i just finished firing off a bisque, the second to last bisque i'll ever do, in this studio anyways. i'm hoping to get a glaze firing done this weekend. but of course, something always seems to come up. we have had a couple of weeks off between jobs so i had hoped to get some work(pots of course) done. i spent one of those weeks in recovery from one of the worst battles with the flu that i have ever had. i spent the second week upgrading our electrical system from an old screw in type 60 amp fuse(original to the house circa 1943) to a 200 amp circuit breaker panel. i got much of the work done before attempting to obtain the permit....but then was smited by the city inspector. it seems that since the house is in my fathers name and has not been transferred to mine i cannot obtain a homestead exemption to do work on my house. in texas if you are a homesteader(own and live in your house) you can do all the work that normally must be done by a licensed contractor(electrical, plumbing, hvac, etc.) long story short, i have to pay an electrician some exorbitant amount of money to look at the work that i already did properly, all because of a paperwork technicality. i feel as if my hands have been bound in red tape, sometimes you just gotta love the system.

i will end with this quote that scott cooper left on his blog by sculptor Stephen DeStaebler:
"Artists don't get down to work until the pain of working is exceeded by the pain of not working."

i'm feelin the pain.