Great Christmas and New Year wishes

I have included a few "arty" shots from Christmas morning and after. A little Christmas tree fireworks and night flash of snow. Have a great holiday time.

My first win at ceramics.

Thanks to Mint Hil Arts winter juried show, they had the biggest show ever with I think they said 175 works. I was lucky enought to win 2nd in my class of 3D art. This was my favorite piece. No glaze just hand dug clay and porcellain layered about 16-18 times. Fired cone 10

Photo pepper Fun

Saved some dried peppers and had some photoshop fun today.

More leaves

I can't get away from the natural beauty of new dried dead leaves or seed pods. Took these yesterday evening. Not sure of the tree, just one I see on my morning walk.

"An Artful Affair" Saturday Night

Enjoyed being invited to participate with "An Artful Affair" Saturday night by a great group of potters Terra4m.  Thanks guys.First couple of shots of my displys of photography and ceramics.  And a couple of other shots that night...  John, Becky,Elaine and Kim. Details more to come later.

My Photos and 2d sun dry clay "Paintings"

My Ceramics

John

Becky

Elaine

Kim

New gas firing unloaded

A few of my newest home native clay blended pieces, no glaze, just dirt at its best. First flower vase, second server. Fired at cone 10.

A new direction to explore

Trying my hand at "painting with clay"  We have lots of different clays naturally around this area of NC and I have collected 3 natural bodies and have applied those to rigid masonite boards for some surface treatments. If this works larger may be in the future. I have never painted anything before so here goes...

A little photo motion fun today

A littler glass, a little motion, and a  v e r y  slow shutter.

Try humbled by nature

This is one of my "nature is better" blogs.  Look at the first before loooking at the second please!



THis is a mud dauber jug, beleive me I will be checking this guy out. Look out clayworks he will put you out of business!

To give a little scale to this. . . It is hollow, with a very nice neck and lip. Found 4-5 today around office windows.                           No photoshop here!

three new vases

Home work,  center vases is home clay body to be fired in cone 10 and outside left and right is l.loafers clay body coated with home iron rich slurry partly rubbed off to be fired cone 5.

New photo of flowers

I am working on new ways of looking and capturing an image.  Trying to create an abstract image but give the moving "clarity" of the single shot camera. This one is a keeper, probably go for sale soon. If interested let me know.

New from Gas Kiln Cone 10 and dry veg. leaf

Got back the first of the week a new vase made from porcelain clay, some extremely thin. Love the "skin" glaze effect much like textures on smooth tree trunk (dwarf jap. maple in background). Approx. 14" ht.

And for those of you who are into macro grunge, this vegatable leaf, cucumber, shows why they are a little prickly when picking.

Earth, sand and water

Study in texture, again. Small flow of watergoing to the ocean against the ledge of sand and footprints beyond. Love the warm 6AM colors of the sun.

New photos of spring seeds

I found these seed pods this weekend and saved them for the camera. Enjoy

Memorial Day at the coast

Enjoyed a early morning walk with camera and with bag for collecting seaweed for barrel fire work in the future. Got both!

New Work, Spinal Axis

Trying new form again, wall triptych about 9"ht.  x 30" mixed clay with iron oxide and copper over white slip.

Photos and clay

Just a few shots of some things you often walk past but should take the time to "make the art"

This first one is a picture of pollen on a man made pond, water moving with the breeze.

This is one of my fav. photo plants red poker plant.  Love the geometry.

Got back my cone 5 slab vessel of heavy textured hand mix clay, showing detail of layering.

More photos today

Can not help but keep the camera out on days of spring.  First is a yellow rose outside my clay studio at home. The second are two dead leaves from a plant on my front desk that had a traslucent quality that "required" themselves to be captured by backlighting.

Photo... Tree identification day

Last night we had a discussion of things that inspire us in ceramics... On the way into the office this morning I had my camera and captured these details from a tree just off from the dumpster. . . a volunteer. No one planted this wonder and most of the year it is unnoticeable.


The first photo, the seed pod puts most of my desires in glazing to shame...
The second shows what wonders nature has for us if we just look-closely...
The third is the tree in bloom with the seed pods at the bottom of the shot...
     Click to open with detail.
            What is the tree?

Easter Morning

Don't usually "publish" such bad photos (cell phone) but I did not have my real camera to capture this amazing sunrise service on the beach Easter Morning.  The local Lutheran church has been having a service for the past 9 years in the sand...  This year no waves were on the ocean and a beauty of a sunrise with 800 to 1000 I would guess.

New pieces fired and not.

Got this one back last week and liked the texture and colors, First I used a crackle glaze and with oxides. 2" slabs (4) of clay cut away to create the form. Cone 5
















This one is slab built using my great new mallet by David Ulschmid with www.wispwoods.blogspot.com.  Not fired yet, very thin side walls.
Porcelain cone 5 clay and banding wheel hand turned with rib to give very soft surface treatment (unusual for me.)

Winter at the coast

On our last visit to the SC coast I caught this one from an inlet fishing spot in last light of the day.

Natures Architecture

Just having a little fun at lunch playing architecture with some mud dauber nests I have fired over the last year.  These insects have habitat down to a science...I fired some natural, some with glaze, and some with iron oxides.

A little 2d today

On way to pick up a pizza Sunday night and the sky opened out.  Took the photo with my cell phone and abstracted in photoshop a little...

New sculpture out of kiln

Got the fired results from the kiln Sat. morning. Iron and copper oxide on the slab built piece, approx 12" ht. Clear glaze and red under glaze at the raw edges. Hand rubbed the oxides to give non uniform look.

Winter in the cold

We had a small snow with cold temp's this weekend and this is a result of walking thru the woods.