There is a cafe in Goldbar that I always mean to go to but have never gotten around to it, until today. The Blues Java Bar (or Blue Java Bar - both signs are displayed outside) is a funky little coffee house that kind of reminds me of Cheers. You know. The bar where everyone knows your name. Only this isn't a bar and the regulars are retired folk from the neighbourhood. Or at least, that was the kind of crowd (if 5 people is a crowd) on a sunny, sleepy, Monday afternoon. The ambience is kind of African, hippie, homey, rural kitchen. Totally relaxed. My kind of place.
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Of course, there have been many pots since my last blog update in 2013 but sadly I didn't photograph most of them. These are my most recent (all sold) made just before the Potters' Guild closed for the summer. They represent a new direction for me, or rather, a return to a style I have always loved but didn't have time to develop. Each is about 12-14" in diameter and carved through a layer of coloured slip. It's a time-consuming process that doesn't fit well into a weekly evening studio session. But now that I am retired, I have days to devote and I can hardly wait to get back into the Guild in September so I can carve more pots.
Two are glazed with a stony white glaze giving them a soft, elegant feel. The other is glazed with an amber celadon giving it boldness and depth. I wish I took better pictures of objects but I don't have a proper lighting setup. Something else to learn and do, I guess. I came across these tonight in the midst of a project I've just begun - indexing the contents of my sketchbooks. I've only got three sketchbooks partially done but what fun it is to look at work I've forgotten. Or to finally locate a sketch I've looked for but which was buried somewhere, I just don't know where. Hence, part of the purpose of the project! But just look at these! They were made from the passenger seat of the car last summer on our return trip from north Ontario. I'm stunned by the delicacy, the quiet airiness. If anyone else had drawn them, I would say they are exquisite. Okay. They are exquisite. Enough of false modesty. I've been making drive-by drawings for a few years now. They've changed. I no longer attempt to capture the image as I see it. I can't at 110 kilometers an hour. The image is gone by the time I've decided to draw it. Instead, my eye takes a picture. Really, like a camera. In just a few seconds, I've memorized the essential bits, internalized the essence of the scene. And from there, I improvise. There is enough similarity in the landscape for a few miles, that I simply steal a rock from here, a tree from there, a cattail from another ditch, to complete the idea. These little sketches then, are responses to the environment we whiz through so quickly. They are visual haikus. Made in Strathmore Visual Journal Drawing sketchbook with Pigma Micron pens. A return to the blog. New title. Refreshed, updated look. In the two years since my last blog post, Weebly, the blog software I use, has changed its backend and how the dashboard functions. So, re-learning how it's done. There will be bumps. You will likely receive unintended blog mistakes. So, oops. Sorry in advance.
I make things. Pots. Sketches. Drawings. Knitwear. My interests vary, ebb and wane. I'm never committed to one thing to the exclusion of others, although my longest lasting love affair is with clay. No matter how much I stray into two dimensions or other expressive media, clay seems to remain my lodestar. The craft around which I spin. Then again. I've been drawing since I was a little kid. If clay ever leaves my life, I still have pencils and paper. Stay tuned for updates and images from all my expressive experiments as I "draw on experience". |
Welcome to my occasional posts
My name is Yvonne Rezek. This is a blog about what my hands are up to. Mostly sketches and drawings, some of my pottery, maybe even some knitting.
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