Roughing out my new marble works.  Great long days with good light and good weather for working outdoors.   Always so much to do.  This Calacatta marble has some exotic veining which I am very excited about.

Torso Primavera, calacatta marble

Torso Primavera, calacatta

Carrara marble blocks 2011

Last fall I found this large block of marble measuring 290 cm long and I scribbled my name on it.  This week we measured my “bozetti” or models, to make the first cuts.  Very exotic veining that should make some of my Torsos interesting.  These pieces will be featured in my upcoming exhibition this summer at Darnell Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM.

Calacatta marble block

Preludes, Word Dance Theater

Listening to Chopin~ Preludes and the images of the Duncan dances ………….

March 7, 2011

Saturday  I attended a performance by Work Dance Theater, “Preludes”. Divine beauty, strong emotion in dance, theater and music all on one stage.  I have been so fortunate to be able to see the dancers in rehearsal but the live performance on stage with the lighting blew me away. They are my Muses and feed the impulse to create more works inspired by them.

I don’t attempt to record a pose, but the essence of the form and the movement seep into my consciousness coming out of my hands and into my clay.  I cannot wait to get back into the studio and work while the experience is fresh.  Video clip on WDT link.  Nothing is as beautiful as live performance and the lighting was superb making the dancers look ethereal and dramatic.

Meanwhile, some drawings..

Preludes study

Preludes study 2

Torso 11_4

March 4,  2011

Figure 11_6

There is a mystery about firing the earth into colorful and impervious ceramic sculpture and pottery.  The process has been done for thousands of years and continues today over the globe by artists and craftsmen.  We all share the excitement of  opening the kiln to find colorful vitrified sculptures. The stages of firing consist of drying out the physical water in the clay which I do over long periods of low heat just under the boiling point of water 212 F.  Then  dehydrating the clay to the point where the chemical water in the molecular structure of the clay is changed at about 930 F.  The most critical point of the firing is the “quartz inversion” at about 1050 F.  This is when the quartz or silica in the clay body shift. It is a crucial period of expansion and if rushed can cause cracks especially in thicker walled sculptural forms.  Post firing I sometimes use melted waxes and pigments to enhance those that I applied before the firing.  I never tire of this process.

Torso 11_5

Torso 11_1

February 26, 2011

This month is always short. Went outside from the studio last night at 10:30 pm with Maggie, my dog. Snow falling was refreshing. Still snowing today, but I don’t mind. Allows for more time for inside “winter” work, writing, planning.

A few small studies…

February 20, 2011

I’ve just come back in the studio from feeding my mares. Temp in the barn says 5 degrees. Well that is better than below zero! Somehow with my big woodstove and partitioning off part of the studio with canvas drop clothes, I am staying warm. Oh yes, and my rabbit hat, now glued to my head for months keeps the heat in.

Just trying some new layers of red iron oxide and gold vanadium yellows on my terra cotta. It looks good so far, so I hope after the firing I like it as much.

February 12, 2011

Started a batch of clay work. I am concentrating on pieces for a few gallery shows, but also playing with some ideas that I see would be fun both in larger terra cotta, and in travertine and marble. Looks like I will start planning my trip to the quarries in Italy and get going on getting the images out of my head and roughed out into the stone.