Yep. It’s been five years since my last post – though we did lose a year or two in there. I feel like I did! So much has happened during the pandemic, but just before it started I lost a close friend and last year I lost my Mother-in-law, who was also a close friend.

On the positive side, we built a home studio and got a dog!! My sweet Ella. My Instagram feed @tammyllynn is mostly of the girl!

These days I am working full time for the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) – after about 17 years of contract work for them I’m now on the staff full time. That means studio time has become very limited because of a job, not my taking on too much volunteer work, travel, and social commitments. But maybe it will be good – who knows? I think it will – I do need some discipline.

I have been in the studio all weekend while my husband and Ella have been down in Santa Fe and it’s been complicated but great. My body is hurting from not being used to standing all day (I prefer to stand when I work), but I’m remembering how important it is to just show up. I walked in feeling stuck and unfocused but the longer I worked, the more I fell into my groove. Oh yeah, I remember that feeling!

The other thing is I need to relearn how to use WordPress – of course it’s evolved since I was posting with more regularity – so this will be a slow process. My posts might look a little clunky for a while until I figure this out but better to get something on here – right?

Coming up – I am participating in a little artist showcase at the Old Oak Coffeehouse in Niwot, Colorado on the 17th of September. It’s really exciting because it’s the first time ever I get to show with my friend Jonathan Machen!

My work will be a little different (of course – I am always changing it up, as you know!), and I’m experimenting with some new ideas. I was in Spain in April, so my work focuses on tapas! Images coming soon!

BTW – I will be donating 20% of my sales on September 17 to Planned Parenthood!

So we are relaxing with our friends Marios and Maria in Cyprus at their beautiful beach house. Since I have not had consistent WiFi until here I have not been able to post… so that means I  eventually will have to go back in time and start from the beginning post by post.  This should be fun because I will get to live it over again. But for now I’m here at Konnos Bay.  The water is a magical color of blue that my phone will never be able to deliver. I haven’t taken many pictures yet but here is one taken around 2pm white on a walk to the market:

 

 

Here is the view from our bedroom:

Last night we went to a a traditional Cypriot Taverna in Soltira called Ploumin.  There we had a traditional mezedes dinner … or what Patrick calls “death by a thousand tiny dishes”.   We started with some pickled items, bread, salad and quail eggs  The dips are tzaziki and tahina:

Anyway, as usual, we got so busy eating, talking and drinking Cypriot wine and I forgot to take any more pictures but there was 20 more dishes that came out  – souvlaki, keftedes, grilled halloumi, eggplant, grilled chicken and many items that I cannot pronounce or figure out how to write.

Well we are off to do some snorkeling so I will write more later…

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Well I just remembered that I can post from my phone… Only a week into my trip.  I find that I don’t want to sit still a moment over here…i want to walk and drink in everything I can.  And eat! I have one meal out a day and every one has been pasta.  

Right now I am having lunch at Cucina Torcicoda…a rec from the NYT. It is fantastic. I am having the special… tagliatele with porcini. Housemade pasta of course. AMAZING!
 

I love the little leather basket for the bread. 

This place is right up my alley because it has a tiny menu and serve red or white wine…one kind… the house.  At least for lunch.  They can make any cocktail and it is the same price. A glass of wine is 4euros…my pasta is 8. I’m having a glass of white and it is delicious.

Anyway… I spent the first half of the day at the Uffizi Gallery. I looked at every painting. It was wild seeing so many paintings that I studied in school.  

  Off to explore…

Ok – so I am done with school – that was a long haul.  Am I a “real” artist now?

As much as I feel such relief finishing I am also feeling a tiny bit at loose ends.  Funny – I went back to school because I wasn’t happy with my work and now that I’m done I’m not happy with my work. Really – I’m just feeling a little blocked.  Today I am going into the studio to make some triaxial blends using mason stains.  I have been using underglazes but not so happy with the flat look I get.  I’m hoping that by adding a bit of titanium to my glazes and brushing on the layers I’ll get a little more sense of depth.boring…

Ya know – I’ve always wanted to make dishware with muted colors but for some reason I end up with bright colors.  I’ve also always been interested in white.  I think I might start investigating this soon.

Priscilla was so wonderful to take some images of the newest work I dropped off at the Boulder Arts and Crafts Gallery.  This body of work is still in progress and I am experimenting with getting out of my comfort zone and playing with more color.  I’m not 100% sure how I feel about it – I’ve always been a more neutral color kind of gal – preferring to dress in blacks and greys and keeping my work more towards the quiet side.  Working with the color is scary for me but I feel it is time for me to take a few more risks.  I have always felt that working with clay is “my practice”…along the lines of yoga and meditation.  So here is some results of the latest to emerge.

So – I have made the switch to porcelain and have been working hard in the studio getting to know it better. I forgot about the importance of drying it slowly – my first round of bowls had quite a bit of cracking – ugh! I have the first round in the bisque kiln as I write…

I really need to update this site but it’s hard to get myself to sit down at the computer and just do it.  I have had a crazy busy last 6 months (more like 6 years)  and no matter what, the days are never long enough.  All I want to do is be in the studio making but there are the actual paycheck related jobs, family and friends and …well…you know how it goes.

I have been working in the studio  making new work which I have been selling at The Corner Studio in Lyons, Co , pARTiculars in Lafayette, Co and at the Boulder Arts and Crafts Gallery in Boulder, Co.

I have extremely successful Boulder Potters Guild Sales last fall and this Spring – I am just so grateful for all the support!

I am also working with Trish Kurnik and her new gluten-free baking biz – New Beat Foods.  We’ll be at the Boulder Farmers Market on Saturdays and you can also find our crackers at Cured on Pearl Street in Boulder.

Anyway, just a quick update.  Pictures of my new work to follow…