From June 2018

“Moths Trying To Escape The Snow,” pen and ink by Bea Garth, copyright 2018

Who can explain the vicissitudes of the imagination? Moths Trying To Escape The Snow pen and ink 2018_FotorxMy husband and his band members of CLIMATE STRANGE were playing their piece “Crystal Acrobat.” It was about looking out the window at the snow. I was drawing, enjoying their music, and out came this piece–notwithstanding the fact it is a hot day in the middle of June here in the Pacific Northwest!

Well maybe I was also feeling a little sad, which I think does come through in this drawing. Reason being I was feeling that way is that  James, the lead guitarist, is about to move back to San Jose. I will be very sorry to see him go since he truly ads a lot to the band, plus he is a really nice guy. He will be hard to replace since all their music is completely original. To hear some snyps of their amazing music, go to their website at https://climatestrange.org/music-2/

I often think of my pen and ink drawings as “warm ups.” Although in this case, I believe it is probably the finished piece.

“Petting the Cat,” by Bea Garth; will soon finally have a kiln I can use! and fire pieces like this as well as sculpture and wall plaques…

I have got some great news.

"Petting the Cat," ceramic vase by Bea Garth, copyright 2017
“Petting the Cat,” ceramic vase by Bea Garth, copyright 2017

Looks like I will be getting a used but good condition 818 P kiln on Sunday.

This means we finally can finally install a kiln here since it will use only half the electrical load of most other electric kilns. This is important since we simply don’t have a large enough electrical box to support having a large kiln unless we change to having a gas stove etc. Which at this point would be very expensive since we’d have to put in new piping into the kitchen and the laundry downstairs, plus of course get new appliances.

I still plan on converting my old larger electrical kiln to propane, but it will be nice to have a working electric kiln too. I had an 818 P years ago and loved it. Apparently I can make it taller too by stacking an extra row of soft brick . It won’t fire as hot that way, however it will be plenty hot enough since I plan to stick with low fire.

I am really jazzed about this since I love the freedom of working with clay–plus find it to be incredibly healing. Which is just what the doctor ordered so to speak given the fact I have had a lot of health challenges this last couple of years.

Here’s a piece on the right that I made last summer still waiting to get fired called “Petting the Cat.” So yes I am pretty excited at this wonderful find (i.e., re the lower voltage electric kiln)!

Still thinking we should build a small kiln shed outside the garage however to avoid fumes of course. But its very do-able given my background working on houses…