Black Mission Figs

The figs are finally getting ripe. I wait all year for this. I love to sit under the tree and eat. I love figs so much that I planted three more trees.

Steve and Deb

Steve and Deb stopped by to pick some more of my mugs for their bed and breakfast www.undertheeaves.com and while they were here, Steve talked Deb into buying this newly made sculpture. If you come this way, stay at their B and B. It's in Springdale. They're a good time.

Apricot in season

This tree was here when we moved in six years ago. It was tiny then and produced a few apricots. This year we had a bumper crop. Our plans were to make jam, but when the family stands beneath the tree and enjoys fresh fruit, there aren't enough left over for jams and preserves. Maybe next year. As we finish the apricots, the figs are now just getting ripe.

Zion National Park

The landscape is why we moved here. This is a mile round trip hike on the Canyon Overlook Trail in the park. Brynn complained the entire time that she hated hiking, but she enjoyed the ice cream cone after.

my hand made tiles in context

Chuck and Anna(previous post) invited us to a party to show us how they used our tiles. Concrete counter top with my tiles embedded. We don't get to see them in context very often. So this was party was appreciated. To buy tiles like this, go to www.toquervilleclay.com

bike builder

Jon, Delena and Noelle stopped by to purchase a few dishes. www.sabrosacycles.blogspot.com. He's a civil engineer in Arizona but his love is building bikes. They were curious about what it took for us to abandon the main stream life and do what we love. I didn't have any real answers except that there aren't enough people following their passion in life. He loves bikes and so does she. There's a bike culture out there that I'm familiar with on a cursory level, they live and breath it. From what I read on his blog, he approaches the craft of bike building like I do with pots, love the material, keep your artistic/bike building integrity and do it because you love it. Figure out the money later. That's his bike that he made in the truck. I like it when people like this visit me. The arts bring interesting and smart people into our lives

New and Used

This is the actual show. I think it was well received, at least Ben and I had positive feed back. There were a few people that wanted to censor the show. They thought that my work was too dark and would offend the children. The Glassworks Gallery director disagreed and let the show stand. My work isn't intended to be taken literal. In a way, it's self referential. As my friend Steve Olpin says(http://www.ranchexit.blogspot.com/), "that's you on those bricks".

The sculptures can be viewed in detail below.