1st exhibition

I am hurriedly trying to finish and develop new work for this exhibiton. Things are coming along nicely but its a bit tight. I'm firing a kiln tomorrow which will hopefully produce some work on which I will apply my "Deconstructed Decals". I'm still playing around with the inlay decoration I tried out on Sunday and hope to have a few of those ready in time too. It means squeezing in about three firings next week but I think it will be worth it.

Breakthrough

For ever I have been a doodler - when I'm on the phone, in a meeting or on my own at lunch I sit and scribble away. I quite like my little pictures and have been trying to find a way of working them into my ceramics. I've tried painting with a brush but I can't get the same feeling or quality of line. This morning I decided to have a play with a bit of inlay. I scratched some lines straight into the unfired pot, filled them with coloured slip and scratched it back to reveal - yay - my little pictures. I'm a bit excited about this. It feels the most me out of anything I have done.

Deconstructed Decals

I have been stressing about what sort of work to put in the exhibition I have entered for April. I have wanted to do some decoration with decals for a while (decals are printed images you apply over the top of a glazed piece, it is then fired on and becomes permanent). Most commercially available decals are of the old country roses type and can look a bit twee. My challenge is to apply them in a fresher way and make it more appealing to a younger generation. I think the cup in the middle (where I have chopped up the decals) is on its way towards this. I have made some small bowls and beakers and will be experimenting more with this idea in the next few weeks. Lets hope I am happy enough with them as they will be all I have to exhibit - no time to come up with anything else.

Result

I have produced a new batch of my Australian Porcelain pieces. You may remember I was working towards a deadline so Robin, my Studio Head could take some samples to Sydney to show a potential stockist. That stockist is Ross Longmuir of Planet Furniture and I am excited to say that he liked my work and bought it immediately. I'm overwhelmed by such a positive confirmation of what I'm doing. This means I'm on the right track and my aesthetic is not only my own taste but other people like it too. I still have a lot of work to do though. There are refinements I need to make and I have to get faster at making these pieces otherwise I'll not have the time to make anything else. I'm also conscious that I need to develop new work so I'm not a one hit wonder.

Finding the balance

I've had a difficult time over the past couple of weeks since my last post. The teapot weekend really took it out of me but I continued on the following week not taking a break. I even put my hand up to do a couple of 7.30am starts to get some kilns on early - I wanted to be keen and help out but did so at the expense of my own rest. Hence I went into exhaustion meltdown. I still managed to do some of my own work but I haven't been nearly as productive as I could have been if I had been looking after myself. I was a zombie at home and you couldn't get a decent conversation out of me. So, I've had a couple of early nights, some sleep-ins and even managed to get out for a run last week. I'm feeling a lot better but I need to watch it in future. Even though I'm "living the dream" I still need to ensure there is the right balance of work and rest.