I love planning events. I'm sure many of you know this about me. Yes, there are also many of you that don't know this but are just as quickly finding it out. I like to find new and unusual things for me and "the gang" to experience and every now and then I even like to bring back an oldie but goody. This time I was bringing back an oldie.
Back in the day, way, way back in the day, my mom used to take my brother and I to ceramics class. I don't remember too much of the details but from what I do recall I know it was definitely much different than the way things are now. For starters, it was in a house. Uh oh, wait. The basement. I think it was in the basement. Isn't this how horror movies started? Interesting. I'll have to revisit this later.
I don't know how long we went for but I know it was a pretty happening gig - all the neighborhood kids were going. The only thing I remember making was a cupcake. My mom still has it. It's sitting on her dresser. She refuses to get rid of it even though I gave her my blessing. It has a pink bottom, chocolate frosting and a cherry on top. I think it even might have sprinkles. Or does is have strawberry frosting and a brown bottom? Damn that memory. Well, you can see where my artistic talents stretched. I had fun. I liked to paint that cupcake. It was cute. I knew I was not an artiste. But hey, I was okay with that. I still am. Which is why I decided a few weeks ago it was time to revisit ceramics class. That's right. I was bringing pottery back.
I knew Mike would be in. He's usually up for all of my plans and adventures. I found my other willing participant - Mellissa "2 L's" - and we were ready to go. Well, technically we did have two others join us but as they did not partake in the artistic adventures they are not permitted to be mentioned in this blog.
Just kidding. Lyndon acted as 2 L's "artistic supervisor" and Vicki was our photographer. Every group needs those. We arrived at Color Me Mine in Rancho Bernardo and at first we didn't know what to do. There were too many choices. Two huge walls filled with ceramic just stared back at us. We stood there for 15 minutes in complete silence. We didn't know what to do.
That's when it hit me. Mike is an artist. Mike can draw. Really well. I mean, really, really well. I can not. An idea popped into my head. Well, more like a scam. What if I convince him to pick a more expensive item and instead of both of us painting, just he does and I'll have creative control? I tried to work it. He wasn't falling for it. He insisted that he wanted me to have fun too and paint. Damn. I really wanted that large funky bowl. As we kept circling the choices, 2 L's got right to work.
Apparently she had arrived with a game plan. Seriously, a game plan! All along she planned to work a dog bowl and from the moment she arrived she got busy. We finally settled on the original bedrock mugs and got to work. I decided to go with simple elegance. It looked great in my head. And then Mike started on his. We all knew we were in trouble. Especially when he busted out the pencil and started free-forming. I should have known.
Once you are finished painting, it takes another 5 days before your work is completed. We didn't know what our final projects were going to look like. Well, we all knew what Mike's was going to look like. Fabulously awesome. This is what it's like when you play with the top dogs. I knew what I was getting into. As we stepped into the studio I realized my mistake. Next time, we make sure we tell Mike ahead of time that he's doing all of our mugs. That way there's no confusion once we get there. Here is a shot of Mike's mug eating mine. Yes, I am happy with my final product. It does look much better than it did when I left the studio. But then I look at that fish. Some people just get all the talent.
For an alternate ending and for different pictures, go to my other blog at:
If you'd like to check out your own ceramics skills visit www.colormemine.com
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