Milanese hot chocolate

The Waterside took one sculpture - Happy Dog. It looks OK in its glass case right next door to Steve's Sunday Afternoon painting which I think is the best in the exhibition. The opening evening was so crowded Sue and I only stayed 20 minutes and Sharon and I went back last Friday. We agreed that it was a very eclectic mix and were happy to have our work on show there - Sharon had a photograph of Sally and Jim (horses) accepted. Afterwards we descended on Cafe Nero and I introduced her to the indulgent delight of luxury Milanese hot chocolate!!! Truely wicked and gorgeous and eclipsing the enthusiasm for fine art any day!
Going to Stoke tomorrow to get the Pottery Ladies' orders. It seemed unfair that I was the one who wanted all the clay and we were going to share the carriage. Anyway, the nice young man at National Tyres has topped up my air and assured me 100kg shouldn't make much difference - it's only two people after all!
I have asked Anna to redesign the web site as I think it is a bit fussy and folksy. To that end I have done some 'arty' photos of details to be included and written a bit about the ideas behind the pieces. Here they are -

 

Working on zebras and dogs still and trying different methods of making stripes - watch this space for the results.

White Charger not obligatory!

Happy New Year to anyone who's reading this!

I'm shattered, yesterday (Sunday) I worked in my workshop downstairs from 9.30am to 10.30pm with a couple of meal breaks and little dog walks. Today I went to the studio and worked hard again for another 5 hours. It is all Ruth's fault! She talked me into joining the Northern Potters Association and then encouraged me to have a go at a couple of applications to join group shows. Well, to be fair I didn't need much encouragement being a competative soul. I sent in photos. The surprise was both the Joe Cornish Gallery in Northallerton and the Rufford Gallery in Nottinghamshire both wanted 6 pieces! They wanted wall pieces in the spirit of the 'Every morning in Africa...' theme so that set me off making elephants and zebras both wall reliefs and ordinary sculptures.

Zebras are strange beasties - when I actually started looking they arn't the horse shape I expected, they are stocky and rounded and they have much shorter thin legs and tiny hooves, not helpful in clay but I want to try using painted wax resist and oxide to give an idea of the patterns. It is beautiful the way the stripes wrap themselves around the bodies.

I also took three pieces to the selection weekend for the Waterside Open in Trafford. It was two years ago when I badgered Sharon into entering with me and got my first two pieces accepted in an exhibition. That started it all off, I would never have predicted how far I would have come in two years. The lady who booked my pieces remembered me and my work and I found myself childishly delighted. Sue drove me down there so I didn't have to carry the crate further than necessary. My friends have been marvellous to me and helped and encouraged me every inch of the way. I love my chums!

Will's drying/kiln room at Start looks like a menagerie at the moment and I have left him a note explaining why. I look forward very much to getting my own kiln and to that end I did a very 'bad thing' this weekend - I viewed a house with a double garage with permission for change of use( to a studio?!) I loved it and the 'bad thing' bit was I am not suposed to view any houses till we have a buyer for ours as it will only lead to disappointment. Too late.

If there is anyone out there who would like a lovely old four storey Victorian house in Didsbury please come and buy mine - our lives are on hold until someone with sufficiant funds comes along - white charger not obligatory!

Every morning in Africa......

This is November's posting! I have a list of galleries/exhibitions to apply for and am in the throws of making Christmas presents too. Too much to do too little time etc etc! I joined the Northern Potters Association after Ruth's gentle persuasion and have had a reply from the association regarding a group exhibition in the spring at the Joe Cornish Galleries in Northallerton - they would like 6 pieces from the ' Every morning in Africa....' series!Why 'Every morning in Africa...'? Well I found this little story ....

“Every morning in Africa, an antelope wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest hunting dog or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a hunting dog wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest antelope or it will starve. It doesn’t matter whether you are a dog or an antelope – when the sun comes up you’d better be running.”   Adapted from an African proverb

I almost forgot to send the photos in and was frantically snapping and posting photos the evening before the deadline. Here are a couple of the photos although I didn't send the dog as it doesn't do him justice.

   

Another pleasent spin off from joining the NPA was receiving the newsletter/magazine and seeing under my name - in a welcome to new members list - the name of a friend I made up at Holmfirth when I did my courses with Brendan. Hilary helped me fire my raku unicorn and makes the most beautiful pieces inspired by nautilus shells. I am going to the Art Market at Huddersfield on Sunday and hope to see her there. The daughter has purloined the sat nav so I have Sue riding shotgun - she is a demon with a map but we bicker like an old couple.

I gave a two hour ceramic modelling lesson to the WI ladies art group a few weeks ago and I have to say I was fired up with their enthusiasm and will be doing another session next week. We are going to make 'green men' - there is a photo of the sort of thing below. The ladies at the studio were very impressed with the red glaze  - pure accident I think - the firing must have been a bit too high and the underglaze colours changed.The WI ladies will be using the air drying clay left over from the RDA exhibition so no need to fire.

                                                               

A Lost Month

Bloody Norah, lost a month again! Well there have been some ups and downs with the studio space in Salford and I didn't make anything for weeks because I thought I might not get them fired. Without going into it chapter and verse, the Monday Pottery Group has got its workshop time back - to be reviewed next week. The ladies galvinised by fighting talk and sustained by homemade cake, organised themselves into action and met with the management to make their case.

Unlike the cake - that didn't last very long, my work has in the mean time got stale I think and I need to kick start myself. Didn't make the Open National or the Discerning Eye, but - heyho - as Janie says, move on.

The bronze idea is coming on and I have found a course, emailled the sculptor and hopefully will tackle ceramic shell bronze casting in 2012 - I'm saving up. It is near Girvan in the southwest of Scotland. Sue fancies a holiday and we will see if we can find a b&b in a pub and she will paint and take photos (seaside and birds) while I play in the foundary. Good Scheme! I've started modelling in wax so I will have some pieces to take up with me if I get on the course, still dogs but more like fox hounds now, think I'll make a pack.

They say moving house is one of the most stressful things in life and I can see how it could be. We have probably lost the house we would have liked because we don't have a buyer yet. It had a brick garage ready for converting into a studio and I was dreaming of driving to Stoke, walking in to Potclays, pointing at  new kiln and saying 'Take that to .........(such and such an address)...........and plug it in!' Well you never know.

Nesting

Well as promised the photo of me with a celeb!

and a picture of the first 'Nest'.
Am I making nests as a subconscious reaction to moving house? After 26 years the house is on the market and we are downsizing. I keep thinking about Kinder eggs and Easter eggs, folklore and supersitions, I even made a  'Green Man' at Salford - perhaps it's more to do with the book.....

It is amazing how the story I am currently listening to influences the nature of the sculpture I am making. I have been listening to 'The Company of Liars' by Karen Maitland and suddenly my nest became full of snail shells and small bones - all bleached and microwaved for hygene's sake.The creatures become more ambiguous and albino-like as the character in the book - strange. This piece is going to London on Sunday to 'The Discerning Eye' competition so we'll see whether anyone else likes it - Pete liked it but having done a re-take asked me 'What are they?' Well I got more than my 4 seconds looking-at-time so perhaps the judges will look again too.

I have a box of modelling wax downstais and may get going on some hunting dogs. There are several awaiting firing at the moment but they are very fragile and I can't get them standing up so I may have a go in the wax - I want to make a pack but the problem is how to preserve the sculpture afterwards as bronze resin is too expensive - the moulds really. Still if I win a decent prize I can put the money toward it. In fact, thinking on the keyboard as it were, I think that will be my next target - to get a piece cast in bronze. Watch this space!"

The kindness of strangers (and old friends)

Bloody Norah, I keep meaning to write the next blog and time has slipped away from me. Went, ( Helen and I) to London to see the pieces in the Mall Galleries and everytime I turned round I nearly bumped into HRH, not on purpose I might add and although she hovered near the Antelope and Hunting Dog she did not buy it - neither did anyone else I have to say. Not hard cheese - but there seemed to be fewer red dots this year, but at least I had both pieces accepted.

Then it was the Stockport Open and blow me if the raku unicorn I entered didn't get a prize! I was delighted and the best thing of all was a phone call from the organisers questioning the title of the piece (The Last of its Kind), as they found the creature so ambiguous they couldn't agree on what it was! YES!! It actually acheived its goal and I got more than my 4 seconds of viewing time! Here it is.

And here are the hippos -

Then it was the RDA National Championships! Joy had done for her shoulder so Janie valiently came with me. I arrived in the horse box with the WI marquee. It blew and it blew and I was close to tears as 12 kind people helped put it up. I was so grateful to them - everyone at the championships was so kind to me. The exhibition looked OK and a couple of ladies bought pieces but the success of the weekend was the workshops for children to come and have a go. Janie was brilliant, fighting off the most dreadful cold and keeping me calm inspite of torential rain and having to set up3 times in all. On the Sunday I was asked to help judge the art competition and I left Janie in charge. When I returned I found that she had returned to her nursery nurse roots and next to the rows of unicorns, lizards and other creatues were a selection of toadstools and gnomes! Brilliant! Will post the photo of me and Tony Head (actor!) who posed with me in the stand. When I got home - the old horse box was brilliant if a little slow (did get up to 55 on a couple of occassions) I was so tired I could have slept for a week and Janie took to her bed.

Then it was a small exhibition at the Queenston Arthouse in Didsbury. No sales but a pleasure to exhibit locally.

Now I am working on new ideas - nests(?) more about that next time. I have told Gill that I no longer want her kiln because the house is going on the market - board goes up tomorrow - and when we get a new place I am going to ring up Potclays and say, 'You know that top loader kiln in your show room? Well bring it to such-n-such address and plug it in!'

How do you get four hippos in a Ford Fiesta?

Two in the front and two in the back! Old joke, I've made some hippos out of lovely coarse raku clay as a bit of a diversion from the finer white crank. It was like playing with wet sand - loved it.
Went to Birmingham - EAC Exhibition with Helen and had a lovely day apart from the parking ticket. The exhibition was fabulous - a real quality mix and we were both impressed. The hare looked lonely in his glass case - I really think my pieces look best either outside or on a plinth, not in an exhibition case but I am grateful for the security aspect.
Rushing around trying to get pieces ready for different competitions and the RDA stand in July. Joy will come with me if she can and there is 100kg of air drying clay smiling at me in the cellar waiting to go. Definitely another horse box job to get everything there.
My lists are getting lists - Pete said this is turning into a job. Not yet, but the 'get-a-kiln-game' is all go. I have taken photos of the port-o-kiln in situ and sent them to Northern Kilns, met a man, John, at Potclays who used to use and install them and got a quote for a hiab that I probably won't need as apparently they are really light and two men can lift them.
Embarrassed to say that I have damaged the kiln at Start by giving Will a black rat to fire made from some black clay Ruth gave me - it was eartheware and melted. Did for bricks and element and two kiln shelves. This is an expensive month - I will have to sell something! No pictures this month, will post photos of competition entries next month.