Monday Nights...

I am stuck at home tonight.... my annual sinus infection has decided to come early this spring... maybe that means that we will have an early return to warm weather!?! I usually spend my Monday nights down in a local pottery studio. For the last 6ish years I have been making a mess and occasionally some pots. I love my two hours down there every week. I feel that it is just therapeutic to get messy... listen to fun music... and simply create. No agenda... no clue... just chating with friends and being surprised by what turns out (and by what does not turn out). I never take my camera... the clay would just love to get into my lenses... but I did think to take a photo of some of my latest work with my phone...







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Happy Birthday - Irish Rain!

This week marks our little website's 6th birthday! I can't believe that I have been updating this several times a week over the last 6 years. In fact, this is my 980th post here. I have to say that this website has really been a lot of fun over the years... and it has often given me the chance to sit back and reflect on the world around me, and to see the amazing things that are going on all around me. I want to thank all of you who drop in on the website from time to time. Your comments and feedback really keep me motivated and encouraged!


In 2009 we averaged 97 hits a day from all over the world. Here is a map showing where all you guys are coming from:




Here is a graph showing the total number of visits over the year:




Our most frequent visitor (you know who you are!) came 1346 times. This was closely followed by someone who came 1240 times!

Wow... I am feeling the love! Stay tuned... we will keep updating!




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Views from the kiln...

You might have read on here before that I do a bit of pottery (for fun) during the winter months... well, last night was probably one of the most memorable firings I have ever been to. Let me explain... Once a year a local potter has a special firing in an outdoor kiln (pronounced "kill-in" here). We wait and wait for a nice night to drag the big metal kiln outside to bake our pots and sculptures that we have been working on for a couple of weeks. The evening is usually a lot of fun as we all stand around the kiln talking and warming ourselves as it heats up to 1000C.

As I walked down to the pottery studio last night I noticed that there was a very faint rainbow out over the sea. I stopped along the way and took a couple of pictures, but they really didn't look all that spectacular. As the night progressed, however, the rainbow kept growing brighter and brighter... and longer and longer... until it was the brightest rainbow I had ever seen and it reached completely across the sky. I stood out there with my pottery friends in amazement at the beauty of this somewhat common occurrence in Ireland.... One of my friends in the class made the statement that she never gets tired of watching the sea and the weather, that they are always so amazing and magical.... I had to agree... In the end, the rainbow must have lasted an hour and half before it faded away into nothing, and we all had a fun and memorable time around the old kiln...


















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Changes to the site...

I just wanted to point out that we have been making a few changes to the ol' website. From time to time we get asked about ordering photos that we have posted on the website. Well.... (insert drum roll here)..... we have now made it possible to order cards, photos prints, canvas prints, and framed photos direct from the site. There is a link on our first page and at the top of the left sidebar. Redbubble, a professional printer in the States, does a wonderful job at printing the photos in a very timely manner. I am still in the process of adding photos to the ordering database, so just send me an email if you would like a print that is not currently on the ordering page.



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Update - the exhibition

I am getting asked about how the exhibition is going..... so I thought I would post a quick update. Thankfully all the hard work was over after the opening. Now the photos are up and hanging in the hall until the end of the month. I go in about every other day to check on things and to see if there have been any other orders for pictures. We left a quest sign in book on the table with the photo descriptions, and it has been a lot of fun to see who all has called in, and to read their comments. The exhibition is open when the library is open, and the librarian takes care of putting a little freestanding sign out (that declares "art exhibition open <-----") on the main road. I have really enjoyed having the photo exhibition on. I think that I will do it again... but much later!

Thank you to everyone that has been asking! I really appreciate your interest!

Opening the exhibition...

Well.... the dust is starting to settle... and I finally have a chance to update the website.

I did not really know what to expect going into the exhibition. I really did not know how many people might come to the opening... I didn't know how many pictures I would be able to hang in the hall.... I didn't know how the lighting would look (we couldn't set up too far in advance)...

Thankfully we had some great friends who pitched in and helped with the food and with setting everything up. I really had no idea how much would have to go into actually holding the opening, and I know that we could not have done it on our own. The setup went really smoothly, and I even had a chance to take a bit of a nap before the evening festivities.

The opening took place from 7 to 9 on Friday night... and believe it or not people starting coming right at 7 and didn't leave until 9:30! People made their way around the photos, and then hung around to chat and enjoy some of the food. There was always a good crowd in the hall, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I loved being able to hang out with everyone and have a chance to share about our time in the states. We were really happy that so many people braved the ice, snow and cold to come out and join us on the evening! It really was a lot of fun!

Here are a few pics from the night:





























Special thanks to M (the librarian) and P for translating the photo descriptions... to L and I for help with the food and set up... and to S and J for helping with the setup and for taking photos during the opening.

Photos in the exhibition...

Here are a few pics of some of the 57 photos in the exhibition...


















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T - 10hours

We are really at the finish line now... the only thing left to do...

- decide on final picture list
- finish mounting the pictures
- hang the pictures
- finish setting up the room
- finish food prep
- translate descriptions into Irish
- make price lists
- change and get ready for tonight
- hopefully get a nap in!

Dee took a few "before" pictures yesterday evening while we were setting up some lights... hope to give some updates during the day... I had no idea that this was going to be so much work... hope someone actually comes to it!

Counting Down...

Well... we only have a couple of days left now... I am looking forward to the exhibition's opening on Friday...... but I am not looking forward to setting it up. We can't really get in to set up until Friday morning, and I fear that we are going to be running around like crazy all of that day. I know that is just my tendency to worry... but I kinda feel like a kid who has a big exam coming up and knows that he should be studying... but doesn't (not that that was ever me... well... actually it was always me).

Over the weekend we worked to narrow down the photos to the select few to display. I had a horrible time doing this. It is like picking a favorite child. Thankfully - Dee was very objective and would quickly say - yes or no - to the photos that I held up. We still don't know exactly how many we can display... I don't think that we will know that for sure until Friday morning. We are going to go in tomorrow and actually measure the room and try and figure out a guess at how many we will hang. I'll post more soon... right now I have to go down to the local photo shop and get some more of the pictures printed out.


Oh.... and happy first day of Spring!!!!!! yep.. in Ireland today is the first day of spring!!!! I can't say that enough!!!


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Two weeks and counting

Ok... our photo exhibition is going to be two weeks from today. We still have a TON of planning to do! I have put together a few posters that I am getting printed today. I plan on posting them up in a couple of places around town tomorrow ( i hope). Here is a quick sample.


















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Happy Birthday - Irish Rain!

Don't know if you have noticed... but we have passed a big milestone around the ol' website.


This month marks the 5th anniversary of our Irish Rain website! I can't believe that I have kept this going for SO long!

Over the past 5 years the website has had over 34,000 visits! Who are you people?

Over the past year we have had visitors from all over the world. Here is a map that shows all of the visitors locations in 2008:





This last year we had an average of 100 visits per day:






Thank you to everyone who drops in from time to time... and especially those of you that check on us every day! I can't tell you how much we appreciate you coming by the website! Stay tuned... I'll keep posting!




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Taking the plunge...

Well............. I can't believe that we are going to do it.... but we are!


(insert drum roll here.......)


In just under three weeks - we are going to hold our first public photo exhibition!


Wow... that is a scary thought! Our local library has a very large multipurpose room that is used for just about anything/everything. It is a courtroom (once a month)... a reading room... a concert hall... and even an art gallery. So... before I left to go back to the states I reserved this room for the month of February (yes - I picked the shortest month!). My plan is to hang/display photos that we took while in the States. We will have an opening on Friday the 6th of February 7pm to 9pm and then the photos will hang (and the room will be open to the public) for the rest of the month.

I went in to reconfirm that we do indeed have the room, and just talking about the details made me nervous. I don't really know why... but it does make me a bit nervous to have strangers and friends come look at my photos while I am still standing there...... But I also think that I need/want some push to evolve and... a reason to take more pictures. There is just something about being able to share what I see, and I think that it will be great to share our experiences in the states with our friends here.

So... there you have it... more details later...

Oh... and I have changed the timer on the top of the page to countdown to the show...



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Pottery

I was really sad for my pottery course to come to an end for the summer. I always look forward to my weekly time to play in the mud. I think that there is something therapeutic about hanging out with friends.... listening to good music... and making a muddy mess!


We ended the year with a special outdoor firing. We worked for weeks preparing our sculptures and pots with a special crank clay and eventually had a nice calm night to fire everything. My instructor ( a local potter) has built a special outdoor kiln that heats the pottery very quickly to a very hot temperature. After the pots reach 1000 degrees Celsius we open the kiln. All of the pottery were still glowing bright red when we fished out and quickly put each pot into a rubbish bin full of sawdust. The sawdust instantly caught fire and made an awesome display! After all the pottery was put into the bin we covered it with it's lid. The rapid cooling and lack of oxygen made the potter's glaze crackle. The end result was amazing.










Here are a few of the things I made this year.

It is that time of year again...

Each summer loads of fishermen descend upon this little island with the hopes of catching Ireland's famous trout and salmon. The only problem is that in modern Ireland nothing is free. All lakes and rivers are privately owned/controlled. The best spots to fish always cost the most... and their is usually a waiting list to get a spot. There is a river near where we live that has a waiting list a year long! In honor of this season here are a few pics!











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