Vacation Ends

My husband and I have been on vacation for the past week. Not traveling, but not going to our day jobs which is how any good vacation begins anyway. Even though we didn't go to work each morning, we spent the time working really hard on other things. I delivered pottery to Clover Gallery in Harmony and then spent most of the rest of the week at our studio (Old Crow Studio) in southeastern Minnesota.

Early in the week we sealed the concrete slab in the kiln shed, which sounds pretty harmless. But I managed to get the sealer on my sandals, so rocks stuck to them and then got the sealer between my toes and the sandals so my feet were stuck to the sandals. Sometimes I forget not everything is as easy to wash off as clay. My toes still shine!

After that fun, we painted the studio. When we'd built it several years ago, the beige paint color we'd chosen was nearly identical to the primer that came on the siding so we could hardly tell where we'd painted. Now the paint and primer have aged and faded in the sun and you could see all the places we didn't paint or have good coverage. So this time we chose a very different color. It was a lot of work, but I really like it. Of course this involved me getting paint on my toes and sandals (and just about everything else) again. Fortunately, that was the extent of complicated work for the week. Then it was throwing some pots, picking berries for jelly and breakfast at the Highland Store. We had a bumper crop of wild black raspberries this year. I could have picked for days, but one family can only eat so much jelly.

Tomorrow it's back to the day jobs again to earn some cash.

Be well.

Creative Networking

I'm an avid creative networker. I love to talk to other creative people. Their works inspire me and I love exploring the creative choices they make in the pursuit of their craft/art.

In that light, I’d like to introduce you to a friend of mine. This is Carla Thompson and she operates Barefoot Studio, a pleasantly imperfect art studio, in the nearby city of Northfield, Minnesota.

Barefoot Studio is a working studio where Carla creates fabulous, funky and whimsical paintings on everything from walls to cupboard doors and scraps of lumber. The space is filled with completed paintings of every size and shape and as well as many works in progress. In addition to creating and selling her own items at Barefoot Studio, Carla frequently features and promotes other local artists by displaying and selling their work for limited periods.

Carla uses the area near the shops front door as a work area taking advantages of light from the windows and the opportunity to greet everyone who enters. She has a great sense of humor which you know immediately from her store’s front window and the 6’ x 8’ chalk board on the wall in the shop. The opportunity to sit and knit a few rows on her “Worlds Longest Scarf” project just adds to the fun in this ever changing studio.

But what I find most intriguing about Carla’s studio is the creative inspiration you feel the moment you walk in the door. I love visiting Barefoot Studio to chat with Carla and check out what the other artists in her studio are offering. I’m a tactile person and at Barefoot, I can pick things up, flip them over, feel their texture and weight, all the while having a pleasant conversation and laughing with Carla and other store patrons. Visiting pleases my senses and my desire for creative, inspirational interaction. If there were food, I might never leave.

Stop by and say “hi” to Carla, she’s a great artist and has created a welcoming place of creative energy. Daily studio hours are posted on her web site as well as on a sign near her door.