Paradise city- An insider's view of an artists prep

I have never been this organized for Paradise City before and I know the trick: accountability. Yup, I know that my good friend Jeff, who is going to be helping with the big things, has somewhere to be in the afternoon- so he is going to show up here tomorrow morning at 7:30 and I need to be ready to roll. So my car is just about packed and all the details are in good shape.... almost.

Nothing like a deadline that involves being responsible to another person!

The other thing that has been a little different is giving myself a bit longer to focus on organization and taking better care of myself along the way.  Like giving myself permission to take breaks- real breaks- like an afternoon at the local lake beach when it was just too hot to think.

I definitely recommend some down time to keep the stress at bay when preparing for a big deadline.

I thought you might like to see a few things:

This is the newly painted and redesigned booth. So Swank!

Yes I have become a container geek- they just make me happy. Who knew I liked order so much!? Oh and yes- the final days have been so beautiful and I am deeply grateful for the space to fully set up and organize and also work inside and outside. 

These are the big new things that I have been working on- all related to a big commission that I have been working on. They are wall sculptures, intended to be installed outdoors (though indoors is fine too). I build them as singular pieces- slamming clay onto a board and pushing it around- what fun! And then cutting it into these rectilinear patterns, firing them separately and finally putting them all back together with mastic and grout. I am very excited to keep going with this, so I am hoping there will be others with a great outdoor space that need something special in it. I have to say, I love working in collaboration with a client!

I got tickled by the way they looked in parts on the board.

I am super excited that I will have this fountain - along with the bronze Persephone, out side between the food court and the second building where I will have a booth!