All posts tagged studio
Scenes from the studio. Routine.
On April 4, 2012
In Art making, Life in North Dakota, Living with Greyhounds
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Scenes from the studio
Pugging clay. The old cans are on the shelf right in front of me. They were leftovers from the previous owner. The green and white Sinclair can is my favorite. Here are some of the cans and other photos from inside my studio.
Unloading the kiln.
Unloaded the kiln this morning and am quite pleased with the results. This was the smaller of my two kilns. It requires a different packing strategy than the large L&L kiln – that plan was further changed after several of the medium sized boxes cracked during the bisque fire. Those boxes met with Mr. Hammer and this kiln load becomes less than efficient. So fewer pieces than normal. Let’s talk about them anyway.
Here are two views of the same box. Box itself is about 10″H x 6″W x 6″D.
I love the slightly mottled effect on top of this box – giving the box a kind of aged quality. Also think that the combination of several colors is working. The cut-out designs of these boxes are a new technique for me. I need to push on it a bit and see where it goes. This is the first box that I tired working with more than one color. I like it.
Here’s a good example of using more than one color. The box on the left has that addition of a pinkish/red star verses the box on the right with just the gray and the cream of the clay showing through.
Here’s box with green and blue – skipping the dark gray entirely. I love the pattern. The green is interesting in person. Hard to photograph though.
Small sculptures roughly 10″ long. Irish Wolfhounds. A glossy clear glaze. While I like these two pieces, in the future Irish Wolfhounds should have a matt finish. They seem like a matt finish kind of breed to me?
Also in this firing were many small sculptures. These are glazed in the antique parchment glaze.
And one winged Whippet…
All in all, good firing.
Three days to more clay work.
I had nothing on my calendar this past friday, saturday or sunday. I cannot remember the last time that happened. No events. No library thing to distract me from studio time. Plus sunshine. It was wonderful.
So I pulled out of 25 pound block of clay and began to work. I’ll admit – friday things didn’t go well. I made ugly things. Really ugly things. Wasn’t working. I was fighting the clay.
Saturday wasn’t much better, but I kept at it. I’ve been at this long enough to know there is a time to quit – to shut the studio door and walk away for a better day – and there is a time to work out the ugly. This was the time to keep at it.
The way to get out of the Uglies is to stay on task but scale back. I put the big pieces away and make small heads, or feet – on Saturday I made new stamps to press into the wet clay (for boxes, etc.).
Here’s why this works for me. The stakes are lower. I’m not using large amounts of clay. I’ve solved the engineering and firing problems already. All that’s left is working the creativity muscles.
It’s like stretching before running a race. A warm up. Preparation for the Big Art.
After a Saturday of making the stamps (so much fun!), I started a few of the smaller maquette sized pieces. I’ve sculpted many of these small works. They are the my equivalent of sketches - solving basic problems, working out simple ideas, practicing success. Sunday was beginning to look productive. The clay was fun again.
By Tuesday I was ready to tackle a few Salukis. Here’s the smooth Saluki in a play bow position in the working stage. Maybe a larger piece is in the future?
There is an ebb and flow to this clay work thing. I try to jump in at the middle – to take short cuts. But the process is the process. Even if I try to “cheat”, the process keeps me honest.
On to more work!
Back in the saddle
After nearly a month of dead computer, the FedEx man brought a little bit of joy on Saturday. Yes, new iMac. My poor old G5 couldn’t go any more. RIP G5.
Just in case you’re wondering, blogging on an iPad is not my cup of tea. Its a clever device. Something wasn’t blog inspiring, however. So, with a new computer shining all over my desk, let the blogging commence. Let’s get back to making some sculptures.
For each of the “big” pieces, I make smaller versions. These smaller versions are called maquettes. Maquettes are similar to a 3D sketch made with the idea of working out the problems before one begins on the larger piece.
Like for this piece – the large runner coming out of the wall. Here’s the blog post where I began this piece.
To give one an idea of the size of this maquette, the board on which this piece sets is roughly 1/2 inch thick. Some detail but still rough. Just enough to get the idea of the larger piece, to set up the composition.
Now to finish the surface on this piece and figure out how to hang it…
Let’s review.
Anybody notice that it is September already? Greyhounds Reach the Beach in Dewey Beach, Delaware is right around the corner (October 7-10). No need to panic. I’ve got it covered.
Sort of. It’s coming. Nothing is *finished* but it’s getting there. Big sculptures are drying. Tiles need glaze. And I’m going to be setting a fires in the backyard – getting this year’s batch of cockroaching greyhounds exposed to the smoke. Just keep plugging along.
I’ll have more work up on the etsy store this week. I’ll post on the blog and on facebook – or send me an email – I’ll let you know, if you like.
So in all the flurry of preparation for the great early trip to the beach I’ve noticed something. I learned a lot this year+. A Lot.
Remember this piece? This was May 2009. I was attempting to make the largest piece I could fit in my kiln in one piece. I used an armature to build it, sculpted it solid, cut it apart and hollowed it out. Had a few *cough* missteps along the way.
And then I whacked the foot on the side of the kiln during loading. And then I cried.
June 2009 brought the workshop in Helena at the Archie Bray Foundation.
I learned a lot. This is a gross oversimplification.
Came home and started a new sculpture right away.
I was happy with this piece. I’m sure of this because I have 10,000 photos of it. Which is a good thing. Cause it fell to the floor of the studio and burst into a 1,000,000 pieces. And then I cried.
Now fast forward a year.
I feel like I’m getting somewhere. This feels good. I’m confident I can fire this piece – get it to live. I’ve learned a lot.
Now instead of mild burn-out/frustration/end-of-my-rope-ness, I am seeing results that I like. Joy. Excitement. Satisfaction.
Stasis.
Whew, boy.
Somehow I feel like I can’t wait for June to be over, yet wish I could have June back again. How does that work? Maybe every June is like this… LIGHT! We have LIGHT again! I swear everyone around here is frantic – like ants building and fixing and doing before the big cold winter comes again. It is hard to resist getting caught up in the busyness and before you know it – poof! – June is gone.
I’ve tried to eek out time in the studio. I can see the work that is finished – wish the pile was larger. I’m going to blow right past my goal to get a good chunk of the work needed for Dewey Beach done before the end of June. I’m being too hard on myself – the old kiln is working again thanks to new elements, the fiber blanket has arrived for the raku kiln I’m building, a pallet of fresh clay has arrived ready to be used, there are tiles and boxes and lamps drying. It’s all good.
Began a new sculpture — here is a link to the photo — its the first photo of the piece, a really rough draft. Then it fell off the armature. I started over and the “new” version is better than the old.
This time I didn’t take any shortcuts with the armature…
It will be life-sized when it is complete. I’m resisting the urge to place an evil Rabbit-Jockey on her back. (Anybody else feel like they’ve had an evil Rabbit-Jockey on their back lately?) I’m not sure aesthetically….
But the ears flying off to the back of the bunny…
Humm. I could always add it later.
Progression.
The new piece is progressing nicely. I posted a few photos on the Sarah Regan Studio page on facebook – those photos were current as of this afternoon. But I wanted to back up a bit.
This was the new guy for the last six months or so. Followers of this blog might remember him from this post… from January.
He sat, wrapped in plastic, for a long time. Sure, I’d unwrap him from time to time. Wet ‘em down here and there. Scrub off the mildew…
The time to work on him was never quite right.
Until yesterday. I unwrapped this guy around 5:30 am – and got to work. It’s been memory boxes and tiles since January more or less. Nice to work in a different way. Which isn’t to say that I am tired of the other things I do, but that change is good and mixing things up, flexing the creativity muscle, is a good thing.
I worked all day. Exhausted at the day’s end. Boy it felt good – but I’m going to need more spongy shoes – the concrete floor of the studio gets plenty hard.
Today, another day in the studio. By the end of the day, this piece was further along that I’d anticipated. I have no idea where the day went. Worked steady all day, stopping for coffee and email.
More work for tomorrow – the video will explain more…
Return of the plastic wrap.
It’s Baaaaccckk. Plastic wrap – clay pieces wrapped in plastic to control the moisture in the work.
Boxes! More boxes. Let’s take a look at a few of them.
This is a 6 x 6 x 6 inch box. I’m excited about my idea for the figure on the top of this box. More on that later….
This is a taller box. More like 8x6x6 inches. No figure yet, but that’ll come soon.
And a medium sized box 8x4x4 inches….
Another biggie…. and a few others of the medium sizes. It has been a productive week!
And… Frank in in the kiln. Or a headless Frank is in the kiln. This involved taking the kiln apart, carefully loading the body, then reconstructing the kiln around it. After the piece will be fired it’s no problem to lift it out the top, but in this very fragile, bone-dry state I didn’t want to lift the piece off of the kiln shelf it was drying on. Easier to take apart the kiln…. sort of… I broke a part of the controller as I was disconnecting the electrical wires. The part was easily replaced – so Frank will be progressing again soon! (The head will be fired in another firing, then attached later).
This photo is my original kiln…. which we also tore apart this week. It has been sitting in the studio for a long, long in need of repair. This week we diagnosed the problem. New elements have been ordered and I hope to have this guy firing again soon. I’m excited to have two kilns working again – improved work flow.
Also, this week, the studio’s white board was erased and the “to do” list for the Greyhounds Reach the Beach event in Dewey Beach, Delaware in October was started. Yes, I’m going to try Dewey Beach again. The “To Do” list is the beginnings of getting ready for this monster event. Lots of time in the studio this summer!
Have a great weekend. Stop back on Monday for new contest information.
The return of Mr. Hammer
Goodbye, Platter.
Your form was fine, but your glaze was awful. May you have a productive life as a pottery shard in the bottom of a flower pot.
Goodbye, memory box.
Your corner was chipped in the big kiln explosion. If only the carnage had not extended to you and your fellow box. The damage was unrepairable, and so you must meet a violent fate.
And so it goes…
(Remember, only 24 hours left to enter the drawing for the Run tile set! Details here.)
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