still life saturday with Maria Grossmann

Maria Grossmann is a stylist working in Hamburg, Berlin, and Paris. Visit Maria’s inventive website here.

ceramic feelings

A ceramic artist from Belgium makes stoneware “feelings”, a collection of 99 of them. I picked these four, which represent my range of emotions over the past few days. Please visit ArtMind on Etsy for more of the expressive “matryoshkas”.

david wiseman’s botanicals

I learned how to slip-cast in the same class as David Wiseman, and saw him create many of his well-known forms. It’s so fun to see David written up in LA Times and The New York Times, just to name a few. I particularly like his bronze branches topped with porcelain blossoms. I also took bronze casting, and it nearly killed me, but David makes it look effortless. See more of David’s work at R20th Century, in New York City.

ray parker’s “simple paintings”

There is something comforting about the “Simple Paintings” series by Ray Parker. The colors and shapes drew me in from first glance.

botanical inspiration

Flowers from Karen Philippi’s garden. Photographed by Karen.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has me thinking about water. And how we take it for granted, though it’s becoming more and more fragile.

pablo picasso’s lady

Pablo Picasso’s “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust,” set a new sale record at Christie’s. See the full article here in The NY Times.

In 1951, the painting sold for $19,800; at the recent auction at Christie’s, it sold for $106.5 million. Will Picasso’s family see any of the profit? Or how about an art program funded by just one (or even a quarter of one) of the millions? A program that could nurturer a future Picasso...

A curious fact, here is Picasso’s full name: Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso.

the ladies of D'Arceau-Limoges

My mom has an amazing eye, and discovers treasures at her local Thrift Stores frequently. I feel like she should be on Antique Road show, she’s that good. The plate above is from D'Arceau-Limoges’ Women of the Century series, which mom rescued for a few dollars. I love the concept of showing fashions through time, but the execution of the illustrations is just not my style. There is something off about the proportions of the ladies. But I do love the orange outfit, and the attitude, of this flapper. And the typography on the front and the back is fantastic.

in studio, dusk

It was dusk in the studio when I took this photo. I loved the blue-gray light and how it tinted Su’s set drying on the shelf. Click on the image for a larger view.

cascades of type: an exhibit by bruno maag

“I wanted the viewer to have childlike fun when standing in the middle of the approximately 5,500 suspended letter forms.” – Bruno Maag on his Shape My Language exhibit in Vienna.

photographs courtesy of fontfeed.com

new gourd bowl shape

I added a larger size to my gourd bowls collection. It holds four liquid cups and rounds out the set nicely, making it great for ingredients while cooking. A set of three is available on etsy.

still life saturday with gleena

study of light: pawtucket: 04.22.10

It is a rare day when I get a chance to observe changes in light from my window, and yesterday was perfect for such a luxury. A thunderstorm rolled in around 3pm, just as I was home from the studio for a late lunch. I had a fantastic view of the lightning as it came in from the north.

wee teas for everyone

Finally sent off a commission for a family in Calgary, with beautiful names like Antoinette and Ruby and Owen.

The pink is pooling at the bottom edge of the glaze, creating a little skirt. It has to do something with the chemical make up of the colorant I use. Apparently, the pooling is tough to achieve without the glaze running all the way to the bottom, mine was a happy accident. It adds an extra dimension to the cup.