baby sleep and baby teeth

Ivy and I had a bit of a rough morning. She didn't want to follow her usual morning nap routine and got very cranky. I finally got her to nap by 1pm and we had to abandon our plans to go to the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) to see the Picasso show. I had lovely visions of Ivy napping in the stroller while I sipped an Americano in the cafe on the 5th floor contemporary gallery, looking out over Grange Park and downtown. Phooey. A clingy, crying baby is SO EXHAUSTING! My brain and eyes are sore and my head is feeling the approaching thunder storm. I'm hoping the skies open up tonight and Joe and I will sit on the front porch with some wine and watch the rain.

(The pillowcase in the photo above features a print of Toronto's CN Tower breaking apart by my friend Jennifer Castle.)

I came across this image today on Pinterest of a child's skull with both the baby and adult sets of teeth. Just looking at those humungo teeth hovering up in the jaw brings me back to the pain of my wisdom teeth trying to grow horizontally in my jaw. I would dream of teeth all night long and have a painful, clenched jaw when I woke up.

Ivy's bottom teeth poked through when she was about 8 weeks ago. The drool-fest hasn't started again yet to signal the impending arrival of her two top front teeth.

bye 4 now

drooling over these ssssssuculent succulents

I spied this photo on Pinterest tonight. Can you believe how big these succulents are?  I love how sculptural they are, their weightiness. I have never seen anything like this in my life. Then again, living in Canada our succulents die off in the fall and regrow every spring, so they stay fairly small. It didn't occur to me that they could keep growing endlessly!  Gorgeous!

This photo is from the website of a succulent farm in California called Succulent Gardens. They grow over 400 varieties of succulents!

Succulent Gardens sells these succulent wall hanging kits for DIRT CHEAP. For a 12x12 kit that comes with the frame and over 100 cuttings, it's only $106. Whaaaat?   Crazy cheap, eh?  I have to do my research about how well these bad boys will overwinter inside the house.

Here's a gorgeous succulent wall selling on Etsy for $500

This next one is a little weirdo...

Succulent dog made by floral artist Holly Vesecky for the grand re-opening gala for Los Angeles County's Natural History Museum's Beaux Arts Building. 

bye for now...

losing my sh*t over these ceramics

I've been making/learning/doing ceramics for the past couple of years at Central Tech high school's adult night program. The school has an amazing ceramics studio with a huge and wicked high fire gas-powered kiln and great 70s glazes.  The classes are more like a 3-hour open studio. Amazing for me because I love to tune out and work with my hands. 

I have only been hand-building up until recently. If you don't know ceramics, you either work on a wheel or you don't, and when you're not using a pottery wheel that's called hand-building. I've literally got boxes of hand-built ceramics I've made, a lot of it OK and some of it I really like. I'm making a vow right now to post some photos of my ceramic work this week!

I've dedicated the 9-week session I'm currently doing to learning how to throw on the wheel. Damn, is it challenging. But, I love how messy it can be (think the scene from Ghost) and how much concentration it requires. No idle chit chat with the other students (who almost all happen to be 70 year old ladies!).  I've decided to let go and not focus on producing actual work and just concentrate on technique and learning. I find the physicality of throwing and the intense concentration required to be very relaxing in a way, especially after a baby-oriented day.

Back to the topic of this post. (I sure as heck am not losing my sh*t over my own ceramics. haha)

Tonight I stumbled upon the Vitrified Studios shop on Etsy. WOWZERS. I am in love. Such simple shapes, contrast between flat and glossy surfaces and beautiful repetition. 

Nesting tray set made from black clay. The exterior is unglazed and the interior has a glossy black glaze.
These would look great with succulent arrangements.

black clay jars with cork stoppers.

Porcelein jars, again with the mix of flat and glossy glazes.

This series is beautiful. The mix of dark clay and glossy white interior is blowing my mind. 

Bye for now. I'm going to go in a corner to pout because I am so jealous.