Starving Artist Studio

That sounds like my kind of place.

This weekend, my wife and I took a detour from our regularly scheduled insanity and made a relaxing (read that as a mad dash) trip up to Virginia to visit daughter #3 and her husband. By name, this is daughter Irene. And Irene works at a place called Starving Artist Studio. And Starving Artist Studio is a place where people, as in ordinary folks like you and me, go and paint pottery.

The way the drill works is, you walk in the door, wander around looking at the raw pottery until you can decide what kind of piece you want to do. Then you paint it with all the special paints using tools that are unique to such artwork. When it all dries, they glaze it and fire it in their kiln, then you retrieve it a few days later.

It may come as a surprise to some folks that I chose to do a coffee mug. But, I assure you, this will be no ordinary coffee mug! This will be a replica of a famous flagon. I'll elaborate on that after I get the finished/fired mug back. Unless, of course, it is so profoundly embarrassing that I can't bring myself to share a picture of it.

Now I'm not going to brag, but my skills in this kind of artistic expression are probably legendary. In fact, other than one piece done by a five-year-old, I think mine was the worst I saw. It seems that everyone in the Norfolk area has steadier hands than I do. Maybe they can actually feel their fingertips. I'm thinking that would be a plus.

Meanwhile, I have included a photo of me muddling through the process. My hope is that it will encourage you to try something new and different. It really is okay if you are not all that good at it. And despite my shortcomings, I actually had a great time.

If you happen to be in the vicinity of Newport News, Virginia, you might want to check them out: Starving Artist Studio