The punishingly hot weather returned to Los Angeles last week, and I just couldn’t bring myself to work out in the ceramics tent all day. So I turned to my favorite indoor sculpting option: Beastlies.

A batch of ten of the little goobers will be available in the shop on Thursday, 10/8 at noon Pacific.

It’s been a while since I sold a batch of the little guys, so the timing seemed good. Particularly since it’s October, which often means a round of my one silly seasonal indulgence: Punkin Nibblets. I wasn’t sure if I’d have time this year, but the triple digit heat convinced me to stay inside and make a small pile. So they’re back!

If you’ve only encountered my work relatively recently, you might not know that Beastlies used to be my entire sculpting career. I started making them in 2006. TWENTY WHOLE YEARS ago. And for a lot of the intervening time, I made them all day, every day, and they supported me.

They were my doorway into self-employment, and then my doorway into a fledgling career in animation. I owe them a lot.

But I also now wonder if people who have found me through my ceramic work find this side of my sculpting a bit dissonant with my now-regular art. Sometimes the pressure to develop a “consistent brand” as an artist feels at odds with being a complete human being who contains the standard-issue multitudes.

But I still contain Beastlies! I often feel like each Beastlie I’ve ever made (I lost count many years ago after around eight thousand or so) is one pixel of a self portrait. They’re each a tiny molecule of raw emotion, and I can’t deny them. Even as I work on a solo show full of work that might feel like a bit of whiplash coming from the same hands.

But in any case, there it is. It’s time for Beastlies this week. I’ve still got a couple fossil mugs heading for the next update after this one, as well as a few other ceramic pieces in the works.

Anyway, more coming soon on the show at Haven gallery which is NEXT MONTH!