Thursday 27 January 2011

19...A week in January

The valley obscured by clouds



Well, as you can see the January view from my studio window shows how wet it has been this month. And yet, the locals around here still instist on telling me how much it rains in england..cheek!

Anyway, I have been constructing Thistles this week. Once I have the internal shape thrown and turned I have to model the component parts and allow them to dry just a bit. Then each one has to be placed onto the body and arranged so that it falls naturally away from its ajoining fellow...you need fairy fingers for this.










Once the top is finished, the first set of leaves can be attached. This is the most important row as it sets the pattern for all the proceeding rows, it sets the size too.

At some point on day 2 or 3 the last leaf is attached and the sculpture gets put to one side to dry for several weeks...it is very weather dependent, high or low pressure makes a lot of difference to how long it takes before it can be biscuit fired.












Hannah's snowman
Some potters have little kiln gods or lucky charms which sit on their kilns to ensure a successful firing but I have a little snowman made by my goddaughter. His arm has fallen off on one side but I love him anyway. 

Saturday 22 January 2011

18...Green shoots of recovery?

According to the radio this week, it is 'officially' the most miserable week of the year, culminating in blue monday. For me however, last week  was worse, I felt sad and grey all week, and very clumsy in the studio, my mood matched the weather. This week though has been better. The sun has shone all week, and although it is cold and frosty it lifts the spirits.



Walking around the acreage, I found the first snowdrops coming into flower. Within a couple of weeks there
will be banks of these all round the garden.












And a little Viola was raising its face to the sun. The days are also noticably pulling out now too....so definitaly better than last week.














Work has gone well in the studio too this week, and I have even managed to get a little ahead of my list.
This is down to the sun shining which means I can get the work out onto the window ledge, and drying off ready for the next stage.


By the end of next week these will be turned into Thistles....well, at least two of them will. One of them somersaulted off the window and into the pear tree..whoops!


I have also been working on the squirting cucumbers....very fiddly.

The headlines in our village this week was that we have reached our 1000th inhabitant. This is big news around here. There has been a huge programme of new house building, and the fields around the edge of our little town have been mushrooming new houses. They are mainly starter homes (although bigger than a starter home would be considered in England), and their architecture is a bit unimaginative. The aim is to increase the size of the town to 1500 inhabitants. The economy here is fragile, Dieppe and Rouen are the nearest places of work and the little shops in the village come and go. We have two hairdressers and two beauty salons which have replaced the bank and the insurance company. I can't imagine where all their customers come from.



Thursday 13 January 2011

17...Artichokes and Lollipop Pom Poms

Scarecrow guarding an empty garden


What a week. Gales most days, grey and rainy. The thing about living in the middle of such a large garden is that you always notice the weather. The house rattles and bangs at night and after such a long christmas holiday, getting up to the studio before 9am has been a struggle. The garden sits waiting for the new season to start but meantime I still have leeks and Calva Nero in the beds to provide fresh veg.

Back in the studio I realise that as usual all the spring shows are looming and I won't have nearly enough time to make everything that I would like. So, to get myself going I make a batch of little Artichokes,


started with six and broke two. Then spent the rest of the week making Lollipop Pom Poms which means hollowing out dozens of little clay balls.

Then attaching each one, one by one onto the thrown internal form. Thank goodness for the dulcet tones of Radio 4 or I think I would go insane. However it's going to take a whole box of tissues to get through the Archers this week.

Next show up is the Affordable Art Fair in March which is held at Battersea where I shall be showing with Four Walls gallery.



www.four-walls.co.uk

www.affordableartfair.com

Wednesday 5 January 2011

16...A cold dip and into the New Year

A slightly delayed start to the year as I set off for Newhaven this morning in a beautiful dawn, but found the ferry had been canceled. It is time for the annual service and refit, and the boats were being changed this morning. So, an unexpected day on my hands which I filled by experimenting with my new iwork package and watching youtube photoshop tutorials. Ah well its work of a sort.

Anyway, I've had a lovely Christmas, frugal and quiet, and all the better for it. My friends and I made our presents for each other this year and as a result the gifts were lovely.

On Christmas morning there is a tradition in Brighton of taking a dip in the sea. This year it was a lovely sunny day with a calm sea and the beach was full of people, most of whom were not going in. The bathers all run in together at 11am, and a couple of minutes before, round the corner of the groyne, came a line of Santa's paddling on boards.

Santa's on the horizon


Anyway, when the time comes we all run in together,

scream, and run out again.
The council must have been worried this year as they had notices advising people to be extra careful and not to stay in too long. The water temperature which would normally be around 7-12 degrees at this time of year was 3.4 degrees. But, it is great fun and strangely you feel very warm when you come out.

So, into the New Year and I have a few things in the pipline which means I need to really focus now and get a good body of work built up.  Over the holidays I have been playing around with a new Poppy idea, dying and threading monofilament into a Poppyhead sculpture.

Happy New Year all!