Alan took photos of my most recent jugbirds when I took them out of the kiln last week. There is one brand-new design and some others have slight changes.
Three were commissioned by someone from North Vancouver. She had seen that I made a Kingfisher to take to England and wondered if I had ever made a local version. I was pleased to find that our Belted Kingfisher is a fine teal colour with contrasting white breast and a band. Here is my Belted Kingfisher jugbird and a photo I used for inspiration.
She also purchased a Northern Flicker and a Pileated Woodpecker. We see these two distinctive birds around here quite often these days.
I thought it was a time to make another Loon Jug. There are three thrown parts to this design and I do enjoy the bold contrast of his black and white with red eyes!
I made a magpie to take to England so I thought I’d see if anybody here feels sentimental about these cheeky prairie dwellers. We saw lots of them in Medicine Hat but we don’t see them in the Lower Mainland.
The Red-Breasted Sapsucker and Chickadee have been part of my repertoire for quite a while but I’ve taken a fresh look at them. The Sapsucker, which is a rarer visitor to our bird feeder, has white spots on his wings. And I’ve darkened the Chickadee’s body to try to make him more recognizably Chickadeean!
I left the Loon and others at the Gallery of BC Ceramics yesterday, and I took five jugbirds, including the Magpie. to Circle Craft.
I never go to Granville Island without running into friends. As Alan and I lunched in the coffee area of the Netloft building we were joined by Paul Mathieu, and recent ‘artist raider’ Greg Bellerby. Greg, Eric and Jacqui were out here to paint plates on Monday and another three artists will be here next Thursday. Six plates are being donated to a Western Front fundraiser. I’ll post photos of all the new plates after the next glaze firing.
Paul invited me to stop by his office at Emily Carr to see how he’d enhanced his latest vast dot-painted platter. He’s added silver dots and then fired it a third time. It really crisps up the edges of his ‘Framing Devices’.
