New paintings and regular art updates.
One of the things we did at the Spode open days was encourage people to get involved and either draw pictures of spode, draw a design, or write what Spode meant to them on a card. We got a few responses. I think now they are there they may be more on Sunday. The idea was that people could respond to the art exhibition we are holding in the foyer from artists who either work in the building or who have been involved in other projects there or who previously worked in the factory.
It had to happen, I’ve moved things round so people can get into the studio for the two open days tomorrow and on Sunday. I got rid of a bit of junk and moved some paintings around. I’ve also moved my big table to the back of the studio instead of its old position where it was not really being used. What I do need a small table to put my paints and palette on. Maybe an old stool or something. I have another chair which I could use but it has a back which might get in the way.
So I’ve got two days to try and meet and greet people. If you come along you will also see a fantastic exhibition of people’s idea of what Spode meant to them, and of course the British Ceramic biannual in the Spode China halls will have started so there will be so much to see. Enjoy!
Workman’s gloves, these have been tucked behind this pipe for over a year. Like a pink octopus hiding in a crevice in the rock. I imagine the workman or woman who was using them. Did their contract end and they just pushed them behind the pipe thinking they woukd be back in the morning. I can see them being put there then gradually getting soaked over the years. Spiders and slugs colonising them. Each month the sun bleaches them more. Did they start out as red? Were they comfortable or too big or small? I don’t know. They are an enigma.
Took all day but I finally finished this. Spent a lot of time painting the old, flaking window frame. I’m not sure the sky colour is right. I might get up early and tone it down. I’m handing it in in the morning….
It’s called Spode Reflected.
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I’ve decided to paint this one. I like the reflections and the blues and whites which remind me of the Willow pattern colours. I’ve turned the canvas to landscape rather than portrait and I’m concentrating on the lower two thirds of the photo.
I like the photo, but I wanted to simplify what I was doing. I’m hoping to get a good representation of the clouds and I want to get the flaking paint and the other details in the reflection in the windows visible but subtle. I will try and post updates and I might take a break later to blog.
One building at spode site has what appear to be transfer prints stuck on the inside of the windows. There is also rippled glass in some windows and I also took a photo of some planters by the Hulton pottery building.
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Series of photos taken at Spode today, 13.8.19. I will select one or more image to paint. The idea is to paint industrial archeology and also sky. Some include reflections and sights through to windows on the other side of a building. Many have clouds reflected in them….
I also did close-ups of things like hooks and taps and an old pair of rubber gloves.
Which is your favourite if any?
There is an art project /exhibition coming up at Spode. It’s based on the question ‘what does spode mean to me?’
As I only recently got my studio there and it has been a pottery site for many years it’s hard not to feel the industrial archaeology means the most to me. I did not take a factory tour when it was open so what I see is flaking paint, rusting iron and damaged brickwork and furniture.
I painted a tiny picture several months ago of peeling paint round window frames and the glass next to it. I think I may do something abstract along those lines.
This is the glass drop piece that I mad in Angela Ashtons glass workshop thy I put together last week. I think it’s turned out really well. I am going to put something on about some glass marbles and my smaller glass pieces later on, but I’ve been out since 10am and it’s almost 6pm and to be honest I’ve sat down and don’t want to move!
I love working with glass. I’m so glad I’ve started exploring it. Thank you Angela x
My back yard, fern at spode, carnations at spode.
Just a few plants I saw today. The ones in the yard are mostly in hanging baskets that are billowing out in great waves of colour. The fern is a shuttlecock fern I think because its fronds radiate out from the centre and it looks like the shuttlecock used in badminton. The third picture is of carnation flowers planted up with a blue grass. These last two were taken at the Spode Site at Stoke. There are plants that are planted up by our stairs that soften the edged of the semi derelict buildings there. I love plants.
Mallaband-Brown