This has been a very floral week. I am making a sculpture based on the three iconic french flowers, the Poppies, Marguerites and Cornflowers. These three flowers which represent the blue, white and red of the french tricolour are seen on packaging everywhere in France, especially on the bags that breads and patisseries come in.
The detail for these flowers is too fine to be modeled, so I use a piping bag and some finely sieved slip.
These ceramic flowers are part of a tradition in France to decorate the graves and you will find them in all cemeteries. There must be different studios around the country that make these flowers, as you can see that there are quite different styles in the modeling and painting.
Some are rather garish, but others are quite beautiful.
These particular flowers are in the graveyard at Varengville, just along the coast from Dieppe. It's a place I often take visitors to as the church is perched upon a cliff overlooking the sea and the port of Dieppe. It is also where Georges Braque is buried, and the church here houses the most lovely windows that he designed.
The church itself is often dark inside which contrasts spectacularly with the glow that comes through these windows, especially the red ones. There is a large window at one end that depicts Jacobs ladder, but one that I always find curious is this sketchy window in black and white.
Back at the house, this has been a particularly grey and mizzly week. Wet air, wet ground and wet washing. But then on Thursday, at the end of another damp day, the sky suddenly cleared and the most gorgeous sunset bloomed and helped to lift my heart.
Find me now over at
http://theceramicgardener.com
No comments:
Post a Comment