Wheel pots

About two months I did a short pottery course in Stratford (a sneaky find on Groupon). There were only two people in our class which meant that we were able to use the wheel almost continuously. I hadn't done much work on a wheel before but I really enjoyed it. Here are the fruits of my labour...lots and lots of ashtrays / tea light holders / salt & pepper vessels.

Sunny Norfolk

Yay - finally, a post I've been wanting to write since Sunday. Often a weekend away involves waves of some description but those of you out there who surf will know it's been pretty flat in the UK recently. We decided, as the weather was so gorgeous, to go camping in north Norfolk instead. And wow, that really was the best decision.

Look at that sky!

The boy likes to fish

BBQ in the marshes

 We camp well together, the boy and I.

Exciting times

I didn't think I'd be able to blog today. I've lost the lead for my camera (sob) - very annoying as I'm itching to share photos from the wonderful weekend I've just had in sunny Norfolk with the boy. I've been feeling a bit cross that I won't be able to do anything till I find it and then, lo and behold, I saw that the website I took photos for has gone live! Exciting times indeed. You can see their website here as well as details on where to find those delicious mallows - all of you living in London should get yourselves down to their stall on Saturday in Portobello Market. Hopefully I'll find my lead later tonight (after a picnic in sunny London Fields, man am I loving this weather!) and be able to blog about Norfolk.

Sunshine on a cloudy day

I've got a couple of photography projects on the go that I'm excited about but must keep schtum till the website they were taken for is launched. So, till then, I thought I'd show you a picture I took in
Sri Lanka a while ago. The camera I used wasn't nearly as good as the one I've got now but perhaps this picture will encourage the sun to come out here in London. COME ON SUNSHINE!

Mirror mirror

I learned a new way of describing tone last night. Having covered a page with charcoal (willow charcoal is best) you carve out the light tones of the figure using a putty rubber. It actually makes sense to draw this way round, rather than filling in the dark tones on white paper, as there are only a few light areas on a nude. I liked the idea of placing a mirror behind the model to add depth to the background and to show how her back was highlighted. After carving out the lightest tones, I then emphasized the darkest ones with more charcoal. I came away feeling satisfied...with very dirty fingers.

Building bridges

Here is a quick(ish) sketch I did a while ago. Those of you who know Oxford might recognize the view through Magdalen Bridge to the botanical gardens.

There's a lovely little book by P. Pullman, 'Lyra's Oxford', which makes Oxford even more magical than it sometimes seems. I'd recommend it as a read.

Yum

A tiny, tasty preview of a very exciting project I've been working on with two lovely girlies...YUM

Stitch in time

Fabric pictures...my new favourite past-time. They are fun to make (you just need felt for the lettering, linen for the background and your bog-standard needle n thread) and, I think, they make great personalized presents. Tracey Emin eat your heart out! The first one I made was for my lovely Mum on Mothers' Day.

I then made two more for various friends...

... and a final Big-Daddy-take-up-half-your-kitchen-wall for my wicked Uncle... It's a saying of his and it suits him down to the ground.

Set in stone

I started stone carving a year ago through meeting a Zimbabwean guy called Tawanda. His stuff is absolutely amazing - you can check it out here at Mystery in Stone. As you can see, the finished works on the website are pretty pricey but this reflects not only the quality of the stone (Zimbabwean Springstone/Soapstone) but the talent of the artists. I fell in love with this material almost immediately. This piece I made, 'Sleeping Creature', sold for £650.

 'Sleeping Creature' (from behind)

 'Sleeping Creature' (from above)

With this money I bought some more stone (it's expensive material) and shaped 'Head'. I'm currently working on a bear sculpture in my garden but the wet weather means that progress is slow. We need some sunshine!

'Head'

Bigfoot

I've recently started a drawing class to improve my skills before September. It's pretty intensive (three hours every week) but I feel that I'm learning quite a lot, not least because we are encouraged to critique our own and other students' work. Last week focused on life drawing. I find it hard to fit the whole figure on the page often so I concentrated on making sure I covered the whole body. The foot is far too big for the frame but I felt this last one worked overall.

Hi there. It seemed a good idea to set up a blog, rather than a website, to showcase the art that I'm making at the moment. This genius idea came courtesy of my friend Sid who runs the fabulous crafty website Two Red Trees. It'll take me a wee while to upload photos of some of the stuff I'm currently working on (from stone carving to product photography) so, until then, I hope you enjoy looking at all the pretty stuff on Two Red Trees.