stepping out....

It's Saturday night....time to put on the silver and  dancing shoes.....flowers for my friends.....I'm stepping out.....

chase the blues away....

When the landscape is black and white, the complexion pale, the energy flat, a sickness hovering.....mind travel....to a place you love. We all have one......make your memory soar. Chase the blues away.....p.s. sorry about all the disruption on my site. I'm winging it!

keep me on my toes....

When the winter blues come for you....and surely they will sooner or later.....get together with friends....they keep you on your toes!

anticipation

I decided the girlfriends had to put their arms down for awhile. Not that the celebration is over. Celebration is all the more poignant because of it's rarity. Anticipation of celebration actually hangs out with us more often. Knowing that celebration is ahead keeps us engaged. Gives us hope and a reason to get happening. We're all shopping for meaningful experience. It IS in the distance.....

paint like a kid...

When the energy is low, instead of drinking a red bull or coffee, I reach for my favourite, mood boosting pigments. Simple forms and technique painted in a fearless manner can offer you fun, relaxation, and a boost in endorphins.  It feels great to be creative. It's exciting to just fly. Kids paint like that. Until they reach the age of being aware of other people's opinions...then they put the brakes on creativity and try instead to please everybody. The insipid landscape is born.  Painting like a kid again is a joy.

tracks of my finger tips....

Clay is an incredibly demanding medium. You must be very aware of it at all times. Everything needs to be done in a very timely manner. Wait too long and the clay may dry out and crack. Everything must be done very slowly.  I have not had time to throw on my potter's wheel for a very long time.  Today, I prepared some clay by wedging it with some nice fermented slip. That gave me a soft clay that made it easy to throw without using water. It takes some muscle to centre the clay and then a lot of focused pressure  with my finger tips. There are so may things to consider while throwing but it becomes second nature with practise. I often throw with my eyes closed. Pure meditation. What a feeling to take a hunk of grey dirt and turn it into something. Tomorrow I will trim the bowl, paint it with slip and then cover it for a slow drying period. Working with clay is  a connection to  ancient times when vessels were crudely formed by roaring fires and then placed into the coals to fire. Primal..... earth, water, fire,  ritual, .....powerful.

evolving blue jeans

A few years ago I started playing around with adding paper to high fire clay slip to create my own "paper clay".  The addition of paper actually holds the clay together and limits the amount of cracking that happens during the crucial drying stage.  During the kiln firing, all of the paper burns away and leaves a stoneware product. I figured that if the clay would burn away then denim would burn as well. I soaked the old jeans in  paper clay slip and stuffed them with newspaper to recreate the human form. As the clay dried I painted on subsequent layers of slip until the desired thickness was reached. I then painted on black copper oxide to enhance the wrinkles and texture. When they were bone dry I loaded them into my kiln and slowly started up the propane torches. Soon black smoke was billowing out of the chimney. Don't try this in an electric kiln as it would burn out your elements! Slowly I fired for about 14 hours and brought it up to 2300 degrees F. After a day of cooling I opened up the kiln and vitrified blue jeans  remained.  I became fairly obsessed with finding natural fibre objects to turn to clay.( polyester melts and leaves a big mess on the kiln bricks)   Hats, gloves, dresses, paper bags all became objects of desire. Anything with metal buttons was especially sought after because the metal survived the firing. Now, I use them for eco planters. Always evolving....

dogging it and digging it...

When I fire my gas kiln it is a long day. Usually I light it by 6 a.m. and finish firing after midnight. Then I let it cool for two days before I open it up to see the magic inside. There are lots of little spots inside the 12 cubic foot space so I'm always pinching out little pieces to fill the kiln right up. Pablo, our Jack Russell Terrier turns 15 this spring. That's over 100  dog years already.  He's been the best , funniest, cutest , friend you could possibly ask for.  I'm pinching out lots of little Pablo's for the spring firing. When the moon is full and the hot  fire swirls through the kiln sending a three foot long flame out of  the top of the chimney, these little clay sculptures will be vitrified and last forever. Ow ow ow owhooooooooooooooooo!  Dogging it and digging it....

Is it summer yet?

My paintings are about colour, movement, texture and FUN. I can appreciate art that is more involved and detailed, and even not uplifting but I just can't paint it myself anymore. I have spent lots of time painfully planning, plotting, and painting more SERIOUS works but , you know, it just isn't in my personality to create that way. I'm a speedy person. My days are a blur of trying to fit it all in. When inspiration strikes, I madly paint with abandon and passion. I call my paintings, feng shui boosters. Meant to be hung where ever the chi is stagnant. Traditional anything leaves me cold. Like Billy Bob Thornton, antiques kind of give me the creeps. Old, tired, and dark with age ....CREEPY! Give me me clean, modern lines, bright, strong colour, fresh air, contemporary art and lots of light. Now, if only I could go tropical as well..........Colour really pops where the sun shines and people aren't afraid of it. They wear bright, loud colours, and get really creative in their personal style. Homes in warm climates are full of colour. Beige and khaki are almost non existent. My style is a reflection of the summer sun and  the energy I draw from it. Is it summer yet?