SERPENT

Photo by Claudia Lowery, June 1, 2009

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals that the Lord God had made." Genesis 3:1 NIV

SHIFTS and SHEDS

Old storage building soon to be pottery shed.


Good area underneath table for storing clay. Table will be
covered in canvas for wedging clay.


Rick places nails in a random arrangement on a weathered
old board that will be used to hang tools.


Old metal shelf for all my supplies.

Charlotte Munoz came to help paint and also added her

artistic touch.

Charlotte loves trees and so having her add

one of her famous trees was a good idea.

I will add a few golden gingko leaves and

the words "Ginko Leaf Studio" to the outside.

It's all for fun and mostly for my eyes since

we live on a road with no outlet.

Once I got the word that one of our storage buildings could be all mine, the wheels (mental and pottery) began to turn. Here are a few prelimenary shots of my newest project...a pottery shed. More photos as it progresses. Thank you, Charlotte, for painting me a tree. I could have done it, but I really wanted her spirit to be included in this project as will be so many other artists' before it is all finished. I have a special connection to the gingko leaf, therefore the name of my little shed will be Gingko Leaf Studio. Inside will be a pottery wheel, shelves, a wedging table, room for storage and artwork all over the walls to remind me of friends and students. The electrician will be out in about a week and then a small A/C unit and I should be able to withstand anything Texas heat can deal out. I think it will be a haven.

SHIFTS

There was a shift in her-

breaking, discarding, renovating.

She began to dream

and ponder with renewed

sense of wonder her world

ajar and raw.

Claudia Lowery

MAY 2009

WONDER EVERYWHERE I TURN

gingko leaf in my yard



outside the visual arts center



iris close-up



back door gardenia, digitally enhanced



back door gardenia soaked by rain, translucent



dogwood blossoms under the eave

look closely everywhere...don't miss a thing...

RAKU WITH COPPER

I experimented with wrapping copper wire around a bowl glazed in clear and then had my clay class friends raku it for me. Very pleased with the results.

KEEP THE DREAM

Keep the dream alive—
It has a moving life
toward birth and realization
toward breathing and waking
to a sunlit path we’re walking
not certain where it leads.

Keep the dream alive—
It fulfills a deeper need
a creative spirit calling
a creature who is falling
for the art of living
for the fact of dying.

She keeps the dream alive
to remind her that she is
and shapes and molds the images
the walls and ceilings limitless
doors and windows flung wide
to welcome all inside.


Claudia Lowery
January 19, 2009

RED SKY

Just a note to say that the above photo was taken early one morning last week. It has not been enhanced in any way. This is exactly how God painted the sky. Incredible!

LUNA, LUNA

Three o'clock moon
you bared a pale shoulder
this afternoon.
Swelling or shrinking
with each highway mile,
your demure fullness
makes me smile.
Luna, Luna--
your beauty mystifies
and draws us near
like some Rubenesque siren
needing adoration.
Luna, Luna--
you are loved.

Claudia Lowery
January 8, 2009

NEW POEMS

PIGMENTS

Renaissance sky
of grey,
pale blue and yellow—
scattered clouds
of fair delight
and sun shyly
warms up the day.

Reminiscing eras
only witnessed
through recorded art—
a painter looked up
and saw
what I present see—
a stroke of paint,
pigments pale
that cover
time and space.


Claudia Lowery
December 14, 2008






TWO OBSERVING

Soars the bird
above a gray walk
and cold earth—
bound not and free
it looks down
at me—
a fixed object
of question and wonder
as I look up
and ponder
how rising upward feels.


Claudia Lowery
December 16, 2008

INCONSTANT MOON

I've tried and tried...and failed and failed....at taking a good photograph of a full moon. I need a class, an expert, a mentor to tell me where I'm going wrong. In the meantime I capture a moment of something otherwise interesting...the intensity of its brightness over I-20, the streaks of car lights, the warm glow of an approaching headlight on the road. Maybe there are better things than a perfect photo of a perfectly round moon...maybe there's a moment in time when it's just God and me looking at His creation, enjoying the beauty and wonder of it all. Maybe He doesn't want me to capture it like some wild creature that needs to struggle free. Maybe He wants to keep it fresh each and every time.
I have friends who are also taken by the captivating beauty of the moon. It fascinates me to know that even in my private moment with God, others around the world are also looking up and then inward as we are all pulled by unseen forces toward a beckoning Creator.
Shakespeare's play "Romeo and Juliet" has a famous scene...Act Two, Scene Two, where the two star-crossed lovers are declaring their love from a balcony. As Juliet asks Romeo for a promise of his eternal love, he says....

ROMEO
Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear
That tips with silver all these fruit-tree tops--

JULIET
O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.

ROMEO
What shall I swear by?

JULIET
Do not swear at all;
Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self,
Which is the god of my idolatry,
And I'll believe thee.

O, how exciting is new love as these two covenant with one another to love forever. Even Juliet knew that the moon waxes and wanes in its monthly orbit. She wanted Romeo's love to never wax or wane....and isn't that what we all want?

DECEMBER SKY

Small white crescent moon upper left corner.


Jet with contrails enters the scene.

Moon more visible now with jet contrails.

God's bounty...too much to behold...breathtaking!

Photos by Claudia Lowery December 2008

Recently I worked late and this was what greeted me as I came outside. Difficult to see, the crescent moon is in the upper left, but even more amazing is the fact that I could also see Venus and Jupiter just to the right of the moon. Unfortunately, my little camara just couldn't do the job. Then, a jet with contrails flew by and I just snapped and snapped photos as fast as possible....well, you just had to be there.