Ending the Year with a small Ceremony

Ending the year with a prayerful ceremony is just what I needed. I went to my friend and teacher Barbara yesterday. It was a cold -wet day, the sun just didn't want to come out, but we made a small, smokey fire ( wet wood) and started our prayer journey in the Four Directions.
With each stone we placed, with each offering, our prayers for peace, for open heartedness, for illumination to human kind , we got deeper and deeper into our words , so that they came out flowing -unthinking and right.
It felt so healing to my body and mind. It nourished my soul deeply.
When I got home I got on the couch and just needed rest. Ceremony can be exhausting :)
I hope we reached you !

Wishing you a wonderful Holiday

Raku Love

I am so excited to have finished all my Raku pottery before Christmas. Now I have many gifts to pass on. I have been working on a pot every night and find this handwork deeply soothing and grounding.
Hand-building takes a lot more time and similar to hand sewing it's pace is conducive to one's physical and mental health . In these fast times we treat ourselves well if we nurture doing things at the speed that we as humans evolved in ancient times :walking, hand sewing, hand-building, carving by hand, weaving and the list goes on. Nurture your nerves !
More on Raku here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raku_ware#cite_note-13

having way too much fun with my iphone camera apps

One more thing

You can also find me on Instagram now -gotta keep up with my daughter :  @anne_siems_art

anne_siems_art

Anne Siems

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The Year is Almost Over

The other day I was looking through almost all my posts of this year to find some passages about my art work for my art show in Portland. I really enjoyed this look back on my year and realize that this blog is a type of diary for me. Maybe one day even my daughter will enjoy it...

The last months have had so many horrible news, where do we begin. I try to know and learn enough about the issues and try the hardest where I can begin with me. Shopping as little as possible and if possible 2nd hand. Going to a ( sadly very small) rally on Saturday after Black Friday to bring awareness out about climate change.
And I am getting so much joy out of my pottery, about crafting with friends and taking pictures ( like crazy...see above) with my Hipstamatic. 
Here is some more ( chuckle):

Low brow/High brow

In an attempt to have family screen time with our almost thirteen year-old daughter,we've been getting TV series such as "Switched at Birth" and " Modern Family" from the library and watching one or two episodes in the evenings after dinner. I have been taking tools and clay home and have been making hand-built pots while I watch. It is soo relaxing !

Show Announcement

Recently, I have been paying much closer attention to my dreams. I record each dream in a notebook, and also exchange dreams in a monthly dream group. I have noticed that by paying deeper attention to the 'soulstream' of my life I am consistently getting more insights. The dreams each have their own little gift for me. At the same time, I have noticed changes in my paintings: The landscapes have disappeared to make room for more abstract color–schemes. The figures are forefront and center with attributes of rocks and crystals floating around them, as keepers of time. Working with dreams has solidified my trust in the well of my unconscious, and in the knowing that what must come forth shall make it's decisive and deliberate appearance to me.

trial and error

 

For a week I worked on a painting with a large crystal only to realize on Friday that the outcome was vastly different from what I had hoped to see...Happens not too often -luckily. I have no time for trial and error at the moment, which is not good.

Relaxed on Sunday with friends playing with clay.

Pottering

I have -for the time being -given up on throwing on the wheel. I just couldn't pull up beyond the size of an espresso cup. But I have now found deep satisfaction in hand building and carving. The two pots above are raku clay -unfired. So I am curious how they'll come out. I could spend every day making a few of those. Alas shows have to be painted, dishes to be taken out of the dishwasher, laundry to be folded...
A peek at what's going on in the studio - below - in the company of Peapa ( almost 15 ! ).

Annette's Shop

My friend Annette started making wool clothing out of  recycled sweaters in 2002 and when our girls ( 1 month apart) where babies. In Germany it is quite common to dress babies and children in wool,as it is warm, light and sheep wool is naturally anti bacterial and doesn't required a lot of washing. Anntte has had an Etsy store for several years now, but now she opened a brick and mortar store in Seattle and it is delightful !
Go visit !https://www.etsy.com/shop/BlumenKinderSeattle?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=Blumenkinder&ref=sr_gallery_2

Or at: 1130 34th Street in Madrona .