Lake Tomahawk walkin'

Photo copyrighted Barbara Rogers

 When the sun hits some roses, I couldn't just pass by without a picture.

 My first glimpse of baby ducks, with mama mallard watching me carefully.  The youngsters are feeding, diving into the water for whatever lovely stuff is in the muck.

The gazebo is a nice quiet place to meditate, or have a conversation with someone special.  It looked like meditation this morning.

 The grey geese were posing right by the path, and I couldn't get the one in the background to look up.

 He/she just kept being more interested in poking his/her head under wings and around the tail area.

 So I gave up and zeroed in on the adult and youngster who were happily posing for me.

I turned the corner on the path, and there were the Canadian Geese family sitting also by the path, with the one in the path keeping an eye out for walkers, who just went right by them.

These little fluffy fellows were happy to doze in the shade by the path and lakeside.

 As I crossed over the footbridge, I looked up along the stream which feeds the lake...thinking how this water does eventually go into the Swannanoa River.

 And here comes another Mallard family...

This is looking south while walking the west side of the lake.  It was quite hot in the sunshine at 9:30 am for this walk.

 Yep, this is Mountain laurel.

The sign describing the Seven Sisters mountains placed where you can see 6 of them.  The 7th is behind another one from this view.  Tomahawk Mountain is the biggest and closest.

 Looking at the boat house that is now the recreation center...Lakeview Center.

The earthen dam has a sluice under this little bridge.

The rest of the pictures aren't coming onto the photo download page, so I'll have to finish this walk tomorrow, at least here.  I hope to do this walk earlier in the morning tomorrow, so it's actually not so warm.  Still to see, the mountains where the Blue Ridge Parkway crosses, the playground, and someone fishing.  Bet you can't wait!

Photos copyrighted Barbara Rogers, please ask permission to copy.

Back in Black Mountain

OK, for me, working close to home in a community studio is good.  I went in the BMCA studio yesterday, and wanted to make a fruit bowl.  I did it.

For the past 2 weeks I've had small sculptures on the table in my work area (living room cause my studio space is too cold) but have not finished anything I've started.

I wake up in the middle of the night, and think how I want to finish something.  Then when I get up in the morning, there's no incentive to actually sit down at the table and do it.

Throw a fruit bowl?  Easy breezy.

So I've found that a community is important for me.  Isolation is more of a place to rest.  I don't work easily and creatively here.  Work is better when I have the time limit, by knowing the studio is only available during these hours.  Isn't that weird?  I have a residue of the lifetime of punching in and out at work, where the rest of the day was mine to do the necessary life support activities and have fun.  At least that's how I find myself today.

But the table is still here in the living room, and there are no studio hours today.  So perhaps...I'll let you know when I do.

Clay Club is an interesting mix.  I may go to their meeting up in Burnsville next Wed...if there's not bad weather.  I'm interested, because it's made of "professionals and serious potters".  But I'm also skeptical that all these serious potters will not think of me as one...after all, I don't have the self-discipline to work daily in my own living room, nor do I do production work like most of them do.

My life as a ceramic artist is to create sculptures and functional wares that speak to the heart of another being.  Between the experiencing of shape, color, pattern, texture and tactile feeling there is perhaps a smile of recognition.  When a piece is functional, it should take the smile a step further, to satisfaction that the purpose for which it was intended is well fullfilled.  Clay is my chosen medium because it has that alchemy, the almost miraculous shifting from mud to rock and glass.  Ceramics offer three dimensions that meet us in the fourth dimension, the time we spend with them.  I most enjoy seeing people picking up my wares to have a deeper knowledge of what is actually there, what I am saying to them.

Whow, I just wrote an artist statement.  Funny how it came out when I wasn't thinking about it!