My brain clicked.

Hello! Yesterday evening, my brain clicked. I finished the body for this boy. He will have wings. He is an angel. I had struggle with both the body and the head for several hours. Unlike some ceramic sculptors, I don't use moulds, so each piece is totally original and unique. It takes lots of thinking and trial and error. I create something different each time and that is the point of me creating. It is not going to be any easier for me.

I love his lips! :D

 In the meantime, The rabbit girl became this. As I removed the ears and hair after it became too dry, I can't smooth the surface much. I am still trying to find who she really is.

Once she was a rabbit girl. 

This is an ancient Japanese child. I liked the way the head is over-sized, but not completely sure about the proportion of arms. As faces are the most important parts to me, I like to emphasize them. But when you add hands, hands start telling a story, too. Getting the right balance is important.

Ancient Japanese child

All firing went well!

Hello everyone. Good news! All three firings went well. There was a downpour while we had breakfast. We had to wait until the rain stopped before we went to the garage to open the kiln.

This is the top shelf. All critters including my 'chicken drawing' who was loaded into the kiln late last night, have survived.

Everyone is safe!

Then we noticed that there was someone else peeking. It's Pumpkin! She didn't enter the dark garage, but she had stayed there until we came out.

What are you doing in dark?

 And this is the lower shelf.

Mike threw two bowls. I threw two rabbit cups.

There is a greenhouse next to the garage. I noticed that suddenly lots of tomatoes are ripening! It is Mike's territory. He has looked after veg so well. Look at the tomatoes. They are the best ever. We cook them quite often to make a simple delicious tomato sauce. We don't eat bought sauce. You just don't feel like eating bought sauce once you make your own with freshly picked tomatoes. 

Mike's tomatoes

I made these two last night. Sorry about the quality of the photo. It's taken just now under artificial light

I keep creating without thinking or planning. It's a fun!

Last night's offerings.

Today was the first day of Mike's 10-day-leave. But I have been busy with my day work. Last two weeks were one of the busiest time of the year, for my work. Even so, we went to the studio; Mike is an honourable ceramic student (in Jane's words). I unloaded both kilns, and did a bit more finishing, but had to come home to return to more work. Never mind. I will spend a long time in the studio tomorrow!

New mask, beach walk and Willow's advice

Hello everyone. How was your weekend? I had productive time in the studio yesterday. I have prepared several pieces for re-firing. It happened to be Open Day. I also played a roll as an exhibit in the glazing room when prospective students and their parents were guided through.

Last night I made another mask. I still don't know why making something in clay helps me go to sleep. But I had a good night sleep!

New mask

This morning, we went to the beach with our girls, Pearl and Topaz. They became very excited. We had walked about one hour, and met a handsome male whippet, a large lurcher and their wonderful lady owner. Both Topaz and Pearl get along with whippets and greyhounds. They probably know!

Grey sky and grey sea.

They were really happy, sniffing everywhere and leaving their visiting cards! We also had a relaxing walk. 

Pearl camouflaged so well. 

There were lots of wild flowers; pink, yellow and white. They looked nice!

There were some funky beach huts.  

One beach hut stood out!

This boat looked in need of TLC. It reminds me of a whale although I have never seen a real one! 

In the afternoon, I started the mother of all spring cleaning, Yes, it's a bit late, nonetheless spring cleaning! Today I did kitchen and windows. I will attack a room a day.

Willow said that I should take time to smell roses! I did! They are heavenly scented. I pushed my little nose into several of them!  I felt much better! Thank you, Willow!

Willow's blog is here.

Right-brain, another world and photo session

Hello everyone. It has been stormy here in Canterbury. Yesterday I had a very productive time, glazing in the studio. I felt so good. This month I am testing glazing techniques and glazing/finishing the work I had created before Christmas. I am also throwing little pots with porcelain clay. Some time a go, I found that I can't create figures and glaze/finish at the same time. I think it is because creation requires my right side brain, and glazing/finishing the left side brain. If I immerse myself in creation (I often do), I tend to be dysfunctional in ordinary activities, like writing essays, listening to someone and glazing/finishing. I also lose a bit of speech ability, although I mutter to myself a lot. (it sounds mad, doesn't it?) The worst is that I keep losing a track of other people's talks, especially a tutor's during classes (my eyes and ears are wide open, but my mind is completely somewhere else in my own world. Once I come back, I have no idea how long I have been absent.) There is also a negative impact on my day work, which requires constant logic and analysis.

So, my solution is this: I divide my time into two categories. The right-brain time (creation and imagination) and the left-brain time (all others, including throwing pots on a wheel). It seems to work well, so far. As I mentioned above, I have created a lot of work for three months before Christmas. Then, in January I switched to left side brain mode, to deal with glazing/finishing, day work, preparing for essays for my course and throwing pots an a wheel. (Yes, throwing pots is left-brain activity to me.) Even so, I slip into another world now and then. But I consciously return to the present, so that I won't lose those abilities attributed to the left-brain.

I mentioned in the previous post that I have taken some new photos of my work. When I had a chat with Carolyn Genders, she said that my 'Out of sorts III' looks much better in reality than in the photo. My customers and clients tell me this all of the time. Carolyn suggested that I should use a neutral background. So I did.

'Waiting for next bang' by Midori Takaki

 

Waiting for next bang

Details

  I hope he looks better than before.

Before