11.24.2010

Finished Birds



Well here they are all glazed and shiny. It's been so cloudy here that getting a good photo has been really difficult so of course they look better in person then they do here. All I have to do is put a pretty ribbon on them so they can be hung up.

11.22.2010

Three new birds

Here are some new birdy tiles I've been working on. These tiles were bisque fired and then I drew on them with a special pencil that won't burn off in the kiln. I covered them with glaze right after I photographed them here and they are in the kiln firing as I type this. So hopefully I'll have the finished birds to show you very soon.
The one in the center has a yellow discoloration from the water I washed it with. I'm not really sure why this happens to only some of them but it will burn off when it's fired.

11.21.2010

Pinecones and needles





There is a beautiful park across the street from my house and I was able to take only a few pictures before my camera ran out of batteries! Guess I should check them before I leave the house next time. But I did collect a few things on my walk and made a couple of quick sketches yesterday.
Not much to post right now but I have alot of new things coming so I'll be updating more this week.

11.14.2010

Encaustic Revisited

My students have been busy working on a mixed media project so I thought I'd repost one of my favorite mixed media projects from my old blog.
This is a mixed media encaustic painting which is a painting made with wax and lots of other media too! I started by burning glue on a piece of illustration board and layered on wax. Then I carved into the wax and rubbed in some oil pastel and imbedded pieces of an old film strip. I love the spontaneous nature of this process!

Wooly Bear


We rescued this cute Wooly Bear caterpillar from our dog who thought it was a treat! We've seen so many of these fuzzy guys around this fall and I don't ever remember seeing them before. I put him in the wood pile next to our house so he would feel at home.

11.06.2010

Christmas Cactus



Well my christmas cactus is starting to flower already so I guess that means the holiday season can't be that far behind. I still cannot believe it's November already! I am loving the cooler weather but I am not looking forward to the months of snow and bitter cold. I am hoping that the season of hibernation will inspire me to pick up knitting again. I only started it last winter and stopped when life got busy in the spring but I really enjoyed it.


My friend Cheryl is an aspiring photographer and she took this beautiful photo and used my hat as a prop. It's the first thing that I had ever knit so I'm glad it actually fit!

11.02.2010

Kate MacDowell

My friend Kelly introduced me to the work of Kate MacDowell a while ago when she showed MacDowell's work on her art blog. I cannot get enough of it! Her work is classic in it's detail and construction, and there is an obvious influence from mythology. But the combination of the traditional with the modern statements about the fragility of our environment and our relationship with the natural world brings about a macabre and uncomfortable feeling. I am so attracted to her beautiful porcelain forms and yet the disturbing nature of her subjects creates a unique sort of conflict in me.

11.01.2010

Coasters

  Here are some new things I've been working on. I thought that making coasters would be an easy thing to do for the Art Faire considering we can make lots of them at one time and also hoping that they will be an easy item to sell too!
 The ones here have been bisque fired and I've sanded them down to try to even out the edges and make the bottoms really smooth so they won't scratch table tops.
I think I'll try to paint some underglaze into some of the leaf impressions to emphasize them a little more. I really like them without any color though too so I'll experiment to see which ones I like best.
I just finished making these here and I used some of the gingko leaves I collected from my trip to the botanical gardens. I used a slightly different technique this time so I hope they wind up more evenly round than the first ones. Less sanding would  definitely be a good thing!