True Love?

When random bits collide! the words were for two totally different things and i moved them out of the way next to this couple and.... well, job done. I love it when a plan doesn't come together!

work it through..

I've nabbed this from my mate Griff's blog as it certainly applies to my foray into pottery! I'm fighting my way through though and last night got a half decent handle!! (thanks Matt for the personalised tutorial) It was way too thick at the top, but the next ones will be better... well, that's the plan. I've got a couple of new pots I'm working on and will put a couple of pics up soon.

Hastings Sgraffito Bottle

I made this a while back, with the 'too thick' slip. Finished the sgraffito (carving!) last week. Lots of bad bits, chunked off fingers etc, but i still like the overall feel of it. I shall make a few more flat sided bottles/flasks. Next up though will be a square bottle covered with the Earp Brothers, i've been wanting to do something with them for a while.... and i might make an owl jug, with all the feathers in sgraffito rather than feathered slip ( i haven't even tried feathering or combing, i'm sticking with good old drawing for a while!)

Slip Bear

I was working on this fellow last week and scratched him up good last night. For all you non-potters out there, this is not the finished thing! He will need to be fired, then glazed and fired again and everything will change, hopefully in a good way... but it could also just not make it through to the other side! I'm prepared for that, i am still just testing things out and although it may seem like i'm putting a lot of work in, I'm fully prepared for none of them to make it. It's a learning curve and i'd prefer to learn in real time, with real mistakes. I was also working on a Sussex piggy bank, which was looking nice until i gave him a wade in some brown slip and his leg fell off the next time i picked him up! Hey-ho all part of the process, though that's not quite how it came out of my mouth at the time!!! I still haven't found a way to get them fired down here in Hastings yet, but i'm spreading the word. Still looking for that wheel too. I don't have a piece of 'pottery' yet... just a growing collection of 'dry clay' in various shapes!
I was looking at Doug's post, of his collaboration with Andrew Grundon, with envy today. Oh, to get to decorate a nice big pot that has just the right slip on it. I like the doing-it-all-myself bit, but couldn't help wishing i was capable right now! I really need to get over to Evesham and see my mate Matt. I know he'd sort me out. I wish i had a few more potter contacts down here, god bless these blogs or i would feel like i was venturing alone. Anyway, i feel i'm moving forward. I'll get there.... eventually.

Beware Hairy Men

I'm a winner! Can't remember the last time i won anything, but Andy was giving one of his t-shirts away to the first person to name the inspirational figure for this T. It was, of course, Leon Russell and a fine hairy example he was... and still is! Cheers Andy, i shall be a vision of hairyness... that's if it fits my expanding form!

Corporate Suicides

A series of spot illustrations i finished recently for Business week magazine in the States. It was all about how various corporations had managed to kill themselves off. Coke, was about the launch of New Coke... which wasn't well received!! Pan-Am, Blockbuster and Atari were more successful in their attempts!

More Guilt

..up to about 20 now. Still aiming for 50, then I'll figure out what to do with them. If you have a character/object, or have a confession, i'll happily consider conjuring something up for them. Send them in!

From my desk

This is what stares back at me every day, do you think it might be sending out negative vibes?! Maybe i should plop something more hopeful and positive down there?.... but then it wouldn't be very 'me'!

Here's an initial colour sketch and what it became. I like both equally. There was no point to it, just unloading my brain.

My Royal Wedding Pot

Just for me, front and back. It's rough, but i like it. Based on some of the old 'rustic' tobacco jars in Hastings Museum. Here's a nice one in the Burton Gallery/Museum. I know there's a quite a bit of snobbery about "rustic ware", but i'm ignorant and a sucker for them!.. and it has a long tradition in this town, becoming a speciality of one, John Pelling (Silverhill Pottery, or Tivoli Works), who married the pottery owner's daughter, Polly Tree, so fittingly developed a line of rustic style ware, with it's bark design ( can't find any pictures mind you, so it could all be lies!) I'm also a bit of a faux bois fan, so sadly you can probably expect more of this low grade work! Oh, and there were very obvious slip problems, but it kind of didn't matter... well, not to me!

A pic from Hastings Museum lovely slipware collection, showing one tobacco jar. Lot's of inlaid slip pieces and big cisterns etc. I'll post a few more pics sometime.

Sgraffito Face Pot

I've started!!.. just a couple of pictures from my first messing with clay and slip. Learning valuable lessons already. Need to understand and get a feel for the drying rates and also my slip needs thinning down! ( you won't need me to point out the big bit of slip missing, so i made a feature of it, you can see it in the bottom pic) I've worked on them all at the bone dry stage, as it seems easier for me when i can't guarantee when i can find the time. Ideally i think i should work on them a bit prior. Still, I'm still happy to work if i can make any kind of mark. All you potters out there don't need to tell me about the basic form!! This bottle has just been simply coiled, I've made a flat side bottle form from slabs, which I'm still scratching away at. I really wasn't going to put any pictures up until i found my feet a bit more, but where's the fun in that!!!
Spirit not Perfection, is what i say. It's an interesting point, which seems to be popping up a bit recently, skill/technique v's character/voice. There was an interesting bit about it on the Svend Bayer clip. I'm trying to learn enough skill/technique for my pots and trying to forget a lifetime of it in my illustration! That's my world right now. Anyway, hopefully I'll have more bits soon, want to make some flat plate/dish forms and some simpler cylindrical bits to try out my slip on... and towards working with some black slip too.

Cake Man

Ever feel somedays that you look just like cake?

This fantastic cake was knocked up by my good friend Griff, for a hastily arranged surprise for my 40th on Sunday. Thanks so much to all involved, Tim and especially Jakki for always surprising me. It was meant to just be a quiet afternoon stroll, to walk off the hangover from a party the night before ( another friend's 40th... and it's rare these days for me to get home at 3.30am!) We went for a walk around Hastings old town and Jakki was insistent that i go look at a friends picture in a bar. I'd just bumped into our friend Chris in the street outside and wanted a chat ( it wasn't a coincidence he was there!) I walked in and all my great friends were there and so i spent another day drinking away, the tequila was a bit of a shock to a fragile system! I'm so lucky to have so many good friends down here, they even clubbed together and gave me a fund for a wheel, when i come across something suitable. Thanks so much to everyone!