still life saturday with casa de perrin

Please click on each image to experience the full frame photo and photo credit.

Casa de Perrin is a boutique rental company located in Los Angeles, CA. Click here for full information.

gleena on 100 Layer Cake, photography by Tory Williams

on the right: boat vase

roomy tea bowl

on the left: anemone place setting. on the right: numbered goblet

on the left: boat vase, numbered goblet, ivy leaf place setting, small organic bowl, votive. on the right: petal bowls set

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photography by Tory Williams, flowers by Rachel Mercier

serving set by the sea

gleena vases on beehive style

I love the updated design of Beehive Style, so fresh and clean and bright. Please visit gleena’s page, where you will find many lovely vases. Click here.

animal spirit guide

Last night while walking Berrie, I saw a giant shape swoop down about a hundred feet away from me. The bird landed across the street on a low branch, with its spotted back turned toward me. A hawk, I thought, and slowly walked over to take a closer look.

The creature’s head turned, almost 180 degrees, to look at me. I gasped as I saw two saucer eyes, a tiny beak, and a round feathery face. An owl. I almost burst into tears, it was so beautiful. I have never seen one so large before, nor so close. Berrie started to get excited, so the owl opened up its impressive wings and flew to a higher location. I could almost feel the wind on my face as it took off. I stood for five minutes watching it sharpen its beak on a branch. It would look up once in a while to stare at me. Mesmerizing.

I searched around for "Owls on the East Side of Providence" and found this photo by Peter Green, the Great Horned Owl:

It was dark, so I can’t be completely sure, but it looks like my friend.

How appropriate that one of my favorite items in the gleena wee tea cup collection is the O is for owl cup:

some days just need a chocolate and roasted beet pudding cake boost, with photos by aran goyaga of cannelle et vanille

It is a gray, rainy Saturday in Providence, I’ve had a really long week, with a few sleepless nights, and I have to go into the studio to do work. I am having a hard time leaving the coziness of my apartment, and the coziness of watching my dog sleep all curled up in that very Berrie way she has. So instead of motivating, I am looking at Pinterest gleena search results. How very self-absorbed of me.

I knew I was doing the right thing... I found this by Aran Goyoaga, one of my favorite people, who immediately makes me feel better with her scrumptious recipes (gluten-free!):

Seeing my work (the spouted numbered bowl, and the butterfly platter) in Aran’s photographs motivates me to get to the studio to make more gleena. Even on a weekend. Off I go. Any second now.

Now who can I get to make me some of these chocolate and roasted beet pudding cakes?

ocean waves, a custom table setting created for a couple who love to surf

lucky 13

I started gleena ceramics as my full time business in October 2008, yep, exactly when the economy tanked. I’m not sure what made me quit my full time job as an art director at that particular time, when everyone was getting laid off in the publishing world where I had lived for the past fifteen years. Perhaps I wanted to dictate the terms of my leaving, as opposed to being handed the pink slip.

For the first two years, I couldn’t support myself exclusively by making ceramics, I still freelanced for magazines. And then came a time when I could pay the bills with just the gleena pieces that I made. Barely. The past two years have been years of scraping by, working every day, including Sundays. It has not been easy, and I questioned if I was making the right decision by sticking with ceramics.

I made a lot of mistakes. A lot of mistakes. At times I felt like I was blindly fumbling forward in the dark, but forward I was moving. And I learned. And then I made more mistakes, and learned some more. And then I realized how proud I was of the wisdom and self knowledge that I gained from all the blind fumbling. I am proud that I moved forward, even though there were times when I was really scared.

This past holiday season was wonderful. It felt like all the hard work I put in over the past four years is finally paying off. And 2013 is looking easier. I am encouraged by the glimmers of an improving economy. I have a ton of new ideas, and some nice big projects in the works. I feel like there is solid ground under my feet at last. I know there will be stumbling moments in the years to come, but I feel prepared, and ready to face the challenges.

Thank you to all the stores, galleries, customers, readers, fellow artists, friends, and family that have supported me and my business for the past few years. I would not still be here without you. I wish you all the best for this coming year.