Extinct

National Geographic is a favorite magazine of mine. A couple of months ago, they published an issue showing many animals that are extinct and some that are going to be extinct in the near future. I was disturbed by this more than I expected. Really disturbed. So much that the images followed me into my dreams.
I think when we are pursued by a thought, a lingering image that we are meant to pursue back. In an earlier post I opened up the old sketch book and showed an image of the Dusky Seaside Sparrow. A small bird that is now extinct. I felt for this little fellow.
Here is my painting of the Sparrow.
The start of the series.

Finished.

Voila! I present the first painting I have started and finished in a month in a long, long time.
I am done. No question marks. No doubts. Done.
This is a statement that I can't usually make for years.

How do we know when pieces are finished? With the pots there is a definite ending. When the whole piece is carved it is done. But a painting is so ephemeral...so vague....so squishy. I always struggle to know when to let it be done. I have ruined many a painting not recognizing when the painting had had enough.
This one just said it. I'm done.

Some New Work and Random Acts of Art Around Here....

A large brown Owl bowl.


















A Murder of Crows

























A Gift for the Fairy Tree.
( i secretly suspect that fairies live in this tree. don't tell anyone)




















And the Crazy Rabbit Trade from Facebook. These guys hang on the wall and chatter obscenities at their owners.

Going Back to Cali...Cali....Cali, Going Back to Cali.....Hmmm I THINK So!

Can you hear LL Cool J in the back ground?
So, I am going to be in San Diego California for a trunk show with my good friend and jewelry designer extraordinaire Diane Owens.
I am super excited to revisit this wonderful town. Last year I met the most fabulous people and had a wonderful time seeing the beautiful coastline of Cali.
If anyone out there in the blogisphere is in San Diego, or close by, and wants to come to the show the particulars are:

The Diane Owens and Friends Trunk Show
Saturday May 2nd.
11:00-6:00
4970 Mansfield St.
San Diego, California

Facebook Rabbits and Such....

Lately I have fallen prey to the seduction of Facebook.
I refused the siren call of "Crackbook" (as it is often called) for a long while. I resisted the tales from facebook lovers of meeting up with old friends....reconnecting with family....
And then, my sweet friend Diane told me of all the business opportunities on Facebook so I joined.
My hubby would roll his eyes and say, "Yeah, right." But one can always pretend.

Anyway, I have had a great time on Facebook so far....too much fun because I spend way too much time online. One of the great things that has happened is I have met up with some amazing artists. There is a small group of NC artists that I have had the best time exchanging rabbit/evil bunny pictures. We all decided to exchange actual work and I received my first evil monster bunny yesterday. He arrived in a cool package decorated with a sweet pink bunny drawing. Then out he came wrapped in gauze. Will was taken aback by his appearance. So, we slowly unraveled the gauze and Mr. Crazy Bunny was there!He is super detailed carrying a bloody knife behind his back. And he has an incredible face when his bloody mask comes off.
He is AMAZING! and a little scary. I was almost afraid to sleep with him in the house but I think he likes me.



Although, the night before he arrived, I heard some strange screams out in the woods behind our house.....










Artist: Andrew Sedberry
felt, buttons, fimo, fabric, awesomeness....

Easter Chicks and Bottles

So I found this cute pattern for crocheted Easter egg covers and couldn't resist.
Mine look a little bit crazed and are definitely not as cute as the original pattern but I still love them. This is a free pattern posted under Donna's Crochet Patterns. Go have a look at the originals! They are super sweet.




And.......even more bottles. Who knew one person could hang on to one shape for so long? I reached the sticky point in this 100 bottle project around the 45-50th bottles. (See post here about said sticky point.) I was just hating myself for even thinking up the challenge. But now, I can barely convince myself to make anything else but bottles. These new skinny ones are my favorites so far. The shape beckons to me and I just want to fill up a whole room with them.

Change....

Well, this month I am approaching another birthday. Never have I been one to deny my age or wrinkles for that matter but this time ....... I have to admit I am dreading another year older. Hate to say it but I think with this birthday the blog and I need a makeover. A growin up so to speak. So I am here by relinquishing the name of Painter Girl and am changing to Leanne. I had the name painter girl for awhile now. And though it is fun and flippy, I think this year it is time to grow up. I thought about adopting another name but Leanne fits the way I feel right now. Paired down and simple.
So hear is to another year! Happy year older to me and to everyone...

Leanne

Translation

I was still inspired yesterday when I was working in the studio by Bellini and his beautiful painting of Madonna and Child.
I wanted to see how the image from my sketch book would translate into clay.
Here is the final result.



This is a Bellini Painting that is as close as I could find to the one I sketched in London. I could not find the exact painting but this one is almost there.























Here is my drawing.















And finally the clay translation.























Update:
Out of the kiln this morning, the plate glazed.

Drawing from the sketch book.....

Here are some drawings I did in London when I found myself without clay.....




These two are from the Picasso exhibit.
The left is Girl in a Chemise
The right is Ferndrid? in a Black Mantilla. ( sorry I can't read my writing about who this sweet lady is. I will look it up later.)








This was a portrait of Olga as a Giantess/ Roman Goddess.
Seated woman 1920
















A painting by Bellini
Madonna and Child

















On the airplane home I did my own version of Hans Holbein the Younger's
A Lady with a Squirrel and a Starling




















And I also did a preliminary sketch for a series of paintings I am thinking of about animals that are going extinct or already are extinct.
This little fellow is the dusky seaside sparrow. The image came from my National Geographic via Florida Natural History Museum, Florida State University.
I see him in his natural colors with a red/ gold back ground.

We are back....

with news and pictures from London.

I have so much to post I don't know where to start.
Maybe I should start with visiting with Ms. Linda in London and in her hometown Wellingborough.
We were so excited to meet Linda. I think we have been blog friends for at least a year probably a lot more. We have blogged, emailed, and skyped, having a great time sharing art and clay. So, you can imagine how thrilled we were to actually see her in person. (Check out her blog for another account of our visit.)

When we met in Trafalger Square we went in the National Gallery to see the Picasso exhibit. Linda brought her niece Mariah with her to London and she was the sweetest teenager( yes, I realize this is a conundrum usually). She was so polite and just super nice to have with us!

Well, needless to say the Picasso exhibit was amazing.
It was a great exhibition representing the differences and vastness of Picasso's work.
I especially loved the portraits of Olga and the images of what I call the Giantesses (here is one example though this one was not in the exhibition).....
The show displayed some images there (which is normal with Picasso, the most prolific artist in history) that I had never seen before. I was in love. If Linda had not been there I would have swooned....really....

After we pulled ourselves away from the glory of Mr. P, we met Will in the square next to the fountain. By this time the weather sprites had decided that we had been lucky enough with good weather and decided to rain down in sheets upon our heads. We quickly ducked into an Italian restaurant near the square and settled down for some pizza. After a filling lunch we were ready to explore.
Will had work to do so he took off back to S. Kensington.



















The three of us decided to do some sightseeing starting with Big Ben, then the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, and finally the Natural History museum....WHEW! We were tired after all that running around so Ms. Linda bought us some cappuccinos and we sat at a little cafe resting before the two of them took off for the day.




Here is Linda and Mariah in front of a sculpture across from Buckingham Palace.















The very next day I took the subway (the tube in English speak) to St. Pancras/ King's Cross Station and caught a train to Wellingborough.

Linda and her sister and nephew picked me up at the station. We all got in Linda's cute purplish blue car and drove to her sister's house where she made us toasties (grilled cheesy sandwiches) yum!

After lunch we went to feed the swans. Oh my! there we a bunch of them! They saw us coming and swarmed us or should I say swaned us....Okay, okay, I know that was a bad one...
Here are some pictures of the swarm of swans. You wouldn't believe how big these guys were. Loved IT!!!!



































we visited the local park where there were many beautiful paths and woods. Linda asked me if there was a difference between our parks here in NC and there in Wellingborough. There really were mostly similarities though I noticed a green moss, a thin filmy moss that covered almost every surface of the bottom area of the trees and some branches. It lent the air this surreal quality reminding me of fairy tales and fairies, sprites and green men.


After the park we went to Linda's house to play with clay. First she showed me her polar bear that she has been working on. He is amazing and so well made. And he is quite big, very much a polar bear from top to bottom.... ( hey Linda, don't forget to measure the kiln for Mr. Bear...) I made a bunny and Linda's nephew made the cutest snowman.
Here is Linda and her sweet nephew.













After stopping to get real English chips (really potatoey french fries) and eating them greedily in the car, we went to Linda's class. We had the most fun! Everyone was so welcoming and nice and they were making some really wonderful work. I got to see Linda's swan named appropriately...Swany. He was beautiful and so light. Can't wait to see him glazed.

Her tutor (teacher) was incredibly generous with his class time and his supplies. He made me feel completely at ease and I did a short demonstration and talk on scraffito. I was nervous at first but everyone made me feel very welcome. I think it went well and I hope that I passed a little scraffito on to more clay artists.

At the end of the day we rushed back to the train station and said goodbyes. It was sad to go but I think I will be able to go back next year....hopefully with Miss Queeny and her mom.

Whew! more news from London tomorrow.


One sketch book drawing from the Picasso exhibit:
This was a drawing from a portrait of Olga from 1923.

London Calling

We are off to London!
I can't wait to get there. It is my favorite city in the world.....but I haven't really seen that many so I am a little biased.
While I am there I am going to visit Un D at Rediscovering Arr and play with clay. That is going to be the highlight of the trip. Meeting a fellow blogger from a different country! Wow!

But before we leave, here are the mushies in the new home. They are housed on the window sill of Urban Artware, the most awesomest gallery in the area. And in front of the window is the famous Ms. Millicent herself posing in the noonday sun.
I can't wait to see how fast the mushrooms find new homes. They all have tags explaining that they are Guerilla Art and have the address for Grrl+dog's blog.
Go Guerilla's Go!
Have a great creative week......be back soon.

Geometric Bottles

More bottles. These are hand built and larger than one might think. The tallest measures 18 inches. The form and the process are seducing me and I have now made 6 of these bottles. I need to move on to other things but apparently that is not going to happen. My desire for this form is still strong. Alas, you can't tell the muse what to do. She has her own mind.

Even more bottles and some pots....

Still working on the bottles.
Still making bottles.
It's time to make the bottles......
Sigh, every time I start one of these assignments for myself, I forget how it feels in the middle.
I lose the initial inspiration.
Grouchiness claims me and I protest to myself that I am tired and that I will have these bottles sitting around for years. I struggle and procrastinate. I cuss a lot and find the littlest distraction an excuse to get out of the studio.



But then something amazing happens.
I have a break through.
This is the reason for doing these seemingly insane assignments.
There is always some movement from within, some new insight into form and design, some new sense of the material I work with everyday.
And finally, I get this surge of love and appreciation for clay and I realize how much dirt means to me.
YAY! CLAY!

Oh Spring! How we love thee!

Look at this man lazing around in the spring sun....or winter sun? It is just February but this day it was close to 70 degrees in the afternoon. Will was sicky that day with a cold I gave him so I set him up a little nest on the hammock and caught him with the camera. I Love to see him relax because he so rarely slows down.


And what are these little colorful toad stools doing in the grass? They are my new guerilla crocheted mushrooms, the first 2 in a set of 6 to put under the park bench on Monday afternoon.
This time I intend people to take these little mushies home with them! I am going to put a card on each asking that each person only take one and leave the rest for others. Will post more on this later.

















And then, the painted plastic owls that are residing in the studio. Me and Will found these in an abandoned home down the street. They are wonderfully tacky and used to be gold with those sparkly gold stuffed animal eyes.
Well, I wanted to bring them home to put in the yard but the color was so faded that they needed a touch up. I had just watched Marie Antoinette the night before and was inspired by the colors of the time. Look at the beauty of this movie here. Look at my friend Princess Poochie's blog to see some of the most inspiring shoes to date. They really are works of art. I was looking at her blog when I decided to watch the movie again. Love it!

These owls aren't quite finished yet. I am painting them with oils so I am waiting not so patiently for the paint to dry. I can't wait to finish these sweet birds. I plan to glue sparkly beads and crystals on them. They will glitter in the sun.






















And then another bottle. So far I have made around 50.
Fifty more to go!
Can I make it?
And then, what the heck am I going to do with 100 bottles?
This is a perplexing question of which I have many ideas.
A show of bottles? A bottle tree? A fundraiser for the soup kitchen?
Any ideas that ya'll have would be more than welcome!

Ancient Grecian Pottery and my attempt at a sort of imitation

Some of the earliest surviving decorated pottery comes from ancient Greece as early as 1000-900 bc. These pots have been a great inspiration for me throughout my potting life. Especially this first picture. This great amphora vase was meant as a grave marker. The vessel has holes in the bottom of the pot so that liquid gifts such as wine could be poured from the mourning to the dead below the earth. If you look closely at the breast of the pot between the handles you can see the funeral ceremony, the black figures carrying the dead to his grave. This vase was a blending of the geometric period and the middle geometric period in ancient Grecian pottery.

The geometric period was marked by the artisans decorating the pots with bands of geometric figures such as triangles, lines, concentric circles, waves....the list goes on.

When figures started showing up on the pots this was marked the middle geometric period.

To learn more on this amazing period of art you can go here for a brief uninspired summery. I am trying to find a simple but informative, inspiring web page about this great time.

With these pots as inspiration I decorated these bottles.

Definitely not the same feeling but I am enjoying the process and making these little characters. I am inspired to make more and can't wait to get back to work today!

Thanks Ancient Grecian Potters for all these beautiful creations.