Drawings

If you've been following along with my pot-a-day drawings you might've noticed I've missed a few days. There've been some rough days, some busy days, and then there was that day I helped Justin make pine derby cars for his boss's kids. I cut & sanded the second one of three & it looked better than his, so instead of drawing pots, this became my project for the night. Is there a job where I can make pine derby cars? I'd be great at it!

Today I broke out the big girl's drawing pad - 18x24, with charcoal & pastels. Good times! Unfortunately I put it off until the sun went down & the lighting in our kitchen isn't pretty, so I plan to finish it another day.

New Challenges Back in the Studio

Hey look - it's a real pot!


On Tuesday night I joined the Aurora Potter's Guild and got my hands in clay again after 2 dry months. The vases above are what I made yesterday. I'm working on this new form in small, medium, & large - miniatures, which remind me of Adele's character in Synecdoche, NY; cups; and vases. The cups were the easy part; though between the 2 month break, having too-soft clay, and trying to make the form just right it was still difficult. There is only one out of four cups and one vase that came close to what I had envisioned (it's the tallest vase in this photo). The vases and miniatures were difficult to center and to throw thin without deforming. My overall goal this season is to create a cohesive body of work that includes a whole place setting and a wide variety of pots. I'd like to become comfortable throwing different things, especially different sizes.

One skill I'd like to master is getting the pot off the wheel without deforming it and without a bat. My wonderful Wonderbat with square inserts doesn't fit in my locker at the Guild so I was hoping to downsize and simplify my ceramic life by using less stuff. The trouble is when I don't use a bat the pot gets deformed when I take it off the wheel with my hands. What do you other potters do? How do you get it off the wheel without squishing it? Are pot lifters any good?

Alltop, MudTeam, and Etsy, oh my!

Some exciting new things happening - 1) I'm on Alltop - the “online magazine rack” of popular topics. 2) I'm a member of the Etsy MudTeam. 3) I sold my 2nd pot on Etsy! This I believe I can thank blogging for. After I commented on a post at Tiny Choices, one of the writers clicked on the link to my blog and continued to find her way to my shop. Thank you, Jenn, for supporting me!

Due to the fact that I have no other job right now and I have been spending nearly every day at home, mostly on the internet, I've been exploring new ways of networking and promoting myself. Tonight I'll finally be joining the local potter's guild so I can get back in the game of actually making pots, and tomorrow I plan to spend the day in Denver job-hunting, so I don't have to be a *starving* artist. Wish me luck!

Slowly Growing

Weirdest thing - this pot is growing a Philodendron!


As I was drawing my little angel plant* I realized I was progressively moving slower with each leaf. I started off with a blind contour line drawing and moved on to this, working quickly at first. It became more difficult because the lines started intersecting with each other, and soon my mistakes jumped out at me. The more detailed the drawing became, the more careful I drew.


I soon realized I work this way in ceramics too. The more difficult something is, the slower I work, and the more hesitant I am to take the next step for fear of messing up. I often take my time getting started on something new when I have an idea for something I'm more familiar with. I suppose all it takes is regular daily practice and the drive to experiment and try something new and unknown. I don't know how to go about making a fruit tray/banana tree, I don't even have a model to draw from. That doesn't mean I shouldn't try to make one.


*The first thing I read on the tag of this "philodendron" was "Exotic Angel Plants" ... as I know nothing about names of plants in general, I promptly forgot the name "philodendron" and have called it the "Angel" plant since the day I bought it.

Fruit Bowl

Those bananas are going to be mashed into muffins by Tuesday :-D For now this large bowl of mine works for this purpose, but I'd like to make something different made especially to hold fruit; a combination fruit tray and banana tree. It's another late night, I'll write more tomorrow.

Photography Backdrops

I've been looking around online today at graduated photography backgrounds and it looks like they're all around $70 for the large size (42"x62"). Has anyone come across one for cheaper?

Cereal Bowl

There's a Vitamin Cottage natural grocery store just a few blocks from where we live now that we shop several times weekly. Well Justin mentioned to me one day that he saw a funny name for a cereal and the next day I tried to find the most ridiculous cereal they had. The two I chose were Wild Puffs and Leaping Lemurs chocolate & peanut butter puffs. I guessed it! It was Leaping Lemurs. Pictured above is wild puffs... I just thought it looked pretty in my purple bowl.

First Etsy Sale

My pot of the day for Wednesday (the dates are wrong in my drawing... it was a late night) was my first sale on Etsy (the pot is inside the box in case you're wondering). Indeed, I'm very excited! Although I think I spent all the profits on shipping supplies, I'll be ready for the next one! The cup that sold, thanks to Brandi, is the one on the right. I hope to have more pots uploaded to sell on Etsy by tonight, including some of these goblets.

Fun with Watercolors

The last of my cards for the turquoise ATC swap is an abstraction of this Willi Eggerman cup that I bought when she came to UNC last April as a visiting artist. It's the perfect little juice cup. This is the most abstract of my drawings so far and I really had fun with it. Right after I painted the base coat I tossed on some salt for that spotted crystalline effect and I realized it was quite appropriate because it was a salt-fired cup that I was drawing.

Drawing by Candlelight

Another ATC for the turquoise theme swap. A bit more ambitious of a subject with all that texture that Annie loves. To add to the mix I decided to use candles for more dramatic lighting. It was still light outside when I started... by the time I finished I was drawing purely by candlelight. I had a pile of other things to do, so I gave up on the pattern after I drew the foot.

Just Sketches

Some quick sketches for two busy days:

This is a gorgeous mug by Tim Preston - the drawing doesn't do it justice.


A teapot by yours truly. I love it... though it's not a gorgeous teapot by any means, it is the first teapot I've made that works well - pours perfectly, fits the right amount of water for two cups of tea, and the lid is guaranteed to not fall off when poured thanks to a brilliant design idea I stole from Jennifer Allen. Also doubles as a plant watering pot. The glaze didn't turn out very well so I'm not going to sell it, but I have enjoyed using it myself.

Twitter

tweet tweet! My boyfriend has got me hooked on another social networking thing. Perhaps you've heard of it? Look for ceramicerin.

Etsy

I finally got some pots up to sell on Etsy. It's a small start, but there it is. I hope you'll consider supporting my career :) As always, any critiques or advice for selling on Etsy is appreciated. Thanks for looking!

Art Trading Cards

The pot for today is an Art Trading Card (ATC). I started making and trading these my freshman year of college when I had plenty of free time and I've been trading on and off ever since. So to go along with this new drawing resolution I've joined a swap on the site ATCs for All and of course started off with a cup I used today, one of my favorites made by Noel Bailey:

Bicycle Cup

I didn't get a chance yesterday to post the pot of the day, so here it is, one of my bicycle cups:

a pot a day

For a long time I've been wanting to draw more frequently, but just haven't gotten into it. So the other night I was visiting my mom and instead of joining her in watching TV I drew the tea cup I had sitting in front of me. Then I thought maybe this is something that could motivate me to draw more often - to draw a pot every day. It doesn't have to be elaborate if I'm too busy, just a little sketch. I've been thinking about getting into graphic design, which led me to think about illustration, and I found this guy - James Jean - who is amazingly talented and inspirational. I know a handful of non-artists and even artists who would say I can draw well... but I have high standards for myself and I have a long way to go until I'll be satisfied with my artistic skills, both in 2-D and 3-D. So here's a humble start - a pot a day.

Yesterday's cup o' tea: