New Work – Guess the Title

porcelain covered box

Hand-built porcelain covered box with slip transfers (green), 6″ x 4.5″ x 4.5″

porcelain covered box 2

Alt view of porcelain covered box

Last week, I had to sign a permission slip for my 10 year old daughter to attend “Family Life” classes at her elementary school in Denver. I don’t have any problems with the class, but I am curious about what they are going to learn. I’m an open book as far as that topic is concerned and I don’t want my daughter to be embarrassed to talk with me when changes start happening to her body and puberty kicks in full force.

I vaguely remember attending a similar class in 6th grade back in Hamden, Connecticut (near New Haven, home to Yale). The boys got to go play four square, while the girls were holed up in a room watching a grainy black and white reel to reel film that invariably needed adjustment during the show. In retrospect, it was good timing. Hamden was where I first introduced to the game “Spin the Bottle” and “Truth or Dare”. The year was 1978 and my family lived in a ethnically mixed neighborhood where I was the whitest girl around – my nick name was “Casper”. Somehow, I managed to make lots of friends, was asked to “go” with a boy named David, and was slowly becoming aware that boys and girls were sometimes more than just friends. BTW, between Parker Stevenson and Shaun Cassidy – I was in the Parker camp and I had a huge crush on Leif Garrett.

Tiger Beat idol crushes aside, this was going through my mind when I started making the imagery for this piece. Oh my – my daughter is growing up and I keenly remember how awkward this stage is going to be for her. Can you guess what this covered box is titled?

I used the slip transfer method to create the imagery for the box and hand-built it using stiff slabs of porcelain. I have 2 smaller ones in the works right now that are drying. Instead of doing the slip transfer method, I’m going to paint directly on these 2 to see if there’s any difference in quality or appearance.

Meanwhile, I’ve been hearing bits and blobs about a new FREE web based photo editor called picnik and finally decided to check it out. It’s pretty darn cool if you ask me. If I just need basic photo editing tasks done, I don’t even bother opening up Photoshop right now and go straight to picnik. They have an upgraded version available with more applications, but at the moment, I’m not bothering since I do have Photoshop loaded on my computer. You can pull photos from your computer, Flickr or other photo sharing sites.

Have a good weekend everyone,

~Cynthia

PS. Just a reminder that I will be deleting my blogspot blog http://cmguajardo.blogspot.com tomorrow. Please update your bookmarks and links.

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14 comments

  • Undaunted

    April 5, 2008 at 12:36 pm // Reply

    The Birds and the Bees?

    Oh my, what an awkward time that was. My Mum wasn’t that open about things like that and just handed me a brown paper bag one day explaining that I might need it’s contents soon! (She knew I had learned about menstruation at school – good job!)

    I think your little box is beautiful.

  • judi tavill

    April 5, 2008 at 7:22 pm // Reply

    Cynthia…what about eric estrada??????
    everything else was DEAD on for me- my 5yth grade boy had “the talk” this week in school to…crazy!
    I feel as you do… I remember waiting to be asked to”go” exact wording….you are killing me!!!!
    killing
    me.

  • Heather

    April 6, 2008 at 6:13 am // Reply

    Wonderful work, as always. :) You kid is lucky she has a Mom that isn’t afraid of her growing up…at least not so afraid that she won’t talk openly to her about her self and the world she lives in. I am almost glad I didn’t have any girls, because I’m sure that I would have wanted to lock them up till they were 30! LOL I didn’t have a Mom or a woman in my life when all that change stuff started happening, and we didn’t have a “health class” in southern FL. that told us much more than the names for things. Thanks goodness for my Dad’s secretary… she noticed one day while I was at the office that I had sprouted boobs. She came over and asked me if I would like to go shopping with her some time…I said yes, because I was in love with her…she was a retired ballerina and all I wanted in life at the time was to stop growing (I was and still am very tall for a girl, too tall for a ballerina) and become a graceful dancer too. She taught me all about the “Birds & the Bees” and showed me all the important girl stuff, and was the one I went to when I became sexually active to talk about it all, she helped me get birth control. She saved my Girl behind! So…your kid…she’s blessed…and you…you are too! :)

  • Cynthia

    April 6, 2008 at 7:08 am // Reply

    That was too easy everyone!

    Oh, that’s awful, Undaunted! Because of the “movie” which must have been released in the 50′s, I had an idea – but arghhh. I think I was in PE class when it happened and the coach gave me something.

    You got it, LB!!

    Janet – picnik is really convenient and user friendly too.

    Thank you, Denise. :D

    I married Eric Estrada, Judi!! Just joking, but his last name is Guajardo – wink wink lol

    It it bitter sweet having a girl, Heather. I can remember like it was yesterday when I was her age and the awkwardness. She’s not there yet, but it is just around the corner. When it finally happened to me, I was living with my father, after my parents had separated and I was so incredibly embarrassed to tell him. But, I couldn’t not tell him. You’re so lucky to have had a caring woman in your life that took you under her wings.

    I used to watch The Partridge Family too, Melody – but David didn’t do it for me. I’m pretty sure I had a “Scooby” Lunch box and then graduated to paper bags. ;D

  • Linda

    April 6, 2008 at 12:25 pm // Reply

    Your porcelein box is beautiful, I, too, was going to guess the birds and the bees (only after I saw the bird on the side of the box). Can’t wait to see how the two different techniques turn out.

    I was given a booklet to read at that certain age back in the 60′s, unfortunately my parents didn’t explain much and I attended Catholic school, so not much there either. Mostly, my girlfriends and I shared notes and learned from each other. In the first grade, I remember I had a “crush” on the boy across the street named Eric White, later I was “in love” with Paul Newman and Paul McCartney. Times in this day and age are definitely different.

    I use Microsoft Digital Image Suite 2006 to edit photos and so far I am happy with it. It is very easy to use and has all kinds of filters, erase and cropping features, and others I am still learning about. I can make flyers, photo collages, business cards, labels, etc. with my own art work and photos.

  • Lynette

    April 6, 2008 at 1:09 pm // Reply

    What an exquisite porcelain box, I love it Cyn! I was guessing ‘Nature’s Treasures’. Ha, “The Birds and Bees’ is perfect! I remember when I had to sign the permission slip for my daughter to attend that class. She never even asked me any questions about it and I think it’s a good thing that the schools teach it and handle the subject in a delicate way like that. Speaking of old teen idols, I thought David Cassidy was the ‘cat’s meow’ back then and loved ‘The Partridge Family’! :)

  • Undaunted

    April 6, 2008 at 3:25 pm // Reply

    An elderly friend of mine said she wasn’t taught anything about the birds and the bees when she was younger! She didn’t have a clue. Her husband taught her everything after they got married! She’s been a widow for many years now, but she’s still completely in love with him.

    How times change.

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