Sunday 21 December 2014

Ickworth house.

Ideas for future Christmas shows and pottery in general.

Would like to try throwing in a white earthen ware clay, maybe even porcelain and paint on the vessels. I would like to incorporate my sketches into the work either directly or throw transfer.  It would be good to have a go a drawing different species of birds as well as my quirky line drawing for Bird Chatter.

I do like the red clay and slip combination that I use for the bird chatter series, so will continue to make these, but just want to expand my portfolio.  I would also want to spend some on experimenting on the finish of vessels.  What level of finish does need to be or rather I want it to be.  I like the mark of the maker on a cup, so you can see where it has been removed from the wheel, but I do still need to make  sure the finish, once glazed is still of a high quality.     

Saturday 13 December 2014

Open house, last day

Il Last day of the open house.  Been a great few days, I always forget how nice it is to talk with people about your work.    The space we have is small but it works.  The new year will bring some changes though as my current studio partner will be moving out and I will need to find someone else to share with.    Will have to think about how to reorganise the space to make it work more efficiently .  The space will only really work with another ceramicist, so hopefully I will be able to find one.

In the meantime, I have work to finish and new work to develop, so the next few months will be busy.  I  may also have a large tile commission that I need think about and to price up. 

My project for the MA is shaping up, I fact the idea seems to be splitting into two.  in one the focus is more narrative based, and the other is exploring ritual vessels.   Will post more when the ideas are more solid.

Before signing off here is my quick sketch from yesterday evening while waiting for the bus home at 8.45pm. It was a 6 min wait so had to be quick.

I also did a sketch in the studio but not entirely happy with this, the lighting is tricky to captureand so is Liz's work as the finer detail is impossible without a sharper point, still using my fingers.



Wednesday 10 December 2014

Thoughts for the day

Disappointed that my glaze did not arrive yesterday for me to put a firing on, however I am hopeful it will arrive today for me still to do this.  I am currently on my way to a meeting, but after that I have the afternoon and evening to get the studio ready for the open house tomorrow.  I am excited to be involved again, even if it on a small scale. It is good to have a deadline to work towards and creatework for.   

Here is yesterday's sketch.   I am afraid that I did not do a drawing for Sunday or Monday, there  was just not the opportunity. Although I did do two sketches on Saturday, so I can count for of those for Sunday.


Still stuggling to get facial features with just the pressure of my figure, so will invest in a stylus at some point.  The drawing was also completed using the fine tip pen rather than the bolder fountain pen.  Both worlk well though.

Here is today's sketch drawn on my walk home from Falmer to woodingdean.  It is the view over Falmer village.


It was cold and there I was standing up drawing this so it really was quick.  You get an impression of the place though. 


Saturday 6 December 2014

Ovingdean cuppa stop.

Bycycles are particularly difficult to draw for some reason.  Got there in the end but the perspective is slightly off.

Having fun drawing this view from the cafe across to the marina.  Been trying out the different tools on Paper 57.  It is surprising versatile.  Will continue to experiment.  Right the sun is setting so time to get home for a spot of dinner.

On the bus home, 5 dec

Last night on the bus home I drew the following.

Despite my reservations about drawing on the bus, this came out okay.  As you can see there were not many people on the bus but I think that worked well.  Although the bouncing around caused a few issues, but I pushed ahead and tried to make the best of what was in front of me, as I knew when I got home I would just be too tired to do a sketch.

Today is a new day, there are not many days left to the open house but all seems to be progressing nicely.  I shall put a kiln firing on today or tomorrow and a glaze firing will go on early next week.  Just waiting for the glaze to arrive,

I am still buzzing from by visit to uca on Wednesday,  it has given me much to think about and I need to speed time developing by project as well as working on sketch books.  I shall start this today.  

At the moment I am waiting for a fireplace expert to come and investigate our chimney.  We are getting a small wood burner for our living room and we need to know if the chimney is sound or if we need a chimney lining.   Anyway perfect opportunity to catch up on the blog and post last night's drawing.  The Sun is shining and it feels like a great day.



Thursday 4 December 2014

Sketch for 4 December.


Trying out a larger composition, so working on a smaller scale to what I am seeing.  Always difficult for me as I always want to draw larger than life.  

Wednesday 3 December 2014

Open day at the UCA, Farnham

Really excited about the open day today.   Looking forward to finding out more about the MA in ceramics and whether or not it is what I want to do. Hopefully the day will help answer the question of whether I feel ready to do an MA.  I have a project in mind that would benefit from the support of fellow students and staff feedback, but the only thing letting me down at the moment is a portfolio of recent work, I need to get professional images produced.  I also need to spend time developing a cohesive sketch books ideas and research around one idea, rather than a collection of different projects and ideas that are not developed.   Need to also hone the research statement and develop a bibliography.  

To help with the sketchbook development I have signed up for a 10 week evening class in January February and March.  This is based around 3d and print and I am looking forward to this.  Would like to explore the green man theme as a side project to the my MA proposal.

I would also like to instigate a drawing project of one per day for the next 365 days.  This would be a great tool  to be creative, get me  drawing and exercising my visual awareness.  I want to attempt this using the Paper app on the ipad.  Will post images to this blog, or maybe create a separate blog, see how this goes.

Regarding bibliography, Ashley Howard's work I greatly admire.  He was a visiting lectuter will I was a student at Brighton and he was an influence on my final pieces in my degree show.   I love throwing on a large scale, the sculptural quality you can get is fantastic but unfortunately, space, money and a commercial market have made me downsize my work after graduating.  Working on a larger scale is something I would like to explore as part of the MA as I think size and setting could be appropriate for my project.

Approaching clapham junction so will continue blog post when back on the Farnham train.

Now on the Alton train from platform 9.   Had to wait 20 mins for the connecting train but fortunately there was warm waIting area, very chilli this morning.  

Started thinking about the logistics were I to do an MA at Farnham.   It is a 2 hour train journey or a 1hour 15 min car journey.  Which would be better?  Questions to ask, is there car parking? what time do lectures start?  How many days are you required to be in uni as a part-time student?  Cost by train is £25 even at 8am so it is feasible, depends on what I would need to transport.  So that is something to think about, the logistics if making large scale pieces.  I love travelling by train as you can utilise the time well, a car journey however will allow easy transport of work.  Perhaps a balance o the two depending on the day ahead.

To end this post, here is a quick sketch on the journey,  difficult to get the delicate facial features with the pressure of ones finger on the ipad, may have to investie in e-pen.  






Tuesday 2 December 2014

December 2nd, 2014

Paper app sketch, costa coffee, 2.12.14
First sketch I have done using this app.  Needs more experimentation and may need to upgrade to get the blending tool, but not bad for a first attempt.
Right off to the studio for an hour.