Inspired by Queen Anne's Lace

This field is now an ugly apartment building on Troost and I'm pretty sore about it.

 Queen Anne's Lace is one of my favorite things on Planet Earth.  It's beautiful in the breeze, it feeds pollinators and caterpillars, and every part of it is edible (it's wild carrot, after all).  Every stage of its life cycle is appealing to me, even the dried seed heads.

Playing with a little macro lens I got right up in that inspiration.

Is it going to eat me?

Sketched a little.  Actually, probably a lot, but I painted over most of them.

This one got me excited.

another sketch that has been painted over

So I decided to lay the groundwork on the canvas...these images were pulled from my Instagram, and were taken in my makeshift basement painting studio, so they're not great but I like to show process shots.

There were several more layers of paint than this, but the point is that I put a lot of color in this then washed it out and added papers and whatnot.

This stranger lives inside the painting forever.

I scratched into the surface like I was doing to my ceramics at the time.

Last step before adding ink and paint.

Aliens? What is this?

Weird I'd reference O'Keefe...not vaginal at all.

In summation--I made a few more, but using this single type of design didn't bring me joy like the repeated use of orzos does--although this is quite a similar shape when you get down to it.  I'm glad I went through this exercise, as it got me to start drawing, which led to a lot of very good things, but for now I'm going to be keeping this idea on the back burner.  Summer 2019 I got a wild hair to buy hundreds of feet of canvas, so I think the spark was that I was trying to figure out how to use it and make bigger work in general.

See current works in progress on my Instagram.

Incised Ceramics II

 Before the KC Clay Guild shut down in March along with everything else, I started working on some planters and incised flower themed pieces.  After six months of letting ideas ruminate, I had a nice little group of cuties when our class started up again in September. Several ended up at the Kemper Museum Shop, and the rest are available directly from me online.

First I hand-built the base forms, playing around with adding shapes together.  Then, while the clay was still a bit soft (leather hard for those in the know), I carved lines into the surface, this time with either a needle tool or pencil, depending on how thick I wanted the lines.  Before the first firing I painted underglaze in several colors on the designs.

group of planters and vases

carved

underglazed

After they came out, I added clear glaze and more underglaze into the lines of some.

finished planter with clear glaze
sold

vase with copper wash and underglazes
available at Kemper Museum Shop

underglazed and glazed planter
available at Kemper Museum Shop

glazed and underglaze vase
available at Kemper Museum Shop

finished vase with clear glaze and blue underglazed lines

Those links again:

KC Clay Guild

The Kemper Museum Shop

Eighty Acres Art Ceramics 

Orzos on Metal

Early in the year I was still making Orzo pieces and working on backgrounds for future orzo-ing.

I cannibalized a less-than-satisfactory piece to make a new thing.
I picked off most of the first draft of the re-do anyway.

I decided to stick with one color of vinyl for this one after a few starts with more.

Atmospheric Splendor
vinyl on painted aluminum
30 inch diameter

I globbed on many layers and colors, scraping, sanding, and watering down as I went, and using whatever I had on the brush from one piece to start work on the next.  This is how you can tell they're related.  We had a few nice enough days in February for me to spread out in the backyard and fling color safely.

The lineup.

Finished backgrounds...

36" diameter

24 x 24" cannibalized

Remember how I cannibalize my pieces?  This is one.

36" diameter

Super thick paint, sanded and watered down, and done again a few times...nice and dimensional.

After prepping several surfaces, I didn't do anything with them...or I haven't so far.  It's not abandonment, it's waiting for the right time.  For this artist, that could be years from now.  If you've seen my collection of things (not a hoard), you can understand how I can work like this.

Incised Ceramics I

 I went on quite a streak of trying a new technique at the beginning of the year--incising ceramics.  I was inspired by this cute metal vase I saw at Urban Mining and a Vasily Kafanov plate I came across online.

I don't even know what those are supposed to be.

Vasily Kafanov
h/t Worthpoint

This even preceded my bigger drawings, and now that I think about it, I'm sure was an early step in producing those.

A friend gave me some cool porcupine quills...they were sitting near me so I used them to dig into the soft--but not too soft!--surface to make some lines deep enough to hold underglaze and make a crisp line.

Carved with a porcupine quill.

Fired to cone 6 with underglaze and clear glaze.
Decorative wall plate.

pinch pot

yes, please.
cone 10, b-mix, underglaze, copper wash, glaze

This is my favorite early one, but I haven't been able to recreate it.  Instead of underglaze in the lines, I used copper wash. Copper reacts with glaze and the different environs of whatever kiln fire it's in differently.  This was finished in February.

cute bebe cat planter

I began to think maybe just black lines with a touch of color could be a nice way to go.

no thanks

I also used copper on this vase and, although many of my friends actually really like it, I hate the way it came out, looking like bloody scratches with pink flashing.  If it was just a geometric or organic design not meant to be representational, I think I definitely would have run with this application.

Kansas City Artist Coalition art auction

Give Me One Prairie Day!
18 inch diameter
vinyl on painted aluminum

The last party I went to was the annual KCAC art auction...back in February. After over three decades in the City Market, they relocated just a few blocks from my house in Midtown. 

I donated the above piece to the live auction, and it was bananas!  We all had so much fun and it sucks that we won't be able to get together this year in person.  But the event is going on virtually with just as much gusto as ever!  Bonus...wear your PJs and don't worry about how you're getting home!

This year, you can bid on one of my Orzo pieces included in the Kemper Museum exhibition Women to Watch | Metals 

Spark
36 x 12 inches
vinyl on painted aluminum

On the wall of the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art.

Be sure to follow KCAC on Instagram and Facebook for updates and support opportunities!

It's 2021 I guess

 So, okay, I basically skipped 2020.  As I'm sure most of us can say, having a lot of time in a new way does not always give us the motivation to do all those things you've always wanted to do.  So, I'm going to share what happened in my creative life over the last year here in the new year.

Mostly I rediscovered drawing, took six months off ceramics, biked, and looked at flowers.  I also ate a lot of ice cream and frozen custard.  Oh, and I opened an online ceramics (for now) store in December.

We're all playing catch up and looking back at a weird time...and looking forward to a new, better normal.

I had a few pieces in a show at Inter Urban Art House.

Worked on some orzo pieces early in the year.

Started incising and adding flowers to ceramics.

Grew many flowers, like this cosmo, in my yard.

Collected flowers on my bike

Arranged Bathroom Flowers TM

Drew flowers on ceramics.

Drew some very big flowers on paper.

I'm going to try to have a new post up every Tuesday, because that's when the internet said people are most likely to read and share...Looks like I have myself a New Year's Resolution. 

Online Sale

Hey, folks.

It's cold now.  The end of the year is nigh.  So I am FINALLY putting together an online sale.

It's old school (as far as internet shopping goes).  I've grouped together ceramics and hearts in some folders on Facebook. You message me with what you want and we work it out from there.  I take PayPal online, but if you don't use that, we can figure it out.

Also, FREE SHIPPING, AMERICANS!

CERAMICS SALE CLICK HERE

HEART SALE CLICK HERE

barnacle vase

bowl

bowl

soda fired vase

bowl

vase with cocklebur stamp

soda fired planter

planter

Remember What's the Deal with the Hearts?

Contact me through Facebook, my website, or email deswar14 (at) hotmail (dot) com.

You can also pick up some cat head planters at the Kemper Museum Shop when you check out the incredible shows they consistently have in this gem of a museum.