I'm Baaack!

I am an addict. Given the choice of staying warm and cozy in bed and maybe reading a bit while D and J go to the grocery store for breakfast fixings (the house is 64 degrees this morning) or getting up and blogging, I chose blogging. No coffee yet, no music, nothing new written. Yet let it not be said there has been no progress--we have moved into a new phase of the book. It is a phase in which it finally feels solid and really happening. I have had my project review, they have seen the pieces and they are not cancelling the book. Was it a possibility? No. But between having now met them face to face, having them accept my work and having all the projects and half the basics text written (except the project that now has to be re-written--see below), it feels much more real to me than it did on, say, Wednesday.

I preface this next section with "It went well from my perspective". That may seem a surprising statement as I have been asked to redo almost 30% of the projects for one reason or another. But the suggestions were reasonable and they will make a better book. There is only one change which makes me vaguely uncomfortable: They want me to redo the S-Curve I did for the screen melt project (upper left) into an oval platter (same shape as the sea serpent at right). I am uncomfortable with this request as the combination of technique and shape are evocative of Steve Immerman's work. But I will strive for something different. And Steve is known for his beautiful coldworking which I will not be doing as I can't count on the readers having access to the equipment.

So what now? Well, there is a post for Stranded in the South coming up on roadtrips, small towns, and freeways in the south (I am going to treat myself on this beautiful fall day). It is a studio day, of course. Every day between now and Thanksgiving is a studio day. I need to wash and dry all the circles and sort them by size (I know I have been saying that for days, but today I really have to do it). I will also redo one of the book projects, put in a fuse load for the Art Institute and Uncommon Goods, and maybe, just maybe, I will put another box in the little kiln.