Finally able to move on

Recently we took a break from the job of calking the exterior trim around all of our windows to spend a lovely morning wandering around under the trees looking at art.
We went to this 30-year-old art festival (click here) for the first time when we were still in the planning stage of our house. I remember having a hard time restraining Kim "walls first, then art" , so was a little apprehensive this time, since we now have walls but also a very tight budget.

I did plan to treat myself if I could find a replacement for my favourite bowl...

that my Mom gave me a number of years ago and that I use constantly in spite of the fact that it had been smashed into about 7 pieces and glued back together.
(Thank you Elmer's Glass & Ceramic Glue - where have you been all my life? If I'd found you sooner you could have saved me a lot of heart-ache, well at least some treasured ceramic pieces)
I've been using my bowl in this state for almost 2 years now and it's held up through regular use & trips through the dishwasher (that glue is truly amazing).
Because it's the perfect size & shape for many things I've been so fixated on finding the perfect replacement that I haven't been able to consider buying anything else. I've passed over many lovely ceramic pieces because "can't buy anything until I replace that bowl". So many came close but just weren't the right roundness & size. And I had to love it, and it couldn't be expensive.

At the art festival I found this one, almost the exact size. A bit of a departure for me colourwise but I was seduced by that black section where all the glazes overlap and there are little specks that you'd swear were 3-D bubbles.

NOW I can look at other ceramics again.

Maybe some smaller bowls, or a little platter, or maybe I'll find that french butter dish that was made for me. I know it's out there, somewhere.


As for 2-D art, as we walked through the show talking about the various works we liked, Kim would occaisionally say "so far so good". Meaning he hadn't seen anything yet that we couldn't afford that he HAD to have.

We made it safely throught the entire show until on our way out we walked past some encaustic work that I'd admired earlier but assumed was too rich for our budget. As I was taking another longing look I noticed the price tag on one small piece, gasped and called Kim over.
"Do you like it? LOOK at the price!"
"Oh, I do like it. OH! grab it."

We're now the proud owners of 'Pears' By Aline Davies. It's an image transfer surrounded by heavily textured encaustic wax.

Which got me thinking: you can put image transfers on polymer clay; you can put polymer clay on canvas. Hmmm, might be a concept worth exploring - once I get my studio operational again.