Blooming

As I mentioned before, snake plants produce blooms like this when they are slightly stressed". These little flowers open at night and close in the daytime. Their scent is filling the air in my room right now. If only all tension could be relieved so sweetly.

 

Shower Flowers

Once I figured these out, they were fun to make. They took some time, but it was really satisfying to see them come together. I've been accumulating different papers for years, and my stash came in handy for this project. The green was leftover from my Mrs.Swift and Dreamer paper quilt projects from grad school, and the white is Japanese rice paper that I sometimes use for ink or printmaking. The only new paper is the rose colored one. It has the Hand of Fatima embossed in gold on the surface. Very pretty, and now I have a sheet of that left over for my collection :)

 

The Hold Up

Well, it's lovely to be done with school, even though I'll probably be puttering about there now and then all summer. It was a challenging year. The image I have of it is driving a car really fast, with my hair straight out behind me for nine months straight. It'll be really good to slow down.

    I'm looking forward to getting back to my own artwork. I walked by the plant painting yesterday, and I see some things to fix. And I see what should come next. I have a few other things I'm thinking about, too. Plus the traditional cleaning of the studio. And there is a mold making project at Ferris I've agreed to help with. But, I hope, all at a slow pace. Slow enough so my hair can be vertical again.

    First up, though, are these paper flowers for my niece's wedding shower. Twenty of them, coming up.

     

 

Ruh roh

   Well, this appeared a few days ago, and according to the plant books, it is a sign that the plant is experiencing mild stress. Admittedly, I let it get too dry, so that could be it. It is finals time, though. I wonder if plants are affected by my season? Stress or no, it's really pretty. What a lovely way to express it.

    I reckon I'll have to try to get this into the plant painting. Which, in a few days, I can get back to.

 

In the shop

After two years of teaching sculpture online, it's nice to have students back in the shop!

 

Beach Life

This little thing was my practice image for figuring out how underglazes work, so I could have a clue about it in order to help my students with their ceramic pieces. I just learned that real glazes look nothing like the color they will be in the end, and the beauty of underglazes is that they look like they will after they are fired. This photo was taken just before the second firing, which will set these colors. Before firing,  it could all be washed off clean. We will get another chance after this firing to adjust the color one more time, and also apply a clear glaze which will give it a shiny surface in the end, after the final firing. Ceramics is as close alchemy as any art form I've ever studied.

     This image comes from my time in San Diego, under a pier on one of the magnificent beaches. I'll try to tidy up the lines before the next firing. 

 

Look at these beauties

These little ceramic bas reliefs are responsible for the majority of the work of our sculpture class this semester. We are collaborating with Ferris' Card-Riley Wildlife Center to create touchable displays for the museum. It has been quite a journey and a huge learning experience for all of us. It's a good thing we had excellent help  and advice along the way. Below are a few of them up close, right before they were bisque fired. The students are currently working on the glazes. Stay tuned for the color versions.