A Giveaway!

In celebration of my annual Open Studio Show I am having a give away.!   I'm posting this over on my Facebook page.  Everyone who comments will be entered into the random drawing to win the piece. 

So I invite you to join in, thanks so much!
Cathy Kiffney Studio on Facebook

Glaze Mixing Mayhem

My day, sigh.
I've been working on simplifying my process of glazing so I've been slowing retiring old glazes and consolidating glazes, over 100 glazes is too many!  My frugality wont let me just chuck them out, so I've been mixing the left over into big buckets and adding a little colored oxides, tin oxide and other glaze ingredients, then testing to see if they are any good. So far I've consolidated about 25 glazes into 4 buckets and have some great colors-- never to be reproduced.

Annual Open Studio

Open Studio is three weeks away! I am working on my newsletter/invitation with all the details and a give away. I hope to send it out this week. So much to do in the next few weeks-- all good!

Just realized this might be easier-- link to the sign-up for my newsletter and invitations.

A Few Foxes

A few frisky foxes--continuing my series of slip painted plates. These are in the painted, unfired state. The foxes,  rabbits, chickens and quail will go in the bisque firing this week and then glazed next week, I hope!

Comet and his foxy friends

The view from here...

Going home on Dairyland... I hope you had a wonderful day!

Drawing and Painting on Clay

I'm getting back to my roots -- when I first started really working on the surfaces of my clay pieces I uses colored slips, stains and terra-sig. That was over 25 years ago. Over the years I developed my style of deep relief surfaces and began using more glazes. Although I continued to use colored slip and undercoatings and for some parts of the decorating, for the past few months I've been getting back to using the surface of the clay as a drawing surface, with very little carving. The work is becoming more pictorial and it is really challenging me to work in a different mode.  I'm not sure where I am going with it, but I will continue to explore this more.
Here are a few I'm working on now, unfired and not glazed yet.

Fantasy Orchid Wall Sculpture Flower

Orchids are such amazing flowers. All the incredible beauty and diversity make them truly fascinating. I've just listed this piece on my Etsy site for sale. Art print below is by Ernst Haeckel.

Hand built ceramic wall hanging sculpture, 14" diam. about 3" out from wall.
by Cathy Kiffney

Detail. Ceramic wall sculpture by Cathy Kiffney

Ernst Haeckel

Love Birds, Starry Night

 

Starry Night Love Birds platter by me, 20" diam.  Rainbow Lorikeets by nature. The photographer, Janine Duffy  from We Love Birds web site.  The Lorikeets usually mate for life; so they’re often seen in pairs, and during the heat of the day, spend their time perched together, preening each other

American Goldfinch and Thistle

Every summer the male goldfinch turns bright yellow.  They are still bright around here, but in the fall they will return to olive brown color.  This is a platter from this summer, aprox 12 inches diameter.  Hand built, carved when leather hard then painted with underglazes and glazes, fired to 1900 degrees fahrenheit.

Comet's Birthday

A wee pup...

Just a boy...

A straping young lad...

Blue Moon Comet!