–birthday

Happy 1st Birthday to Ramona Paloma!

The actual date may be slippery, but Tracy and I like to say it all began in January 2010 when we latched on to 2 local studios– The Wheelhouse and the Lori Koop Studio–launching our tile-making partnership into outer space!   I think this actually means we can celebrate for the entire month of January–right?!

Is that why you’ve been so quiet recently?  You’ve been busy…celebrating?

Actually, we worked pretty hard through mid-December to push into a few deadlines, then had various warm and fuzzy Holiday and family events that kept us out of the studio until after the new year.  We also took some time to brainstorm new ideas, worked on some R and D, and made plans to take in some new ideas in the form of art shows, excursions, and specialty supply & tool stores…all to keep exercising our gray matter.   Coming back from the break, it would be so easy to continue scampering down our regular path, but as Las Presidentes of Ramona Paloma Studios, we both want the gig to stay fresh–we gotta keep those ideas jumping around on the trampoline of our minds.

We are looking forward to our first outing for the new year–a field trip to the Huntington Gardens in San Marino in early February.  Yes–a field trip!  The garden there is filled with shape, color and texture–what a profusion to absorb into our design process.

And after a year of making, we have learned so much about ourselves.  I think it’s good to step back sometimes, and see where you are and where you want to go.  The Holiday break was just that.  Tracy and I have made some great goals for ourselves for 2011 and we still LOVE what we’re doing!  We can’t wait.

A funny thing about the ceramic process though…is that the timeline of  ‘idea to finished piece’ can be 4-6 weeks.  Things we’re excited about now won’t peek out for a little over a month.   So, keep an eye out for kiln openings and new designs in the near future.

We’re looking forward to another year of creative exploration and our collaborative friendship.

Best wishes to you and…Happy New Year!