WHITE BOWL, BLACK BOWL, A CELEBRATION OF CHERRY TOMATOES

I made this white bowl, then I made a rough copy in black.
I liked them. I put cherry tomatoes in them.




I made this square dish. I liked it. I put cherry tomatoes in it.

I have been obsessing about this shape for a pendant for three months, and was making slow progress in Kelvin Birk's casting class at Mary ward centre. The bowl on the right is by artist Nicolas Rena.

In my kitchen and laboratory, which is the theatre of many of my experiments, there was an egg shell in the bin. Cherry tomatoes in the fridge.

I thought I could achieve my shape with  the combined help of the egg and the tomato.

 Eggshell, cherry tomato on a skewer and small pan for melting wax, bit of oil on shell and tomato, let's go !










My results were interesting, but as usual, not quite what I was aiming for ! Here we go : wax models

And off to Just Casting and a couple of finished pieces in bronze :

These pendants need polishing, but I really like the one with the dove flying under the moon.

Ten years ago, I had drawn these doves at a workshop at the V & A.

So strange that they landed on my pendant !!

A REALLY F-----UP DAY,

In the morning, I wrote my list of things to do
 -Tennis
- Hatton Gardens
- Card to the Bulgarian Ambassador
- Alexander  Mc Queen show at the V & A
- Central library

Tennis was out of the way by 11 . Suddenly the phone rang. It was the KCC librarian asking me to bring back 2 books I had overdue.

I was going to Hatton Gardens but decided to go first to KCC to bring back the books and thought I could take the Hammersmith and City line to Farrington afterwards.

Arriving at Wornington Road, I suddenly felt hungry. I had forgotten my lunch ! I went into the Lisboa. They didn't have my favourite rissole. I had something else instead.

I gave back my books, but suddenly realised I had forgotten to file a small asperity in the piece I wanted to make a mould of.

I headed back home on a 52. Filed. That took another half hour !

Took the Central line to Chancery Lane, Hatton Gardens. Delivered  my piece for casting.

Then took a 243 to Holborn. In Holborn, I thought I'd go directly to South Kensington for the Alexander Mc Queen show at the V & A on the tube. I arrived, looked at my watch. It was  4.15... a bit late if they close at 5.30...

Suddenly, I remembered I had forgotten to do what was on my yesterday list : go to Masbro and Macbeth centres to find a ceramic workshop for next term ! Duh!

In a panic, I left the V & A.

I wanted to head to Hammersmith for Macbeth.

But I still had the card for the Bulgarian Ambassador. I decided to walk and deliver it by hand . When I arrived, the lights were on !  I panicked at the idea of going in and finding someone, so I decided to post it instead.  But I didn't have a stamp, so I'd have to go back to the post office in Notting Hill on the 52.

But the 9 came first. Direction Hammersmith. I thought, Oh well, I might as well get the Hammersmith  and Macbeth out of the way. So I boarded the 9. Raising my eyes from a difficult sudoku, I spotted a post office in High Street Ken! In a haste, I got off the bus and went into the post office for a stamp. There was a queue. I wasted 20 mins.

Still determined to make it to Hammersmith, I wanted a 27.  I got another 9 ! !

The naughty 9 dropped me at Hammersmith tube station where I had to wait another 10 mins for a 27. I made it to Macbeth at 5.45 !!

They didn't have their brochure for 2015-2016 !! They don't even have a ceramic workshop! It's somewhere else!

 I managed to get a 27 back to Notting Hill, got off for the Central library.

They didn't have the books I wanted. I had to order them.

Back to Notting Hill on the 328.

Hopefully tomorrow won't be like today ...

MAGIC MUSHROOM

A while ago, I found a small piece of mushroom.  Dry and 6cm high.  I picked it up and kept it.

Few months later, I did this tonal drawing of it  :

Again, months later, at printing, I needed a drawing to use for a linocut project. I decided to use my drawing of the piece of mushroom.

I cut a lino plate like this :

I enjoy the fluidity of the lines you can achieve in this way. You can use needles of different thickness and shapes to get a variety of lines.  

I have been printing this plate with vibrant colours.

Yellow on purple

purple on yellow

Red on yellow on black. Printed 3 times.

Black and orange printed on another print.

You never know when a small piece of mushroom might come in handy .