Cay Denise

I haven't painted in some time. So it seemed like the perfect time to sign up for Louise Fletcher's 10-day free taster course titled 'The Creative Reset' that recently started.  She has re-engineered the taster since I took it last, and I'm liking how it is rolling out.  The images below are from our first lesson that were timed studies with additional constraints.  The purpose was not to have finished pieces.  Rather it was to help students identify their preferences and gain clarity about our likes.  This means not choosing to like what others want us to like or think we should, but what we honestly like.     From my six-block painted sheets, I chose one favorite from the first grouping and two favorites from the second grouping.  The step I'm choosing to do is to write down why I like those three in particular.  The reason is because being able to articulate my reasoning will help clarify, strengthen and hone my voice -- not just in art bu...

When looking at a pottery glaze grid, it can be overwhelming as well as hard to imagine what a pot will look like with a specific pairing. That means for a while, glaze choices are all experiments.   Today's batch was a first attempt using 'runny' glazes for lip accents.  I've been hesitant to use runny glazes not knowing how much they run.  But I got brave and have now tried it.  The pot below with the reddish exterior is a glaze that really ran.  So I probably won't use that in the future.  The turquoise glaze on the inside of the pot on the right is finicky and can be problematic, but it is really pretty.  I will use that again. Five more pots have been trimmed and are in line for their first kiln firing.  That will be followed by glazing plus another kiln firing before being ready to be taken home.  There is even a cup with a handle in progress.  I'm looking foward to seeing that one when done.  It's a benchmark!

I found this delightful art of Sue Britt at a recent juried art festival!  Her paper-wrapped, pattern-cut substrates capture scenes from the natural world.  This happens to be a tide pool, but she does a range of landscape pieces. What I loved about her booth was the exemplars of papers she uses for her pieces plus an explanation of her process, and the best part -- her sketchbook with drawings and notes.  The sketchbook was so neat to see -- in that I got a better understanding of what catches her eye and inspires her to take that inspiration and develop composition ideas in her sketchbook.  Having had an education in architecture, she is a problem-solver.  I think that background paired with her very creative eye results in a different kind of art using paper forms to imitate nature scenes than I've seen before.   Because I have lived in coastal communities and visited tide pools, this piece to me truly captures the sense of sea grass movement as water fl...

This is my FIRST EVER political cartoon creation!  It's based on an idea that came to me a few days ago.   The characters are based on Ivan Brunetti's way of creating simple ones.  (I learned about him through Lynda Barry's 'Making Comics' course.)  In this cartoon, I'm pleased that the one female character across the middle six frames has a consistent look and feel.  Meanwhile, the colored-in characters are a bit more complex though have some simple elements. Ultimately, this cartoon is intended to be satirical.  That said, how does it come across to you?  Does it flow and make sense?

As you can see, I've been practicing pottery-throwing, trimming and glazing a lot!!!  The photo below shows the pots from my third and fourth glazed batches that are now considered done.  Yes, I'm getting better.     I've started experimenting with two-tone color combinations in the glazing process. This generally involves a full dip in one glaze as the base color -- and once set, dunking the rim area in a secondary glaze.  Sometimes the effect is a lace-like pattern, or a contrast color, or even a glossy edge.  Glazing is an exploration in and of itself.  Even if I love or dislike a vessel I create, it can change in the finishing process depending on the glaze(s) used. That said, more experiments are on the way.  

There is a You Tube channel with the moniker @CayDenise.  It is not me. 

I saw a zine post recently in which the artist shared how to create taller-than-wide zines on copy paper.  It's actually simple and just a matter of folding the paper a bit differently than for mini-zines.   In creating this kind of zine, the art (drawing, collage, or writing) will be constrained in ways that are unexpected -- as I learned in putting this one together.   The materials used for the project were cut-up pieces of unused art and silhouettes from cut-outs.  My approach was to simply play.  I like how it turned out and its simplicity.  The cover page is the one with the purple oval.  To follow the pages, move right, then up, around, and then down to the purple and orange page (the back cover).   The video below is a quick tour of how it looks folded with the pages being turned.  

The balance of my beginner class pots (12 of the 22 total) have been glazed and fired.  This second batch isn't as impressive as the first.  You can tell many are early ones, because the bottoms of the interiors haven't been smoothed out.   Unfortunately, I didn't record the names of the glazes used for the second batch aside from Blue Celadon and Nebula.  The ones I like from this batch are the lighter speckled ones (off-white and light green).  The outcome this time included a cracked pot and another with a chipped base.  But these kinds of losses are part of the process too. I'm now into my third week of a new-to-me intermediate course in which I'm learning to throw with the wheel set-up for left-handed throwing.  Yes, it is different...the wheel rotates clockwise rather than counter-clockwise, and the roles my hands have are reversed.  My focus now is on pulling the walls of the clay taller and thinner on each vessel I undertake.  I'm als...