It's interesting to me how themes seem to develop in my life. Does this happen to you, too? If I had to identify the one that seems most prevalent now it would be 'perspective'. Lately, everywhere I go I am reminded of the variety of ways of seeing and experiencing the world. Even my
horoscope for the week seemed to be on board with this theme, providing me with the advice: "Don't turn your focus into a white-hot beam of piercing intensity; relax your focus into a soft-eyed enjoyment of playing around with the possibilities." I have definitely been guilty of white-hot intensity so it's good for me to be reminded of the joy of play and divergent thinking from time to time... but this new "perspective" seems to be a more natural state for me, so I'm happy to indulge.
In the studio in the past couple weeks I developed a new perspective about one of my glazes. I'm not sure what to call the glaze; 'amber' seems to be winning out. I was actually aiming for a deep rich mahogany brown colour, so I was disappointed with the result initially. The first pieces with this glaze seemed stamped with my unrequited expectations and I didn't really like them.
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| Baking and/or Serving Dish with amber glaze |
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There's a good chance I would have abandoned this glaze; finished off the bucket that was mixed up and then tried again to get the colour I wanted. But, in an effort to fill up my kiln with glazed ware so that I could submit a commissioned piece, I took a bowl and poured this amber glaze over it quickly and placed it in the kiln. I wasn't expecting, when I pulled this same piece from the kiln, to be pleasantly surprised by the results. This time, I noticed the playfulness of the glaze. The way it varied with my movement during the application and the mysterious way it pulls other colours around the pot.
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| Small Serving Bowl with amber glaze and wisps of misty blue. |
This new perspective about this glaze encouraged me to keeping playing with it. I used it on many of my most recent work and will continue to explore the possibilities.
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| (Another) Small Serving Bowl with amber glaze. This time with wonderful brown effect. |
I've also discovered how well this amber glaze pairs with the black glaze that I just made (I actually got the colour I wanted that time.) So, I think the two colours might find their way on to the same pieces.
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| A sampling of pieces with the amber glaze and one black tea bowl. |
This contemplation about perspective has inspired me to explore this theme in my pottery production a bit more deeply and purposefully. Looking through my sketch book, I can see now that it's been a theme that has been bubbling beneath the surface for a while. I feel full of ideas, thanks to a small bit of playfulness and a slight change in my perspective.
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