Work in progress

This week the 3 boys have all been home for the Easter holidays. However, I have been able to get a full week of work done with only the occasional war cry of 'what is there to eat'! This is a first and shows they just must be getting older and more independent. ( They are, after all 20, 17 and 14).
I have been doing these insect bowls all week. They take quite a bit of concentration to get the drawings fairly accurate so that the insects are identifiable. I am always scouring 2nd hand book shops for good entomology books. I got two on ebay this week but neither of them had very good illustrations. One was really just a nostalgic memory from childhood because my parents used to buy me the Ladybird books on nature. I suspect my parents threw them away long ago! The other did have some interesting poems referring to insects so that might be useful.
The top picture shows my garden from the pottery-I thought I might record it throughout the summer to see how it progresses. I have very little time for gardening but I am hoping to enjoy as much time as I can in the garden this year.

Today I have been mostly...

Many years ago I was fortunate to pick this book up cheaply. It's full of wonderful illustrations of a diverse selection of pottery. One of the pictures is of a pilgrim flask by Minton. I have searched the Internet extensively but can't find a picture of the same ones. Anyway, I decided that one day I would make my own as it looked like it was creating a good surface for illustrative decoration.
This week I decide to just experiment with making one.
I've put some photos of some pilgrim flasks below. One by Bernard Leach and I think that the others are by Minton.
The one I made has a number of 'parts' it went together quite easily. I would like to play with the idea some more when I can clear some time to explore the idea.

bowls

These three bowls are ones I photographed at the British Museum recently. I am fascinated by the way script is incorporated using those scrolls.
The bowl above is what I've been working on today. I was supposed to be illustrating the Ancient Mariner but I don't know what came over me I just remembered this song from my childhood and it seemed quite cheerful and I just went in this direction! At 6:30 I had to stop and cook dinner so I haven't painted on the oxides and underglaze colours yet. All the green colour is just food colouring. I've been drawing ships all week and they don't seem to fit onto the bowls all that well- too many straight lines maybe. I'm going to try them on some larger jugs to see how they look on a more three dimensional vertical shape.

Ceramic Art London

Today I've been to Ceramic Art London at the Royal College of Art. It was refreshing to get out and see such a diverse collection of ceramics.
I had hoped to be able to share some pictures of the work I saw but at the moment blogger isn't letting me put any more images up!
The images above are of work by Susan O'Byrne. They were quite tender ethereal animals which seemed to be made of tiny fragments of clay pieced together like a patchwork.
I also got to meet Clementina van der Walt. It's always interesting to meet other 'bloggers'.
One of the nice things about going to shows is that potters are happy for you to 'fondle' their creations. It is so much more informative to handle peoples work than to see pictures of it. So I've had a good time handling tea pots and bowls and feeling the texture of pots.
If I'd been able to buy anything I would have bought a tea pot by Akiko Hirai. I had never seen her work before and I really liked her aesthetic.
If you're in London the show is still on tomorrow.

Half-term

It's half-term here so I am not getting as much work done as I need to. It is a good time to catch up with friends and get out and about though. I worked until late last night to get some of the work in the damp cupboard finished. The studios getting grid locked again with work at different stages so I need to do some glazing very soon.

Painting

When I do have any 'free' time I try to spend it painting. My table is a bit small and cramped but I am glad to have found myself a corner!
Just lately I haven't managed to make time to paint as household chores seem to have eaten up my time. So I am making a note here to make more time to paint!!

Out and about

This is a jug I was working with on Monday. This is just the first of a series that I am using a maritime theme on. It can take a while to work out the ideas on the pots because what works in the sketch book doesn't always immediately tranfer onto the pot.
After Monday I took a break as both Barnaby and Mark have time off.
So today we got out and about doing pottery related activities. A trip to Babylon Tile works and then on to Clay Cellar.
This mound of clay is straight out of the clay pit. Before it's made by hand into tiles it's put through two pug mills. The pugged clay is no good for my work as some sand is introduced into the clay. It is a beautiful plastic clay. You can see from the fired tiles that it fires to a rich warm red - just wonderful. I get quite excited about the clay in this state!
At Clay Cellar I indulged in a small quantity of lustre to experiment with. The day out has got me excited about getting back to work on Monday.

When we returned home the postman had left a parcel. It's a present to myself! A tea pot and a yunomi by Brandon Philips. I am thrilled with them, not only do they look good but they work perfectly as well. I wish the photo did them justice but I wanted Brandon to see they had arrived in one piece. ( Actually I think Brandon must have a degree in packaging they were wrapped so well)!