miro feathers.

Last week I posted these photos on Facebook and I am blown away with the positive response. I'm not sure if it's the designs themselves, or the jump into a new style that has caught everyone's attention. Either way, it got me thinking and I returned to some sketchbook work that I started before Christmas - pulling apart the colour sections in my feather designs and simplifying them.

[miro feathers?]

I think I like them...do you?

Thursday = Mud Colony!

hola!

I nearby invite you to a Spanish fiesta of art, sangria, flamenco music and pretty dresses! The Art of Spain group show opens at 19 KAREN on Saturday 9 June, 6 - 8pm and I would LOVE you to come celebrate with me! 

It's my very first official group show and I'm rather excited! You can see a preview of the artworks right here.

more miro cups

I like to think of myself as an organised person. I keep a diary, I make lists, I set goals. But so often I underestimate how much time I need to complete a project and so end up working right to the deadline. 

These cups are, in theory, to be a side project to my Miro dishes in The Art of Spain which opens in 17 days. 

Fingers crossed, eh?

Thursday = Mud Colony! Thanks to the marvelous Adriana for her hard work for our little community x

miro cups

Yet MORE for the Miro project!

[Can you tell I like his style?]

miro time

Saturday night/Sunday morning creative time with Monsieur Miro.

The Constellation Series makes my mind pop! All those interlinking shapes and the way each overlap creates a colour change. I'm itching to paint these designs on cups!

more glaze tests!

Now I have a hopefully-reliable-new-clear-gloss-glaze recipe, I need to retest some pigments for the Miro project.

They'll look way prettier after the firing, promise. Umm, I hope.

Thursday: Our Creative Spaces + Mud Colony.

miro glaze tests

I did these glaze tests for the Miro project about 3 months ago...! Thought I'd better document them before I stash them in a seconds box under the bed.

2, 3 and 4% Walker FW5601 Black (Cobalt Free) stain. All very, er, black. No problems there then.

The red is still a pain.

But the orange is lovely! Though I was rather sloppy when I glazed the test star.

miro constellation: part 5

Sets 2 and 3 of the Miro project, ready to bisque.

my (miro) creative space

Some progress on the Miro project;

glazed prototype - need to reduce the copper carb % to lighten the green

the first full scale set, plus extra pieces

umm...pac man dishes?!

More clever people over at our creative spaces and mud colony!

my (miro) creative space

Gosh, it's been a while since I did a creative space post! 

I've started to play with glaze colours for the miro project; copper carb + yellow, cobalt and yellow. Next, black. But I might settle for a dark grey.

More creative spaces over here! Thanks Kirsty!

miro constellation: part 4

Playing with colour;

miro constellation: part 3

Beginnings of another set for my Miro work;

Transporting this one to the kiln will be precarious, to say the least!

miro constellation: part 2

Developing further ideas for the Miro project, with cut and altered wheel thrown forms.

miro constellation: part 1

I've been invited to participate in a group show in 2012 called 'The Art of Spain'. For weeks I had colourful shapes floating around my head but didn't know which Spanish artist I was thinking of. Finally I realised that it was the work of Joan Miró. I'm particularly drawn to his constellation series and want to make 2 or 3 sets of dishes inspired by his interlocking groups of shapes. After some sketching, I started on a prototype today and I'm already so happy with the result, even at this early stage in development. 

The walls of the dishes in this reduced scale prototype are thicker than I would like, but it's been about 18 months since I last did any slab building, so that may have been a good thing! Each set will have around 10 individual pieces, be glazed in different colours (within a limited colour palette) and be fully functional as tableware.

The smallest dishes don't work well in this set as the clay is too thick for the size, but the end product will be larger and more delicate. I'm dreaming of using glazes like Chun Liao.