Ready for spring!

Male downy woodpecker

The days have gotten longer and we have more daylight hours. What a blessing! I like the change of seasons, but like everyone else, I am all done with winter this year! But here we are again, March 25th and it's snowing in Northern Virginia!

Yet, spring is making every effort to poke its head out of its wintry burrow. Early every morning the downy woodpecker drums on the shutters outside my window, waking me to the day and, hopefully, successfully wooing a local female. The day lilies and the daffodils have poked some tentative green shoots through the leafy mulch. The old cherry tree is, once again, full of buds (albeit snow covered ones).

And I am trying new things in the studio. Now that I think that I've thoroughly explored carving my pots, I'm looking at bringing more texture to thrown pots, maybe even by carving out chunks off a thrown pot, texturing it and replacing it. I'm also working w/ dark clay.

Working in dark clay

Cups w/ added texture