At the end of last week I was working very hard to finish assembling and slip-painting 10 earthenware jugbirds as well as make a decent number of pieces to put in Cathi Jefferson’s kiln next weekend. A dozen or so mostly Fraser Valley members will meet at Cathi’s, prepare their work and load the salt kiln. It will be turned on at the crack of dawn on Monday June 27th and the group will be there for the salting around 5pm. With one tall vase for the top shelf, 3 mugs and one small vase I had to accept that it wouldn’t be worth 3 days and the ferry cost to get these fired. Instead I now have a start on a group of pots to fire at the Shadbolt gas/soda/salt kiln later in July. How on earth did I manage to get so many pots made at Medalta last year?
Having made that decision I felt less stressed. One day I would like to visit Cathi’s studio and kiln but I just wasn’t ready. I will chat with Linda Lebrun who is going and see what slips she may have used and check her results when someone has brought them back from Vancouver Island.
Eric Metcalfe has asked if he can paint a couple more of my small oval plates and he wants to bring Eli Bornowsky to have a go at painting on a not-flat surface too. They’ll probably come out on skytrain one day next week. I have the plates all dry – Eric uses underglazes, not slips.
Meanwhile Al returned from his 6 days in Barkley Sound with a really horrendous cough/cold. Damn, now I have it too. Luckily we don’t have to go to work and can behave like retired people and rest. I posted photos on facebook in an album called ‘reasons to stay home in June’. There really are some fabulous colours in my garden – to enjoy on the 2 or 3 days it hasn’t been raining! And I have spent far too long making the first album for picasa (for those friends who don’t like facebook) of our tour in Italy. I’ve chosen what appealed to me – ceramic seats, flowers and ochre-coloured buildings. This is the link so let’s see if it can work.https://picasaweb.google.com/jugbird/Italy1?feat=email
My next blog will show photos of my visit to Tate Modern and the mainly sculptural pieces I like.
