time and effort

after weeks and months of comings and goings there was finally a lull

quieter days, and some rainy weather gave me some extra hours in the studio 

I had the best time...

hour after hour, trying out new techniques on old ideas

a long-held fascination with ceramics (the making of which is out of the question!) had me thinking of other ways to create vessels

I dabbled in this idea five years ago when doing work for a local exhibition and though I was quite happy with what I did then, it wasn't exactly what I had in mind

last week I came a little closer...

this rather grubby-looking little bowl-shaped object is the result of the first sampling ideas

stemming from a desire to work more with this:

the boiler clinker I found in the river in about the spot you see below, with the instantly recognizable clay cliffs towering on the other side of the river

the water was considerable higher in August when I found it - this image was taken last year, in late May or early June

first I took the finely ground clinkers and tested using them on linen in a few different ways: 

all the linen samples below were treated with gesso made from either matte medium with finely ground chalk or rabbit skin glue, also made from finely ground chalk

(the rabbit skin glue is NOT made from rabbit skins rather, it's made from animal collagen not sure how I feel about that, but I'm not a fan of the acrylic matte medium either)

I tried applying the dry pigment with a brush, rubbing it in, and then applying wax, mixing the pigment with the wax medium and then applying that, either by scraping it on or brushing it in, and finally, mixing it with matte medium and brushing it on

all have their merits and their drawbacks

what I learned over all is that it is very difficult to get a perfectly smooth result - that may change with experience but for now, difficult it is

(it may be I haven't ground the pigment well enough, or I may need to get an ultra-fine sieve to strain any larger, too hard grind particles)

looking through the few images I have of the cliffs I realized memory was serving me very well - they are scrubby, rough and irregular

deep furrows, random vegetation scrabbling for a hold

subtle variations in colour

what could be a more perfect subject for a first try?

especially considering I found the boiler clinker in the shadows of the cliffs

taking what I learned with making this one and from the other sampling I did I'm already at work on #2

using different mediums and a different application of the colour, I'm learning as much from it as I did with this and the notes and samples in my sketchbook are already filling page after page

along with a few drawings of other vessels that I'd like to try 

it's been a wonderful thing, to have this time and space, a few new materials to work with and the chance to finally try a few ideas on for size

more to come...

take care,

Jillayne