Birds Are Migrating

It's that time of year and these three tropical birds have decided they want to migrate. So I've placed them for sale in my shop. Now's your chance to provide a home to these three birds. Since they'll be traveling together there's a special group price. Check the sidebar for a close up of each bird or Buy Studio Pottery for other details. These fine feathered friends really belong together but are not limited to the arrangement I have them hung, they can be rearranged or even placed in different rooms.


Here's the complement to the lavender lady tile (in previous post), this one is turquoise lady with the colors and face reversed. The white lines carved in the tile will become whiter when the tile is fired which may emphasize the features to make them more discernible on this and the other tile.


My revolving pegboard display arrived and I think this is going to work great for displaying my wall sculptures. I ordered it from the Store Supply Warehouse and it arrived in one day and they called me to let me know when it would arrive. Wow, such great service. It folds flat and the top and bottom slip off so it's convenient to carry. It stands five feet tall. If I place the stand on the ground out of doors, I will have to make a stand to set the turntable on since the turntable was meant for a flat floor surface.


I may make one of these pegboard displays with the sections wider and make it into a triangle and not use a turntable. If this type of display were placed at the corner of a show booth it would encourage folks walking by to enter the booth to see the other side. Ideally I'd like a hanging display covered with fabric and more upscale, do you know of any suppliers for those? I've been trying to think the best way to hang my wall sculptures. What do you think? Are S hooks secure enough or should I use a wire eye bolt in the pegboard? There's a show next weekend where the artist isn't present to sell items because the club runs the sale so I want them to be secure but also easily removed for purchase. And they don't allow items to be hung on the walls.


I've been harvesting these sweet peppers out of the garden sporadically. I like these long thin peppers since they are the perfect size to slice up and toss in a salad. If you have comment moderation enabled on your blog, I can't comment there. Something is happening with blogger again. I've tried twice to make a comment on Lori's blog and it's still not there.

As I was typing here, my cat Butter was stung by a scorpion. It was running across the office floor and he ran after it and it stung him on the mouth, so far he's OK, thank goodness. I'm not going barefoot on this tile any more. Gary was resealing the weather stripping for the door into the garage and perhaps he snuck in from there. Ugh. Tomorrow is white rabbit day, don't forget. Click the link for the story. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

The Lavender Lady

It might be interesting to do another tile like this one and reverse the colors of the hair and the face. I might try that. I have no idea what will happen with these colors after firing. I've used some designer velvet underglaze on this tile which is about 7 x 9 inches. I've blended in lots of other colors and some sgraffito over the top. I showed it to Gary and he said he had a hard time seeing the face. What do you think, can you see it or should I emphasize the eyes, nose and lips more. Oh, I'll wait till I fire it and then I can always add acrylic.


I used to be known as the lavender lady at my last place because I had a lavender farm. Above is a photo from my farm. You can follow the link on lavender farm to see more photos of my gardens on my previous blog. Oh, I should create something with orange and purple together, a striking combination I think. I miss my gardens, but not all that work.


Today I was thinking I need to get into more of a routine. When I had my gardens I had to stick to a schedule otherwise everything would have died. Watering, pruning, harvesting, packaging, stock my gift shop, inventory, etc. so many things I had to take care of and not a minute to spare. I was extremely busy, too busy.


Now I'm busy but not in the same rushed and frantic way. I don't have much of a regular daily pattern and I think I need more of that. I'll always have some spontaneity like the times I drop everything to head to a museum or the shore and of course there's my spontaneous making of things in clay.


Anyway I'm making a schedule for myself and I'll see how it works out. Don't worry it won't be too rigid. I'm just not that way. Is that a contradiction, what can I say, that's how it goes. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Might Have To Keep The Birds

As I attach the wires on the back of each wall sculpture I hang it up to see how it looks. When I put the wires on these three tropical birds I had an idea to hang them as a group. They look so good together above this dresser I use for storage in my studio I might have to keep them. Their black background picks up the black iron of the lamp. When I made these I actually envisioned the two upper ones hanging above a window facing each other which might look good too. But for this space I like this arrangement. I'm taking this photo at night so the lighting isn't that good, I'll take another photo during the day.


Meanwhile I have some of the wall sculptures packed up ready to take to a couple of galleries. I can fit four of them in these smaller containers with a piece of foam between them. I have larger bins I use for my other pottery, but these would be too heavy if I filled a larger bin. I wish I had a scale to weigh each one to see how heavy they are. They don't feel heavier than a painting would feel that I hang on a wall. The smiling alligator is dying to get out of the container. Ha! He feels the heaviest; I guess because he is double thickness where the alligator is or maybe he ate too much.



These sculptures can also be displayed on an easel instead of hanging on the wall. Another idea is to place one in a cubbyhole of a large book shelf to break up the monotony of shelf after shelf of books. Completed wall sculptures are available in my Studio Pottery Shop. Well back to work. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Wall Sculptures Ready !

I'm excited about my new wall sculptures = hanging ceramic art = won't fade or yellow with age. This weekend as I was attaching the hanging mechanisms, I was wondering why I'm so enthralled with making these. I realized each one contains a feeling I had when I made it. They look great on the wall! I just can't stop; I'm having so much fun. My goal is to make various styles which will complement any decor. You can see the ones I've finished so far in Buy Studio Pottery. These next pieces are drying in the cabinet and will have more layering of slips added.


I found a clay supply store closer to my home in Ocala which I've been going to called C and R Ceramics so I don't have to drive to Ocoee or St. Petersburg to get clay. I like my clay to be fresh and soft when I use it so I only pick up small amounts at a time. I got more of this WC-901 Macabee clay . This white stoneware clay is smooth and is perfect for my wall sculptures. I'm still testing darker bodied clays. Has anyone used the designer velvet underglazes by Amaco? I picked up a couple of those to try out.


Each one of my wall sculptures are waiting to be enjoyed in a new location. No frames are needed. They come ready to hang with the wood and wire hanging mechanism I attach on the reverse side. Each sits out about 1.5 inches parallel to the wall without a tilt. The have a sealer so they can be wiped off with a damp sponge. I put small felt pads on the back to prevent scratching the wall when they're hung. They're fairly light weight, (note to self to weigh one) probably less than two pounds, and can hang from a strong nail or molly bolt in the wall.


This week I'll take work to several galleries and there's a couple of shows coming up, meanwhile the completed wall sculptures are available in my shop. As I finish more wall sculptures I'll also put those in my studio pottery shop, so check back often. Prices listed include priority shipping and insurance. I package them very well for safe arrival. I accept checks or purchases can be made via paypal through my etsy shop.


Due to ongoing health issues I've had to rethink attendance at full day shows so I'm concentrating on local venues and half day shows. I ordered this revolving wooden pegboard to hang my wall sculptures for shows. If the revolving pegboard works out I'll pattern another one after it, since I already have the materials to build one. Thanks for your support and comments.

Salvador Dali Museum

The design of the newest Salvador Dali Museum building in St. Petersburg, designed by the HOK Architectural Design Firm, is a tribute to the surrealist art of Dali. The Museum houses the largest number of art works by Dali outside of Europe.


The St. Petersburg Dali Museum, which opened in January of this year, is the third location of much of the Dali art works collected by A. Reynolds Morse & Eleanor R. Morse which began in 1942 the year of their marriage.


Photographs weren't allowed in the museum proper, but I took these photos from the interior lobby and exterior of the building.

The Persistence of Memory, 1931

Although I'm not often a fan of surrealistic art, I came away from the museum with a new appreciation of Salvador Dali's art which was impressive in originality, skill, symbolism, and detail.

The Hallucinogenic Toreador, 1968-1970

Both images of Dali's art are taken from Wikipedia and constitute fair use of art images of low resolution to illustrate this educational article about the artist and museum here on this blog. To learn more about Dali, his art, and the museum please click on the various links to read more details.


There were two tropical grotto's with misting systems (note steam on right side of photograph) at the entrance to the museum and gardens on the exterior, but it was raining and very crowded so I just took this one photo. Don't you just know the grid work in the first photo will show up in some of my art work real soon, maybe even some symbolism. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Haywire

It was bound to happen, but I didn't think it would happen so soon. I amazed myself at the previous portraits I did of fictional characters and myself. That must have been why I kept putting off painting a portrait of Gary. A portrait on clay with stains and slips as my palette.


What I did doesn't resemble him at all. It's someone, but it's not him. I'm totally frustrated. My brush went haywire. The portrait face is harsh and closed and Gary's is open and free.


While I work in clay, Gary is outside picking weeds in the yard. If he doesn't get the sandspur seeds now they'll spread. I've put the portrait in a closet to dry. Perhaps it's Gary frustrated at the sandspurs. Ha. The eyes should be rounder, the nose thinner, the lips thinner, the hair smoother; I'll try another one. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Horse of a Different Color

Horse of a Different Color
@ 10 x 10 wall hanging

Today I took a small detour with an equine portrait. Something I thought about with these wall hangings was to incorporate a faux frame around the piece drawn with stain or slip. That's what I did with this horse wall hanging. I could put shading on the inside of the frame to make it look more three dimensional. Then again I could add a sprig for a frame too.

I started out with defined lines of color and didn't like that effect. So I used a special tool to blend and soften the colors, my finger dampened with water. Ha. I might take out the two pieces of mane on the upper left. Perhaps the blue ears could be larger. Some of the details jump out at me after I look at a photo of the piece. I started work on Gary, that'll be coming up next so stay tuned. Thanks for reading and for all your encouragement.

Man with a Pipe

Man with a Pipe
@ 10 x 11 inch wall hanging

The first is the revised one; I changed the eyes and took out some of the smoke from the pipe. I may take out a little more smoke. No telling how many layers these have.

Haven't gotten around to painting Gary yet but will soon. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Pondering Woman

Pondering Woman
@ 8 x 10 inch wall hanging

Will people hang a portrait which isn't a relative or friend? I hope so. Of course, that's assuming I have no warping or cracking issues. I may have to get more underglazes which are suitable for skin tones.

Self Portrait Age 55
@ 9 x 9 inch wall hanging

This is a self portrait of me when I was about 55, I have more lines now. I think I could improve the shading, my features aren't quite as they should be. I'll have to get a book from the library and see how the shading is done, since I've never drawn faces, let alone painted them. It's a great challenge though. I'll work on one of Gary today. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

UPDATE:

I've touched up my self portrait and I added a background color which I forgot to do, better, worse? Something about the neck that isn't quite right. oh well, better next time. I have portrait studying to do. Ha.


Another update, I revised the neckline and put in more shading. I better quit while I am ahead, but it's fun to see the revisions together to see the changes. Thanks for all your comments and encouragement.

Full Moon Drum Circle

Here's some photos from the full moon drum circle on the evening of the previous full moon. That's Gary in the right foreground. He brought a trash can to play and I brought my once fired maracas.



























Thanks for reading and for all your comments.

Leaves Are Falling

Today I noticed some of the leaves are already changing. Plants seem to know if it's going to be an early winter. I liked the bricks from the last firing so I put some sycamore leaves on this section of bricks.


The changing season inspired me to make this wall sculpture. Don't know if you can see it but there are three undulations. I also added some holes through the piece. I want to add something three dimensional, but I am not sure what to add just yet. Hope you're having a good weekend. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.