Colour Spray Bottle Vase

 

Based on my 'colour spray' series (see below) I also came up with this bottle vase design in my last firing.  I'm slowly working out enough of a collection to possibly introduce it more often into my regular work, although, it's extremely fussy to get the little stripes of glaze co-operating well.  Basically each piece has been one of a kind for me, but hopefully I'll be able to sit down this fall and actually create the full collection for my website, including new colours or thinking about how the design could work on a teapot form or a bowl.  The options are pretty wide open- a rainbow spray or colour gradient would look pretty rad too (definitely OOAK work- WAY too complicated for production!).  So many ideas, so little time...

Collections at the farm

This last weekend we spent the night in Langley at the family farm, working on the fence so the new calves don't get out.  My in-law's have about 5 acres that they built their house and barn on about 35 years ago or so.  Dean's mom is a collector of all sorts of things- sewing baskets, china and dishes, and tins is only the start.  There are more collections here and there around the house, in the sewing room or in the garden shed, and it's always like a treasure hunt to find them. 

Collections: Lucky Clover Pencil Box

First off- special thanks to all the lovely mentions and comments regarding my colour wheel bottle vase photo!  One little bird, down home amy, and the Room6 blog.  Oh and then this little post from On a secret mission about 2 canadian bloggers, one being myself and one being the very talented Arounna from bookou.  It's made my week start out with a smile!

So here is another little glimpse into some of my hand-me-down art supplies.  This wooden pencil case- a lucky pencil case with all the 4 leaf clovers around it, was passed on to me by my great-aunt.  It's kind of the perfect case for Ink nibs and pens, don't you think? 

And the sweet little houses and the snow and trees, mixed in with all the different patterns, how lovely is that?  There is something about opening a box like this and pulling out the nibs that makes me want to write a letter.  You know, a real letter on nice stationary.  Using ink, because my writing looks so much better when I use a proper nib and ink. Have you ever noticed that?  Remarkable. 
I have a pen pal- I really should say 'had' because I'm notoriously bad for writing her back now, but I have had a pen pal from Germany since I was in grade 3.  We kept in touch all these years, she visited me when we were in grade 12 and I visited her in Stuttgart about 8 years ago.  I still have all her letters to me- most of which are in german, all of which were written with a real ink pen.  I'm quite certain it's my turn to write and so I think this might be a good place to start.  But where to start when it's been so long...

Well Used

A little eye candy from the collection of art supplies I just 'inherited'...there is something quite special about looking through someone's old paints, especially when they are as well-used as this paint box was.  Unfortunately, not terribly well kept- much of the paints were hard and the lids were stuck solid.  But quite fun to take pictures of! (Check out the key/knife.  Pretty cool!)
Now that I've sorted the usable (there was plenty!) from the un-usable I guess I will have to paint in oils for a change.  I've been avoiding it for so many years, mostly because of the fumes and drying time.  I need more ventilation then I have at home or at the studio for starters, and then, I'll need to think about what I would paint in oils.  Oils kind of lend themselves to a more classical subject matter- a landscape, still life or portrait.  I think the last time I did any of those was in my 2nd year of Art school, so it would be really interesting to tackle them now.  I suppose I'd be quite rusty at the portraiture bit. As I recall, getting skin tones to be accurate was always a challenge.

Marmalade Collection

Back when I was at college I was in a short-lived girl band called 'Marmalade'.  It's too bad it was short-lived, but the rest of our lives were before us and we all left town, ending up in various cities across the country.  Which is why this recent collection that I've received is so lovely.  Little jam jars, mostly marmalade with plaid tops and sweet old labels.  The jars themselves were used and saved by 2 artists, a mother and daughter, who have passed away (at 93 and 106...).  Somehow I've 'inherited' their art supplies and am taking some time to go through everything, finding many lovely things along the way!
Hope you are having a great week, I'll be back!

A collection of violin parts

Every now and then I open something that I haven't opened in a while, finding something that I a) forgot was there, b) forgot I had or c) didn't know I had.  This is what happened to me the other day when I was trying to decide which violin (I have 2; one from my grandpa and one from Dean's) to bring over to Hamish's studio for the recording session we did.  I discovered these little treasures, like the little red striped box that some old rosin and the blue box containing the tuner, that I didn't know I had. The violin from my grandfather came with the inlaid tailpiece that unfortunately broke along the way, and an old bridge.  It's kind of a lovely little collection and when I put it all together it reminded me of Lisa Congdon's A Collection a Day, 2010 blog which is now a book project with Uppercase.  I think I might just have to add that book to a growing wish-list for the new year.

Vinyl Art 1

Every once in a while I come across one of the records albums we have in our rediculously vast vinyl collection and I want to frame it. I've decided some of these album covers really need to be shared with others to be fully appreciated. I'm hoping to start a little weekly series, photographing some of the great, the lame and the cheesy cool covers for your view pleasure and hopefully you get as much a kick out of them as I do. Nothing beats flipping through Vinyl and reminiscing...
So today: 'Split Ends, by Waiata'- 1981
An 80's pop rock with cool beats, catchy tunes, boys band (set of brothers plus friends) with cheesy hair cuts and bad sunglasses (the back cover isn't quite as interesting, lets just put it that way.)
I like the colours and classic modern inspired cover. Great Tiffany green and grey/black combo!