Beth and I went on another art adventure and this one lasted for months. We discovered a pottery place out in Graham called The Mad Potter and signed up for the Hand Sculpting class.
The first time we met, the instructor walked us through a lesson in making a wide mouthed fish that could be used to hold a kitchen sponge or just for fun.
Beth's fish turned out fabulously.
My fish was stressed. I had gotten to the studio late and was trying to catch up by quickly working the material. I ended up squeezing the fish right out of my clay. At some point, I decided that my creation looked much more like Cookie Monster than a fish. After searching for a few Cookie Monster images on my phone, I managed to turn the fins into something like hands and made some of the extra clay into a cookie.
In the end, he needed sponges to help hold up his mount until Cookie Monster went into the kiln.
Beth and I were impressed with how much time we got to create out of the $35 class fee. Our first session took about an hour. After that, we waited a few weeks for The Mad Potter to fire them in the kiln. Then we got another hour to paint our creations. Beth even tried out a special glaze with an 'explosion' of color speckles.
After The Mad Potter fired them for us once more, I went to pick up the fish and monster. Then we extended our adventure to a meet-up in Olympia where we photographed them in a park by the Old Capitol Building with its fantastic architecture with both dragon gargoyles and lions.
The small garden in front of the building attracted us and MANY pollinators with its blooms. We gathered a few seed pods to see if we could seed our own gardens and remember that moment.
Overall, we stretched our art adventure into three meetings and over three hours of fun of one sort or another over about two months. I don't know what will be next for us but I'm pretty sure it will be grand again.
Here are my two big lessons. I knew these things before the Fish and Cookie Monster Adventure but I do need reminding. All the time.
You don't have to spend a lot of money to have a TON of fun with a good friend and some paint and clay or whatever it is you like to make.
When things fall apart while you are making one thing, you can end up making something else just as wonderful. Even if you are late and out of sorts from the start, things can take a turn for the better. You might even love it all the more in the end.
"Cookie starts with a C. Let's think of other things that start with a C. (Pause) Ah, who cares about the other things! C is for cookie. That's good enough for me."
-Cookie Monster
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