End of Summer Update

This is the longest I've gone between posts since beginning my blog back in January, but I needed a break from my computer, especially from blogging! It's sooo time consuming but it sure has helped me in the discipline department. I've just been enjoying the summer, or what there was of it, considering it was such an unusually rainy and cool one. I've not painted near as much as I planned to - gotta get that in check! I just got back from a visit with my mother who turned 85 and we had a great Bday - just the girls. Mother said it was one of her best birthdays ever.

Roaring River State Park

My husband and I went a few weeks ago over to Roaring River in Missouri. It's a trout hatchery which is fed by an underground spring.







The hatchery was quite fascinating. It would be interesting to take one of the tours which are offered a few times daily, I think. Never saw so many trout!





When the hatchery announces they're releasing fish, people come from all around, lining up along the river trying to catch their dinner. It's almost comical to see; you'd think those poor trout don't stand a chance, but not too many were getting caught compared to how many were released that day, which if I remember correctly, were around
10,000.

Although I only took reference photos that day, it's a good site to paint, as there are plenty of subjects i.e. shallow rapids, people fly fishing with their waders on, families swimming in the sun, and campers at the campsites.

You'll have to look hard to see two waders fly fishing way upstream...

PAPO (Plein Air Painters of the Ozarks) had painted there earlier this summer, but I chose to go with my hubby as he has been wanting to see it for a while but has not had the chance to get away from work. It was a pretty river and would make for a nice fall destination when the leaves are turning (for more info click on the ' Roaring River State Park' title above).

We also finally went on a weekend vacation to Vegas to see two shows: Cirque Du Soleil's Love and Carlos Santana's concert. Both were great and it was good to get away (1st real vacation in years) if only for a weekend.

I've been into pastoral paintings lately, fields, cows, and such. Probably due to reading so much about tonalism and looking at Zbukvic paintings. Anyway, below is a painting I made of a field behind Battlefield Park in Prairie Grove, AR:


I painted the field en plein air but was not satisfied with it. After taking a couple of snapshots of my subject, I attempted it again from my original plein air painting, reference snapshots, memory, and a value sketch. My goal in my landscape paintings is to achieve better atmospheric perspective and tonal (value) relationship/contrast. In the first painting, below, I'm satisfied with the background hills, but not so in the second studio painting. I think I should have made the two hills in the background a little more distinct from each other as I did in the first. Funny, the first one I'm happy with the background; the second one, only happy with the foreground. Good Grief!!



Studio painting I:
Study I: Battlefield 2, Prairie Grove
9 3/4 x 13 1/2,
Arches, 300 lb., cold press

Studio painting II:
Study II: Battlefield 2, Prairie Grove
9 1/2 x 13 1/4,
Watercolor, Sanders Waterford, 140 lb. (300 gms)
cold press, rough




Some cows:

This is another studio painting from photo references. Sometimes I just drive around taking photos of anything I think would be good reference material or has the potential for a good painting. The original photo didn't have the cows in it. I sketched them in from photos taken 'just down the road' from this same location.

Morning, off Goosecreek
watercolor, 9 3/4 x 13 1/2
Arches, 300 lb. cold press


Well, that's all for now. I can't believe it took me half the day just to get this posted, because of the photoshopping of these images, etc. Until next time, happy painting, and I hope to post (and paint) more frequently now that I'm back from my summer hiatus!

Painting in the Hollow: The Pines, Zbukvic, and Results from the Cone 6 Glaze Fire

I'm later than usual with my posting, but I wanted to wait 'til I finished and photographed my painting of the Pines in the hollow as I had said I would in my last post. Also wanted to give a report on how my glaze firing went, so here it is:

Painted our pine tree logs that I allowed the 'tree guys' to roll down into a small ravine directly behind the house. Silly me, I was running around after the guys felled the pines hauling them to a place in the back yard to save so that I can later do 'something' with them, what just yet I don't know. And with each one I would pass up, it was as if it were saying 'pick me, I don't want to go!' (I'm weird like that). Well, as it turned out, the guys were having a problem with the city (a place has been designated for disposal of trees from the ice storm damage) accepting the pine lumber (so they said). So I was very content to allow the men to leave all the pine with us. I really did not want those beautiful logs hauled away. Pine breaks down quickly and it just seemed right that they stay here. Oh, and the oak trees? Well, we've got enough fire wood for years to come!

I touched up the pines and added some highlights here and there in the studio.

The Pines, wc, 9 1/8" x 12 7/8"

I was so frustrated with it while painting in the woods, but kept reminding myself of what Joseph Zbukvic says, to 'keep going' when painting your subject outdoors and 'never lose faith' because as soon as you do, you'll fail at your attempt. He is so right! I kept painting, and although I wasn't satisfied, I did feel the painting had some potential. After about an hour, I was getting stiff from sitting on the ground, and also felt I may be getting a tick or two (which I later discovered was true) so I lumbered back to to studio, untaped my painting, threw it around here and there trying to decide what to do with it. Toss it to the done that pile, or keep going? The logs were only partially painted, but that was really the only thing left unfinished, aside from adding a little detail to the foreground trees. I just didn't want to give up on this painting. It held a lot of meaning for me. The hollow represented the final resting place for Daddy's pines. They represent 30 years of our life here, the lives of our girls, our pets, and a constant reminder of my father and his love for nature...nope, it was worth trying to save because as I looked at it, I could feel the emotion I had while painting them. It may not be the greatest painting, but it enabled me to work through the emotional and physical process of losing 'the pines', and hopefully viewers can be reminded of similar things that matter to them also.

Well, unfortunately, I was not so satisfied with my glaze fire. None of my cups turned out like I wanted, as the patterns I slipped on them barely show. The firing also went to cone 7 on the middle shelf and probably on the bottom shelf too (didn't use a witness cone on the bottom). However, that only seemed to compromise the brightness of the blue slip on one of my jars, but it may also be the reason for my slip decoration not showing up on the cups. I really think though, that [the slip doesn't show up] because my glaze application was too thick and my slip was too thin.

But I did have a couple of pieces turn out pretty good, such as the blue and white facetted 'safe jar' seen in this picture. The one in the foreground is the one that the blue slip did not come out on. The blue slip used on the inside however, did fine (fired it with the lid on). I may re-fire this piece later, as I've had success with the blue colors working on re-fires. Don't like to re-fire though. Always afraid the piece will break and create a mess in the kiln. Luckily, this has not yet happened to me. If I do decide to refire, I will only take it to about cone 5.

And my 'grass' cups turned out good:

These are some of my pendants. I'm have fun making them. I love making small clay things because of the portability. I can just sit anywhere and work on them. I carry everything I need around in a little shallow cardboard box and put a small amount of clay in a ziplock bag to keep it moist as it dries out quickly and will lose it 'malleable' texture if exposed to the air too long. I use food freezer paper, the waxed side as my surface to work on (sometimes getting a shape started by using the palm of my hand) as it leaves no marks on the clay. I draw out my patterns 1st on newspaper, then trace them using a felt-tip/sharpy pen on plastic tops of margarine and 'Cool Whip' bowls. These become my templates.

One final note for all you die-hard Joseph Zbukvic fans (like me) out there. He FINALLY got an official website, and also his new video, Watercolour Impressions with Joseph Zbukvic, is now available in the US via The Artists' Place. I bought it and very pleased with it. I could watch that guy paint all day. Maybe, just maybe one of these days I'll be able to take one of his workshops.

Well, that's all for now. I'll be posting again next week on a paint-out. Oh, and I've ordered the Sun-Eden watercolor tripod set. Will let you know what I think of it. I just can't keep lugging that 11 lb. french easel around; and so much wasted space, not to mention it's killing me. My shoulders, back, and knees, Oh my! Now I'll have one less excuse for plein air painting, as every time I'd think about all that weight, I would talk myself out of going somewhere to paint. I also plan on posting about my new macro lens (was my Christmas present from Santa) sometime in the near future. Until, then, happy painting, potting, photographing, or whatever makes you happy!

A Farewell to Old Friends

It's been a busy but also a melancholy week here
at home. The 'tree guys' finally removed all of our beloved pine trees (the ones my father gave me 28 yrs ago, just before he passed away) that were severely damaged from the Feb. ice storm. I've been dreading this day for several years. Funny, but I almost had these trees removed before the Christmas holidays, and backed out. As I hung up the phone with the tree service, telling them NOT to come, that I had changed my mind, I had a sinking feeling and thought, I hope I haven't jinxed us. This will probably be the year we get a bad ice storm. My husband and I continued to halfheartedly joke about that, saying we were certainly 'due' one as it had been several years since the last big ice storm. Well, as it so happened, it couldn't have worked out better, because the storm did just enough damage to make the decision easier without taking out our home. We're so lucky they didn't come crashing down on the house during the night. This week, just feeling the deep, vibrating 'thud' as each gigantic trunk hit the ground was enough to reassure us that we made the right decision to get rid of them before they take us down in the next storm. They would easily have split the house right in two.

You can see in the photo on the right how 'thinned out' the pines were from the ice damage. Of course I think they would have recouped fine, but they were just getting way too tall and were too close to the house, as were several of our oaks (notice in 3rd photo on right, the 2 oaks standing, now stripped of their limbs, trunks shortened, and ready to fall, how close they were to the house) . The old oak tree on the side of the house was the last to go. So sad, as it was a gorgeous tree, but it pounded our roof all night during the ice storm and if that tree had snapped, well, it was right up against our house. It's the one that kept me running all during the night of the storm as each limb that snapped crashed to the roof. We would grab our flashlights and cautiously peek into the bedroom to see if any limbs were protruding through the ceiling. Luckily, they never did. As much as I hate to see all these beautiful trees go, I know we'll rest easier, especially at night when a storm's coming. We lost a total of 15 trees in our yard, 7 of which fell from the weight of the ice, but fortunately, we were able to save many, or at least give them a few more years, by pruning the damaged limbs.

One good ending to all this though - knowing that this day would come, I have been saving seedlings from my Dad's pines and should continue having some for a few seasons, as I've also been collecting the pine cones and I know the yard is still full of seeds. I have been transplanting the seedlings in the hollow (they're not too happy there though-too much competition for sun). I'm trying to find some good sunny spots to plant some along the back yard at the wood's edge - well away from the house! Hopefully, I'll be able to continue my father's imprint on our property (which, regrettably he never got to see) and his love for southern pines.

My goals for tomorrow:

• Finish mixing up some glaze recipes - had to order some more chemicals before I could finish up.
  
• Play around with some new water-based oils I purchased a while back.
• Maybe make some more clay pendants. I'm having fun with these, but have no idea how they are going to turn out.
  
• And I'm STILL archiving photos - been doing this all week!

As I'm posting this, a tornado warning has just been issued in parts of Oklahoma, and probably headed this way. Hey, that's okay, at least we've taken care of the tree issue, now we just have to worry about the house...

Testing, Throwing, Painting

I've spent the past few days throwing a few cups in order to test my liner glazes. If you're interested in 'how' to test your funtional ware for stability, I would suggest going over to Clayart's potters.org forum or Masteringglazes.com for the detailed how-to's. I have completed the 'freezing/plunging in boiling water' method and so-far-so-good - no crazing!

A word of caution - Be careful when doing any type of 'shock' testing on your ware. Any number of things can happen i.e. popping, shivering (when sharp slivers of glazes literally fall off the clay-body), exploding, or whatever.

Because I consider myself a novice in ceramics, and most certainly a novice in the science of glazing, I don't think I should go into 'details' of how I tested. I would not want, in any way, to be responsible for someone's misinterpretation of my testing procedure (yeah, that's right, I'm chicken - Wuh Oh, this is sounding like the subject of my last post!). Instead, I would encourage anyone interested in the subject to go to the above sites. You can get enough info from the potters.org forum on how to test. And if you need more info, you can always join their listserve and ask for help. Ron Roy is a regular contributor to Clayart's listserve and I see John H.'s posts on there often also. A lot of times potters will specifically ask for Ron or John's help on a technical problem they're having. These 2 guys, as well as the entire listserve community are a sea of information. Have to admit, I quit subscribing to the listserve a few years ago, because I didn't like getting so many e-mails from them, even if only weekly. Once I got the e-mail I felt obligated, or just too curious, to run through it to see if there was anything I may be interested in - one more thing (like the WWW) to get side-tracked by. For me, it is much more convenient to go there for any particular subject I'm interested in. Saves time and uneccessary e-mails/reading. I go to that site for anything and everything concerning a problem/question I may have regarding ceramics.

Also, the potters there mention how the American Society for Testing and Materials ASTM (ASTM C 554-93) suggests testing for thermal shock, which will be my next step. I could not find on their site exactly where they explain the procedure on how to perform this test, but was able to pick up enough info in my Mastering Cone 6 book AND at potters.org to do the test; but I'll perform that test using cups, not test tiles. It involves heating the ware in the oven to a certain degree, then quenching in room temp. water, which is a more rigorous test than the first (again, be sure you research how to do this test before actually doing it and proceed with caution!).

And alas, on painting, just playing around with a mini watercolor (4.5" x 5") of a fallen oak leaf. I really want to get back to painting. Gotta make the time...