November is National Novel Writing Month and I’m getting psyched up for it.
The idea is to write a 50,000 word novel in one month.
50,000 words is really more of a novella (a basic novel is usually in the 70-100K word range) – but since so far I’ve been drawn to writing YA, it’s a workable length, especially since I tend to add on when I edit anyway. For some reason, I have very little description in my first drafts. Probably because I skim over big paragraphs of description when I read to get to the meat of the story.
NaNoWriMo teaches you to stop worrying about how it’s going to come out, that if you sit down and just write, you’ll get there. It may be a lousy story – most first drafts are – but that’s what revisions and editing are for later.
It teaches you to shut up your inner critic, and gives you a deadline and support so you can actually get it done. Probably similar to the Bird a Week or Painting a Day challenges I’ve seen.
This will be my 4th year doing it. I made it the last 3 years, barely in one case, and I plan to do it this time too.
Anyone joining me? 
I took a wonderful workshop with Kathleen Dustin this past weekend on her layered translucent techniques.
I was too busy to take many pictures, but here’s what my workspace looked like at the end of the first day. Why is it that however big a space I have, I always end up with about 6 inches square to work in?
I’ll post the pieces I made once I get a chance to take some better pictures.
The things she could do with translucent clay were amazing but I think I learned as much or more from little throw away comments and just watching her work. For example, she showed us how she integrates pinbacks elegantly into her pieces and that gave me a couple different ideas that I may adapt for pendants instead.
She also led us through a critique exercise that was all about asking open ended, nonjudgemental questions. It started with us asking the artist questions. “What was your inspiration?” “What emotional reponse are you trying to convey?” etc
Then we made comments and suggestions – being very careful to keep it open still. There was no telling the artist what to do – just what we felt and why.
Then the artist asked us questions and made a few more comments of her own…
In the 20 minutes or so that we spent on it, we delved deep into motivation and inspiration and process, and we were all thinking about where we wanted to go with our art by the end of it.
I did take a few in-progress photos while I was making stuff for the Bead Bazaar and I thought I’d start with this little guy.
The original was sculpted in relief on a smooth ceramic tile and I made a mold of it so I could try some variations. In this case, the bull was in Premo gold mixed with a touch of black and baked before I set it into the textured black frame.
I wanted to give it a patina affect so I dug out the acrylic paints. I gave the bull a light wash of black to give it some depth and bring out the texture. When that was dry, I used a brush with only a tiny bit of bronze paint to drybrush the high spots.
I used a loosely mixed combo of white and turquoise (you could also use white, blue and green) on the black clay. I made sure there was variation in color and amount of paint – take a look at real aged copper or bronze for ideas.
Thought I’d post a few more photos of the new improved SCPCG display. Last year it was all grey, this year we had black risers, and black trays. Each artist got one tray. I think it worked really well. The black looked elegant and unified the different styles.
We have three lights overhead. The table is raised up to a customer friendly height using pvc pipe extenders below the bend in the legs. Our extra beads fit under the table – easily accessible when someone is interested in a particular artist, and the risers give us space to put the order books, packaging, etc out of sight but right at hand.
We had signage and information about the guild at each end of the table. I think we may get a few new recruits. Several people seemed seriously interested in checking out the guild.
My work
Click on the thumbnails for a larger view – sorry about the quality – the lighting wasn’t the best.
RAM beads - proceeds donated by artists toward museum exhibit
I was at the Bead Bazaar in North Haven, CT this past weekend. I had a great time, spent quite a bit (on aqua terra jasper, sparkling glass beads, more Gilders Paste, paper and bark cloth beads from Uganda, chain, etc, etc) and met a number of interesting people.
If you want to see unique jewelry, go to a beadshow. Don’t look at the vendors tables–although you’ll see some there too–look at the people who walk by.
There were gorgeous beaded collars, and a necklace I coveted of bunched up periwinkle shells. I found out you can create spiraled beading wire by running it through scissors the same way you’d curl ribbon – a nice effect. I met a woman and her daughter who is making feathered hair ornaments.
And I met some of my own past customers. That was inspiring and humbling and educational.
There was a woman who had one of my dragon’s eyes. She hadn’t strung it yet, but she told me she keeps it near her bed as a dream catcher.
And another woman who paid me the ultimate compliment of telling me she was going to use one of my pieces in her wedding. I was proud of the piece when I made it – two white birds intertwined – but it was wonderful knowing it had that much of an impact on her.
I also found out I need to bring more new work to the show. When someone can point to my tray, and say, “I have that one and that one and that one…” it’s great. It means she really liked my work – enough to buy more than one piece. But it also means I need to bring more new stuff for her to look at.
I did have some new designs but not as many as usual. We’ve limited it to 25 pieces per artist (you can’t fit that much on the tables with 15+ artists from the Guild) so since I knew I wasn’t going to need a box of 50-60 pieces I didn’t make as much this time. Next year, I think I need to bring entirely new work and leave the variations on older pieces (even if they’re good and I really like them) at home.
It was a good day. My feet hurt at the end of it, but it was all good.
I’ll be at the Bead Bazaar this weekend, along with a number of others from the Southern Connecticut Polymer Clay Guild. We’ll have a great selection of polymer clay beads and jewelry from over 15 different artists.
I’ll be working the table first thing on Saturday morning. If you’re in the area, stop by. It’s a nice show with some really gorgeous art beads and supplies – the only problem I have is that I always spend more than I make
2011 BEAD BAZAAR Sponsored by the CT Bead Society
NORTH HAVEN Holiday Inn
201 Washington Ave, North Haven, CT
Saturday, Sept. 10 10am – 5pm
Sunday, Sept. 11 10am – 4pm
You can find more information and a coupon at the Connecticut Bead Society’s site.
This is a relief sculpture I did a few months ago. It’s currently part of our guild’s (Southern Connecticut Polymer Clay Guild) traveling exhibit.
I sculpted it in black Premo clay on a 6″x6″ ceramic tile which I removed after baking. I left this one a little rough because I wanted to highlight the texture with the Pearlex mica powders.
I used my fingers to apply a light coat of Flecto Varathane on the highspots after it was baked. (You could use a brush but I wanted a little more control) That sealed in the mica powders but left some of the black clay in the deeper areas matte.
We have power!
Should I admit that I’ve been giggling in a happy maniacal way every time I flip the light switch and the light actually comes on?
We’re still without power – the current estimate is Sunday. But Dave figured out how to hook up the generator on his welder to the water pump and then the water heater temporarily so we got showers. Anyone have any ideas for reasonably health food that doesn’t have to be refrigerated? Stop and Shop has power, and I’m getting sick of junk food.
Things to remember when preparing for a hurricane:
Clean up your yard; take care of everything that could blow away… But leave the bird feeders until the last minute and put them out as soon as the storm’s over or those birds are coming after you.
Ever had a hummingbird hover in front of your face looking for food? Those little guys mean business!
Food. Stuff that doesn’t need to be refrigerated and won’t go bad. Ever. Like Spam and Twinkies. Turn up the fridge and freezer so they’ll stay cold longer. Fill them up with ice. Make sure you have some way of cooking like a grill or small propane camp stove.
Then eat the ice cream as soon as the power goes out. We did.
Water. You’re gonna get thirsty as soon as the faucet goes dry. You also need water for washing and flushing. Fill up those buckets and the tub.
And then fill up a few more. We’re about ready to take the buckets down to the stream because the power’s been out longer than we expected.
Light. Flashlights (LED flashlights last considerably longer), candles, matches, batteries. Book lights – you’re not going to be watching tv so catch up on your reading. Head lamps. Hands free and you look really cool.
Power. Generator and gas if you’ve got them. Charge cell phones, ipods, laptops, etc.
You’ll need some way to play Angry Birds and Solitaire, right?
Other stuff: radio for news, food and supplies for pets, gold and chocolate for barter when civilization crashes, instructions/materials to build a solar oven to cure clay
And Most Important
Prepare months ahead of time so you won’t have to face the hordes of storm crazed zombies at the supermarket fighting over the last container of milk that’s going to go bad anyway.
Ever feel like things are spiraling out of control, that things are crashing all around you, that you’re sitting alone in the dark…
That you really need a hot shower so you can wash your hair?
Hurricane Irene
Irene (not sure if it was technically a hurricane or tropical storm at that point) hit Rhode Island this weekend and we haven’t had power or phone since. No estimate on when it will be back either.
It really wasn’t much of a hurricane for us – a bit of rain, some strong gusts of wind, a few branches and trees down. Of course, they were right on the powerlines so that does make it a bit more difficult.
We’re doing relatively ok – we have the grill to cook on, a small generator we can run intermittantly to try to keep the fridge cold… But I’m going to have to do dishes soon. And the laundry situation is gonna get ugly.
In case you’re wondering how I’m blogging this, I’m at work (on lunch) where we do have power. Figures, huh?
