IMAGINE...

I sometimes feel as if my mind is multifaceted, I am excited and spurred on to try all sorts of seemingly disparate aesthetic adventures...yet somehow there does however seem to be a constant pitch, a thread which is there in all my work although not always immediately apparent.

And so I have been having a lot of fun, - inspired by my illustrations on the wedding cups (see previous post) - surfaces of beakers where I imagine and draw simple line characters offset by solid black areas. I use a wonderful waxy matte glaze which gives the cups a very sensual tactile quality.

All other types of work still continue though...

STUDIO PRODUCTION

SUNNY 'GREENHOUSE' STUDIO

FINISHED GLAZED CUPS

BEAKERS IN THE PROCESS OF BEING PAINTED WITH UNDERGLAZE

We seem to suddenly have a run on small cups and beakers..a few big orders have made our studio into a little production space - for now. Fortunately the softness of the plants and beautiful objects around us will always prevent the space from being factory-like. It is rather like a gracious greenhouse, with the wonderful southern hemisphere autumn sunshine casting a gentle warming light.

Ten thousand flowers in spring,
the moon in autumn,
a cool breeze in summer,
snow in winter.

If your mind isn't clouded
by unnecessary things,
this is the best season of your life.

Hui-k'ai (1183-1260): WU-MEN-KUAN

THE HANDMADE AND THE FUNCTIONAL

JUST OUT OF THE KILN,LARGE BOWLS FOR AN ORDER

FRESHLY CAST BEAKERS, RAMEKINS AND SMALL CUPS

'Pottery is at once the simplest and the most difficult of all the arts' - Herbert Read (1893–1968)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Read

This comment was surely made in the aesthetic and philosophical sense..however this week I am feeling it in the technical mode...a number of portrait tiles came out cracked from the kiln..and of course, the square dishes too...

the discipline of ceramics surely is a life leveller!

And so it all goes on, the slip-casting, the throwing, the press-moulding. Forever optimistic..

NEW TALL BEAKERS

I have just taken these new tall beakers out of the kiln, very excited about them! They are 15cm high, could be used a drinking vessels or small vases. They are very thin and very tactile, s m o o t h!