Queen of rabbits

Hello everyone. Our kiln is busy. It doesn't have a chance to cool down this week. Mike finally took some photos of Out of sorts- Blues.

Out of sorts - blues

She looks a bit needy! : D

Take me, take me, take me home! 

I am so pleased with how she looks!

Last Tuesday Mike went to a meeting in the Tower of London. He came back with lots of goodies given by the company holding the meeting. The lady and the gentleman in frock were not part of the meeting!

The Tower of London

He also bought four organic almond croissants that I love on the way home.

Midori 3, Mike 1 :-)

 Then I started the another glaze firing after 10 that night.

12/Nov- Glaze firing.

And I made this mask last night. I was not sure of the gender, but a lady on Twitter said a girlish boy. I guess that's who he is. he reminds me of Peter Pan

And today is my birthday. Mike gave me a bunny card and a box of champagne truffles, another of my favourites when I woke up!  

From left: pretty cards from brother-in-law, Mimi and Mike. Thank you! 

 Then I opened the card, I learned that I am the queen of rabbits. :D Hopping with happiness!

With all this going on, Pearl the whippet asks, 'Where is the cake and bone (for me)?'

Pearl wants to share birthday treats! 

 Business as usual in the studio. They went to glaze-firing at noon. Birthday celebration meal will be after we have set up for the next show.

My work is featured!

Hello everyone. I hope you had a good weekend. I had worked like mad except for when Mike and I went to Sidney Cooper gallery for a take down on Saturday evening, and meal time. It's a bit insane! But a good thing is that I am not stressed, yet.

There are a couple of news today. First I am featured in a really cool blog by lovely Cindy Vriend (twitter@cindyvriend). She is a graphic designer and illustrator. Cindy's website is so beautifully designed. There are lots of beautiful photographs and interesting articles, especially, to me, on artists. I became a fan! You can read the article on my work here. It looks great, and I am so happy! Thank you so much, Cindy!

Another news is that I have donated two of my little whippets tor Galgos Del Sol charity auction with help from wonderful Tanya, whippet mum and a dog lover. She donated one of my whippets in the previous auction, and raised more than 30 euros. So it is my turn to do something! The charity rescues sighthounds abused and/or abandoned in Spain and rehomes them. Pale beige whippet is here. Ivory one is here. Please have a look.

We have fired a lot of works recently. Although I haven't taken photos of them yet, Mike took some this weekend. These are porcelain bowls. Mike threw them on a potter's wheel, and I decorated them in the style of Japanese calligraphy. They are beautiful.

Porcelain bowl 1

Porcelain bowl 2

Porcelain bowl 2 - different side

 I have been busy making last a few sculptures going to plinths for the upcoming show.

A girl's head

Cats' bodies

And they went to bisque firing tonight. Firing will finish tomorrow morning.

Bisque firing

That's it tonight. Good night, everyone!
 

A terrific week so far and it is getting even better!

Hello everyone. I have had a terrific week so far. First, I am thrilled to share this news with you. 'Origin of transformation', one of my masks in current Clouds exhibition - part1 was purchased by a director of the British Council. Hooray! Two directors came to see Naiza Khan exhibition in the main room earlier this week, and apparently saw mine, too. The gallery told me both loved my works. That already made me happy. Origin of transformation is about Gandhara. The director is in charge of the area. It is a very beautiful mask. Both Mike and I love it. I hung it at the entrance of the room, but I was a bit concerned lighting is not ideal. But now I am convinced that it was there to be picked by a right person. I always feel my work chooses its person. I think they are a perfect match! Thank you so much! Here is my short story about the mask.

Origin of transformation - Sold

I have been busy and productive lately. I am trying not to do multi tasking, but do one task at a time. It has worked well for me.

You might want to peek what's going on in my little studio. A few of them have been already glaze-fired for the second time. More to go! The iron oxides and glazes get burnt each time, so it requires a subtle balance of adding and subtracting of colours. This process is not good for the faint-hearted as you can't have control.

Her head was finished. Now I am tackling the body.

Head is done.

Blue Bird

These are done. The wings don't belong to her, but she looks beautiful like this!

I have also started on bisque-fired figures. She reminds me of a gargoyle although she looks sweet. I am experimenting finishing on her body.

In progress

Mike has nagged me that I should finish this little fellow! He will be fired next time if there is space in the kiln. He is a funny guy. While I was making all masks, he just appeared like a jester!

Mike found him in a box and insisted that he should be finished.

P.S. While I was typing this, another good news has just arrived! La-lalala! I will tell you next time!

A delivery to London and Wallace collection

Hello everyone. Since Friday I have been a bit busy again. I have been mainly packing and posting my works. Saturday morning, after I posted a rabbit bowl to a lovely lady in London, I went to London to deliver a box full of rabbits and whippets to the Cecilia Coleman gallery in St John's Woods High Street. There will be an animal themed exhibition from the 6th November until the end of January. My three large rabbits, three little rabbits and two large whippets will be part of it. So please visit the gallery if you are in the area.

It felt a bit too heavy to carry it around. 

As the box seemed to me to be too much to carry by tube; I took a bus from St Pancras station. It was rather a long journey, but it was much easier than changing tubes at Green park, and also I like seeing the scenery from the bus window; as I am not familiar with its route. I had to wait for about 15-20 minutes for the bus to come. It was about 20-30 minutes ride. I was sitting comfortably, but it was a bit chilly. I didn't imagine that inside the bus would be chilly.

No bag was big enough for the box, so I wrapped it in traditional Japanese Furoshiki. Super convenient! 

Nonetheless, I enjoyed observing all different lives in different parts of London. There was a bit sad area, then neat places, middle class area, apparently wealthy street, and then energetic corner.  I studied Sociology for my BA degree in Tokyo. So observing the society is one of my favourite things to do. And it cost me only £1.40! Lots of things are cheaper in London than Canterbury.  

Oxford street

When I suddenly realised that the next stop was mine, the rain was quite steady, and I had to find some place to shelter. I popped into a cafe and had a cup of Earl grey. Next to me, there was an Imperial college business school student working hard with lots of paper strewn over the table. The rain stopped after about 15 minutes. 

Water pipes reminded me of my stay in Turkey,

The St John's Wood had a sort of familiar feel to me. It looked similar to a part of Canterbury High street with similar looking people shopping and enjoying their drinks in cafes. One thing different was there were not so many elderly people there. High percentage of permanent residents in Canterbury are the elderly.  

Lovely plants - so neat

After delivery I went to the Wallace collection. The last visit was a long time ago. So I enjoyed it as if I had visited it for the first time.  

Near Bond street

Near Bond street

 After about 10 minutes walk, I arrived at the Wallace collection

It is a mansion. There is beautiful furniture, armours and paintings. I especially love French paintings; Watteau, Boucher and Fragonard. Not only did I admire their beauty, but also I examined how they expressed lights and used shadow to enhance the light. Magical!

 Chandeliers are everywhere. Some are original and others are not. I had a couple of shots. 

This is holding chandelier in the entrance hall 

 When I came out, it was getting dark. I never saw any of the male nudes promoted on this flag!

Wallace collection

I took the tube to St Pancras. Guess what I found! So pleased with this. I buy loose Keemun tea from their main shop, but how convenient it would be if I could pick it up here in near future.

Of course, I bought four almond croissants and one brioche from Le pain Quotidient. They were too hot to be held; they had just come from the oven. So a nice shop assistant put them in a box. 

Mike picked me up at the station, and dinner was ready. Dogs were very happy to see me again. What else do I want? : )

People make me happy!

Hello everyone. I had a great day today. It was about time because Wednesday was difficult for me. As soon as I got stressed, I caught another cold. So I had mostly rested yesterday in warmth. I usually get mild SAD (seasonal affected disorder) during October and November. In order to avoid to getting depressed, I try to keep myself busy. This year I didn't have to try, as I have been very busy since early summer. But when difficulties pop up during autumn, I tend to feel a bit down even though I am naturally optimistic.

So when I found a tweet from a lovely lady @esmepink232 after lunch time on Wednesday, the air around me suddenly brightened!

'Look what was bought for me! Made by the wonderful, talented @MidoriTakaki' 

I had no idea because her friend bought this rabbit for her. What could I want more?

I enjoy reading Esme's tweets; they are funny and zany! I also like her drawings of young women. I could relate to them.

Thank you so much Esme and her friend! You both cheered me up to no end!

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

Today I felt better mentally and physically. These two beautiful bronze-gold whippets are going to a lovely home. They look great together! Thank you so much!

Bronze-gold glaze

I packed them and posted them late afternoon with our loyal pooch, Topaz. After dinner, Mike and I have spent a couple of hours packing several rabbits and whippets in a box. That was quite difficult. Packing ceramics is never easy!

When I checked my email, I found this rabbit bowl was also sold! How wonderful! Thank you so much! After a couple of down days, I already feel so much better.

We have fired more porcelain bowls and a pair of coffee C/S with a little rabbit on the handles. Once blue sky returns, I will take photos of them to share! I can tell you that they are really sweet!