Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Transformation

Ceramics is magic. Just a bit of heat and smoke is all it takes to transform this:


To this:

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Late winter blue skies


Today dawned clear and blue. I haven't painted outside since autumn but the day was too nice to waste so I took myself up the High Road on Otago Peninsula.

The view over the morning harbour was stunning.

By the time I left the mists had risen and the view was crisper.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Prunus



Spring is arriving. The Prunus beside the ceramics studio is in flower. Yaaaay!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Ceramics

I have never had much of a feel for ceramics and I found the first week in the ceramics workshop rather underwhelming. Slowly though, I realised that you need to develop an eye to appreciate ceramics.

Then yesterday, when we got our first work out of the kiln, I suddenly understood ceramics-enthusiasts. Magically, our mundane pots were transformed into works of art, with crackled pinkish glaze with green and reddish tinges.

These pots were produced with a Raku firing, a Japanese method. It is like an alchemists laboratory with lots of smoke and fire and it turns exposed clay black.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Boots


I have progressed to the ceramics workshop .... from digital art to ceramics, it is quite a jump. We are having a cold snap and the ceramics workshop is not well heated so I have taken to wearing my hiking boots to class. Like everything else in the workshop they get their share of mud spatters. Today I noticed a lot of hiking boots in Queen Street. Sensible footwear for Dunedin in August.

Monday, August 06, 2007

Bubbles


This is a little bit of a poster I made with photoshop on the way to making a movie. In my movie the bubbles float over the Otago landscape.

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Movie making

I have been glued to the computer these last two weeks, creating a 2 minute movie and learning the software in the process. My first effort was a movie illustrating that where ever we are, we take our history, our friends and family with us. Now I have started on a second which simply creates a sensation similar to the music.

Once I have finished them I shall put them in a box and leave them for a couple of months, then get them out again to see if they were successful.