A Quiet Day

I was minion-less today, so I head out to The Cottage. It was a quiet day. Just me and Tallulah. But for all that, it was full.

I started another clock. I have a better idea how to make the back, so I'm experimenting with that. I played with more textures and made more gnomes, some ornaments and another bear. I'll confess, I will never be a production potter. I really enjoy working on different things.

I worked in the quiet of the studio and thought a lot about John Lewis's passing. He was a great man who stood for what was right. Losing him diminishes the country.  He said, "We must continue to go forward as one people, as brothers and sisters."  That is my hope. That we put away the divisions and remember the things that bind us as a people.  I talk about the fact that we're all more alike than different in so many of my books. I hope we all find a way to remember that.

Tallulah the Coon Hound

I walked up to the cottage for lunch and brought a plastic container back down to the studio. Uh, Tallulah stole it. I remained stern, but on the inside I was laughing. She was so pleased with her prize. LOL I wasn't laughing later, when we were sitting on the studio's back porch and she spotted a mama raccoon with three babies. She was off like a shot and treed the entire family. Yes, my sheepdog things she's a coonhound. On a happy note, it took a few very stern, "Come," and "Leave Off," but she finally did both and we went to back to work.

I'm still working on tiles. All the experiments are going to become the backsplash in my studio. So today I picked some Queen Anne's Lace and other roadside wildflowers and tried them out as tiles. I feel like I'm getting better at transferring and carving them, but I'm still working out how to glaze them. I want enough color to show off the flowers and leaves, but not too much. LOL

Finally, I brought a few more pictures out to the studio and hung them. Someday in the not so distant future, there won't be much wall-space left. LOL One is by PA artist Jonas Bradford...I love it. I'm still watching for a Clementine Hunter. It'll be a print...I can't afford an original. LOL

My views in the studio and outside the studio are lovely and so inspiring!

I beat Himself home. It's so nice that The Cottage is just a bit more than a half hour from home. The drive gives me a bit of time to listen to a podcast. Today I was listening to Chuck Rosenberg's The Oath. He was interviewing Fiona Hill. She's led such an interesting life.

That's my day! Creative, inspiring, funny and quiet.

If you missed my latest Studio Tour, I'm reposting it here! And if you've missed any of my Hometown Hearts books, I hope you'll check them out!  ~Holly

Crib Notes: Hometown Hearts #1

Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBook

A Special Kind of Different: Hometown Hearts #2

Kindle, iBook, Kobo, Nook

Homecoming: Hometown Hearts #3

Kindle, Kobo, IBooks, Nook

PREORDER  Suddenly a Father: Hometown Hearts #4

Available in September

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Trees of Life

 I've been making trees of life, first in bowls and now with these tiles. I'll confess, when I find a new ceramic project or idea I tend to do a bunch of them. I like to figure out how I want to make them and what works best. But I think what I like about making the trees right now is they really speak to today's environment. The world is so divisive right now. And the trees sort of remind me that we're all connected. We all have our roots in this country and we branch out and add our own uniqueness to it. Those differences make for a much richer tapestry.

It's sort of the same thing that attracts me to writing...the uniqueness of each story and each character. Each story allows me to explore something new.

They say that most people live one life, but a reader lives a thousand lives. That applies to writers as well. Each book I read and write allows me to inhabit someone else's life for a while. In Hometown Hearts each character goes through something different and approaches the idea of family in a different way. And yet, like my trees of life, they all have their roots firmly planted in a universal sameness...in family, friendship and love.

I'm finding that my art connects to my writing which connects to my life. Yes it's all intertwined...just like we're all intertwined. Sometimes we spend so long looking at our differences that we forget our connection. I think readers and writers are better at recognizing that our differences are a gift...that we're all rooted in the same soil.

If you haven't read the first three books in my Hometown Hearts series, I hope you pick them up so that you're ready for the fourth book which comes out in September!

I'm heading out to the studio today...so much clay to play with, so little time!

Holly

PS This is Herman. He's the first piece I made in my new HollysWood Studio. That's one of the ash glazes I've made!

PPS Check out Hometown Hearts

Crib Notes: Hometown Hearts #1

Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBook

A Special Kind of Different: Hometown Hearts #2

Kindle, iBook, Kobo, Nook

Homecoming: Hometown Hearts #3

Kindle, Kobo, IBooks, Nook

PREORDER  Suddenly a Father: Hometown Hearts #4

Available in September

Kindle, Kobo, Nook, iBooks: