Stop Press

We'll be updating properly soon, but wanted to let you know that the Destination Deloraine website is now up and running. Some of the pages are still under construction, but it is already infinitely better than any other promotion site of our beautiful town and region. Please pass on the address to all your contacts and friends. Thanks. www.deloraine.org.au  This address is also in our links.
See you at the Deloraine Market on Saturday 4th Feb.
John

HAPPY NEW YEAR

We hope you had a good festive season and that 2012 is a great year for you.

Our Christmas was quiet, deliberately so, but still pretty busy. There were two markets in December so for the second one just before Christmas we went seasonal. Jacque spent a long time making Christmas bunting from her stash of Christmas fabrics. They looked great on the stall.

As you know we had got in quite a few Christmas CDs too. We still have some left, so if we can’t shift them soon, they will make good presents for next year! It really was good to catch up with so many of the people we know from around here, and some from further afield too. There was a real buzz at the market though numbers were not great. That is the same for the whole of Tasmania at the moment, but hopefully, should we survive the Mayan end of the world as we know it, things should pick up. It seems strange to me that such a beautiful, barely populated, but very active culturally, place should have so few visitors. I know that to many people around the world Tasmania is just a small land locked country in the middle of Africa, but in reality, it is easily accessible by air or by car ferry. Get over here! Jacque had recently finished a clay planter called “Rose” and had only displayed it for a few minutes when friends of ours bought it as a Christmas present. It was so new that we hadn’t even had time to take a photo of it, but hopefully Susan, whose East Meander home it now adorns, will take a photo of it in situ for us. The next Deloraine market is on Saturday 4^th Feb and we plan to have an additional, adjoining stall for me to have books, CDs and musical instruments. Should be interesting!

Just before Christmas we went to Jacque’s work Christmas dinner in Hobart. What a treat that was for us, not only meeting all of Jacque’s colleagues and  the Association board, but I also had the chance to catch up with Cary Lewincamp at the Salamanca Market. This is a very large waterside market in Hobart which happens every Saturday morning. I get such delight from standing next to Cary and listening to him playing his guitar (best in the world in my opinion) with the best bratwurst outside of Germany in hand! It was great to hear and buy Cary’s latest album, “Home”. The sound is very similar to an earlier album called “The Sky in Your Eyes” which I once had to privilege to play for Helen Clark, the then Prime Minister of New Zealand, and the queen of the Maori. They liked it too!

We gave ourselves a Bohemian Arts end of year lunch at Burnie, at a fish restaurant which is so close to the beach, in winter it gets lapped by the waves. As the first officer of the flight which took us to Tasmania for our second holiday said “Best fish and chips in Australia” and they were. We still miss Scotland’s haddock and cod, though when we left in ’96 the North Sea was already nearly empty.

A lot of our time over the holidays was spent in the garden. Here are some pictures, although the labyrinth ones didn’t quite join up. It was the best I could do up a ladder leaning against a tree!

The Labyrinth

Fragrant Nook

Towards the "Red Bed"

Esmerelda & I  (I'm on the right!)

 

Next month I will rearrange the blog so that we have a page for “Home and Garden” to show you more of where we live and what we spend a lot of our time doing.

We are also getting around again, and enjoying Tasmania. On New Years Day we went to the north west corner which we had been saving up, and had a look at Smithton and Arthur River. They are again beautiful though I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so agricultural. It was really nice to meet Mandy in Fabric Parcel, a new fabric and quilting shop in Wynyard. Yesterday we had a run into Launceston, firstly to check out the Esk Market, and as the rain stopped at lunchtime, went to City Park to have our lunch and listen to the Chordwainers. They are a musical group who play leather instruments, creating a quite medieval sound but with their own ethnic slant. City Park will be hosting musical events every Sunday lunchtime throughout summer. It is a lovely spot to sit and picnic. As the rain still held off we went to the lavender farm at Bridestowe, for their open day.



Bridestowe Lavender Farm



An added bonus was to sit and enjoy some live music there (which we didn’t know was on!). Two of the quartet (called Underwood) were Kate & Daniel so it was really good to not only listen to their lovely music but also to catch up with them. We didn’t need to go to the Cygnet Folk Festival as the best music was up here.

Finally, thank you to everyone who responded so positively to this blog, and to all who sent us Christmas e-cards and letters. There were a few delightful surprises! Happy Hogmanay to you all.

December 2011 News

It has now been a couple of months since we updated the Blog. Sorry about that but it has been a bit all on. The garden has taken a lot of our time. As we get to the end of the Southern Hemisphere spring, everything grows at a tremendous rate which is fine for the things we have planted, but sadly weeds and grass are not exempt from the same spring characteristics. Jacque has been busy firstly with her entry into the first Australian Hoffman Quilt Challenge. Jacque’s quilt was on of 7 which were on display at the Tasmanian Art and Craft Fair at the beginning of November, and it has now winged its way across the ditch (Tasman Sea!) to Geraldine on South Island New Zealand where it is at the moment showing. 

It was great to meet the Kiwi Hoffman Challenge organisers at the Craft Fair.

For those who don’t know, the big annual craft fair in Deloraine is the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, attracting over 30, 000 people to the town for the weekend. Sadly, few of these people head away from the fair itself, to see what Deloraine has to offer. This year, to encourage people into town, each of the businesses in the High Street collaborated with an artist to exhibit work in their window or place of business. Jacque got together with the florist, Heather, and with the help of Jilli and Pauline who happened to be passing by, put together a very attractive display. 

We’re not really sure that the plan worked as numbers of visitors are really down anyway this year, but it didn’t matter anyway as it was a great opportunity for artists to gain some more exposure.

We have been going to the Tin Shed Pottery quite a bit more frequently, Jacque to do her clay work and me for music with Wal. We’ll show you some photos of Jacque’s latest works when we get them, but I’m afraid I can’t give you a sample of the music. You’ll just have to take my word that it is great stuff. If you don’t believe me come along to the Tin Shed one week and be amazed!

It has also been a couple of months of celebration. Jacque &  I celebrated our 20th Wedding Anniversary, but we kept it a pretty low key affair, finishing off with fish & chips at Hawley Beach. It was tasty, quiet & romantic!

Finally for this instalment, Jacque has just got herself a proper job! Well it was her turn!!!

She is now a Family Advocate for the Association for Children with Disability, covering the whole of northern Tasmania including Flinders and Cape Barren Islands. She has only just started so we’ll let you know how she gets on down the track.

Well, that’s about it for this entry. I have put some December events onto the events page if you want to check them out. We really wouldn’t  want you to miss something good. Take care, and more again soon.

The added photos are of some orchids which Jacque has been growing in our greenhouse.

Latest Works

A few new clay works to share!  You'll notice that they all have the same type of finish as I was trying out a white slip on top of the clay for the tiles and lantern.  The slip I used is a mixture of ball clay and water that is brushed on top of the clay in liquid form.  The slip was left to dry and then I carved through the slip to reveal the darker clay beneath.  Yes, I like rabbits!

Hand-carved Rabbits & Hares Tiles. Terracotta Clay with Slip.

Art Nouveau is one of my favourite styles. This is perhaps why Vienna was a favourite destination in our travelling days.  When in Vienna you're surrounded by Art Nouveau treats. I've made a collection of plant themed tiles in this style, using the same technique as for "Rabbits & Hares". 

Hand Carved Botanical Tiles. Terracotta Clay with Slip.

Celtic knots are fun to produce!  This tile has a different finish.  Black iron oxide has been washed onto Buff Raku Clay to highlight the carved design.

Hand Carved Celtic Knot Tile. Buff Raku with Iron Oxide.

I've made several lanterns in the past, all with a different carved out design.  For this lantern I've used a more contemporary design than usual.  I've used the same white slip on top of Red Raku Clay.  This clay looks like terracotta in colour but is a tougher clay that is more suitable for hand building large pieces.  The toughness comes from there being small bits of already fired clay (called "grog") being added to the clay base.  When candles are lit at night within these carved lanterns they cast some beautiful patterns onto surrounding surfaces.

"Lava" Lantern. Red Raku with Slip.

Now a work in progress.  This is a wall plaque that has just been fired and I'm about to do a hanging system for it that incorporates some beads.

Wall Plaque.  Terracotta Paper Clay.  Underglazes & Clear glaze

At the moment I'm working on a couple of larger figures, including a new Modigliani lady.  I have a delightful young student coming to me once a week and this week she is keen to make a horse!  That'll be a nice challenge for me! 'Til next time..............

Purple Pansy

One of my favourite things to make are quilted journal covers.  I use free-motion machine stitching to embellish the fabric and then make these into covers and then pop  a visual diary/journal/notebook inside.  I usually have a selection of sizes and varying colours and themes available.

Detail of Purple Pansy Journal Cover (Sold)

Forget-me-nots

In a previous post I said I would show you a picture of a piece of work which was woodfired at Liffey. This is it! It was impressed with forget-me-nots and as you can see, it picked up some lovely colours and effects. We have other woodfired pieces on display in the studio, which are for sale.

Forget-me-not Wall Plaque ($20)

Wood Firing at Liffey

Following hot (pardon the pun) on the heels of Woodfire Tasmania, local clay workers had a fantastic workshop at the home of Jilli & Ian Spencer in Liffey on Saturday.  We fired up two types of kilns which you can see on the photographs. 



Preparing the kiln - a layer of sawdust, rolled newspaper as
  wicks, then the clay pieces go in layers with all sorts of other
materials between to hopefully give some special effects.



For more pics, click on the link to Clay Connections and you'll see all the exciting things that happened to the tee-pee after we'd all left! 



This is called a teepee kiln, for obvious reasons! You'll be able to see
how it looks inside if you check out the pics on the Clay Connections link.



Many thanks to Jilli & Jill Eastley for their instruction and to Jilli & family for their warm hospitality (it was a bit nippy at Liffey but cosy indoors and by the kilns!).  It was a great fun day and I enjoyed catching up with some clay folk I hadn't seen for a little while. I had several pieces in both kilns so should be able to show you in a future blog how they came out.

Woodfire Tasmania 2011

Jacque here!  We had a huge international clay event here in Deloraine recently.  Neil Hoffman, local potter, organised the most wonderful 3 day event.  We had exhibitions in all of the galleries in town (we enjoyed having the works of Michael Steffan here at Bohemian Arts), presentations and demonstrations by international and national experts in ceramics and woodfiring, and a fun day out on location at Neil's pottery in Reedy Marsh for the 'Woodfire Challenge'.  Teams had to dig clay, make pieces, build a kiln, fire their pieces, cook food on the kiln and then serve it up on the vessel they'd made.  Well done to Neil and team for bringing such a world class event to town.  The woodfiring continues for me this coming Sunday when we're building kilns and firing at Liffey.  More of that next week!

First Post



Extended Family
Acrylic on canvas 60 x 60cm

 Well, here we go, continuing our voyage of discovery, this time on to the possibilities of cyberspace. We thought we'd start with a couple of photos of Jacque's latest art works.

The first is a rather cute acrylic painting of "babushka dolls" . They are from 3 different collections, including one loaned by a good friend. They certainly look very cheery, and brighten up a slightly gloomy corner of our studio. The price doesn't include delivery.




LS Lowry's Anne
Buff Raku 36cm tall

 The second photo is a clay sculpture based upon a portrait painted by L.S. Lowry in 1957 . The subject, Anne, is a bit of a mystery lady. For years people have been trying to work out who she is, or was. The consensus of opinion though, is that she was an imaginary friend. Interestingly, X-rays of a lot of his paintings have revealed more portraits of Anne, underneath his more typical industrial "matchstick men" works. The price doesn't include delivery. How much that will be varies depending upon where it is going, but for suburban Sydney or Melbourne, it would be about $35. Country mainland works out at around $45.