Monday, June 28, 2010
tree outside my window
my piece from the workshop
Professional
I love this lady! Her name is Collen Gallagher and she currently teaches at a community college in Olympia. She is one half of the the team and her husband, John Benn is the other half. She shared tips: simple tools and handy "short cuts" as she demonstrated her methodology (can you tell I'm back in school?). She made everything look so simple--but in reality--well, when I got to the hands on part..no so simple!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
summertime kidart
Some of the kids were over and we took a hike by counting power line metal people and went as far as 3 of them, talking about nature, keeping the Earth clean (they decided to count cigarette butts on the way home). We identified some flora: blackberries in bloom, California poppies, Scotch (broom or bloom-I must google), wild daisies and, of course, dandelions. We listened to bird songs and tried to identify the clouds (nimbus, cumulus, stratus..etc. I will need to bone up on clouds if we do this again). We checked out some rocks and I told them to plan and decide what painting on their rock would look like so they could choose a shape. On the way back they picked out their rock and carried them home. Then we scrubbed and painted them. Jack is MIA in these pics..he was onto other things by the time I pulled out the point and shoot. I'm surprised at the intensity and concentration the kids showed during this exercise. In the end we got a mountain and rainbow, 2 volcanoes, and some line patterns and designs.
Nissy is out being a pioneer and Marcus, Hayden and Noah will join us next week. Doggone it, I missed Trishana.
We're excited for the weeks to come. Next week is a biggie..we're going to visit some koi fish, do a water color project based on that experience and try for fish flags or kites. I have plans for 6 art experience days--1 each week. Some involve an excursion. In the 6 weeks we'll cover drawing and painting, some work with clay (pinch, coil and slab), tie dye, and stamping..making your own stamps from foam sheets. It's all GOOD.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Pulling Handles
This looks obscene, I know, but I'm learning to pull handles for mugs. It is not an easy thing to pull the clay shaft while it's wet and to get them just right for the mug I might be working. I sometimes go in circles..like on this day. I was anxious to get to this step but arrived at the studio without tools and without the right clay for the cylinders that were at the leather stage. After a frustrating attempt to trim 10 or 12 pots, and pulling 10 handles using a different clay, I finally called it quits at the studio, recycled the handles and headed home.
Arriving at home I discovered a new frame of mind. I found the last ball of clay that matched my cylinders and began pulling handles. Most of the fam is on the late night summertime schedule and it felt great to have the bustling around me. The girls had made some GAK goop and were also playing at the table. It was a nice atmosphere as we watched Kanoe beat the 7th world of Mario!!
Mugshot
These are some of the cylinders now turned into mugs with the addition of the pulled handles. Next is to make sure everything is smoothed out and dried for the bisque firing. After that is glazing. I'm pretty excited! Some of these are still too bottom heavy and tomorrow night I'll practice throwing more cylinders, working on not being so bottom heavy, and then for higher, thinner walls. As my friend Karen would say, "happy potting"!
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
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