Distractions galore!

A cycle of creative chaos

by frogpondsrock on April 24, 2012

in Arty stuff..,ceramics,Distractions galore!,potential insanity

I have never been a tidy person. I leave a trail of destruction behind me where ever I go. I have accepted this aspect of myself now at the grand old age of 46 and even though I make a token effort to limit my mess making in the house, it is a totally different matter in my studio. I totally destroy the studio when I am making the work and there is barely a surface left untouched. Once the work has been bisque fired, the studio becomes even more cluttered, as I do final stage decorations on pieces that couldn’t be decorated as I made them, either because they were too fragile unfired, or because I forgot about them and the clay had dried out too much to risk applying any underglaze colours.

In the studio I only have to answer to myself and now as we speak, I am at the pointy end of a making cycle. This table with the labelled clutter is actually my main large work table, I finish off my slip cast cups on one side and roll out large slabs of clay for platters on the other side, where that pesky bowl of rocks sits. At the moment the worktable is covered with stuff, that was essential in the making process, but now that I am about to glaze, it is all clutter that is in my way.

As long as there is a dinner plate sized space of clear table left to work on, I can still work happily enough, this photo shows me at the decoration stage of the work. I only have to decorate a few pieces as all the decoration and mark making is done as I am making the work. Once the work has progressed past the “leather hard” stage and onto the “too dry to do anything else” stage, I have generally lost interest in it.

Now it is crunch time, my deadline is looming and both worktables need to be clutter free in order for me to glaze the work. I have to make some new glazes and my standard stock glazes which sit under the table in ten litre buckets all need to be stirred well and then thoroughly sieved. A very messy job.

The studio will be all sparkly and clean for about an hour today and then the process of creative destruction begins again as I make a hell of a mess glazing.

I have procrastinated enough dear internets, and will be (mostly) incommunicado for the rest of the day, as I knuckle down and get ready to fire this latest kiln load of work.

Also for those interested, here are the paint brushes that I make with my hair. I just sticky tape the hair onto a wooden skewer.

And here is a photo of the marks these paintbrushes make on the work.

{ 17 comments }

Snippets.

by frogpondsrock on April 17, 2012

in ceramics,Distractions galore!,Fun

A few years a go one of my girlfriends went to the Doctor because she thought she had Alzheimer’s. We were both very relieved when the doctor told her that if she was aware of her memory loss then it was most definitely not Alzheimer’s disease.

I have clung to that piece of information over the years as I regularly forget the names of common household items and rely on my children to fill in the blanks for me. I have included an example below.

Conversation with my son
Me: Where’s that thing?
David: What thing?
Me: That thing that squirts out light
David: The torch?
Me: Yes.

I have forgotten the name of the tap, that thing, you know, you turn the handle and water comes out? Buttons, those things that are round and you poke them through holes in your clothes. I am sure that my loving children will be quick to add to the list of flippy things and oom chicky things that I regularly need them to find for me.

Apparently I have an elegant nose. I haven’t ever really paid any particular attention to my nose, it has just quietly been there, under the radar, doing its job for all these years. My favourite uncle complimented me on my elegant nose yesterday and the memory of that conversation had me smiling and proudly stroking my nose all day.

The Ceramics Triennale is in Adelaide from 28 Sept -1 Oct and I am trying madly to scrounge up the $44o registration fee. With a serious juggling of my budget I can manage the airfares and accommodation costs but the registration fee has put a bit of a stumbling block in my path. I think I will have to sit here for a bit stroking my elegant nose whilst I ponder whether the Triennale is a “must do” event or a just “wish I could go” event.

I have previously mentioned that I have somehow managed to get myself onto this list. The first stage of the competition closes very soon and if you haven’t voted for me, as well as for the myriad of other lovely bloggers in the competition, I would really appreciate your vote, or even just a like on the facebook thingy over there will make me smile.

I did a huge cleanout of who I am following on twitter, it took me over an hour to manually unfollow a plethora of dead accounts, businesses, art site spammy links, as well as real people. If I have unfollowed you by mistake can you please tweet at me and I will follow you back.

I will leave you with a photo of a piece of work in progress. I am entering some work into the Rose Exhibition at the Art Society of Tasmania’s Lady Franklin Gallery at the end of this month. The theme is Picasso’s Rose Period and the exhibition is aiming to raise funds for the Cancer Council.

I have put my own slant on this theme and combined Picasso’s Rose Period Acrobats with the Cirque de soleil’s, Saltimbanco the combined imagery of the two have conspired to help me make three of these pieces. They are as yet unfinished but I hope you get the idea from this piece.

{ 7 comments }

Sunday Selections #64

by frogpondsrock on April 1, 2012

in blogging,Distractions galore!,photo a day April,photography,sunday selections

Good Morning everyone, before we start with this weeks Sunday Selections, I have found a photo challenge that you might be interested in and so I thought I would share it with you here. I followed a tweet from Carly Jacobs to a link by Fat mum slim and this photo challenge caught my attention.I am not sure whether to post the photos here on the blog, or to just post them onto my Frogpondsrock facebook page but either way the challenge looks like fun and it might also be a way to get my creative process back on track.

Now let’s start this weeks Sunday Selections.

The Blurb

I take a lot of photos and most of them are just sitting around in folders on my desktop not doing anything. I thought that a dedicated post once a week would be a good way to share some of these photos that otherwise wouldn’t be seen by anyone other than me.

I am also remarkably absent minded and I put photos into folders and think that I will publish them later on and then then I never do.

So I have started a photo meme that anyone can join in and play as well. The rules are so simple as to be virtually non existent.

Just add your name and URL to the Mr Linky.

Publish your photos on your blog using the “Sunday Selections” title.

Link back here to me.

The Photos

This photo is the one I took for the “Your Reflection” photo challenge.

I have no idea what this little fellow is, he was on the bathroom windowsill and looks like a cross between a cricket and a grasshopper. I let him go in the garden and took photos as he ever so slowly walked away from me.

I published this photo the other day but I wanted to share it again as I just love the feeling of ecstasy I get from this tree. As if the tree is reaching joyously for the sky.

It snowed up here last week and then the next day was a lovely balmy 24 degrees. Autumn weather is unpredictable.

The last of the summer insect porn. No more beetle sex for me to capture for quite a few months now.

{ 15 comments }

Reasons to be Cheerful

by frogpondsrock on March 30, 2012

in cancer,Distractions galore!,friendship

One.

Two.

Three.

You can thank me for the ear worm later.

I use this blog to sort out the words that are in my head. If I am lucky and the planets align I capture some of these words and they drip down from my fingers and fall onto the page, rather than spinning madly within the whirlpool of my brain.

Sometimes the words flow, sometimes they do not.

The simple act of writing makes me feel better.

The fact that you are reading my words is both comforting and frightening.

Comforting because I know that you are a friend, frightening because I know that you are not.

Today in my bathroom there was a grasshopper/cricket/insect thingy walking along the window. I captured it and let it go in the garden it was the prettiest green and it took each step very slowly, always tasting the air with its feelers before it moved forward.