Saturday, June 11, 2011

The big black dog.

The kiln firing has been done! I was very pleased with how all the critters came out.  After much discussion with fellow potters, I fired to cone 3 and it worked well with the underglazes and the abbotts clear.  I even tossed in some low fire alkaline glazed pieces and they did okay too.  Big thanks to Suzanne, Cecily and Barbara for all their advice.  I am still having trouble with finding a good intense red but think I may have that resolved for the next firing.

This is a big black dog.  The markings came from my big black dog on our farmlet.  She is called Jess. I am doing a lot of dogs at the moment. Winston Churchill used to refer to the 'black dog' of depression that chased him.  The idea for the current series came from his words.  I have been having a few issues with 'feeling down'/'blue' lately. I tend to call it the 'creative curse'.  I believe all creative types have the depressive streak to their personality.
The dogs are my response to this.  

This dog sold with in a few days of being in a local art and design store (called KINA). I was sorry to see him go but also excited as he is the first pottery work I have sold.  He represents a shift for me from being a painter to a potter. With pottery I feel like I have 'come home'...it feels natural.

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