Heads

A little post on the progress of a new project. 

A head.

I sometimes follow the first sketch that gets my creative juices flowing. I sometimes enjoy it just as a start, and continue morphing the project at hand.

This head is an example of how a starting image can morph into multiples

The first few hours 

Hey, female gone young male

The sarting image ( a woman with a bird in her hair)

laid in front of the resulting young male clay sculpture

hummmm,

proportions are close

just a sex and age change.

I notice and question:

The eyebrows seem real high, 

oh, well.

 Then with the use of photoshop ( elements : the baby program) I overlay a multitude of photos of found faces.

Overlaying these makes me realise that my facial feature positions match quite a few other photos of real faces and painted, sculpted faces.

and some other permutations,

these I find give me some new 'start' to imagine possible very light colorings to investigate after bisquing the piece.

Next: get the head ready to be bisqued.

I am at present juggling on how much I want to define the ears.

Claying is to me a very slow process.
I feel I have arrived at home, so I cherish that it is not rushed. That does not mean that I am very humbled by the media, and find myself being challenged regularly.

sitting figure

Was in Florida for a short visit. 

Found a little clay left and sculpted this piece.

Inspired by my sleeping muse.

My muse doesn't actually watch tv in the nude ( he does sit in an armchair). I here blended both Pierre and his armchair. But we have spent so many hours together after supper just zoning-out in front of the telly. I am the one who actually sleeps. And not in an armchair, but in an old battered kakhi green cord sofa.

done in a clay-body called Maccabe from axner pottery supplies

Fresh out of the kiln

Opening the kiln this morning I did not expect

to see any clear shinny glazes.

I was expecting the very thin pinched bowls

and flower

to be very cracked, but no!

 

 (colorful! and a little out of focus-sorry)

 let's try again, 

now everybody smile!:

Good job guys!

more steps to the process

There seams to always be another step waiting to be done.

 dripped some 'bermuda aqua' over some sage

terra sig + Mason stain mixtures

 felt a little playfull  with this one

I could'nt figure what this little creature's story was.

Just being attentive making some half-decent hands was what I needed to work on.

I have the feeling this will also be part of the 'bell' family' 

it's base is already waiting for the hands to dry 

(to the left)

additions to the red clay family

Revisiting the red clay

to do a few ''tweeks'' - mainly softening some of the harder edges and changing eye-direction.

 'angel bell #2' - bone dry

bone-dry red clay family

gathered for a picture: click!

Limited palette

a limited palette

seems to work best for me

(a recently fired plate, 4 x 5 inches oil on board portrait)

WHERE GOOD IDEAS COME FROM

                        

Connectivity and community
and
For you who have time,
here is an excellent TED conference given by Steven Johnson


Remix! another video for the creative community

Nina Paley statues - Remix

Remix : by Nina Paley

                      
                    

goddess eye candy danse video

This morning's clay exploration

Worked on another head yesterday using clay labeled '519'.
Things were so messy and I felt I was caught
in a repeat: do-undo-redo cycle.
Was wise enough not to destroy
hours of cycling and dunked the '519' head
in water to smooth everything-out and placed it under a bag to wait.

This morning I start with fresh plans and intentions.
After watching Kiki's video.
I decide to give a special attention to my intuition.

Let's see what happened:

After seing a dear print ,
I started laying clay on top of the print, realizing
- Hey that is a fast way to get realistic proportions,
after a few minutes: got bored,
definitely thought of not placing the legs or the tail or the ears,
but remembered to:
listen to my intuition - and finished off  
rapidly the little dear and called it a: ''sketch!''

 a sketch for?
got yesterday's head out, and placed it on the print!
Yep! time to do a sculpture!

 Funny thing was, that I had somehow already rolled out and shaped some cylinders
chop, chop, slip, slip
yep! just need some legs and ears now!

 1st time around,
got legs, tail and ears.

 After removing the little creature from it's hefty cylindrical support.
O-O
I get myself into a:
beginner's mistake! = learning curve : up-hill time!
legs cannot bear the weigth,
are especially uneven
and crack, crack, crack
one ear comes off as well.
OK!
intuition time!
it's for the best!a do over is what is best for the little creature
rigth!

morning turns into afternoon,
it finally stands : and it is time for me to halt!

has the dear morphed into a lamb? or is it wearing a baby cap with bear ears?

Time only will tell

Always follow your intuition when doing art

Love Kiki Smith's sculptures

      

       

her mom told her to always, 

always listen to her intuition while doing art - with that sound advice I began this morning's clay-explorations

                         

Pinterest and the Creative Process

Pinterest has been a teacher, a friend, 

a fabulous source of 

enpowering thoughts 

and connectivity
to a supportive and generous artist community

Once more, I cherish listening to the wisdom of this
 short video ( found , many months ago on Pinterest) of Ira Glass - on the creative process

Pinterest is such a fabulous way to keep research albums of our interests.
Here are a few links to some of my favorite personal albums

ceramics , design and painting , pattern and design ,   illustrations, art videos,

all my boards: pinterest/ elise some

into a bell

Started as a bowl with a high foot - I had the best intentions of making a bowl:
turned it upside down, yesterday afternoon

it now seems this piece will likely turn-up as a bell! 

(not sure about the shape and location of the wings though,....)

Since June :
this is the 3rd mutation of this head!
Clay's got to do what it's got to do
And I have to practice letting go!

This afternoon,
I will be attending my local potter's guild first get-together since joining the group.
Today's theme is: ''bowl throwing'' for the empty bowl charity.
I just read the e-mail giving some more details about the event.
Members wil be given clay for 5 bowls.
(that is: 5 bowls in 5 hours)
What?
Since November 2012,
I yet to have one bowl fired and glazed
or
a finished piece that could be referred to as a bowl! 

o-la-la