Penkhull flag result

Posted on September 28, 2018September 28, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Colour, Design, Flag, Life, Penkhull, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

A while ago Penkhull residents association decided to have a competition to create a flag for the village. The pictures surrounding the final flag were the 10 designs that had the most overall influence over the final design. I was really pleased to find out that one of them was my design. (the middle top design).

It feels good to have a flag to describe the village. The oval and lines coming in symbolise the village green and the roads coming into and surrounding it. The cockrel is based on the weather vane on top of the church. The colours are vibrant and cheerful. Local people had a choice of 4 designs taken from dozens of entries. The central flag in the photo was the winning design.

Glass workshop

Posted on September 24, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Design, Glass, Spode, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent3 Comments

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.

Buses

Posted on September 23, 2018September 23, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged 2017, Buses, Gladstone, Photograph, Poem, Poetry, Stoke-on trent4 Comments

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

Posted on September 23, 2018September 23, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Ceramics, Gladstone, Minton, pots, Pottery, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Tiles6 Comments

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.

Raku and sawdust..

Posted on September 22, 2018September 22, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Ceramics, Firing, Gladstone, Longton, Pottery, Raku, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent5 Comments

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

Today at Gladstone

Posted on September 22, 2018September 22, 2018 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged Bottle ovens, Drawing, Gladstone Pottery, Kilns, Longton, Sketching, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Urban sketchers Stoke on trent6 Comments

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.

Transitions

Posted on September 18, 2018September 18, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Abstract, Colours, Curves, Digital drawing, Grainy, New ideas, Smooth, Spode, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

We have an art challenge at Spode studios to come up with an art work which follows the theme “transition” or “transitions”.

I would normally come up with a realistic painting but I’m also toying with something more abstract. These are initial digital drawings, working on the transition from grainy to smooth, straight to curvy, and changes of colour.

I might try and turn one of these into a large painting. In a way it’s also making me think about changing my work practice from quite a straightforward way of working into something more involved.

Watch thus space for possible updates….

I might even enter something into the exhibition….

Old cars and engines

Posted on September 16, 2018September 16, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Austin, Black and White photos, Blogging, Cars, Diesel engine, Drawing, Engine, Etruria, Morris, Photography, Sketching, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent, Urban sketchingLeave a comment

Today I had a break from my exhibition for an hour, so I went and sketched a few of the classic cars. I have to say there were a lot of Austin and Morris cars, plus things like the Scimitar car that I drew.

Each sketch took between 10 and 15 minutes. I tried to be accurate, but when you are standing in a field with cars or engines, people have a tendancy to walk in front of you or stand in the way.

Drawing is slow motion photography I guess you could say, you click a camera, but your hand and eyes have the effort of coordinating to get an image. It’s not easy to draw a new subject. Wheels can be too big or small. A bumper might be too high up, and cut across where the radiator grill should go. Also when you use a thin nibbed pen you have the difficulty of getting dark areas without wanting to spend ages cross hatching.

Movement is another problem, while drawing the diesel engine I tried to get a feeling if the spinning motion, but it started to get messy. There are so many pipes and wheels and tubes. I have no idea what bit does which action, its hard to link things up in your head.

Anyway I took photos of the cars for comparison, I may paint some of them.

Exhibition

Posted on September 14, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Art, Etruria, Etruria Artists, Etruria Industrial museum, Painting with acrylics, Stoke-on trentLeave a comment

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This is what I have been stopping up and doing for the last few nights. Painting lots of pictures for this exhibition.

I am a member of a group called Etruria Artists and we meet on Thursday night’s to do hands on Art sessions. I really would encourage anyone to have a go at doing art whether its painting, sculpture, pottery, printmaking, photography.

Life is sometimes a drudge, getting to the end of the week. No break from the weekly grind of work. That is where art comes in. Whether its colouring books, or contemporary painting, and everything in between, art gives your creativity the release it needs. You can come to us on a Thursday night and have a go.

We are based in the warehouse by lock number 40 (summit lock) of the Trent and Mersy Canal. Just up the canal from the Etruria Industrial Museum, past the forge where Sculpted Steel creates wonderful metallic sculptures.

Anyway we are there on Saturday and Sunday. There are also static steam engines on Saturday and Classic cars on Sunday. Fun for all the family .

Recent minatures

Posted on September 13, 2018September 14, 2018 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Acrylic on canvas, Animals, Art, Blogging, Cars, Etruria, Flowers, Life, Painting, Staffordshire, Stoke-on trent4 Comments

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If you wonder where I have been, I have been painting these tiny miniature paintings on canvases around the size of a matchbox.

I’m quite enjoying doing them. I would like to present them in small gift boxes but I don’t know where I can get some from.

People don’t seem to have room for art, so the idea is they might buy one of these to put somewhere special… you never know…

I haven’t done much this month but at least I have got going again over the last few days. I’m putting an Exhibition up later today which will be up on Saturday and Sunday at Etruria.

Details are that the Etruria Industrial museum is holding a static steam engine day on Saturday and a classic car day on Sunday.

Might see you there…..

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Stoke-on trent