Wall Sculptures

Here's the second kiln load of once fires. I've added gold leaf to the leaves on the bricks. I like the brick colors, energetic but not too bold. I'm going to look closely at more building surfaces; shingles, stucco, wood, even metal come to mind. I'll do a separate post about the warped pieces since this post is full of photos. I'd rather concentrate on good instead of disappointments today.


I thought I made the tropical man the same size as the woman but he is about half an inch smaller in size? He was on the bottom shelf and she was on the middle shelf, can that make that big a difference in shrinkage rates? No I didn't have cones on that shelf, shame on me. Anyway he has wonderful violet eyes.


Do you recall the vibrant magenta on this piece? It's burned out to almost no color at all; I'm really disappointed with that. Not sure I can produce that color in paint and get the same effect. Still thinking about that.


A small piece of the blue wrap broke on the right hand side as I was loading this wall sculpture into the kiln so I fired that piece separately and will try to glue it on. I am really liking how the slip colors look on this red clay. I envision the sides being hidden when they are hung on the wall hence the curve there. I'm still working on how to keep that part of the wall sculpture design intact without warping. I'd like to do a group of wrapped packages with bows, in different colors. Maybe with removable tops.


This one needs a little something; I'll see what I can do about that. Oh I know I like the sprigs or the dimension to the others. I may get bolder with some attachments next time. I'm moving that way.


Calm and easy sailing on this one. The boat bottom needs some color.


I think this is the one Tracey liked. When it was in it's greenware state I couldn't see it, but I like it very much now. Tracey has a really good eye. There is something visceral about the earthiness in this piece. When I was carving the sky and the water I did so quickly without thinking and that shows in the movement. I plan on leaving the exposed red clay natural since I like that effect.


I enhanced the grouper fish with more color, much burned out during firing. Since I've taken photos of the pieces before firing, I can compare to see which colors fade and make corrections for future work.


Here's another one with the magenta faded out, still thinking about this one. This would be fun as a ceramic puzzle to put together. While I was burnishing the wood for the wood hangers on the backs of the wall sculptures the hand held propane torch caught on fire at the nozzle connection. Gary was there and said to throw it down if that happens. I'm still thinking the small tank could have exploded. What in the heck am I doing? Cutting the wood with the chop saw and predrilling the holes is one thing, but exploding propane tanks, Yikes! Maybe there's another type of torch I can use that's got a smaller flame for wood burnishing (burning).


This was a piece from months ago made with speckled clay of the trees and sand dunes at St. George Island. I've tested four coats of sealer on it. I also added green to the trees and some shimmery copper highlights. Stay tuned for details about the warped pieces and strange swirl marks in the clay. Thanks for your encouragement and comments.

This post is part of Artists in Blogland submission for what I'm working on.