January 2 . 1/2/11. Forty percent chance of showers translates into sixty percent chance of playing tennis this morning. But looking out the door makes the chances seem quite a bit slimmer. Like zero. Guess I’ll head over to the courts looking for a miracle. Day 1 of New Years resolution to each oatmeal in the morning instead of buttered toast. Conveniently, it the oatmeal and the stove top espresso are ready to serve at more or less the same time. So here I am munching on oatmeal, sipping on coffee, wondering what sort of comments I can make on my life as an artist. My favorite small bowl (the one I’m eating from) is like a large teabowl, thrown from porcelain clay and fired with a glaze created by the great Japanese potter Shoji Hamada. A rich iron saturated glaze, it goes black or brown depending on the thickness of the application. I once found my self wandering around a museum with a vast exhibition of potters. I came upon a body of work which intrigued me to the point that I lost all awareness of myself and my whereabouts. I was just very interested in the work, which was essentially simple but executed with complete honesty and confidence. When I came to my senses about twenty minutes later and looked for the name of the artist: It was Hamada. Of course! I never aspired to emulate his work but occasionally I find some quality about one of my bowls that I might find in his and I like that.
New Years day open house was great! Missed some folks who have come in the past and was happy to greet some folks who had never been by before. Ate too much, but mostly “good luck” vegetables. We got the house all cleaned up and the dishes washed and I was in bed asleep by 9:00 PM. Reading the Magnolia script.
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