.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Homes

This scrappy pile of twigs is home to

these two little doves and mum often comes and sits resting on the platform as well. I love the variety of nests sitting right outside my door in the spindly hibiscuses.
This little honeyeater's creation housed two little ones and
this incredible creation was 5days in the making by two energetic little sunbirds but sadly
nothing more happened but I am sure another couple will come and make repairs and reuse this little house with its well feathered lining.


The fires are burning everywhere outside town and the horizon is heavy with smoke so each night the setting sun is a huge orange red orb painting the skies and ocean with a myriad of colours. No wonder I am inspired to capture just some of this incredible palette on my clay if this is what I see in just a few days!
I love being home but Sydney and the workshop at the National Art School with Takeshi Yasuda was a wonderful experience. Galleries were featuring ceramics and more ceramics and I managed to see a few, only wished I had time to see more.
Our photo-shoot and the pots featured as well!!!
The local potters then had to sit through a demo - did have to read my notes as two weeks and the brain had already forgotten bits but a pot emerged (5 o'clock I kept hearing!) and I breathed a sigh of relief - even had to cut it down to fit in the kiln but it will be fired and raffled for the club at the year's end exhibition.
"How we sell our pots" - the requested article for The journal of Australian Ceramics - 6 hours later sitting at the local shopping centre - still managing to smile- only because pots sold - I need gas! - and this wasn't too much to pack up! I always baulk at going down but usually have the orchid seller sitting across the way - his orchids always attract plenty of buyers so they have to walk past and have a conversation. I kept thinking about this coming article and smiling at what my piece could contain - this was the Saturday of the 'Bullride', tourists off buses were rushing to use the toilets, "I've come from the Tip, would love to buy some but still have more rough roads to travel over", locals shopping, kids touching and mums chastising, 10 am bottle shop opening across the way, "I'm going to Timor but can only carry 10kg but I will take 2 cups, jug, microwave vegetable cooker", lots of waves, chats and "I'll look after things if you want something from the bakery", then grandson coming to help. It was a good day.......

3 comments:

Peter said...

Hi Lyn,
What a wonderful place you live in, that "incredible creation" of the sunbirds would have to rate highly in the world of contemporary art! Those first two photographs of the sunsets are so like Turner (of whom I have always been fond), and the last three have me excited/scared, and wanting to clean the dust off my poor old oil paints and canvasses and splash some paint around.

The enormously tall pot that is under construction....it was the result of throwing and adding a coil of clay... wasn't it?

It is so hard to sit and smile at a shopping centre, or the equivalent. I do hope you did pay for your petrol..., and more!

We're still easing out of winter down here. Grey sky this morning and fitful wind, I'm hoping we might get to 14 degrees Centigrade later on! Really hard to sell anything at the moment and a bit of a challenge to maintain some sort of confidence. Hope it all comes right as the spring flowers pop up!

Best Wishes to you, P.

mudheartpottery said...

Hi Peter,
My place is pretty hot but unique and I love it. Sunsets and sunrises can be filled with the most incredible colour and monsoon season just adds another dimension to the palette.

The base of the tall pot is first thrown with a donut shaped 7kg of very soft clay,then about 6" of the base is covered and the top allowed to dry. This is then turned upside down and added to a base, then the lower portion pulled up even further, this is then allowed to dry and another donut of 3 + kg is added to the top
and pulled using the technique shown to us in the Takeshi Yasuda workshop. I plan to throw another next week so will take images of the steps which will give you a better idea.
Gas for me is for my kiln as its really expensive up here and so too is petrol but at least I am only 7kms from the shops!
Hope your sales pick up with the warmer weather.
Lyn

Peter said...

Thank you Lyn for explaining the tall pot (it would be lovely to see photos when you do one next week if you have got the time), I was thinking that it must have been done something like that, but... you never know! There is a marvelous video of Isaac Button-Country Potter, that has appeared recently on some people's blog sites, where Isaac throws a huge pot (I think it is a cider pot) about the size of a gas cylinder out of one lump of clay (I can track down a link to it if you would like).

Talking of "gas" I was amused by my mistake! Gas for the kiln and not for the car! I look forward to photos of your efforts next week.

I might even go now and attempt to throw a large jug or two. Very therapeutic.

P.S. I don't think we got to 14 C yesterday, a chilly wind put pay to that.. looks quite a bit colder today! Enjoy your sunshine! Regards, P.