Friday, September 20, 2013

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)




Saturday, September 14, 2013

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

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

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

                         

Monday, September 9, 2013

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

Thursday, September 5, 2013

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