setting intentions
I set myself a task for the morning session. 4 mugs, 2 cups, 3 different clays, from sandy speckled to red terracotta, 18 pieces all up. I remember attending pottery classes and just completing one piece on the wheel was monumental. By no means a production potter, because I like to change things up, but there’s definitely something to setting a task for the day that delivers the result you were expecting. Julian, our pottery tutor at Carlton Arts Centre, would often say to know what you are making when you sit down at the wheel. Draw or imagine it first. The conjuring stirs something within in you.
FOOD
It’s a busy time in the Taylor household, arguably the busiest month of the year for our family business, Decently Exposed. We print and install exhibition graphics and wallpapers for galleries in and around Melbourne. Most galleries have exhibition changeovers at the same time with December being a big month for end of year changeovers before Christmas. Our 3 children (adults) work for this business along with my husband while I get to ‘potter’ at home, tending to home, hearth, garden, kitchen and pottery studio. We usually sit around the table to eat dinner but not so much in November. This year, I am preparing food before heading into the studio, for the family labourers to come and go as they please. The menu for yesterday was frittata, sausage curry and rice. The colours of the frittata atop a opal blue, Et Al. plate.
TRYING NEW THINGS
When attempting to make something I’ve never made before, the first emotion I have to deal with is resistance, followed by fear. It’s an internal, mind battle with negative thought bubbles projecting every which way. Yesterday, I persisted and tried some new things pushing back against any resistance that surfaced. An artist friend of mind kindly gave me some red pigment to try in a firing. In the image here you can see my regular dark red, iron oxide alongside the new orange pigment. This has been applied to greenware (not yet fired) so it will be bisque fired before adding a layer of glaze for the glaze fire. I also made a few tiles, a bell pictured here and a few incense holders. Simple things that deliver little joys coming into the festive season.
Et Al Ceramics is a small ceramics studio in Williamstown. The intention of this blog is to share in note / journal form what’s happening in the studio and life in general. The main categories of the blog are listed below. Looking forward to feedback and connectivity.
Major Content Buckets : Categories
- Ceramics
- Intuition & Creativity
- Travel & Photography
- Plants and Garden
- Connection & Community
