Saturday, January 29, 2011

The sugar dummy

It came out green and rather soft and even deformed taking it out of the mould.  I will have to perfect my toffee recipe before I try this again.  It eventually melted into a sad green lump.

Berlin Interlude - compare and contrast

In a past life, when I was a working woman, the New Year meant an end to the Christmas lull.  By 8.30 am on January 2nd I would be found in a factory with 40 machines and 95 decibels, ear defenders clamped to my ears, pressing green buttons and hoping that none of the operators was suffering from an excess of Christmas spirit.


This year I was still in bed at 8.30 am and and not even thinking of doing anything until January 12th when I had my assessment.  And after that I went to Berlin for 5 days.  Here are the photographs:-


Picasso

Picasso

Picasso

Berlinische Galerie


Extremely spooky installation of life size figures with grilles in their faces



Funky dancing skeleton from the Neues Museum


Berliner Dom with TV tower in background

Brandenburg Gate

Berlin has the most amazing and diverse street art

Jenny Beavan

Artist unknown but made from paper




What I liked most about Berlin was the availability of everything.  Art, nightlife, music, shopping, it was all there.  It wasn't a pretty city and didn't even feel like a capital city - for inspiration though it was brilliant.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Gillian Lowndes

I have always adored the work of Gillian Lowndes.  She died this year at the age of 74 and broke new ground in ceramics.  I love the dusty, textured look of her pieces that look as if they've been through a fire or buried for years and then dug up.  They have absolutely no function but look as if they might have had at one time.







There is a dearth of images on the net of her work but visit www.anthonyshawcollection.org for lots more small sized images of her amazing pieces.