The flower seller.

Way back when I was living in London I used to watch people and 'collect' them to put in paintings. Each day on the way to work I would gather my information about the person or scene..observing small details and then at night I would  pop those details into the painting.  This flower selller was outside  Marylebone Station.  I bought alot of fresh flowers in London.  I needed them to get over being homesick!  I loved the contrast of the flowers so carefully wrapped and colourful against the bricks...the greys and browns of London. This painting sold many years ago.  I wonder how it is holding up to the ravages of time. It was painted in ink and gouache on canvas.

Urban knitters

Recently there was an 'urban knitting' thing at the Govett Brewster art gallery.  A massive scarf was knitted, all in white wool, in a variety of textures.  It was made by who-ever was passing and wanted to add a row...or two...or three....  It was then auctioned off.  My ten year old, Ella, was very excited about adding her part to the scarf on a wet Sunday afternoon. We spent ages there while she added her row (80 stitches across).

The gallery also had an urban knitting/graffiti knitting afternoon, where people came and knitted around/over parking meters, fences, doorhandles, lamp-posts etc.  That part of town is a pleasure to travel through at the moment...the knitted flowers in the wire fences and the small odd parts of knitting you find in unexpected places are just a delight and make my day!

A weekend of play with clay- Part two

 Just to add to the weekend away at a course extending my hand building skills with Fiona Tunnicliffe. She rocked!!!  I love the quick and furious way she worked and the character of the creatures that she made.  It was fascinating watching how she built her creatures  and how nearly every rule I knew about adding slip and worrying about air bubbles and wedging throughly...got broken in the creation of these crazy creatures.  We experimented with adding texture and handbuilding using slabs and pinch pots in totally new ways.

A weekend of play with clay.

Last weekend I went to a pottery workshop on hand building with Fiona Tunnicliffe.  It was such an eye opener!  I loved experimenting with different ways of joining and attaching.  I also joined the local potters society and now have a key to the rooms.  It is so exciting and frustrating!....I have 15 weeks of major working to go in my teaching job.... That and the farm and studio development  doesn't leave much time for anything else like actually making art.. I am so looking forward to next year when my major focus is the studio and farm.  The critter below is a sort of lamb in a reptilian coat.  I don't like how it reminds me of chinese mass produced ceramic dogs.  BUT I do like the face, ears and neck part.  I will have to be careful with moving it to the Kiln room and next stages of the firing.  It is the most complex thing I have made.  The next problem is what to glaze it in so that it doesn't look like a chinese ceramic dog.  That is not a put down...I  am wanting to avoid the mass produced ceramic look.