to mention Marla's project in case anyone reading the blog would be interested in it. Check out FiredClayArtists.com and if you talk to Marla, tell her Andi said "Hi!"

Today's image, btw, is one of the shell vessels that I uploaded to my Etsy shop this week. I love this clay body so much that I can't stand to cover it up. Instead, I applied a wash made of thinned black glaze mixed with albany slip and then rubbed it off leaving a finish that reminds me of my grandfather's cast iron. The combination of the ornate scrolling texture and that aged wrought iron finish makes me think of the balconies in the French Quarter.