Crying owl and my fairy godchild

The first work for Landmark Arts Centre Midsummer Art Fair is finished. I started this in late January.  I needed to glaze-fire him up to 1240C four times, mainly because grey underglaze around the eyes has had problems. It has been a long journey. I am so glad it is done now. 

Crying owl

He just appeared after I heard from a mutual friend that my sick friend had been bullied by a nasty and coward man. I wanted to help the friend who has never said anything about it. But as I can't do anything else, this owl appeared from my clay. His tears are made of blood. It is very unusual piece among my work. 

There are a couple of pieces nearly finished. But I have to wait for another glazing firing for that. In ceramics you always have to work in the boundaries of available kilns. Ideally you fire a full kiln. It is more efficient as well more ecological. When I was using university kilns, it was easy. But now I always have to keep an eye on how to fire work. Quite often I have to stop glaze-firing even when I have still more to do because there won't be enough for firing or the combination of size and shape of work wouldn't suit to another firing. Good planning has become essential. To make it easy, I put a shelf in an open cupboard at the height of my kiln interior. So I am able to grasp which should be fired with which at a glance as I make. This photo is just before the second cupboard was put up next to it. The lowest shelf is my kiln size.  

    

Here are some pics of work in progress. 

Porcelain wreath 1

Porcelain wreath 2

Porcelain wreath 3

Angel

*****************

My 3 1/2 month old fairy godchild from NZ has visited us with his parents. Seb is such a smiley baby. He made us all happy. His parents are very loving. Seeing them made our hearts really warm. How nice! The second time in my whole life I held a baby! They plonked the baby on my lap. I was really surprised. I didn't know he was so heavy for the size. I think babies are dense! He is with his parents in this photo.

My fairy godchild, Baby Seb.

 

To prepare the visit Mike and I had blitz yesterday. We threw away things, did a tidy-up and cleaning. The ground flood became clean and tidy, but some mess had to immigrate to upstairs! :D

Dear my friends,

Winter has come, but no frost yet. Mochaccino, our ancient finch, passed away peacefully early yesterday morning. We did a funeral for him at lunch time. He was buried in a pretty Japanese box filled with flowers. Flowers? You might wonder. Surprisingly a patch of crocuses suddenly opened yesterday in the garden. It might be coincidence, it might not. Just about the time he passed away, Topaz, our sentinel dog inexplicably barked a lot. Mike thinks she sensed something.

Crocuses suddenly opened.

Mike took away the table where the shoe box that has been Mochaccino's home for the last couple of months had been placed, as I was still talking to the table as if he were still in the room. We lost our chirps for the first time in 15 years. We had always had little birds in our house. They belong to a beautiful world. Don't worry, I still talk to him twice a day when I visit his grave. My concern is that he might feel chilly outside, but Mike says that he has joined his family and friends and he is happy. I should believe him.

He didn't eat anything on Sunday and refused to drink water when we put a wet cotton bud on his beak. He looked like going into a coma, but twice during the evening, he made a quiet sound. We knew that the end was near. He waited for Monday morning. After Mike woke him up, he slipped away. Do you know lots of loved animals wait until their humans come when they die?  They don't want to die alone. Nobody does.

You probably know I cry. Do you know Mike cries, too?

I gave the remains of his seeds to Pumpkin, our chicken. She ate them all and made a cooing sound. She was happy. I sent her a wish that she would be as healthy and long-lived as Mochaccino had been. I imagined his spirit entered into Pumpkin via the seeds and will make her a strong healthy bird.

I hope you and your loved ones are well. Dear friends, I am glad that you are with me today.

Rainy afternoon in the Sidney Cooper Gallery

Hello everyone. I had a lovely day again. Lenka, a graduate in ceramics, came over to see our show from London. How wonderful! We met for a lunch, and had a catch-up. When we left a restaurant for the Sidney Cooper gallery, just as it started raining. We got in there just in time. She makes slip decorated earthenware tableware, and also studied politics for a BA degree.

Lenka in pretty spotty shirt

Lenka looking at Angela's paintings

I had a great chat with a sculptor. One of the fun parts of being in the gallery is to talk with visitors. Lots of visitors are artists themselves. She is going to do Artists Open House soon. Mike and I will visit her.

Then another lady from Belfast asked me to write a message to her neighbour who likes greyhound racing, on my little whippet sculpture that she bought. (my whippet sculptures are in the glass cabinet in the reception now.) It is the smallest whippet I have made. So I made it short, 'Jim, good luck!' I hope he will be pleased! She has visited her family in England, and doing sightseeing before going back to Belfast.

After that, we had a quiet patch. Tony with his trademark iPad. He told me that they put WiFi in the gallery now! I wish I had known that!

Tony sandwiched between Dariusz (left) and Yvonne's works. 

I did some wrapping job with Harriet. I would rather do something than nothing.

Harriet and Tony are having a great fun!

In fact, Harriet is very busy at the reception.

A view from the reception

She said that someone has to go to the post office. I declined. It's raining. And I am supposed to be in the gallery!

Raining. A view from the front door

Our show has a catalogue. A bargain for £3. Harriet and I are not in it, though.

Just before five, I had a great chat with a gentleman who participates in Zen. He noticed that I mentioned Zen and Shintoism on my artist statement.

Over the weekend, I have made several masks. Once I start, I can't stop. Here are a few of them. 

White slip on masks; Peter (right)

Interestingly, Peter appeared again. I am looking forward to finishing his mask. You can meet him here. 

This is tree spirit. I had to wait for a while before she appeared from the clay. I will see what she could tell me. 

 This chap is inspired by my experience in the MA show. He is a character. He has some opinion!

My business cards ran out, and they are in printing. It is taking longer than I thought. I am sorry about that. If you leave your email and name at the reception, I will contact you by email for future events etc..  Thank you!    

 

Ice Baby bisque-fired for Perin and Kath's new baby

Hello everyone. Today, I would like to share the photos of Perin's Ice baby, just fresh from the kiln yesterday morning. I call him Ice baby, but he is a guardian for babies and children. The story about the first Ice baby is here. He and his friend are in my shop, if you are interested in him. When Perin and his wife Kath realized that they are going to be parents, he requested me to make a special guardian for their baby, due in January. I used a new wooden spoon to make his shape because I thought it symbolizes the very beginning of the a new person and also because it is Japanese custom to use new wooden tools for something good.

Ice baby for Perin's Bub

I made him while I imagined all hope and love the baby is going to receive from their loving parents as well as extended family and friends. With each tapping sound I made with the new wooden spoon, I pushed my good wishes into Ice baby. I felt each tap made the Ice baby potent.

Because of some Skype problem, I received Perin's wishes about what symbols they like to use for decoration several weeks later. I kept the Ice baby in the fridge to prevent him drying out. They wanted birds, feathers and flowers. So I decorated the body like this.

Feather on one side

Then I thought I finished decoration and left the baby to dry in the room. But the next day I added more on the other side. By then the clay was getting a bit too dry, so I could only scratch the surface but I hope it will be enough to retain colours in grooves, after I put some glaze.  

The other side

It has been so special to make him. I hope the baby will appreciate how much his or her father and mother would look forward to the birth once the little new life has become old enough to understand.

I will do finishing on him and hopefully he will be glaze-fired next week. All my love to you, the new lucky baby!

A great afternoon with bubbly girls

Hello everyone. We had a great Sunday afternoon with two bubbly girls, Claire and Lenka. What a fun! We had sushi (Alaskan wild salmon and Mike's cucumber) as starter, tempura (aubergine, sweet pepper, sweet potato and Mike's courgette) and fried chicken fillet a la Japonaise with leek sauce as double main, and Mike's cheesecake with fresh strawberries picked this morning as desert! I forgot to take photos of food as we were so busy eating!

Pearl is eating cookie crumbs 

Pearl loved all attention. She loves girls! Both girls enjoyed giving her cookies, With the request from Lenka, Mike brought Scooter, the African grey Timneh parrot, to the kitchen. He flew down to the tap over the kitchen sink, and got all our attention. He did a bit of Stevie Wonder dance, and flew up to upstairs again.

What a fun!

They are soon leaving Canterbury to start their new lives separately. Both created fantastic works for the degree show. Good luck to them!

You may wonder what happened to Topaz. She had stayed in the car in the garage. It is somehow her most favourite place to be. She didn't want to come back inside house! Even after she came back, she repeatedly scratched the door to go back to the garage!

But after a while, she decided to sleep with Pearl on Pearl's bed. Yes, the pink bed is Topaz's bed.

'There is something on my head... there is something in my bed.'

While We are having a long lunch, two of my ceramics were sold at my Etsy shop. Thank you so much! I feel the girls brought me luck! My shop has been busy lately. I had three customers from Australia this week, and I had not sold any to Australia before that! It is amazing that my ceramics travels to almost the opposite side of the globe. It used to be unthinkable before Internet was available. The world is becoming more dynamic and I am so happy to be a part of it.
  

Perin-papa, Chicken head and Karen's cool film

Hello everyone. England is having a warm spell. People look happier everywhere. I finally caught up with my Etsy shop jobs. I have ordered packing materials, and I am designing my new business cards. I have also listed a couple of my sculptures. I hope I can list more this week. So please check them out.

I had a wonderful news from our friend Perin. He is going to be a papa! Kath and Perin used to come to a ceramic course at Kent adult education before they moved to New Zealand. He asked me to make a guardian for their baby. Do you remember my Ice baby? I am going to make one like that for them. How nice to make something for them and their little baby! They both love children. They will make wonderful parents. Their news made us very happy! Many congratulations, Kath and Perin!

The last two evenings I have worked at home on these.

Two blobs? 

They are going to be a gigantic chicken! : )

A chicken head. It's larger than my head!

Last night, I saw a very nice short film of a ceramic artist, Karen Banks. It was made by Paul Carr. It's so cool. I have known both on Twitter. Karen is a lovely lady; her gentle calm character is reflected very well in the film. I felt her quiet voice, her hands and a short appearance of lovely cats made such nice atmosphere. I was definitely inspired! One day, I would like to make mine, too.

Karen makes elegant smoke fired ceramics. Here is her website.

Paul is a film maker and photographer. His website is here.

Lots of goodies from Japan

Yukiko's mother's handmade card

Hello everyone. We have received lots of goodies from Japan last couple of days. Yesterday Hitomi's presents arrived. She gave each of us a bag of goodies. Thanks, Hitomi.   

My bag from Hitomi

Wow, lots of things! She knows I am not very keen on sweeties, so selected something savoury and not-too-sweet sweets! : ) She also enclosed the toiletry that I can't get hold of in UK. Precious!

My bag - inside

In the mean time, Mike has devoured sweets in his bag before I had a chance to take photos. Yes, his bag was full of sweets. All his teeth are sweet kind.

Mike's bag from Hitomi

This morning, we have got three packages. Yeah! What a lovely day! One from my mother; she had sent me a big package earlier the month, but she obviously forgot to enclose some delicacy, so that has arrived.

This lovely  package is from Mr Yatsuzuka who used to be my immediate boss when I used to work in a company at Tokyo. He is architect. He loves to take a part in Japanese festivals. His website on the festivals is here.

Sweets from Mr Yatsuzuka

This is from my friend Yukiko. A long time ago, we met at Brussels while she was a student at the Conservatoire. Her mother gave us a beautiful hand-stitched card every year. We put all in show at this time of the year. They are all different and all beautiful.

From Yukiko

This Disney card is from my aunt, Shoko. It arrived before Christmas. She always sends us a cute music card. But this year's is so special! So I have to share with you. It has 16 different tunes, all Christmas related, of course, with flickering lights on the tree part! Music can be started or stopped with a click at the corner of the card. Mike was so amused, that he showed it to our parrots. They seemed mesmerised and became very quiet. Then they started head bobbing dance!

Aunt Shoko thinks I am still a child!

  

News from NZ, Norwegian Wood by Murakami and how Pearl has a nap

I go an email from a friend from NZ. He and his fiancee were in our ceramic class before. It is nice to catch up. He is thinking to skype their wedding for those who can't attend. What a brilliant idea! We would go if we didn't have so many animal family. But 3 parrots, 2 dogs (one mad and one a bit leaky), one finch and one chicken, we can't ask anybody to look after them for longer than a day or so. They are taking a throwing lesson from an old potter on his road. They were learning very quickly and improving a lot in a short period. How marvellous! I had offered if we could send some of our tableware as a gift, but I guess they can make their own now! He got one of my rabbit girl. I know she is very happy with them.

Don't worry, she is alive. She can sleep with her eyes and mouth open.

I worked hard in the morning. But later in the morning, I was in the mood of telling the world what I like to say! Twitter! Having slept well, I got my energy back and cheerful self. Then I got a strange follower. Hmmm, she looks a normal lady on the avatar, but the link is something to with 'xxx'. Ping! rang in my head, and I blocked her. She had lots of followers, though! I used to receive lots of junk emails saying Russian girls called, Nina, Nene etc. want to meet me! hahaha. So did Mike. I told him, if I die sooner than he does, he shouldn't ever get in touch with these email brides. All money would be taken and he would be ended up at the bottom of the sea with a rock tied around his ankle. He seemed to have taken my advice seriously.

Belly up, she is very alive

I read more of Norwegian Wood after dinner. There are several suicides and loads of sexual description in this story, just like Wind-up bird chronicle. But, strange enough, there is no moisture in these parts. So dry. So detached. I am not sure the reason is because the book I am reading is translated in English. I don't know. I asked one of my old friends, Mimi, if she had read it. She said she hasn't read any of Murakami's books. She also said that she mainly reads on comuuters' train, and it is so embarrassing to read books with such sexual descriptions in public. Yes, she has a point.

She fed up me using flash.

I noticed that Haruki Murakami stopped twittering since before Christmas even though he did so frequently before that, when I decided to leave my messages for him after reading his book. I was VERY tempted to say 'Mr Murakami, are you alive?' just like characters do in his story.     

Bu not that fed up enough to wake up.

This afternoon, I was a kind of waiting for the movement of certain companies' share. There was, but not enough for me to act. So I took some photos of Pearl the whippet. 
 
P.S. She is sleeping in almost identical postion, right now.       

Warming gifts from Etsuko

I finally slept well last night. But I feel still sleepy! I need a couple of more good night sleep to get over the tiredness.

Earlier this month, Etsuko, my Japanese friend who used to live near here, sent me a really warming gift. 

Uniqro heat tech, disposal heat pads, and my favourite, green tea leaves. Because of the radiation following the Tsunami in the northern east of Japan, she chose green tea produced in the southern west part of Japan. Thank you, Etsuko.

She has a son whose name includes a kanji(Chinese character) meaning 'fly'. The character consists of 'sheep' and 'wing'. So I had made this little sheep head for her in late 2010. Unfortunately, it was broken after bisque firing. I would love to try to make the sheep with wings again with the new porcelain paper clay.

Christmas cards

As cards arrive from abroad, I catch up with the news of the year with the friends who, otherwise, have no contact with. I have friends whom I haven't met for about 20 years in Spain, Germany and Japan, and for fewer years in other parts of the globe.

You might think at the age of Internet, I should be able to communicate with them more than once a year, surely. But some of them are not connected to Internet (yes), and even those who are on Internet, we just exchange cards not to get into our personal daily lives.

There is a children's song in Japan, in which a goat sent a letter to another goat, but he ate a whole letter before reading it. So he had to write back to ask the sender what was the matter in the letter.

Last Christmas, one Japanese friend living in Spain wrote that her mother was diagnosed with cancer. I imagined how difficult for her not to be able to stay with her mother at the difficult time. So I wrote my feeling about it on this year's card. She apparently sent me a card before mine arrived there, telling me that she had a fantastic year.

Antler pendant top

It is a bit comical, isn't it? Perhaps, I hope, her mother has fully recovered. She tells me that her daughters learn English at school, so she wants to make a trip to UK with them, and come to see me. How wonderful! After 20 years, I would long to see her again. But I don't know how we can manage to get this happen with annual exchange of cards.

Nostalgic, that's the word I would use to describe the relationship.

Just like you, I am so used to Internet, and my life evolves around it. My work, my relationship with friends and family totally depend on it. I do most of my shopping and banking on it. our entertainment in on it. Mike and I communicate via skype most days while we work, and we sometime send emails each other, even when we both are in the house.

But, with those friends I mentioned, I suppose annual card swapping is the most comfortable way for us to communicate. The speed and tempo of our lives are so different. It is such a shame to drag them into our digitalised life, indeed.