Studio Saturday

Having discussed the matter of getting a small kiln with the others, who decided that yes there's room and yes it would be a good idea, I followed on from the quick discussion at the Hatfield show with some further questions. So that's underway, and the sooner we have a small kiln that I can fire small batches of small pots in, the better! 

The big kiln - with space at the side for a little one

Meanwhile the production of "series" of similar pots - or, at this stage, tubes - continues. They are in the same fabric or technique but have distinguishing marks so that a record of their treatment can be kept, with a view to discovering what actually works. And then, "if it works, do it some more".

Springy, thick linen thread

Slippery, thin cotton thread

The worktable (aka coffee table) holds a series crocheted in dishcloth cotton and the start of a series crocheted in old wool yarn, tapestry wool - the label says Scheepjes Gobelin - ombrand niet verwijderen streng apwikkelen door los eind uit omband te trekken. A 10-metre packet is perfect for a pot, and I have quite a few packets. The metallic thread is either crocheted in or stitched on later.

Quite possibly this table will never become a "centre of simplicity".

 At the actual studio, I have dipped a few pots - three -

The slip was getting very thick, so I diluted it a bit, keeping a record of the weight of the slip before and after water was added, and trying to carefully note the consistency, though how that can be objectively measured and/or described is beyond me! "Consistency of double (or single) cream" - that's not truly objective, but might be a good comparison.

This pot had huge holes around the stitches; I used the hair dryer in hopes of solidifying it a bit, especially around those holes, and then dipped it again. Fingers crossed the holes won't reappear as it dries out -

The cut-down 2-litre water bottle is my standard measure for the slip - I hope that by filling it to the same point, and noting the weight of the (diluted) slip, it will give an objective measurement of consistency. And when small kiln firings are possible, it might be possible to see how dilute the slip can be.

And perhaps different consistencies make for more or less cracking during drying. Or perhaps the tiny cracks are due to fast or slow drying, who knows? Or to the material, eg sinamay vs silk vs linen?

"Centers of simplicity in houses with many rooms"

"We must first look for centers of simplicity in houses with many rooms." - Gaston Bachelard, Poetics of Space

On reading this, and looking around my complex environment, I wondered if there might be a centre of simplicity somewhere in my own house of many rooms. (If you've lived in one room, five rooms are many. And if you've lived in a house with rooms you don't use, one room may be enough!)

Short answer: no, no centre of simplicity. Even the bookshelves have books lying across other books. Even the plants on the windowsill have pots and stones and ethnic animals among them. Though on reflection ... what is simplicity, anyway?? In my view, it's clear space - a place with one function at a time. Somewhere that you know where you are, and what will be going on.

I decided to hack out an art-space for simplicity, from the dumping ground that used to be my studio.

It took a mere five minutes to move the ironing board and all that was on it, off the table in front of the window - and that five minutes included finding "proper" places to put those things.

What joy! A centre of simplicity, for a simple task

 zen circles (with right hand on the right page and left hand on the left page)

using various materials and various tools.

Something simple to do daily. In a space that encourages concentration.

Rather than driving myself crazy looking for a paint palette to make various dilutions of paint, I improvised with the bottom of a water bottle -- five nice little dimples, and it cleans up quite easily ... becoming multi-use plastic ...

What pleasure - what simplicity! - to to leave things tidy, and return next day to try more tools and materials -

The rest of the room is still a dumping ground, but it's behind me. I'm immersed in making circles ... and oh what variety there is among them!

Poetry Thursday - Clouds by Matsuo Basho

Clouds

Clouds come from time to time -
   and bring to men a chance to rest
      from looking at the moon.

Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) (translated by Harold G. Henderson, 1889-1974)

Zen circles

What a nice shape the circle is. Drawing a perfect circle was quite a show-off feat in medieval/renaissance times -- but that's not what I'm doing here. I'm focusing on making each one, and making many, attentively, with various media and tools - and with both hands.

Right hand on the right; left hand on the left.
A random selection of pencils and pens

Dilute india ink (it had solidified in the bottle and I added water in
a failed attempt to revive it) with
a mop brush, chinese brush, and glass dip pen

Full-strength japanese ink, with chinese brush, different dip pen,
and rigger brush

 The rigger is tricky for circles -

Drawing Tuesday - Maritime Museum

The floor patterns in the central room of the Queen's House caught my eye, but I didn't rise to the challenge of drawing them in perspective. The shapes in the central area were - are! - challenge enough -

The central section didn't turn out all that well - it might be easier with instruments (there are 32 sections) - compass, protractor, ruler....

Even the straightforward sections had their challenges - but that's the value of observational drawing, looking closely and figuring how it all goes together. There's always something new to see.

Elsewhere things went better. Jo was focussing on the "danger of slipping" sign but the boat is the dynamic element here -

 Sue went up the hill to the observatory -

Helen found a subject sitting still, texting -

Janet K tackled a row of figureheads, and added colour at home -

Art holiday, part 2

Everyone seemed to enjoy the "draw each other" exercise. Helen had brought a roll of cellophane and cut off long lengths, which we held in the air (and stood on the bottom) and our partner outlined our face, hair, arms, clothes (aprons!), shoes with a chunky marker. Instant amazement!

Another task was to make a "group costume" for the party on Thursday night. The theme was "sci-fi" and "silver and white" - we made spock-ears, supported by headbands (sometimes embellished) -

 Ready to party -

 Some of the other groups had gone to a great deal of trouble, producing mini-plays -

Back in the studio ... I spent the final days revising some of the less successful drawings - often with erasure -

 ... and overpainting with ink and, hmm, coffee I think - the paleness is channelling Ian McKeever's palette -

 These swoops of ink should have gone straight in the bin. They are a bit gestural and totally meaningless and unpleasing -

They became a trial of white paint and powdered graphite applied over oil pastel. The paper around the pastel came off in crumbs and became part of the texture, which the graphite enhanced -

Still not much of a design - call it a spaceship to go with the sci-fi theme?

But what a great texture!

Three charcoal rubbings of different types of ground (twigs, path, etc) happened to be circular -

and inspired the composition on another erased sheet of paper, with a little white paint on the old lines for augmentation, and string laid onto the central whorl because it was too dark -

Using nature's brushes - bundles of twigs or bark

This rubbing of bark and stumps

was overlaid by an alphabet of big-flat-brush marks -

The drawing on cellophane influenced this

Some of the less successful efforts were transformed by being made into one-sheet books and I was so happy to pass this process onto the others, whose work became really interesting in book format, allowing a close look rather than being an overwhelming network of lines/marks.

(Also, it's easier to take home when large sheets are folded up!)

One of my bundles, crow feathers (used to scratch into swathes of ink) was lying on my open sketchbook along with some card I'd used as a template, and Helen pointed out how the separate elements complemented each other. An eye-opener! -

In my small notebook I'd been making "mini-McKeevers" -

 ... which got the "add something" treatment -

The afternoon of the final day was a chance to round to the other courses to see what they had produced. Which meant showing what we had produced, and every surface was covered -

 Tidy-up in action -

 Result = display of interlocking one-sheet books -

I'm amazed at how important "nature" was in all this, and how
I enjoyed being direct rather than twisting the work into
complicated concepts (note to self: Remember This)

 These trees-that-drew-themselves (using brushes from their own twigs) are one of my favourite pieces -

 also this, which involved washing off a lot of fussy marks and changing them to a simple branch (but the feathers stayed)

This was made early on, with a feather dipped in ink, and brought on thoughts about the kinds of structures found in living things - how is a feather like a tree? -

This started from a big flint, enlarged - it's become, what, a fish swimming into murky water? Or maybe it's just a shape and some tones -

 My favourites -

Goodbye new friends, goodbye room 45 (open window) -

Hello rain, hello train! The heavens opened and the rain pelted down for hours. I'm so grateful to Jan for a lift to the station, through the lakes that had formed everywhere along the roads.