Clay and wool fibre

a cup and a bell

small round bells

Hello. How I am happy to be back online :)

My Apple PC died suddenly and had no access to internet for over a week!

As I do not have a TV either, it was quite a different life ... Annoyed and stressed first then gradually accepted it. More time to play hide and seek in the living room and more time to spend reading good books! But well I DO need a PC. I love my new iMac :)

I have been making figures with firing Raku clay and with wool fibre(wet-felt). When I start making, I do not know what the end product will look like. I just hope they'd speak for me or communicate with people in a way or another.

I love both those seemingly very different materials and find many similarities between them. Similar in a way that both are malleable - one can sculpt with the material in a very direct way in one's own hands. I am also fascinated about the fact that both clay and felt are made of such small individual units.

I love their changing natures in the process : CLAY : through the stages of drying, firing, application of glazes which are not so different ingredients from clay itself. WOOL: how it felts with friction, moisture and soap(alkaline). Learning about their changing nature (through eyes and hands) with a sensitivity is such a big pleasure to me! Just like living and feeling with all senses the seasons go by...

And both are such ancient techniques using natural materials readily available : clay from earth and sheep wool.

Apart from sculpting with my own hands, I love two more things. Line drawing & photography.

I have been working to have all three together in a mixed media approach. (in a very limited time given between day job and busy single parenting)

These are some of my recent attempts to combine the three. My hand sculpting, my line work and my photography to create a breathing room for the figures. The figures become actors, objects become props, I find myself a director in film making or sort!

None is a finished work yet, just works in progress or testing stage. And oh it is such a long process...!!!! Months already! But such a journey it has been. I will get there one day.

remembering the last walk by the sea

Let's go see the world together

listening to the sounds of the sea

And here is my little helper :D She was not happy when I took one of her card board boxes to create a stage for 3D scenes but now is very interested in what I do.

Regards,

Erin x

Seeds and their pods

It's spring here. I enjoy seeing many and rapid changes in our surroundings as I go for a long walk pushing my daughter's bike in the morning. This is our second spring here in a very warm part of Australia. Many of the tropical trees and plants seen here did not exist in Sydney but they did in North Africa where I once lived. This reminds me of geography classes back in school that this continent as well as India were once part of Africa continent. Quite amazing to think about......

I do not know the name of this tree. It seems that two black shiny seeds pop out of the pod now not in Autumn... My daughter spotted them and we spent a long time gathering them and comparing shapes on the roadside. I find their different colours, shapes and textures beautiful. They deserve to be admired and contemplated upon!

I wonder what a 3 years old sees in them when playing with them in our balcony. I am sure a lot of things.

And I am sitting here wondering if those would give nice colours if used in plant dye.... hmmmm.

Have a nice week end!

x Erin