Wisdom of my cat

This is Wally, who was born in my closet, manages my studio, and has shared with me much wisdom.

Everything is simple.

Love is like a war. Easy to begin but hard to end.

Treat everyone to the same affection you show a cat. 

I advise everyone to follow their dreams. Except the one where they forget to feed the cat.

Unless you are absolutely sure, sleep on it. And don't be sure all that often.

There are only 2 philosophies. Hiss and purr. Mine is purr

Beauty

Bird plates

Two things have influenced how I see beauty lately- age and TM meditation. Something shifted in me as I turned 60 this year. The voice that mourns for my youth and freaks out over the size 8 jeans that don't fit no matter what I do shut up. Thank you! It was getting on my nerves. I have also resumed TM meditation, joined by my husband and daughter who learned for the first time last month, so we practice as a family now. Twice a day, 20 minutes of the deepest relaxation imaginable. My husband's blood pressure went down and he no longer needs medication for insomnia. My daughter said, after the first week, "I feel happier." I have resigned my position as micro-manager of whether he sleeps or she smiles. I feel calmer! Freer.

Beauty is becoming more like wisdom in my eyes. It is a graceful sway to the silent music around us.

two kinds of flowers

flower bowl nesting bowl set in Organic Soul

Each day begins with meditation, then coffee, then  a look at the lists of undone tasks and unreached goals. Meanwhile the garden calls to me with unspeakably solemn lilies, wide open. I have planted my entire life, in one way or another. Why should I not merely sit all day and enjoy it? The bills are paid, the children are grown. 

Meanwhile requests for my pottery overflow my inbox and compound daily. They come in faster than boxes go out. There is a second successful garden I've grown, and this one has flower bowls. Unlike the lilies, these call out "Fire me!" "Glaze me!" "Photograph me!"

I'm learning to let both flowers have their way. It has dawned on me lately that there are also 2 gardens. One is what I have made and the other is what I am. A life of prayer and meditation have turned my jagged inner rocks into rich soil. Something else plants in this garden. 

It occurs to me that I have been enriched by the experience of making the flower bowls more than the experience of smelling the flowers. Pottery has always been my passion in this life, and perhaps my calling as well. I have hired an assistant to help me with the overflowing inbox, and plan to hire others to meet the demand. I'm not doing this to grow my business, as in profiting from the labor of others while I stockpile more cash. I am growing my business as a way to pass on the privilege it is to make beautiful shapes in clay, to master the skills, to refine one's attention to detail. I don't know yet how big it will be. I am excited to find out.

hiring in the New Economy

If we had written a prediction way back when I was in art school that a time was coming when artists and potters would be thriving while accountants and business majors suffered, it would have been considered a  science fiction farce. It's funny how things change.

Last week I interviewed a woman for a packing position in my start-up business, Lee Wolfe Pottery. It started up in 1976, and became something you might recognize as a business in 2009. Suddenly everything I've ever loved about pottery is wildly popular, and demand for my work since I discovered internet sales is way up. I've managed this growth by making multifunctional work stations in my home such as ping pong table/pack and shipping center. Dining room/order processing.

While this now looks entirely ordinary to me, I could see the interviewee, a 40ish woman, trying valiantly to hide  her disbelief that she was even in a place of business, let alone one in a rapid growth phase with opportunities for advancement.

When offered an hourly wage projected to double in the first year, she decided she was better off with her Plan A, which is to pay for more courses in Excel, tax preparation, and accounting. My husband kindly pointed out to her that these jobs are now easily outsourced to India for $3/hr. She gave another dubious look, matching the one I saw as I said "here is my studio," which looks like someone set up a summer camp in the 2 car garage. I know what she is probably thinking. Her kids are grown so it is time to resume the life she gave up to raise them as a single mom. She will go to college. She will take the practical courses.

So much has changed! Little internet home based businesses just like mine are doubling our numbers every 3 years. We are hiring, while 65% of recent college grads are unemployed. You might just want to learn what it takes to process shipping from someone's ping pong table while we find something on Hulu to watch and take breaks in the backyard garden. Welcome to the new economy.

Bowls that hold memories

My new works celebrate family. I have designed my popular love birds bowl to include family groups- mama, daddy and small birds arranged in gestures around the rim of a hand built bowl. I will have some listed around June 1st on my website.

This little bowl was designed for Mothers Day, and I saw myself and my daughter as a young toddler in it. I recall that time when I was always turned partly towards her, one eye watching.

This morning I saw these bowls on a shelf and another image came to me from long ago, of Marcella wearing those saggy jean shorts that go over a diaper. Her dad was changing a tire, and she stood by his side, holding that spokey tool that has something to do with lug nuts.

One of Ken's favorite pictures is he and the boys when they were impossibly small, one on each side, Ari no longer than his arm.

And I recall my own father, listening to the update on my day at school, as if this were the more important news of the day.

And I thought, if these bowls bring back so many memories of the good stuff from my own past with merely a glimpse, the series will be one that I will pursue for a long time.

I put this Daddy and Baby Bird bowl   (yup, same bowl, seen in a different light) on Pinterest this morning. The first one sold within 5 minutes. I hope the buyer saw a moment from his own life, one that brings him pleasure, as he decided to purchase it.

Opening the Kiln

Penguin wedding cake toppers

On Sunday morning, I get up early to unload my kiln and list new pieces in the afternoon. Here are the penguins! They were thrown, off centered and thrown again. Then the features were sculpted. I'm so happy with the lifelike expressions.

Here they are with the rest of the kiln load. The Birds Nest casserole is also pretty awesome, as are the flower bowls.

These are the Mama and Baby Bird bowls. Most of them are already sold but a few are still available, at LeeWolfePottery. Each of these birds is formed individually, so it takes hours to make this many, yet I never rush through it. Each bird must have a lifelike gesture to it. Some come alive quickly and some take more time, and they all get as much attention as needed. The little hand built bowls must be carefully formed, too. This rustic style doesn't mean that they are carelessly made! I like a certain flowing gesture to my organic shapes.. They must also sit well without wobbling, and support the birds in balance. One of the rewards I get is knowing that dozens of moms will open their present this Mother's Day to find a little piece of art.

Now I have some time to plant a few container gardens with organically grown violas we got yesterday at the Herb Festival.  Hope you all have a day of smiles.

Lessons from the nesting birds

This morning I awoke to a furious lecture from doves nesting in a tree. My cat had crept too close to their home, and the daddy shooed Wally away with wings opening and shutting in wild menace. Mama bird sang with frenzied staccato. Wally backed away.

Motherhood brings out this strange layer of love. Parenthood makes of us both nurturers and warriors. I will remember this as I make my mama and baby bird bowls. How love is both tender and fierce.