I just made a cake, similar to this one, for a neighbor who just turned 100 years old. Well, truth be known, it is really a hand lettered calligraphy card I made. Measuring four by six inches, it is decorated in water colors. I've included a gold gauche to give the candles and card some sparkle.The metallic colors add a special touch I enjoy adding to my hand designed cards.
I often tell my friends that this might be the only kind of cake I am likely to make for them!
Birthdays, they are such special days; the reason we are here! Growing up, my mother always made a big deal of them. I got to choose my favorite meal, and felt special that day.Often I wished I had a summer day to celebrate. But I am a winter baby and I hold my day as a lucky one. In my mind, the birthdays of those I care about are truly holidays, meant to be savored; anticipated; and celebrated, in handmade calligraphy no less!
Miniature masks, how much fun is that! Something you can hold in the palm of your hand, or put on that very narrow space of wall. This particular mask is entitled "Purple Vision". It measures less than six inches. It is decorated with feathers, yarn, and has its tongue sticking out at those who are looking at it.
I started putting this aspect on my masks a while ago. I am told that in some warrior cultures,the tongue was actually used to scare off the enemy. I think I chose to add that feature because it made me smile. Perhaps I had seen something of that ilk in my travels. It is often hard to know how deep in our memory bank an idea is stored, and when it comes into our creative consciousness. I do not always use it, but I find that it makes other people smile also, and I like that.
Then comes the choice of colors to use. I like purple, and with the white and light these three colors play well against each other. Also, what is in my yarn box can be an influence.The smokey color comes from the primitive firing I do to finish off my masks. Finally comes the naming.
Someone in a gallery asked me yesterday " How do you choose the name for a piece?"
" It usually tells me," was my response. That is the great thing about this creative process. Sometimes all I have to do is just start work with the clay, and all is revealed!
What is it about something small that makes it so appealing? Here is a very petite bowl I recently made that someone took away with them from the gallery.
I often ask people to hold my bowls in their hands. There is something so intimate about holding a handmade piece in the palm of your hand . Certainly I want them to feel the weight of the piece. I want to make my ceramics look substantial, but feel as light as a feather. As I often say, I am against weaponry in ceramics. I am joking....kind of. The balance is an important element to me as well.
Perhaps that is the magic of the small items. They can tuck into the palm of our hand; the corner of a shelf; or hold the smallest amount of something within. Everything is perfect, only the scale is less. Perhaps in today's world we can justify just a " little something " to take away with us as we travel through an ever crowded world .
I just completed another firing of my turquoise ceramics. This bowl came out of the kiln, and seemed to have a magic all of its own. There is a pattern where the glaze was a bit thicker.Seems like the ocean to me. It is rather large in diameter,measuring about fourteen inches across by approximately three inches in height.This is food safe,but also can make a statement just as it stands, or should I say, sits.
I like to embellish the edge of my bowls with additional small coils of the porcelain clay.I think this adds something to catch the eye, and make you realize this is a handmade piece. Another definition of decoration is ornamentation. I felt adding some actual turquoise stones would give it another texture. Stones on the outside reflecting the color of a semi precious jewel on the the inside. Now there's turquoise decoration!
I heard from the gallery that this turquoise colored vase was just sold. It stands about a foot tall, and is adorned with genuine Arizona turquoise stones. How nice that someone wants to own my vision of this handmade vessel. It has a clear white interior, which is actually the porcelain clay covered by a high fired clear glaze. Thus it can hold water. Oblong in shape, it feels modern to me, almost architectural in form. The vertical strips of clay on the front draw the eye up and down. The turquoise pieces add some fun to it!
Perhaps it was appreciated mainly for its style and color, and will be used for decorative purposes. I like to think of it holding a colorful bouquet of flowers. As I came down Oak Creek canyon tonight, I saw the bright yellow blossoms of summer's last wild flowers blooming. What a nice vision - colorful blossoms emerging from my vase.
Last night I was awakened by the sound of hard rain coming down. I also heard the sound of hoof beats on the deck. It was a herd of javalina, technically a collard peccary, that hog like creature that wandered from South America to the cliffs of Sedona.
They were looking for a place to get out of the rain. I asked them to leave, rather emphatically, and they lumbered off.Then they returned, using the stairs again, no less. I clapped my hands, made noise, turned on the porch lights and finally they departed, again.I saw the silhouette of a very small young one.
This was not my first sighting, having lived here so many years. I remember how funky they smell close up. I have observed how pointed are the tusks on the dominant male. He has to protect his whole harem of females and young.
However it was a very dark and stormy night, with the rain coming down in torrents. Awakened as I was from dreamland, this was not my idea of fun.
We can almost forget for a moment, living in our civilized town, just how close to the wilderness we really are. But in the night, all creatures great and small emerge.It is their land, but we do share it.
Perhaps I will be drawing a peccary on an art creation in my future!
Lettering on clay, I love it! Here is my latest porcelain plaque entitled "Speak the Truth", spoken by a well known Native American,we know as Chief Joseph.
I write using a small, natural bristle brush.That seems to have some flexibility on this surface.The white of the clay shows off the blue of the cobalt oxide.Covered in a clear glaze, fired to a high temperature, it can last forever.I even make the bead that decorates the hanger. This is definitely an original!
Chief Joseph was the leader of the Nez Perce tribe. Despite a treaty with Washington,his tribe was force to leave their beloved lands in northeastern Oregon. I admire his writings. I have used his words in my more traditional calligraphy pieces.
This quote seems so relevant to me.
How often have you noticed how people go on and on when they are avoiding the truth? Perhaps they assume you will forget the question as you drown in verbiage?
Lesson to self. Less is more.
I
