–fundraiser
Last Saturday night, we donated an architectural portrait of Sierra Madre School for their annual fundraiser–offered up for the silent auction.
I’m not sure if there is such a phrase as “architectural portrait”, but I like saying it… it sounds like I know what I’m talking about.
To capture this image, I used some existing photographs of the school as well as took a lot of my own to interpret the building in tile. Drawing onto bisque tile with wax does not really allow perfection and detailed rendering, but it does show the hand in the work.
Speaking of phrases…this is one of our favorite phrases these days…seeing the hand in the work. Our tile work is often about embracing the uncontrollable. There are elemental forces at work with clay, glazes, firing…and the human hand–all tend have a mind of their own.
The finished tile was mounted in a wood frame making it about 12.5 inches and ready to hang on the wall. A bit of the process is shown below.
We also got a wee bit of press from an online newspaper called the Patch. It shows some photos of the fundraiser for Sierra Madre School and our tile made the cut. We were also involved with the student-made mosaic stepping stones (shown).
–the almost festival
We had an “interesting” day at the Wisteria Festival. It was the little festival that couldn’t. The rain just kept coming and coming, punctuated by a bit of thunder and lightning.
Joined by our fellow artists early Sunday morning, we optimistically set up our awnings in the rain. We schooled ourselves in the creative use of plastic tarping, out of necessity. The storm’s personality was quite fickle–it dumped a lot of water, then the clouds would break and look like it was clearing, then back to big wet drops, then it stopped again…this went on most of the early morning. Around 10/11am, the sky opened up and it rained pretty heavy from there on. There were rumors that the police were encouraging artists and vendors to clear out in case of a mud slide. The town was on alert due to the heavy rains.
What are you gonna do?
In the long run, we were pretty happy with how our set-up and display turned out, (especially with those subtle hints of plastic sheeting). Then, upon it’s completion, we sat in our soggy chairs to admire it and took some photos. After a 5 minute respite, we began the pack job. Fortunately, Tracy and I have a very positive attitude when we’re together. We decided if we had been alone with the whole “set-up and take-down within a few hours, in the rain” gig, it may have been a lot more difficult to find the silver lining.
Instead, we were able to enjoy the irony of it all, and (most importantly) we met some very nice people. We were also visited by some delightful friends of Ramona Paloma Tile–Wendy and Todd came out in their Wellies, with bumper shoots fully engaged to see our latest. How lovely!
What a day!
–fresh pickins’ from the kiln
WARNING…corny dialogue imminent (think…Leave it to Beaver)
Tracy–Golly Jeepers, Soozee. You’ve been very chatty with the blog, lately.
Soozee–Well gosh, I sure have been Tracy.
Tracy–Why so much to say, all of a sudden?
Soozee–Gee Tracy, we’ve been trying some swell new stuff in recent weeks.
Tracy–Like what?
Soozee–Well golly, we have some swell new glaze colors, and nifty wood frames that we made with our own two hands
Tracy–Jeepers, that’s keen!
Soozee–it sure is!
Tracy–Golly Jee Willakers Soozee, whatcha waiting for? Just show the folks back home our new stuff!
Soozee–that’s a swell idea, Tracy.
–Wisteria Festival in Sierra Madre
Every year around this time, the town of Sierra Madre, California has a splendid festival celebrating the largest flowering plant in the world. This little Wisteria vine has made it into Guinness Book as well as being one of the Botanical Natural Wonders of the World.
The main intersection in town (Baldwin Ave at Sierra Madre Boulevard) overflows with food, music, and artists for the day. Go half a block east on Montecito to find us!
A new volunteer organization supporting the arts in Sierra Madre (Friends of the Arts) has reserved a large area located at 123 E. Montecito Ave as a venue to highlight local artists during the festival. Tracy and Soozee will be showing their tiles along with 30 other artists in this reserved area deemed Art Alley. We will have musicians playing most of the day, a lemonade stand and a variety of artistic expressions to fill the eye.
So come out to see new tiles from Ramona Paloma Studios at Art Alley–
located at 123 E. Montecito Ave this Sunday only, March 20 from 9am-4pm.
–release the hounds
Dogs, dogs, DOGS!
We’re pretty fond of dogs around here.
As I think I have mentioned in another part of this blog, Tracy and I have walked on about 95% of the streets within the city of Sierra Madre. Before we dive into our tile day (which features a lot of time on our rear ends, mind you) we start off with a nice hour-long jaunt with our respective canine members. This town is loaded with hills which tires out 80-pounds-worth-of-pup quite nicely, as well as keeping our butts from becoming chair-shaped, (an added bonus, I’m sure!).
Soon, every day at the studio became…”Bring your dog to work” Day.
It seems we may have been influenced by our furry fellows.
–donated finished product
Ramona Paloma Studios has donated their newly framed pieces to a fund-raiser for the Sierra Madre Library.
These pieces may be seen at:
The 41st Wine and Cuisine Tasting and Silent Auction, hosted by the Friends of the Sierra Madre Library. It will be held at the historical Alverno Villa in Sierra Madre on Friday, February 18, 2011, 7:00 – 9:00pm. All proceeds to benefit the Sierra Madre Library.
Please see below for our newly framed tiles.
–woodwork at Ramona Paloma studios?
Yes, RP Studios is venturing into handmade wood frames with a bit of personalization added in.
We have to thank our friend, Jean for this idea. After arriving home with a few newly-acquired tiles of ours–she felt like they may not stand out enough on the walls of her beautiful craftsman home with the rich woodwork everywhere. So she found lovely wood frames for the tiles to give them some….oooommpf!
It hit Tracy and I like…Eureka! Indeed, some of our pieces would lend themselves wonderfully to a warm wooden home to sit in.
We began with drawings, discussions, mock-ups etc. (see below)
That’s the interesting thing about the creative process–sometimes you’re so invested in one particular thought process, that you might miss a simple idea floating around nearby. That’s the beauty of friends–they say, ” I love that thing–can I have it this way…?” …and a new idea is born. Thanks Jean!
By the way…final product to follow tomorrow.
–half a kiln
Happy festivus to us! We recently opened up a kiln of freshly baked goodness–glazed tiles.
Just last week, we loaded up about half capacity in the cone 6 electric kiln. We are in the throes of working out a schedule for 2011 to share kiln loads, rather than fill completely with our own work–a good arrangement because it allows us to fire fewer pieces, a bit more often. Since we often dabble in new things, it gives us some useful feedback about glaze combinations, design, and the like.
I’m trying something new here. Even though the photographer (me, in this case) has had better days–the photos below show before and after of each shelf, side by side. There are definitely some cases where I like the before almost better. The glaze is still in place, where I left it. After hanging out in a hot kiln for a while, the glazes sometimes get their own opinions and float around in a different-than-expected direction. That’s the nutty side of high-fired ceramics–no guarantees–you get what you get….sort of a life lesson, you know?
I noticed a theme of animals for this load–not really intentional, but we have been exploring imagery of dogs and cats recently. Also, the bottom shelf (the top row of photos, here) had some of Tracy’s dark clay, rustic trees–loaded with visual texture.
We are busy in the studio with some new stuff–more soon.
Happy Year of the Rabbit!
–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!
–Upcoming event
We are pleased to be participating in an upcoming showcase and sale that has long been on our “to-do” list before we began making ceramic tile in earnest.
Please join us and our fellow mud slingers at
The Wheelhouse Pottery Studio
for their 2010 Holiday Ceramic Arts Sale. Saturday, December 4th from 10:00am to 4:00pm in the studio at 1831 Santa Fe Place in Monrovia, California
Good news! One of Tracy’s tiles made the postcard mailer!
(Please see postcard below). See you there.
Ramona Paloma on Instagram
Ramona Paloma On Facebook
