Have A Beautiful Weekend

For many years we have spent the first week of August at the base of Mt. Sunapee in Newbury, NH, at the League of NH Craftsmen's Fair. While there, we always missed prime vegetable and flower garden time here at home. Last year we took a break, stayed home, and enjoyed our garden. This year, since we are in the midst of a pandemic, we get to participate in the fair AND stay home and enjoy our garden. 

Life has certainly changed since March. 

The fair started this morning and runs for nine days. Take a look at the fine craftsmen that are participating. Click through the site and watch some demos and take a tour through the Art, Craft, and Design exhibition (it's always fantastic!).

https://nhcrafts.org/virtual-craftsmens-fair/

Piedmont Craftsmen Virtual Show - July 25, 2020

Potters are good at being creative, especially during a pandemic. In person shows and exhibitions have been cancelled through the end of the year. We don't do many shows but do enjoy the one or two we do each year. We are juried members of Piedmont Craftsmen and we will participate in their first online show happening on Saturday. The show is on a really cool format where you can actually video chat with the artists during the show! We hope to see you there.

Here are the details:

Piedmont Craftsmen is excited to present our first ever Virtual Fair on Saturday, July 25 from 4:00 to 7:00 pm EDT!

Join us and more than 30 of our Exhibiting Member Artists taking part in this live virtual event. Shoppers and visitors will be able to interact with each Craft Artist face-to-face from their studios, through easily accessible chat rooms via our Virtual Fair platform.

To visit the Virtual Fair, all you need is a smart phone, tablet, or computer with an internet connection. Click on the link to pre-register: https://my.boothcentral.com/v/events/piedmont-craftsmen-virtual-summer-fair Enter your name and email address, and we’ll send you reminders as the event approaches. This event is free to attend.

The Happy Place!

I am starting an online watercolor class this weekend! It's another course on the Teachables platform, with The Happy Ever Crafter. I really enjoyed the modern calligraphy course so when I learned about this one decided to sign up. I had a few watercolors missing from my collection so I went online and ordered them along with a few other items I needed. Shipping has been absolutely crazy lately. This order originated in Kernersville, NC, then went to USPS in Greensboro, NC, where it sat for 5 days! Finally, it arrived in Seagrove seven days later. I was getting worried that I wasn't going to get my paint in time for the start of the class.

Last week I experimented with creating watercolor backgrounds using plastic wrap.

It was a fun process with some interesting results.

I doodled over this background with a combination of colored pencil and water color pencils. Not sure about the end result. It has grown on my over time, but there are elements I am not happy with.

Part of the problem is that I am not crazy about my watercolor pencils. They are from Arteza, not the best quality. My regular colored pencils are Prismacolor professional series. I love them and have had them for 20+ years. What I do need is a blending pencil. Once I get one I will try this technique again using only the Prismacolor pencils.

I am off the spend the rest of the day glazing piggy banks and salt pigs. We have a kiln that needs to be fired!

Putting Pen and Paint to Paper

Throughout these months of isolation paper, paint, and ink have become my new best friends. I have created a lot of note cards over the last four months. My lettering still needs practice. Layouts are the hardest thing to master! There are a few obvious mistakes in the cards in the photo, but they are fine to send to family and friends. I need to purchase some good card stock, for now I am using some flimsy stuff that I have on hand. It's fine for practice work. At this point I prefer to spend my money on pens, something that I have always had a weakness for... now I have a good excuse to buy them!

Are We Winning Yet?

I am not too proud to admit that I am really struggling right now. The state of our nation with DT in the White House, combined with Covid-19, has twisted my head and heart into a knot.

North Carolina's Covid-19 case numbers have been increasing by the thousands EVERY DAY. We finally have a statewide mask order but it isn't enforced, and many ignore it. I am extremely disappointed that our local potters organization voted to move forward with a studio tour this month. I am not sure what people don't understand about the "Safer at Home" phase that we are in. Many organizations have moved their pottery tours to an online event. I have heard that the potters had very good sales. Most of the pottery shops in Seagrove are quite small. Many, ours included, can only accommodate 2-3 shoppers inside due to the half capacity limitations that are now in place. We are happy to be open online only during this time. I feel it's reckless to be promoting an in-person studio tour. Pottery is not a necessity during a pandemic. Wearing a mask and staying home is.

I fear that if my community, along with our state, can't get it's act together, I may never see my Dad in New Hampshire again. He is 93, and in a nursing home. The isolation has been very difficult for him. My daughter is in Connecticut where they have travel restrictions in place. North Carolina is one of those restricted States. I would have to quarantine for 14 days if I visited her, and she would have to quarantine 14 days if she returned from visiting me. She is a sales rep for a large veterinary pharmaceuticals company. She has worked from home since March and her company doesn't expect to send them back into the field in the foreseeable future, and even then they will have a strict protocol to follow. Connecticut has had a mask mandate since the beginning of all this. EVERYONE wears them. North Carolina has surpassed them in case numbers.

The icing on the proverbial cake came late yesterday. I went to nearby Asheboro for groceries. As I entered the store through the "one way entrance" a mask-less young woman nearly ran into me exiting the store. Sadly, I recognized her as an employee at a Seagrove establishment. She obviously has total disregard for others. I grabbed a cart and headed to the produce department.

It was nearly wiped out.

No lemons to be found. No grapes. Only a couple bags of cole slaw mix and hardly any lettuce. My favorite brand of Greek yogurt based salad dressing was sold out. Luckily there were tomatoes, bananas, and onions. I am glad we are still getting lettuce and arugula from our garden! We should have plenty of green beans in a week, along with okra.
Meat was plentiful this week but canned tomatoes were picked over along with the prepared spaghetti sauces and pasta, which I don't typically buy anyway. I am beginning to think this is our new normal.
At the rate we are going it will get worse before it gets better.