INSPIRATION - INTERPRETATION

 GARDEN IMAGES to 

 GLAZE PAINTING 

AS I'VE SAID MANY TIMES BEFORE, OUR LARGE ANGLOJAPANADIAN GARDEN IS MY BIGGEST SOURCE OF IDEAS AND INSPIRATION, FROM POTS TO GLAZE PAINTINGS ON PC SUBSTRATES.

THIS POSTING SHOWS THAT INTERPRETATION IN ACTION. SEVERAL EARLIER POSTINGS HAVE FOCUSSED ON GLAZE AND COLOR RESEARCH AND THE USE OF 

PC SUBSTRATES. 

THROUGH THE EQUATORIAL ARCH

ABOUT A QUARTER OF THE WAY THROUGH THE GARDEN IS WHAT I CALL "THE EQUATORIAL ARCH".  IT SPANS THE POINT WHERE FULL SHADE BECOMES FULL SUN. ON THE SOUTH SIDE, LOOKING THROUGH THE ARCH, THE VISIBLE PLANTINGS ARE ALL IN SHADES OF YELLOW - INSPIRED BY SUNLIGHT. ON THE NORTH SIDE THE COLORS OF VEGETATION IS ALMOST ENTIRELY IN SHADE, USING DARK GREEN AND BLUE GREEN TO EMPHASIZE THE YELLOW COLOR THROUGH THE ARCH, BECOMING PART OF THE "TONGUE -IN-CHEEK"

 GRECO-ROMAN GARDEN 

FLEMMING'S TOTEM

TO THE RIGHT OF THE ARCH IS A TOTEM PILLAR MADE FROM RECYCLED WOOD PILINGS AND ALUMINUM SHEET BY MY FRIEND AND MIXED-MEDIA ARTIST FLEMMING JORGENSEN. THE LARGE-LEAFED PLANT IN FRONT IS JAPANESE COLTSFOOT.

I ENJOY THIS GARDEN DETAIL AND DECIDED TO MAKE INTERPRETIVE GLAZE PAINTINGS FROM IT. FIRST, I MADE SOME LOOSE, BRUSH AND INK DRAWINGS. 

SIMPLE BRUSHPEN AND INK DRAWING ON PAPER -
 "EQUATORIAL ARCH" - NORTH SIDE

SNOW LANDSCAPE

PC SUBSTRATE GLAZE PAINTING - LAYERED GLAZES, BRUSHWORK AND UNDERGLAZE PEN DRAWING

ARTISTIC LICENCE CAN BE USED TO INTERPRET IN WHATEVER COLOR AHD TEXTURE RANGE DEEMED DESIRABLE BY THE ARTIST. IT CAN BE FIRED AT WHATEVER TEMPERATURE THE GLAZES REQUIRE AND CAN BE DOWN-FIRED TO USE GLAZES THAT MATURE AT A LOWER TEMPERATURE FOR DETAILS, SUCH AS THE CHROME RED LEAD GLAZE AT CONE 010.

"EQUATORIAL ARCH, BLUE SERIES"

THE METHODOLOGY USED IN MY GLAZE PAINTING WORK GOES BACK TO MY YEARS OF GLAZE AND COLOR RESEARCH. GLAZE APPLICATION IS DONE BY BRUSHING, POURING, TRAILING AND SPLASHING.  IN SHORT, ANY METHOD THAT WORKS TO INTERPRET THE  

 VISION OR INSPIRATION. KNOWING MATERIALS AND COLORANTS IS THE CORE TO VISUAL INTERPRETATION AND GLAZE PAINTING. 

LANDSCAPE INTERPRETATION ON LARGE PORCELAIN SLAB/THROWN
FORM WITH MULTIPLE GLAZE APPLICATION, FIRED AT CONE 10 REDUCTION.
"FOREST FIRE" SERIES - Robin Hopper 1977.

MY NEXT TWO POSTINGS WILL BE VIEWS OF THIS  YEAR'S HAPPENINGS AT THE METCHOSIN INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL OF THE ARTS. 

 I WILL THEN GO BACK TO THE EARLIER ONE  ON AGATEWARE THAT WAS LEFT UNFINISHED. 

BEST WISHES FOR A GREAT SUMMER OF ART AND EXPLORATION. 

THE SMALLEST DETAIL

THE GARDEN AS A SOURCE OF IDEAS: 

 ATTENTION TO DETAILS 

Throughout the BIG PICTURE are a mass of little images, details or cameos that may be isolated out as inspiration or ideas for all manner of individual concepts from pots to sculptures. 

Imagine, perhaps, the following images of Calla Lilies as free-form porcelain pots or sculpture. It doesn't take much to visualize such a transformation. The more you train your eyes to SEE, the more opportunity you have to interpret vision to reality.

ZANTEDESCIA Aethiopica - CALLA LILY 

ZANTEDESCIA Aethiopica - CALLA LILY 

ZANTEDESCIA Green Goddess

When looking at complex images and conflicting scale, like the fine Blechnum fern besides the bulky Rhododendron in the next image, your vision and brain combine to turn the combination into a complex image, or composition. 

At this point, reality turns into ART. The better the interpretation is done, the more artful the result. 

LOOKING turns into SEEING to selectively use the composition for whatever purpose the artist requires. If what you are looking at

is delicate in the extreme, realizing that delicacy is where

the artist is starting to SEE. 

This is where INTERPRETIVE ART begins.

RHODODENDRON Haemotodes with BLECHNUM Spicant Fern

When looking at any idea-generating image, the brain generally sorts out the image in priorities such as FORM, COLOR, PATTERN and DETAIL. It establishes ORDER. When you take a really close-up view of the object being scrutinized, your vision becomes like a MACRO lens on a camera, delving into more and more fine detail. This is really SEEING. 

How well the resulting interpretive artwork develops is dependent on the manipulative skills of the artist, and the tools and 

 art materials he or she decides to use. 

RHODODENDRON Marinus Koster

RHODODENDRON Blue Ensign

CLEMATIS Nellie Moser

Imagine and analyze the images that excite your brain, decide how you want to interpret and explore the medium to make it into ART. It is not as difficult as it may seem.  The more you explore, the more you will learn of the creative process.

MYTHICAL,  METCHOSIN, RED-LEGGED  PEA-CRANE -- PROTECTOR OF TREES, SHRUBS, PERENNIALS, KOI FISH, GOLD FISH, BEETLES AND BUTTERFLIES -
DISTANT RELATIVE OF THE SHORT-LEGGED,  ROUND-BELLIED ROBIN-BIRD.

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The next posting will trace the lineage from Landscape to Glaze  
Painting. If it all goes according to plan, it should be on your screen in about two weeks. 

GET WELL SOON, GOOFY!