I've been Crazy Busy

Hi there!  I've been crazy busy - moving out of one house, flipping it to make it a beach rental, trying to get settled in our new house, had company for a week, and on top of all that, I couldn't get my computer to play nicely with our new wireless set up at the new house!  Not to mention being uber-pregnant and trying not to overdo it and get ready for baby, all at the same time.  Closing in on 36 weeks pregnant and feeling every bit of it :) 


But seriously, as crazy as things have been, I'm feeling pretty good about things.  I have actually done 3 or 4 sketches (but they're not ready to share here), and I certainly haven't been doing any clay.  I knew there would be some downtime as we traveled through this nutty time of transition.  I'll get back to it soon, though, because one of my galleries has been selling the work and will need replacements soon!


In the meantime, now that I am back online, I have been reading blogs again, and Tara Gentile had a great motivational post that fired me up.  I wanted to share that with you. and I hope that it gives you a little boost too! Check her out.

 Hope everyone is well, and I am so happy to be back online, I can't even begin to tell you!  It makes me feel like life is returning to a manageable chaos :)

~Kelly

Jersey Shore Clay National!

Can I just tell you how excited I am??  I found out late last night that two of my sculptures were accepted in the Jersey Shore Clay National at m.t. burton gallery!  I was so excited to get the email that I had a hard time getting to bed last night :)  I didn't hear anything by the notification deadline, so I just assumed that I didn't get accepted, but then I checked their website and they were a little behind thanks to a lost disc in the snail mail.  So I thought... okay.... well, the game is still on!  And then I got the word!  Now I have to figure out the shipping and all the other details, but that's fine by me :)


So these are the two sculptures that will be in the exhibit:

 

Yay!  So excited!  And thanks, everyone, for the love on Facebook when I posted about this last night! :)

~Kelly

Studio pics

Hello There!!

I have been super busy this week, as is normal for the week before a show, trying to get everything finished up.  Glazing, firing, glazing some more, with one last firing.  It's an easy cycle, a rhythm that gets going in the studio.  The only problem with this rhythm on a crazy week like this, is that it takes so long for the kiln to fire and cool.  It normally takes up to 12 hours to fire and then another 24 hours to cool.  I have to plan enough time so that I can get all of my firings in.  This is my kiln and I absolutely love it.  I bought a bigger kiln when we moved into this house 2.5 years ago, when I finally got my own studio.  For 9 years, I had to haul my pots and sculptures over to my mom's house, where we shared a kiln.  It was rather scary, because the pots are so very delicate before they've been fired.  So needless to say, I was totally excited I got my studio!  Here's a pic of me when the kiln had just arrived, and the forklift had brought it down to the house!


One reason I love my kiln is that is has a tall vertical dimension, so I can make some pretty tall pieces and they will still fit in the kiln.  The other reason I love it, is that the door opens on the front, like a regular door, instead of me having to bend over and load heavy pieces into a top-loading kiln.  That was a real problem three years ago when I was pregnant with my first daughter and I couldn't reach the bottom of the kiln!  I had to step on concrete blocks to get a bit higher to even load the kiln!

Here are my central work tables.  I have three stations set up, and their purposes vary, depending on what cycle my work is in.  The purpose of the stations changes from building wet clay sculptures to glazing to assembling to mixed media painting and journaling.  But I wanted you to see the madness of the work table just before a big show!  It's not always this crazy, but I usually have some manner of supplies, pictures, and sketches lying around. 

So my studio is in total chaos this week, but I'm almost done with the prep work for the show.  Next up is the assembling and packing and then loading the car!  I'm sure I'll be posting from the show, so stay tuned!  

Oh - and today is the last day of my giveaway on Facebook.  I can't wait to see who the winners are!!


~Kelly

I just finished this Little Bird Mama sculpture

Hi there!

The kiln has been running and it's nice to see some finished products coming out, finally.  All of my sculptures go in the kiln at least three times, to build up the layers of colors I like to have on the surface.  My kiln has good, thick walls, so I usually fire for 9-12 hours, and then it takes about 24 hours for it to cool.  I have to crack open the door once the kiln hits 500-600 degrees, or the darn thing just never cools down.  It constantly reminds me to just "Have Patience"!

This little Mama I built before our trip to San Francisco, but I never got a chance to work on her glazing before we left, because I was finishing up the bronze piece.  I love how she turned out, and the little birdies under her wing.  And then there's the other bird on the base... what do you think he's all about? Is he a sibling of the other birds, or is he an outsider?

In other news, I've been sketching quite a lot over the holiday, and I've been working on three different sketches that I cannot wait to finish.  I hope I like the finished project and can share them here!  One is a bit personal, so I may not share that one quite yet. :)

I have also just added Feedburner to this blog so that you can follow me through an RSS reader, or you can follow me through email if that is more comfortable for you.  I appreciate you taking the time to visit my little space, here in BlogLand!

As I am writing this post, I am listening to Sting.  One line that sticks out to me is:
"Let your soul guide you, guide you the way."  Be quiet, Mind, and listen to that Soul.  It won't steer you in the wrong direction.

Wishing you a happy week~
Kelly

Art Buzz, Collection 2011

Good evening!

For all my friends on Facebook, I posted a little while back that I had applied to an art book for possible publication of my sculptures. Well, I found out that they have accepted me! In fact, I won the First Place award in the clay catagory, and that means I get a 2 page spread in the book! The only higher award would be the Grand Winner, which gets the cover of the book, so needless to say, I was quite excited!

Here is an excerpt from the email they sent me:

First of all, congratulations on your acceptance into Art Buzz, The 2011 Collection! Your work has been awarded 1st Place in clay! Choosing the winners was a very tough job and we are proud to include your work in this premier, contemporary visual arts publication. (for a complete list of the winning artists, log on to www.artbuzz.org/book.html) You will also be given a complementary Standard Plus listing on ArtBuzz.org, if you don't already have one.

Cover for the 2010 book

So I'm quite excited by this and I am really looking forward to getting one of the books!

In other news, I've been firing and glazing, and trying to finish 2 pieces for the upcoming exhibit starting in January for the Cabarrus Arts Council.  I wrote about it in a previous blog post you can find here.  I won't be able to show the finished pieces, but I think a detail shot or two would be safe. :) Once they are completely finished, I'll be sure to post a little something here!

I hope you are having a great week! What have you been working on? I'd love to see some of your beautiful new work!

~Kelly

Journal Sketch turns into a Painting

Okay, here it is! My little sketch that I just turned into a 12"x 12" painting on a birch panel. I did some collage first, then added some background color with Golden acrylic paints. After that came the face with Shiva oil sticks (which I absolutely adore), and then her flowers and leaves in the hair were done with watercolor pencils (again, love them!). I finished off the painting with some more collage, and used various pens and markers to make some more marks. Oh - and then I also used Stabilo pencils in black and graphite to outline and/or add some shading to her face. I love my pencils too much to let them go entirely. The colors in this photo are a little off, and I lost some of the tones in her skin in this jpeg, but that's okay. I still like it, and I hope you do too! :)

The next photo is a little detail shot of the birdie and a few of the words. I just thought that it was so cute!


This was done as a donation for a fundraiser for the South Carolina Aquarium. I hope that it brings in some money for them, as I love the aquarium and used to volunteer there, several years ago. Here is the flyer for the fundraiser:
It looks like it will be a great time, so if you are in the area, head over to the event and bid on my piece, if you like it, or just have a cocktail and help out the aquarium.

Doing this painting was a huge amount of fun for me and I am really looking forward to doing some more in the future! This has also gotten my brain turning and I'm thinking about doing some more drawing into my clay sculptures... but we will see. That will take a little experimenting to get it just right. Let me know what you think! :)

Building My Bird Sculptures

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the delay in posting. Just been staying busy with the kiddo and clay and daily life. Hubby is back in town and that is pretty exciting! We've just been hanging out, spending time together since his return on Friday evening.

The other morning, a Twitter follower sent me a question that was perfect timing. He wanted to know if I took pictures of each stage that the sculptures went through during creation. It was a timely question because I had just taken some photos of a piece as I was working on. I don't always take photos (sometimes I forget!) but I had just snapped a couple of the current piece.

There are many ways to work in clay, and the way I tend to work on an armature and build the piece solid. I work quickly in the building stage, just trying to get a rough form and get the clay on the armature so that it can began to dry. When I first start a sculpture, the clay is so wet and not strong at all, but as it dries, it becomes stronger.

My armatures mostly consist of 1/2" or 3/8" metal pipe from the plumbing section of Lowe's and I attach that to a plywood board. I wrap the pipe in stretch wrap so the clay won't stick and then I start. I take large hunks of clay and smash it onto the armature, making sure to really compress the clay as I squeeze onto the armature. I keep going as far as I can until the clay begins to sag or bend or do weird things. Then I let it rest, maybe overnight, maybe two days, depending on how humid it is in the studio. After that, I begin to refine the shape, but not adding too many details at this point.

Then comes the crazy point. You've got the sculpture mostly built, it's looking pretty good, you are liking the form, and now you have to cut it off the armature! So I take my fettling knife and start slicing. The idea is to cut through until you hit the pipe in the middle and then remove a portion of the sculpture. This is what I have done in this first photo. I cut down the back of the this sculpture, because there was less detail that I'd have to repair after hollowing it out. It really depends on the piece where I decide to cut. A little tip about clay: it's pretty hard to fire something solid, and I generally want a hollow piece with walls about 3/8" thick. Some people go really thin, others go thick, but the idea here is to get all the air pockets out of the clay walls.. The sculpture can explode in the kiln if there are air pockets or moisture.... and boy, is that fun, let me tell you!! And that's what all those small holes are for - to help with drying, and to expose any air pockets.

The next photo shows the piece back on the armature, and it's been all hollowed out. I leave in those "braces" in the interior of the piece, as I will be mounting the sculpture on a metal rod after firing. Those braces serve as guidelines for the rod and help to prevent the piece from loosely banging around on the rod after firing.

After hollowing it out, I re-attach the remaining piece(s) and reform the sculpture. Now I can begin to add in details and bring the piece to completion. I love sharing these crazy stages with you guys. I once did this in front of a friend who was visiting, and she gasped when she saw me scalp the head on my sculpture. :)

So thank you, Twitter follower, for your timely question and for getting me back on my blog!

Hope you guys enjoyed seeing a bit of the process!

Cheers~
Kelly

Sneaky Peek of a Sculpture

You guys were right,

It is SUPER hard to hold back images of things I've been working on in the studio. So, I have decided to share a little tidbit of info with a picture. Ever since my mother died, back in Feb.of '09, all of my bird sculptures have been without wings. Or if they had wings, they weren't for flying, but for protecting or something else...

But then, last week, a change happened. I built a woman/bird/girl (birl? boman? wobird?) with wings. Wings meant for flying or at least growing into wings that could one day fly. That's all I'm going to say.

I am sure am having fun with it and I can't wait til she's fired and finished. I think she's going to be one of my favorites... But we will see what the kiln gods have in store for me!

This past week was a crazy one in our household with no school on Monday, then the kiddo was sick with a touch of bronchitis and ear infections, and then hubby came home Friday morning. I'm hoping that, starting tomorrow, we can get back to a routine... which translates into studio time for me!