March Madness

I am the Mistress of Manure. I RULE. Hubby would phrase it another way, perhaps...but I STILL RULE.

Now to play catch-up! In the early part of March, I was able to visit Ed Gonzales in Florida, with Laurie Jo Jensen, for a fun-filled weekend. We hadn't seen Ed in gosh...years...and it felt so good to get together again! He lives on a lovely plot of land with three fun doggies, five gorgeous Arabians, and a tempting studio. We immediately went out to see the ponies and my goodness...I felt like I was in the movie Rainman. "Shiny...very shiny." Those horses glowed! Wow! It was like opening up a living book of "Nitter Pitter." What I like about Ed's horses is that they are exceptionally pretty, yes -- but they were using horses. Solid build and solid minds. So they were all lovely in temperament, and one in particular, Sue, was exactly like Dug from UP. "I just met you and I love you" pretty much defines her outlook on life.

I mean, seriously....this is a baby pic of Sue. If you think this isn't going to be turned into a sculpture pronto, you are sorely mistaken my friend. LOOK AT THAT.

The kids: Bean (AA Magneto), a gelding and mares, Sizzle (AA Sizzle) and "Sue the Moo" (AA Thunderbritches). The "AA" stands for Amani Arabians, Ed's breeding program.

His two gorgeous broodmares, Sharky (HM Shartique) (left) and CC (Rohara Celine) (right). So exquisite!

My favorite shot of CC.

Laurie riding Sharky, my favorite shot of them together. We both liked her -- she was very "go-y," very forward-moving... the mare that is.

We got to help Ed muck out the stalls and do some of the daily horsey chores. While this sounds like a drag to other folks, to horse people, it definitely isn't. And hey, I got an award in horse camp for having the cleanest stall, so I'm a stall muckin' maven. (Which is something my Mom lamented all those years ago -- "She can't keep her room clean, but she can keep a stall spotless!" It's all about priorities.) And doing chores with friends is all the more fun! And I gotta give Ed credit for bravery for allowing me to drive the manure spreader every morning. That was pretty fun! I got to be a pro in no time.

But what was really interesting was the demonstration of Bowen massage his friend gave us when she came over on Sunday. She did it both to the horses and on us, and I gotta say -- wow. I'd never heard of it before and to me "massage" translates in to "pain." I hate massages. But golly -- this was completely different! It's based on a more intuitive paradigm, and so uses a completely different method rather than maniacally kneading muscles. Instead, it's based on the idea of "challenging" and "releasing" muscle groups and so uses a very gentle approach (read: no "ouch"). And boy...does it work! When she did her work, I instantly felt my muscles "remember" to release and my body went limp, one stage at a time. Total relaxation. SOLD!

Ed was a super host and boy -- can he cook! As per request, he made his famous nachos Saturday night, which we scarfed down in due unlady-like fashion, paired with margaritas, which we gulped in Muppet-like fashion (now that's an image, huh?). Then on Sunday night, he made an astounding prime rib that was rubbed down with some magic concoction then roasted encrusted with kosher salt. Now while that sounds really awful, it sure created a humdinger of a super hunk o' meat! I called my Hubby to describe it to him, and I think I heard whimpering.

The rub, and Laurie gives the "A-OK."

Roasted and settling -- like us! Laurie approves!

The Master Chef at work at Chez Gonzales!

Then on Sunday night he cooked up an unbelievable crab feast. YES. I porked out on so much crab, I almost felt my eyes morphing into eye stalks and my hands into claws. Sooooo tasty!


OK, now I downloaded my pix from the trip and -- to my surprise -- I found these. Those two must've snatched my camera while I was doing something else because I didn't take 'em! (You turkeys! I can hear you both snickering!) And so with some added dialogue...cuz I wasn't going to let them go to waste...

That little snippet pretty much sums up our weekend!

I liked this pic of Laurie and Sizzle.

We had a great time just hanging out, bouncin' around town and playing with the horses. I took a ton of terrific reference photos, too, which I plan to implement on the new Arabian sculptures (and sundry others) in the sculpting queue. It's rather maddening -- so often in the past I had awesome reference photo opportunities, but not taken! Argh. So darn it...I was going to take them now.

But poor Ed -- perhaps he forgot what Laurie and I are like together. We're like a two-part explosive -- mixed together we go KER-POW! So I'm sure we completely wore him out. Hey, I wore myself out!

Ed avec Cephalopod.
Laurie and I have this "tradition" of festooning Ed whilst he slumbers. He continues to make the mistake of falling asleep before we do, so he's been garnished with rubber lobsters, firefight hats, various monkey items, and such over the years, all of which we photo document. He's like a decorator crab.

I love this pic of them both. That's being printed out and hung in the studio!

Thank you tons, Ed! I had an awesome time and it was so fantastic to see you again! Give your critters a kiss for me!

"A Friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of Nature." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

March Madness

A Decade of Delight

"Me," as flowers

Yesterday, Hubby and I celebrated our 10 year Anniversary. I still can't believe it, really. Honestly, it only seems like maybe three years ago we said our vows. I guess it's true what they say about time flying.

He came home with a bouquet of flowers for me -- thanks Ham! It was too funny. He went to a downtown florist and the guy asked Ham, "So...what's your wife like? What's her aura?" Yes. Aura. I'm not kidding. Rather dumbfounded, all Ham could say was, "Well, she's just...really...different." Nice save, Hammy! So there ya go (pic above). Those are orchids and some kind of tropical exotic thingy. So pretty and apparently they'll last all week! Loves 'em!

Earlier that day, Mom and I met him for lunch downtown at one of our fave restaurants, Berryhill & Co. It was a belated Mother's Day and 10 Year Anniversary luncheon, and the happy sun was out for the first time in what seemed like eons so we got to eat outside, too. A perfect day. Mom got a grilled chicken salad, Ham got a buffalo burger, and I had an amazing basil pesto, pear, gorgonzola and pistachio personal pizza for lunch.

Behold this thing of beauty. NOM NOM NOM.

For dessert, we shared their signature dessert, a baked apple with cranberries, a la mode. Delish! The perfect dessert for a sunny day!

Boise is full of art tucked away in hidden places, and the courtyard of Berryhill & Co. is no exception. I loved this totem-like bear and fish sculpture quietly mounted onto the side of a building:

The amazing bear squad, flying in bear formation!

Close-up of one of these appealing bears. His neck looks full of bear goo that needs to be oozed.

Walking back to the parking garage, we passed the famous Boise Hole which serves no good purpose other than providing an excuse for its panels to become ever-changing downtown art. And so I saw the newest installation and regarded it as a message from the cosmos:

Now I was expecting to wait until Saturday before we went out for our annual celebratory dinner at our favorite Italian restaurant, Gino's, since it was a week night. So imagine my surprise when Hubby comes home with those flowers and announces we have 6:30 reservations that night! Wow! My sweet, sentimental Hubby decided we had to go out on our actual 10 year Anniversary because it was such a milestone. So I was tickled. I got gussied up (which is a big deal for me, who lives in studio rags and flip flops) and off we went. We got a marvelous quiet, corner table and proceeded to have an incredible meal (Thanks Mom and Dad!). Ham had his regular slow-cooked boar (bone in) with homemade gnocchi:

Behold that bad boy!

And I had what is now #1 on my Top Ten Best Things I've Ever Eaten List...butternut squash ravioli in brown butter and sage...down to earth, clean tasting, sublime, savory yet sweet, nutty, and it doesn't weigh you down:

This was Heaven on a dish. Seriously. This dish made me joyous to be alive. Conscious. Coherent (well, OK...that may be a stretch). Really, it was my marriage translated into food. I devoured the whole thing.

As you can tell, clearly we enjoy good food because, really, love, food and happiness just go together, don't they? So Happy 10 Years Hammy! It's been a blessing!

"Your words are my food, your breath my wine. You are everything to me." ~ Sarah Bernhardt

A Decade of Delight

What Was I Thinking?

Yes, my Mom got me this garden gnome. And I swear, he speaks...but only when I do something really stupid. I wish I could say he's as quiet as a church mouse.

Oh wait -- I wasn't. Durhay Sarah. Yanno...when I decide to get in over my head, at least I really commit to an all-inclusive crisis. Let me break it down for ya:

(1) In my eagerness, I forgot to mask the tail, so now I have to figure out how to get raw underglaze off the white bisque. Or learn really fast how to turn a "Yikes!" into a "Yay!" I'll never make that mistake again.

(2) What am I going to use for finger-holds? The pattern I chose forces me to use the tail, and I can just imagine in my razor-bladed myopia a moment of too much pressure and....BINK. Note to self: *Must pay attention*. Repeat: MUST. PAY. ATTENTION.

(3) I don't know yet, but I bet it's lurking just around the kiln -- waiting for little ol' naive me. And it's something major. But I bet it has something to do with...

Oh...did I mention that I also decided to play with some odd pigments with this guy? I'm so curious to know how non-horse colors work in underglaze. I typically use them in cold-paint, and well...hey, I won't know unless I try, right? Currently, I prefer to work in the Duncan EZ Stroke colors because of their clear, watercolor-like properties, and those non-horse colors they come in are just too tempting. OK...so the plan is to glaze him as one of those (hopefully) high-contrast sooty red bays. I want the red bay to really pop, but I want the sooty areas to have more depth than just dark browns or black, and if I can get that blueish or purpleish tint to it, all the better.

So..I used straight yellows (and I do mean yellows -- "EZ Willow Yellow" and "EZ Sierre Yellow") and straight reds (and I mean bright red -- "EZ Neon Red") for the pangare and redish areas. I worked in "EZ Wine Berry" and "EZ Dark Brown" in there, gradually blending. Then I mixed the Dark Brown with "EZ Dark Navy," and blasted that onto the sooty areas. A bit of back and forth here and there, then a final spray of Black/Wine Berry for the point color. Pulled off the masking (no binking! PHEW), and now for clean-up. I know what I'll be doing for the next two days. Yow. How can something so tiny take so much time and even more oxygen deprivation?

Anyway, here's the lowdown on the hoedown...

The Glazes

These are the glazes I was considering. I may eventually use them all, one way or 'nuther. Dunno yet.

The Process

EZ 004 Willow Yellow for the pangare and the first layer (note unwrapped tail).

EZ 005 Sierre Yellow for reinforcing the pangare and a second layer.

EZ 106 Neon Red, third layer. (Tail still isn't wrapped.)

EZ 063 Wine Berry, reinforcing the red and as a fourth layer.

EZ 039 Dark Brown, shading and accent, and as a fifth layer. (Mind you, this is the fifth photo and it hasn't occurred to me yet to wrap the tail.)

EZ 039 Dark Brown mixed with EZ 074 Dark Navy (70/30 mixture), sooty layer. Ordinarily, I would have done more directional shading, but I had a grand experiment in mind, and that required "flatter" ideas. So we'll see if it works.

EZ 0363 Wine Berry mixed with EZ 037 Black (20/80) for the points. Then the masking was peeled away...and look at those awesome dark roots at the dock. Lovely.

Here's the other side. OK, granted, he looks really stupid right now, and nothing like the reference photos. But this is just the first step in a long process. Now I have to clean up the edges (and that dang dock) and start defining the pattern at the same time. I also have to clean up the edges around his mane. For all that, I'll use an x-acto blade, some other scraper tools and a stone age typewriter eraser pencil. When that's done, I'll start the first layers on his footsies and he'll go into my small kiln, Maury, for a Cone 06 fire to set the underglaze. The peep holes will be left out so lots of oxygen can get into the fire to retain those reds (fingers crossed). Then the nitty gritty begins.

Tip

Oh and by the way -- I have thirty airbrush bottles. How did I run out? ARGH.

At least I'm having a good time. And I'm listening to my new Faun CD "Renaissance" and lovin' it. Somehow when your mind is sunk deep in concentration, music has an odd way of not distracting you, but sinking in even more. Strange, that.

"Who so loves believes the impossible." Elizabeth Barrett Browning

What Was I Thinking?