The wondrous black and white critter shown in the collage on the left is a tapir on the verge of extinction. I gave him a rider who’s looking out for him, trying to get him out of danger. Then I made the clay piece, a small maquette, or model, then the sketch on paper. Next I’ll do this piece, or something like it, bigger.
These are the steps introduced in my two-day creative process workshop. You want to know when the next workshop is? Check my website: saraswink.com.
From another page in my image journal, zebra in story shirt walks the yellow brick road accompanied by Niki de Saint Phalle sculpture. Then came the clay sketch, painted with black underglaze, scratched through: aka, sgraffito. Next the sketch on paper, the beginning of the process of developing the idea for execution in clay. I write some bits of my story, bring in words inspired by other parts of the collage. I will sketch and write and revisit repeatedly until it feels original, all mine, even though I have borrowed from others to start the process.
Open the cover of my image journal and here’s page 1. On the right is part of my collage; on the left are a couple of sketches in which I’m starting to think about how I might turn this into a clay piece. Maybe the possum will be playing possum, maybe instead of baby possums on its back, it will have a bunch of little heads for Ricky-baby to stand on. Someone like this Ricky has shown up in my dreams as an undeveloped and troublesome animus character who is out of control and taunts me. I suppose playing dead is one strategy for dealing (or not dealing) with him.
In the March 2018 workshop, we made collages, we doodled lines and shapes with sumi ink then brought in oil pastels, then we made image journals using some combination of collage and doodle with art papers.
On the left is my image journal from the workshop. It’s sitting on top of my sketchbook. I like to sketch in very fine point black pen (currently the Pilot P500 Extra Fine) in a big, 9″ x 12″ Canson field sketchbook. I like the thin black lines. It reminds me of the pen and ink drawings I’ve loved since childhood. I don’t do nearly enough of this most of the time, yet it is supremely creatively fulfilling, and often happens right after a workshop or when I’m contemplating a new body of work.
It was a couple of days after I added this image of the person in the boat to my doodle-cover that I realized it was a new version of “A Float Down the Alimentary Canal” mentioned a couple of posts ago. Ha! and Aha! I guess that idea is not done with me yet. Now I’m working on this idea in clay.
Here are a few of the clay sketches that resulted from two days of exercises in collage, doodling and clay. There were 11 people in the workshop, each exploring their own completely unique vocabulary, style and voice. We produced MANY more pieces than this, but I’m not very good about taking pictures sometimes.
Here is the sketch on paper and the sketch in clay that resulted. It was January 2, and I was sick in bed. Not so sick to stop the creative urge!
C-diff is a very nasty infectious intestinal disease and the drug to treat it is just as nasty. I lost 30 pounds in 30 days: See the C-diff difference! Lost all my strength. Lost my appetite: a first for me.
All better now! Except for losing some hair as a result of the ordeal. But it’ll grow back.
Foreign Bodies Sketch & MaquetteSick, very sick, in bed on New Years Day 2018, I got an idea for a sculpture. Not surprising given “My Life in Clay” is the story of my life, literally. (Literally, literally). In March the clay piece was made, bisque fired, glazed, fired again and “foreign bodies” installed. 9″ tall, this was intended to be the maquette (model) for a larger piece. I never know if those larger pieces will get made. Sometimes the maquette satisfies the urge.
