Drawing Tuesday - William Morris Gallery

The William Morris Gallery, situated in his boyhood home inWalthamstow, is a new venue for us - we only just realised it was open on Tuesdays!

First, a look around at the current exhibitions - 

Graphics from the Cultural Revolution in China link to Morris, I suppose, via his socialist ideas.

When it came to sitting down to draw, I took a cue from this model -

and used circles as templates to "just play" -

 Elsewhere, a plethora (a committee??) of chairs - by Janet B -

 ... by Judith -

 ... by Sue -

 Janet K found a lithograph by Frank Brangwyn, 1890 -

Najlaa juxtaposed the black and white kimono, with its red neck, and a teapot -

And now some flowers ... Carol's hellebore -

 Joyce's textile was designed for Morris & Co by John Henry Dearle -

 Another flower design, by Judith -

Extracurricular activities -

Carol had no sooner drawn this display of bags outside a shop than she had an interesting conversation with a "bag lady" -

... and later she attended a life drawing session - these poses were 20 minutes each =

Janet K found that the gnarled old willow outside her window was greening, or is it yellowing -

 ... and Janet B had had another go at the architecture of King's Place -

Glimpses of Collect

Travelling light to Collect ("international art fair for modern craft and design"), I managed to leave notebook and pen behind. Apologies for uncredited work, but I hope the photos give an idea of the wonderful "craft" objects, skillfully made and thoughtfully displayed. I chose my favourites; the range on display is even greater.

Love those boxes!

An army of rings

A marquetry of hand-dyed wool, tapestry-size (detail)

Weaving by Katherine Swailes ...

... with looping

... and (Jan Bowman) lots of swooping

Alice Kettle and Christie Brown

Gilded aerial cities by Umberto Dattola

Kristina Riska

A riff on Thousand Miles Landscape by Wan Liya...

... the 12th-century painting has been translated into 3D

New shapes by Robert Cooper

Woodn't you know...

What was meant to be the floor of the living room - but when it arrived, we didn't like it, toooo many knots - is being put on ebay, at last. I'd happily give it away, all 20 square metres of Canadian maple - it's been blocking access to my books for a couple of years now, but it does give me an excuse (if one were needed) to procrastinate doing anything major about the studio.

I was told by my Resale Mastermind to take 12 photos and send them to him, and he'd do the rest. This"little" task involved turfing half the contents of the studio out into the hall, to make room for a "clear" shot. Grr. And then ... how to get twelve different photos??

The camera may have sensed my desperation because it took a few photos all by itself ....

Studio Saturday - just popping in

After a long absence from Studio 6, and knowing I wouldn't have time to do any "work" there just yet, I went back to collect the contributions for Ruth's fundraiser for Medecins Sans Frontieres at the end of the month.

The ceramics were thoroughly bubble-wrapped and packed into my trolley -

 including an initial selection of my own -

These didn't fit and will have to be packed up and go another time -

 What's left is this rearrangement -

By Easter I hope to have some new ideas for experimentation, and after Easter I'm aiming to fill the little kiln now and then, taking forward my little idea* of once-fired porcelain with texture and/or marks.

*Every now and then I have to remind myself of what my focus is. Within this, there are plenty of possibilities in terms of subject matter and even slight divergence in process.

That was the week that was

Commuters stream en masse under the railway bridge, from the bus stop to
the Tube entrance, past the "homes" of the homeless all over the pavement

Bracelet by Bill Gabb [hope I remembered that right!],
part of Morley College's Made show

Quick drawings inspired by egglike pebbles and river glass

Such an interesting Gresham lecture about the parallels between
surgery and puppetry, with live puppetry; watch it here

Charity shops are charging ridiculous prices these days.
A full jar of this jam costs about £2.20

Charming student ceramic work at Morley College

One morning was misty...

... and the next was the start of a glorious week of "Fool's Spring"