04 June 2019

Drawing Tuesday - Tate Modern

Several of us caught the Franz West exhibition in its last week and enjoyed the 2D and 3D work. Sue was in the right place at the right time -
 Some of the quirky objects ...


 This stack of hats covered in papier mache is what I settled down to draw -
Janet B drew my attention to these
 and I had a quick go along with some other half-hearted scrawls (not worth showing!) -- she'd already done a much better job of it -
(they sure look like politicians to me...)
 and of Joyce at work -
Joyce's work -

And Sue's -
 Najlaa was inside and outside -
Janet K was interested by Dorothea Tanning's textile sculptures (till 9 June) -
On the way to the Tate, Jo had captured a bus passenger -
 Carol had brought along some stone and pottery treasures -
 ... and while on holiday had spent much of her time drawing, for example the cheery stove and the dogs for sale at the post office of all places - 

 Janet K's extracurricular subjects -

These pencils that Carol brought along for us will need a knife or scalpel for optimum use -
I think Franz West would have liked them. Here's a collection of objects that he made to be played with -
 ... and some more of his 2D work ...
 ... including painted and collaged cardboard pieces nearly a metre long -

03 June 2019

Up & out & about

A Monday morning sunrise -

Seeing off a friend at the train station, and then a little walk...

Treasure maps drawn by the kids at Drayton Park school -
It was this "home as cosmos" that caught my imagination;
eventually I realised that the assignment was to put certain items
into the treasure map. Rain has seeped in, enhancing the effect



 Sunlight through the cistus, approaching Highbury Fields ...
Diversion to Holloway Road in search of coffee and croissant.
"Custom latex"
 The pub opens at 4 -

Refuelled, albeit with horrible coffee. Round the corner to find that a bike park has developed near the station -
 My favourite walk, under the trees -
 The garbage collectors must get to Highbury Fields early -

Down the back roads to discover topiary along Plimsoll Road and Ambler Road -




 And home through the park -

All this before 11am. 

02 June 2019

Sunday evening over the hill

As a finale to a lovely sunny English weekend, while the baby sleeps the adult children plan a holiday in the Mediterranean sun ...
... and the boys' mothers stay well in the background ... it's widely known in the family that one mum would rather be walking in the Yorkshire dales, rain and all, and the other is quite happy staying in London, taking photos of this'n'that -

01 June 2019

Studio Saturday

A couple of volumes from this 1990s series has come my way and reading them reminds me of how much I don't know about working with clay. I'm compiling a list of words to look up but am a bit embarrassed about sharing it with anyone...
This next one is from the studio's little library - I sat quietly at my table and read, remembering what Dorothy Caldwell said in her class at Festival of Quilts in 2008 - "sometimes you just want to sit in your studio and read something" ...
Ah the joy of pinch pots -
Mere months after the class with Dorothy, in my introduction to ceramics during the foundation course, I made a variety of pinch pots ... and would like to do so again ...

Meanwhile a visit to CCA to look at the beautiful, desirable crafts being produced by the top makers.  More ideas. Do these strung-together pots  look rather like lampshades? -
These lines are part of a porcelain-and-resin piece by Fenella Elmes -


And on the way home from the second day of the marbling course, more #walktosee drawing, when a little sitdown was needed -

Looking forward ...
... walking on ...

... looking back