New paintings and regular art updates.
One of the advantages of having a studio at spode is the fact you meet so many creative people.
One of them is a lady called Angela who makes glass art and runs workshops.
We had a very pleasant few hours today making some new pieces of glass. We used new techniques to make larger bowls (they will be when they are fired) and handkerchief vases which will be placed over a glass shaped form which the glass slumps over.
I hope we can go back for more.
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I was looking at Facebook and this came up on my memories from a year ago. It seems like Gladstone has turned into an annual event. These photos were taken on my old phone but I think they came out OK.
Bus’s, bus, busses, buses,
Hiss of air brake, diesel drumming,
Sitting up top, out looking,
Running upstairs, keep on trucking,
Ding ding, we’re off
Charabang to the coast
Come look at me,
By the sea 🌊
Just a short trip up town
Buy a dressing gown.?
Memories of buses
Number 21
Conductor checks the ticket
Missed it, now its gone..
Tiles at Gladstone yesterday.
I think they are by Minton which was a Pottery that went out of business a few years ago when a lot of Pottery manufacture went abroad because it was cheaper.
I know lots of people admire these tiles and they are often found in hallways in old victorian houses in this area. Our local church, St Thomas’s has tiles by Minton. The factory was based in Stoke-upon-trent, which is one of the six towns of Stoke-on-Trent.
Many of the people in the town were laid off from factories in Stoke, including Spode. Only a few places still make Pottery now, including Emma Bridgewater, Portmerion, Moorland Pottery, Moorcroft and I think Wedgwood…. There is also a tile manufacturer called Johnson’s tiles. But nothing really compares to the beauty of Minton.
Oh to be a happy pear,
Sitting on an old blue stair.
Or an apple with a smile,
Laughing and joking all the while.
What a jape
To be a grape.
And even when the sun don’t shine,
Have a drink with lots of lime.
Maybe even eat a lemon
And then again a small persimmon.
But never ever be an orange,
Cause there’s no rhyme to go with it!
While we were at Gladstone today we saw a couple of interesting ceramic techniques. The first was by a lady called Tez. She was firing some raku Pottery. She had some pots in a metal bin with a gas jet heating it at the base. I didn’t find out what temperature she was firing at, but she said it takes about 40 minutes for a firing plus the work on the pots afterwards. Once they had been fired the pots were taken out of the bin and put in another one to rapidly cool causing crazing in the glaze. The lady put lots of beech shavings on top of the pots so that it smothered the fire. We were told that the wood sucks the oxygen out of the air around the pots and is a reduction reaction causing the copper in the glazes to shine through in a wonderful sheen.
The other technique we saw was more subtle. This time another potter put her pots in a box of burned sawdust ash. The pot was then covered in fresh sawdust mixed with white spirit. She sprinkled some of the burnt ashes on the pot to mask some areas then set light to the sawdust. As it burned it gave a mottled effect on the pot. It looked like it was being aged.
Finally there was some traditional stone ware pottery for sale. Fired in an ordinary kiln but also lovely to look at
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I’m in a group called urban sketchers. Today we braved the wind and cold and went out to draw and sketch there. I got quite chilly and damp but it was worth it. There were about 8 or 9 of us there.
There is so much to see at the Gladstone Pottery museum. Plus there is a nice little shop with Pottery for sale and a good friendly cafe upstairs.
Sited in Longton, Stoke on Trent, the Gladstone Pottery museum shows you the history of ceramics. There is a flushed with success section about toilets and a display of ceramic flower making, pot throwing, an old engine house, a doctors house and surgery. A selection of historical tiles and much more.
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Playing is learning
and learning if finding out-
How something works,
How far is infinite?
Do stars have names?
The stellar ones, not people.
Learning to live, love and be loved.
Playing is life before we know why.
Reflecting on what if, what is, why?
Give praise for play, and theatre, music
Give praise to be learners of law,
Have fun while you play,
While away the time
But
Stand firm when you have played and learnt.
Don’t lose your wish to learn more.
Keep in mind what went before,
And learn from what’s in store…
I found a sketching app on the new phone. The result is a lot smoother and neater than my tablet computer. I think it’s because I have a protective layer on the screen so my fingers don’t drag and judder. I may try and get the same for the tablet. Also the touch sensitive screen seems more sensitive. It’s easy to be seduced by new technology. The more helpful it is to you the more you want to use it? No doubt I will end up with a neck that is permanently bent downwards towards a screen….
I am lost! Note, the picture I’ve added is not the sketch because I can’t find it on the phone…. Nothing changes, technology eh.
Ah… Found it! Learning…!
Someone speaks to you, says they can do all sorts of things to help you. It just needs to go through some sort of committee .
You wait to hear back, but after a while you hear you have been unsuccessful. It’s like having a job interview for a job you didn’t know was available, you hadn’t prepared for it, had no knowledge of what it entailed but once someone had dangled the carrot you felt suddenly recognised for having some small amount of worth.
So
What is the point?
Have they read this blog and decided its not commercial enough? That it does not come up to scratch? Should I just post photos of my art and keep my thoughts to myself?
What is the point?
Why bother?
What should I do?
What is the point? What is the point…..
Feeling down, but not quite out.
Wet, rain, pouring, chucking it down, tipping down, soaking….
That’s what its like today, our canvas covered gazebo is literally on its last legs, the water on the top is making the sides bow. My partner has used a broom to empty it off but I think he will have to do it again soon.
Yesterday’s storm winds have dropped but the rain is torrential. I was coming back in the car from an appointment earlier and a storm drain lid was pushed up in the middle of the road and water was fountaining out of it!
I’m in the warm now but I got soaked. Sopping wet as they say… we are lucky to get rain in this country but the weather comes from all directions, we had a very hot dry summer, but I’m not sure what farmers will think of this. It might spoil their crops.
I was up at our village hall earlier and you could hear the rain drumming on the roof in places. Here you can hear the water overflowing the guttering and loudly falling outside the front door, or dripping and splashing off the window ledges. Hurrying traffic is sloshing water up from the road surfaces, lights shining through the curtains of rain. People rush past, umbrellas tipped to fend off the water. Darkness increases as the clouds lower overhead.
I’m off to make myself a warm drink.
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