Life

.. it just gets in the way sometimes!
It's now over two weeks since i posted anything and not because nothings been happening. It's just so much stuff that can bring a man down... that i thought i'd keep the hit count down to just me! Lot's of stressful stuff and i don't handle it very well, it just knocks me right out and my anxiety levels shoot up and... well.. i become a zombie...the miserable kind (oh, i do like a happy zombie). Part of the stress has been my new website that isn't quite completed. I decided to do it myself and i hit a couple of technical problems when i tried to bypass my old website... and then more problems when it took my email down for 4 days! I hope it will be worth it and people find enough interesting stuff on it. There will be quite a bit of behind the scenes studio stuff on there too. I still have to add a shop, so i can sell prints and original art.. and anything else i make... hopefully pots one day.
Which brings me to my previous post all that time ago, the wheel is now sitting in my lounge!.. every night i stand and kick it spinning. I still have to get it up a couple of flights of stairs and it's heavy. I need to try and get all my helpers to be available the same evening to shift it... and i hate imposing on other people's time, really find it hard to do. I want my wheel in my workspace though, so i can start the learning curve. I haven't made any pots for a couple of weeks. I'd love to, but i have all the other stuff to do and have to prioritize, after all i can't even fire stuff yet.
Good, now i've got past the posting gap i might get back into the swing of it. I've enjoyed following everyone else's while I've been absent. Lots of great things being created out there. It's about time i did some too.

I Have A Wheel !

... and it's a crazy looking beast... very Heath Robinson!... maybe that was part of it's appeal?? (That and the price) Hopefully i can pick it up real soon and get it turning! very excited about finally having a wheel. Lots of practice and wonky pots... it's a shame no one smokes anymore, as i expect to be throwing a lot of ashtrays!!! ....Now i only need to solve the kiln conundrum.

Odd Couple

I made these two last week to try out combining white and black slip. My attempt at finger wiping on the backs wasn't a success!... and my improvised comb was a little, well, wrong.... I'll cut my rubber kidney next time!!

There's a story to go with the small pot, but I'll tell you about it in a couple of days.
I also have my eye on a wheel, not the best in the world, but i just need to get on with it now and chase up any possible kiln shares etc.

On the website front, I'm slowly going loopy! I've edited the code etc to get rid of all the bits i didn't want and changed colour schemes etc, but now i'm dealing with content. That means staring at lots of my own work... and it's depressing! It was fine for a couple of days, but slowly i started removing bits, then more.. then putting them back on, taking them back off... etc etc. You look at an overview of all your work from the past couple of years and start to question it, seriously question it. It's not healthy i tell you. I was sorting out lots of images/info for my agent, for their upcoming publicity/promo material, before i started on my website. I feel like I've been analysing (over analysing) my work for a month now.

Got to just get it into decent shape and get it up. My old website is so old now, it needs to be put out to pasture... bless it.

Thoughts and Actions

I haven't got my hands dirty with clay for a while now. I've had to put it aside for a couple of weeks in order to build myself a new website. All seems to be progressing well and I'm hopeful i can get it completed this week. I want to add a shop, but think I'll just get the website up and working and then start to deal with setting the shop up. I've got lots of ideas for stuff to go up for sale, need to focus and be sensible though!! Lot's of thoughts hammering around in my head right now... things to get printed, ideas for pots, a photographic/graphic collaboration, an actual product idea, and a new creative enterprise idea popped into my head last night after a lazy day of drinking G and T's, couple of beers and a bottle of red ( the best time for loose ideas and not worrying about practicalities!)
Honestly, my head feels like it's emerging from a five year fug!... shame my body won't join it.
Hang on, how old's my eldest boy?...  nearly five?... i wonder if there's a connection??
(you're damn right there is ;-)

Bird Song

I've taken my time getting around to posting this, i received it way back in January i reckon. Tim, a friend of mine from Nottingham, sent me a little disk of pics and video. Many moons ago, i sent Tim one of my artworks from my 'Parallel Universe' series which i used to do for the Sunday Independent newspaper. It was titled "Pencil Technical Support Helpline", which i found very amusing!! Anyway, in return Tim sent me little projects he worked on, bit of a crackpot inventor is our Tim! One was another of my drawings of a gingerbread /candy house, which Tim had printed on a board that was wired up so that when i pushed the doorbell on my picture it chimed and i was greeted with Tim and his good wife Kath's dulcet tones. I liked it ( it's run itself out now Tim... hint, hint) Anyway, i know Tim checks in on this blog, so i thought i'd post this project. He took ( i presume bought??) an old book of birdsong from a lovely old secondhand bookshop. Then he wired it up with real birdsong, when you open it the birds start singing! He then went back to the shop and replaced it back onto the shelf! I really hope people do continue to return this book and the joy. Well done Tim. (sorry i couldn't get the little video up on here)