Shifting from Fall to Winter

It's been a busy Fall. There were so many butterflies to chase! And now we have just stepped into Winter. Last weekend I got my paws in the clay again and that was a lot of fun. I am developing some new styles of bowls with more oxides with underglazes. These will be posted on the etsy site in January.

For now Noodleville has some Bowls of Abundance for sale at a boutique on Main Street next to the library in Ventura. This is a great opportunity and I am very grateful to the shop owner Nancy for stocking my product.

For right now right now I am warming my fluffy belly by the heater because it is brisk out tonight!

Autumn Art

Get ready Noodle! We have some art to create! October is a busy month in our local art world. We have Ventura Art Walk coming up October 24 & 25. AND our 5th Annual Dia de los Muertos Art Exhibit October 22 - November 7 with the Celebration on Monday November 2.

Noodleville will be selling our Bowls of Abundance in the garden at Stoneworks this time around. A new experience for Noodle. She's been an on-line cat now she's going to be face to face with people. Will she hiss? Will she run for cover? Or will she purrrr... She's got to get her inventory together. We are still building and glazing and firing bowls!

My friend Michelle Chapin has a big vacant lot next to her stone carving studio, Stoneworks that she has transformed into a green oasis on Ventura Avenue. A great place for a cat to chase butterflies... or be chased by a chihuahua!!!

For 18 years Michelle has participated in Art Walk. She opens her space up to other artists in Ventura to display work. She loves art and has a community spirit. She likes to throw a party and have live music, delicious food. Michelle and her partner Guy are also organizing another community art installation project like their "Door Project" with chairs and bicycles. The vibe is very cool and it reminds me of events I attended as a child in the 60's. I am very excited to be a part of this event.

So Noodle and the other cool cats from Art & Soul are setting up a double wide booth filled with ceramic goodies at Stoneworks. I don't know about Noodle but I am looking forward to hanging out in the garden, talking art, listening to music & selling Bowls of Abundance. We'll be there Saturday October 24 1-9pm and Sunday Oct 25 12-4pm.

We also have the Dia de los Muertos Art Exhibit and Celebration opening on October 22 at The Laurel Gallery & Gallery 255. This will be our 5th annual event! All local Ventura artists are invited to participate by entering artwork in the Dia de los Muertos theme. The art intake is scheduled for October 16 5-8pm and October 17 2-5pm.

The Celebration will be held on Monday November 2. We will be having a Full Moon that night which is very auspicious. Xavier Montes will be playing his harp again this year. MB Hanrahan is talking about a perform piece and I will be setting up an installation in Gallery 255.

My installation will be in honor of my parents, grandparents and aunt. When I get overwhelmed with the idea of putting on another "Muertos" I stop and change my perspective: I'm throwing a party for my family that I miss. I plan to pull my work table out of my art studio which originally was my Grandma Perottini's dining table and set it for a family dinner.

There will also be the Community Altar in Laurel Gallery for the public to participate in. All attendees are encouraged to place a tribute to a loved one who has passed from our world in to the next. This is a great "public" installation. I enjoy watching it grow and change with the addition of family photos, mementos and objects.

So with these two big events, Noodle & I must scamper off because we got things to do!!!

So Noodle get ready!!! Here we go!!

Bowls of Abundance

Been busy chasing butterflies and barking at birds but I managed to finish glazing a few new bowls. Bowls of hugs & kisses. Bowls of Love. Bowls of Gratitude. I'm pretty excited about some new color schemes I tried out on this batch.

I'm itching to get started on more bowls. Maybe Friday night I'll get over to the studio and get my paws in the clay. My other friends will be firing up the raku kiln.

Been selling more bowls of abundance. It seems there are others who need a bowl for their cat chow. Well gotta go take a cat nap-

peace out-

noodle

It has been a productive week. A lot has happened since I pulled the bowls out of the kiln on Sunday. Opening a glaze kiln is very exciting. It's like Christmas morning. Everything is glistening with colorful glaze. It is always a surprise to see how your work has transformed from bisqueware to finished ceramic ware.
While painting my work with glaze I have to visualize what I think the piece will look like when it is fired. The glaze goes on chalky. Glaze doesn't take on color until after it reaches it's temperature and the silica (sand) in the formula turns to glass. You really don't know what your piece will look like until you open the kiln. So while decorating you hope you know what you're doing... even when you know what you're doing. Firing pottery is a lot of chemistry and physics and mostly magic.
After pulling out my bowls, I took photographs of them. Four each for Noodleville so that people could get a good idea of what they looked like.

In between cat naps and chasing butterflies, Noodleville is up and running! Go check it out!

The mockingbird started early this morning but I didn't bother getting up until the other little birds started in. Then I had to wake my mom to let me out.

I hung out with my buddy Lizzie. We pretend not to like each other just to entertain our moms. They really like it when we box through the french doors. They weren't looking this morning so we just laid around close to each other on the cement.

My mom is busy figuring out the etsy shop thing. A lot of details to get into place before the shop goes LIVE. That's okay I let her take care of it. We are both very excited to get these bowls out to you. Each one is one of a kind. I think you'll like them.

Last night it was a full moon. There were dark clouds in the sky that played peek-a-boo with the silver orb that I love. The power was intense and I had to be outside. The other cats in the neighborhood don't understand my need to create but that's okay. They don't know about Noodleville and that I need to play in clay!

It takes a lot of work to get a shop going on etsy.com... it's especially hard when you don't have thumbs! But I manage because I am a clever cat.

I've been working on a couple of different styles of bowls. I love bowls. I don't know what it is... the roundness of the shape... the subtle curve... the idea that they can be filled with milk or Cat Chow... ppprrrrrr

Because I spent the first few months of my life on a farm, Yankee Farm to be exact, I have a special place in my heart for the outdoors. My bowls are textured with organic motifs: flowers, leaves, bubbles and such. My colors are mostly in the cool range: blues, greens with a splash of yellow for sunlight!

So I'm working hard on getting these bowls uploaded to my etsy shop. So keep your eyes peeled for the launch... I have to go now. The moon is rising.