moon, sun, magma

lovely moon last night, draped with a little tasteful cloud. up at 1.30 am and 3.30 am to light the second burner and keep the temperature going up. then at 6 am a very beautiful morning, sunshine at last, and not much wind. here are the cowslips in my garden, there are clumps of them everywhere.

cowslips.jpg

the beauty of bath apple tree has blossom in bud and beginning to open.

appleblossom.jpg

it was such a lovely day I sat out in the garden, sheltered from the wind – it did get up – by the kiln shed door, and with the heat of the kiln behind me, and the sunshine pouring down, it was almost too hot. the dogs lay about; I got my sketchbook out and thought about new pots with pen, ink and watercolour.

sketchbook2.jpg

I want to take things a bit further, and sometimes you can think with the clay, but its also good to push things with a sympathetic medium like pen and wash.

sketchbook1.jpg

then the drawing becomes an end in itself, but I hope that some of this will work in the medium of clay.

sketchbook4.jpg

and here is the flame; turned off at 1283 C (about the heat of molten rock below the earth’s crust) at 7.30 pm.

flame.jpg

5 Comments

  1. Very nice! Cowslips… and the molten picture caught my eye. I’m in a yellowy hue kind of mood right now. Am looking forward to spring when these flowers are starting to bloom. Over here (in Toronto), the Magnolias are starting to come out, which means cherry blossoms are likely to follow.

  2. The perennials are coming out here. It will be quite the thing in a couple of weeks. I prefer the wildflowers of England (as in your photos above) to the manicured England gardens we have here.

    Your pot drawings are ambitious. Can’t wait to see the results.

    Make this a great day.

    Speaking of sketchbooks (your pages look like works of art in themselves!), I need to place a Muji order.

  3. thanks for the encouragement, kind friends. had a truly awful making day today … mostly because the clay I tried to use hasn’t enough texture ….. somehow it killed any boldness I might have had in play!

    there is something about sketchbooks … I would hate to admit how many I have – empty or started.

  4. Such bad days are part of the process I guess. Otherwise, we’d all be Michelangelos. Hang in there!

    (with me it’s notebooks of course…)

  5. sketchbooks!! I had no idea you sketched things out before you made them. They are very cute little sketches. I know what you mean about having so many of them.. I have a whole pile and have never completed one in my whole life.

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