This week has passed in a post-festival haze. Relishing the reclaimed solitude of the studio, pulling it back into a working format, photographing pots to list on the Food Assembly and eventually Etsy, catching up on a long-neglected inbox, uploading Festival photos to Facebook, throwing dinner plates (and odd eggcups...), trimming (the plates dried in the sunshine today (YEAH, really!), making it a much quicker process), making spoons, working out production lists. New designs were well-received over the weekend, with many of my favourites selling quickly - always a good omen! These green patterns are inspired by the Island's fields, seen either from the hills or the air. They make an intriguing patchwork. Using 3 or 4 greens at various dilutions, I'm pleased with the uneven coverage in each 'field'. I unearthed some ancient ceramic pencils, which vaguely lay out the field boundaries before painting, but work better on bisque-fired clay, so I added some extra detailing before glazing. The watercolour-esque effect allows for layering of either hand-painted illustrations or decals. Tiny details that amuse me; those blue triangles originate from my old daffodil pattern - rotated 90 degrees without stems. I want my work to be very much grounded in the place in which it is made, but to avoid the cliches. Some of my illustrations are more obvious; the Manx cottages, the loaghtan. I worry that those designs can be too commercial and lack soul, but the diffused and abstracted field-inspired backgrounds could rein that in. It's going to be a good summer of making. Oh yes.
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I'm thrilled to have joined the Isle of Man Food Assembly, a concept which brings together the best local farmers, bakers, fishmongers, pie makers and other special products in a single, simple online shop. The idea is easy - purchase your food and drink (and pots!) from a variety of producers online, then collect from Noa Bakehouse during the set collection times! This week's sale is available online 'til Monday evening, then collection will be at Noa Bakehouse on Wednesday 11th May, 5 - 7pm. I'm a late addition to this sale, thanks to Chris for squeezing me in after the Art Festival! When you have an account, either select the 'Craft' category or scroll right to the bottom of the main sale page to find my pots: www.thefoodassembly.com YAY! Here's a little preview of what's listed on the Food Assembly: See you at Noa on Wednesday evening!
To be clear: this post is not intended as a whinge, it is a note to my future self on how to prepare better. And there are pretty pictures, so you can scroll straight down to those if you like. The Isle of Man Art Festival was a culmination of many months of hard graft, both in my own practice and as the event publicity officer. It seemed to be a resounding success across the board, which I (and the whole committee, who equally if not more so have had their noses to the grindstone!) are very happy about! Hop over to the Creative Network Facebook page to see some excellent photos from the weekend. By Wednesday last week my body was showing signs of pre-event wear; mouth ulcers, a minute but infuriating stye on my right eyelid, nightmares, and a higher-than-usual craving for chocolate. Standard reactions to working long hours, not sleeping well and feeling anxious. And to my despair, I forgot that Bonjela tastes like licorice. Typically, I developed a sore throat, so was chugging down hot, soothing tea and religiously taking my Vicks nasel spray every 4 hours in an effort to fight off the potential cold. Miraculously it worked, and by Saturday morning I was bouncing and ready to greet festival-goers. Saturday gave us the best weather and so was the busiest day by far, but there was a constant stream of festival-goers to the yard over the three days, with a good mix of loyal customers and new visitors. Special thanks goes to Annabel (aka Flo the Coffee Van) for providing her ace ginger cake and flapjacks! Our official festival photographer, Deb Turk, popped in on Monday and took these lovely shots - thank you Deb! [all images above: Deb Turk] Bizarrely, at the same time Mike Radcliffe popped in (there was a lot of camera envy going on), and he took some wonderful photos too! See them all here, on his Facebook page.
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