Creativity Catch up over the holidays

PHOTOGRAPHY

My younger brother Ian, his partner Anita, her son
and their daughter came up from Christchurch for
a holiday between the 10th - 15th December. 

My older brother Mike, from Hamilton came up too

 so much of my time (off work) was spent with them

 and (of course) taking photos of our time together. 

We went up to A.H.Reed Park, which is an area of forest 

about 10 minute drive Northwest of the city, and of which 

accommodates a cluster of large native Kauri trees

The forest is a place I feel very peaceful.

It was a lovely way to spend time with my family

Looking back at the bridge we'd just crossed.

Sadly, the two or three photos I took of the Kauri trees didn't come

 out very well (I was having a few problems with my camera) but

I liked the bark texture and didn't realise this is what they look like.

Tree roots fascinate me as well - I see them as a deeply expansive and supportive system that reaches out in search of a collective meaning and understanding of the world around us and the world within us. A system that is continuously encountering challenges, obstacles, and brick walls. Yet a system remains persistent and strong enough to break through, grow, and change course of direction to keep moving outward. Roots grow from the heart of our internal beliefs, passions, and core values. They are part of a foundation and an essence of our being. One of the most profound things I’ve given great consideration and time exploring in my life are my ‘roots’  — core beliefs, core values, and my passions for life. Especially in relation to my physical, emotional, cognitive, and spiritual well-being.

The splendor of falling water 

My brother, Ian and niece, Trelise

My brothers partners son, Alex

Alex was very playful with the 

camera and a joy to photograph.

As well as the "posed" shots, I like

 to just observe through the lens.

And last but not least - a few more tree images

I just LOVE trees - they make

 me feel so at peace *heart*

Below - Reflections

Car mirror reflections of the setting sun

What I saw reflected in the mirror!

HARVESTING PLANT MATERIALS

The hot dry summer up north has meant my calendula's
 have flowered abundantly and I have harvested
 several bags of petals for my soap and salve making.

 I found it quite therapeutic separating
 the petals from the seed head.

As well as harvesting petals, I cut up
a load of flax for paper making

The summertime is the best time for drying the sheets
 of handmade paper quickly so I used the days not in The Bach
 gallery over January to make paper to stock up

I learned from last year that I need to spend the extra

time making paper in the summer - it takes way to long

 to dry over the winter!

ORGANISING/PLANNING AHEAD

I purchase a 2 door cabinet to better organise
all my creative projects - the plan for 2017
is to have improved systems in place so I
don't waste time trying to find things.

Sadly, upon opening I discovered damage to one of the corners so I had to get a replacement. That turned out to be a long drawn-out process as they didn't have any in stock and it needed to be freighted up from Auckland by truck. 

Cam no longer needs or wants his Year 13 Photography portfolio so I'll remove the photos and use the A1 card for my Wearable Arts creation. I am going to "be a story-book" this year and very excited about getting started. I've purchased some animal fibres/wool and plan to commence the felted tartan book cover shortly. I will make "mock-up" small samples first to practice the tartan technique before making the full-size cover.

As well as planning my Wearable Arts creation I've been working on my design for the next community tapestry but I might start a separate post for that as there's so much to write about.

POTTERY
After a short break over Christmas and early in the New Year I returned to the Reyburn Art Studio to spend a few hours each Thursday evening de-stressing from the days work.

I glazed and fired numbers 3-8

 along with a couple of other "leafy things"

I'm not entirely happy with the leaf arrangement and glazing effect but like the concept so will experiment more over the coming month. (Particularly with glazing techniques)

 Again - need to experiment with glazing techniques and probably should do what "the experts" do - make little sample tiles/record what different glazes do (I'm sure there is a proper term but I don't know the word!) I have got a book on glazing and must take another look at it now I'm up to exploring the process with better understanding. It's called "A Glaze of Colour" by Jane Davies.

Plus I also rolled out and cut the remaining numbers that for different reasons didn't make the bisque firing with the other numbers. Interestingly enough, I had a customer ask at work yesterday about house numbers (did The Bach have any?) and I said I was in the process of making some pottery ones. So, I have her email and will send photos. The number she wants is 30 so I need to get the zero bisque fired and glazed if she does want to buy them.

Photography: 3 hours (includes editing)
Planning/Organising: 1 hour
Pottery: 9 hours
Preparing Fibres/Harvesting plants: 2 hours

End of Nov/Early Dec 2016 Creativity

End of Nov/Early Dec 2016 Creativity

(28th November - 4th December)

My plan for the week...

...except there was a slight change in my work roster - I ended up working on Sunday not Saturday and so spent the day making soap (pics below at end of post). Also I spent an hour or so talking with Dane(TLC Support) on the Phone on Friday. I didn't get any scrap-booking time, nor go to Ai Chi (as I was working) but will try again my next available Sunday. Lastly, Jill didn't need my help with the Tapestry book Acknowledgements after all - seems Glenda (Founder of the Bach Gallery) sorted out the list for her. 

Ricky Time on Tuesday

 Ricky kept working on the Christmas decoration for his Mum.

 Over the past few months I've noticed he is taking more initiative in following repetitive steps though sometimes I need to remind him what to do next.

As a result it takes him longer to complete a craft and if we start talking (which he likes to do now) he'll get very sidetracked and can't work at all (looses concentration) To give him the opportunity to share things he's done with me, we've adopted a strategy where he has to do "x-amount"  of craft and then he "can talk" for a few minutes.

Ricky time: 3.5 hours

Photography

 I had to rescue several winged insects from the pool lately.

 It seemed like a good photo-opportunity and since I have been asked to be the photographer for a friend's wedding in March 2017 I need to be taking lots of photos (not that I need a reason really!)

 This butterfly dried itself off and flew away.

The cicada, however didn't fare so well.

RIP Little One!

 I also rescued a couple of bees.

 They too had disappeared when I went to check on them some time later so hopefully they were okay and survived their "almost drowning episode" as well.

As I said before, I didn't get the opportunity to do any scrap-booking as hoped but I did get inspired by this book which was found left by someone in my mailbox!

 It's a discarded library book - how much someone saw it and thought of me!

Pottery Night: Slab work

Wendy showed me how to do slab work this week.

 Some of the examples she found to print out and inspire.

A simple way to make a hanging vessel. You just roll out a piece of clay into a square (I used an ice-cream container as a template and lace fabric to create a pattern. Then you fold 3 of the sides into the centre like an envelope and make a small hole at the top. 

The next vessel I made is going to be a vase or hold-all like for brushes or pens/pencils.

 First I wrapped a piece of wet newspaper around a cut cardboard tube.

 Then rolled out a piece of white clay and used a round 

object to cut a circle for the container's base...

 ..and roughed-up the rim with a fork.

I cut a straight edge from the remaining 

portion of rolled clay and roughed it up too., 

adding a little moisture to the edges to

 assist in joining them together.

 Hmmm....you can see the overlap underneath.

I wasn't happy with that...

 ..so I added some leaves and a vine.

 Side view

 The back...

 ..and the other side.

I look froward to seeing it after it's bisque firing.

Pottery - 4 hours (includes clean up)

Harvesting/Gathering & Soap-Making

Comfrey, from my garden

Patterns in nature...

Kawakawa, again from my garden

More patterns...

...arranging and playing, because I can.

I seep the leaves in olive oil to make into soap.

Lye - measured carefully on my digital scales in ratio
to the oil proportion (it's kind of like cooking)

Once the oils and lye reach a trace it gets
 turned into the mould to firm up.

I made a batch of lavender soap and to seep more lavender for future soap. I harvested some from  a bush in my garden and dehydrated it to use later as I ended up giving it a good prune (I don't like to waste anything!)

This is Lavender I've grown from seed and is called Augustifolia

The bees were all buzzing around as I trimmed it.

My darling old kitty cat was lurking in bushes.

She sauntered over to where I was working.

..proceeded to walk passed..

..turn and look back...

...as she forgot what she was doing??

She settled on a shady spot close to where I was working.

Funny cat lol!

..back to the lavender....

It's making my house smell lovely!

I didn't take any photos making lavender soap...

..but I did of the strawberry guava.

 I strained the pulp to remove the seeds.

..whizzed them up in processor..

.and when it was thick and glossy...

Turned it into the tray moulds where it'll harden for 24-48 hours.
I spent the afternoon (and into the evening) making soap but needed to get a good amount made so it can be curing in time for Christmas/New Year Tourists.

Time: 7 hours

Experimenting with colour

I want to be able to push the boundaries and experiment more creativity and I had brought some green pigment from the TLC Shop when it was on sale. I have no idea what to do what this but after searching on google it looks like it could be used in soap-making as well as cement, plaster, wax and grouting.

I chucked a bit in one of my bins of paper pulp to see if it
would colour it - I think I threw in WAY TOO MUCH!

One of my green-dyed sheets of paper.

I decided to knock back the colour a bit with some blue dye.

The patterns it made were stunning -
I grabbed my camera and started clicking away!

I loved the feathering patterns and instantly wanted
to do some paper marbling again.

Time; 3 hours

More Photography

Lichen growing on a rock wall

I have been wanting to stop at the top of the hill coming
 into Whangarei from Maunu for some time now.

I've named this "Nearly Home"

..a couple of grayscale photos.

Thanks for looking!

Time: 3 hours (includes editing/uploading of photos)