Our Open Front Doors. Our place is like a castle really!On Saturday, at about one minute to one, we flung open the front door and were able to have our open studio day, having finally tidied away a mountain of "stuff", mopped the floors, dusted the shelves, set out a display of work, and made the place look like a working studio again..., instead of a demolition site. It was a great feeling to have got to this point after several days of really hard work.
Laura will do most of her work at this table where she will have lots of light.
We are both excited about how the place looks and feels now that the changes have been made, and are looking forward to getting back to the real work of making new things.
Lots of books to look at, and interesting paintings in the available spaces!I have taken photos to give you some impression of how the place looks now in our studio area. It was rather late in the day when I took the photos, so the lighting is not the best, but they should give some idea of what you might see if you dropped in on us on an open studio day (we are also open again today, Sunday 1pm - 5pm).
"Flora" an Oamaru Limestone sculpture I did a few months after visiting the UK 11 years ago.
The view from Laura's table into the rest of the room.
Plans draws are good for storing works on paper in, and displaying pots on.
My etching press, which has also doubled as a slab roller and stone crusher!
A home made light table is also a useful display area for folders with photos of our work.
Laura caught in the act of watering plants! Laura is emerging from behind the old post office counter, behind her is the doorway into my potting studio.
Where stamps were once sold, the counter is useful now for displaying pots on.
If you go behind the counter you will discover a little hallway display room.
Small pots are displayed on this old piano.
A lovely painting by Laura graces a door in the hall.
Heading into my studio.
There is a display of small pots in old post office pigeon holes.
Lots of shelves for storing glaze materials and pots.
The end room where my wheel is.
The cuckoo clock, every home should have one!
Our Open Front Doors. Our place is like a castle really!
Laura will do most of her work at this table where she will have lots of light.
Lots of books to look at, and interesting paintings in the available spaces!
"Flora" an Oamaru Limestone sculpture I did a few months after visiting the UK 11 years ago.
The view from Laura's table into the rest of the room.
Plans draws are good for storing works on paper in, and displaying pots on.
My etching press, which has also doubled as a slab roller and stone crusher!
A home made light table is also a useful display area for folders with photos of our work.
Laura caught in the act of watering plants! Laura is emerging from behind the old post office counter, behind her is the doorway into my potting studio.
Where stamps were once sold, the counter is useful now for displaying pots on.
If you go behind the counter you will discover a little hallway display room.
Small pots are displayed on this old piano.
A lovely painting by Laura graces a door in the hall.
Heading into my studio.
There is a display of small pots in old post office pigeon holes.
Lots of shelves for storing glaze materials and pots.
The end room where my wheel is.
The cuckoo clock, every home should have one!
Comments
I'm happy to report that the open studio went really well and we had some much needed (and very much appreciated)sales to some of the delightful people that dropped in over the weekend. I wish you could walk through the doors and visit us too, it would be great fun to catch up with you in person.
Best Wishes,
P.
Glad you liked the limestone sculpture. I'm rather fond of it. I didn't do a lot of work with stone, but I had a few months of it shortly after we returned here after a trip to the UK. I had been drawing nonestop on the trip and was really excited by what I saw, but
had real difficulty drawing and painting again when I got back to New Zealand. I had reconnected with something in the UK, and it hurt rather to break the bond again. The work with stone was quite theraputic. I had loved what I had seen of Barbara Hepworth's sculptures, and those of Henry Moore when in the UK.
Hello Christine,
Glad you enjoyed your tour! Yes... it is true, I have used the press for crushing rocks! We have schist rock near here (not sure if you have it in Scotland??). Schist is really like fossilized clay that has been laid down in thin layers. It is naturally quite brittle. I discovered that heating it to 700 degrees Centigrade makes it really crumble very easily.
You could work it into a fine powder with a pestle and mortar at that stage, but I run it carefully through the press between layers of canvas (a good use for my old bad paintings!!). I wonder if schist would turn into slate given a few more millions of years and extra pressure?? I suspect that they have a great deal in common. I found that I could use schist in glazes in the place of clay. It is an interesting addition to a stoneware glaze as there are extra goodies in it, such as titanium and iron, and I have found that a chun glaze over a schist laden slip can be fairly spectacular.
Hello Pat, Lovely to hear from you. It would be fun to be able to really show you the place in person, but I am glad you have been able to have a look of what is here from the photos. (Love your flower photos by-the-way, they are really beautiful and bring the warmth of summer all the way here!).
Really enjoyed visiting your newly revamped studio and meeting Laura.
Sorry that you have had trouble sending me a comment, but... well done, this one has got through. Glad you enjoyed the visit, we certainly enjoyed meeting you both.
If you can remember what you did, it might be helpful for others to know what sort of trouble you had when you tried to leave a comment, and what you did to fix it?? I am hoping to discover if the problem is browser related, or if it is something else. So, even if you can't recall the sequence of events, it would be really helpful to know what internet browser you use?
Best Wishes, P.
P.
Your place looks great! It is wonderfully artsy, warm and inviting. I love it! I could spend hours dreamily taking in all Laura’s and your art!
I have been having trouble getting kicked off your site and leaving comments. I assumed it was because I have dial-up connection, but I see from the comments on your site others are having problems. The browser I usually use is Windows Explorer. I have tried opening your site with Firefox with the same results.
All the best to you, Laura and Ginger!
Blaaaah to technology!
Best Wishes to you, Peter
I eventually had to start a new account with Google to do it... Sigh!
Anyway folks I can confidently say that your visits to the OPO would be well worth while, both to see the artwork and to meet the inhabitants - assuming that any rodents have already been welcomed by Ginger - to whom I send my best purrs.
Ginger is deprived of his rodents these days by Big Puss, who seems to get there first! G. receives your purrs with gracious pleasure! P.
-Bethany