We are having an exhibit of my landscape paintings opening on Friday evening, January 25th 2013, from 6 to 10 PM.

The exhibit is showing at The Waterfall Gallery near Granville Island, a beautiful exhibition space created by Arthur Erickson. The address is 205 – 1540 West 2nd at the entrance of Granville Island in Vancouver.

Hope to see you there!  

 

Just by way of a reminder that you can see my painting website by clicking it at the top of the links column.
 I did this painting a while ago from a sketch made on a trip in northern BC two years ago.  I enjoy sketching as much as the painting itself.  It's a great focus. 

These Japanese Maples are between four and six years old.  Pots of my making.

I've made a few benches for displaying my bonsai. They're made of slabs of live-edge cedar and maple. I'm enjoying having the trees at a proper height for viewing and a comfortable height for working as well. In the background of the bottom photo you can see a latticed arbor ( a rose once grew over it).  I used the uprights as a base for two smaller benches by removing the rotten lattice and cutting down the posts. 

 This Scots Pine has spent a year in this pot and is ready for some shaping to really begin.

After wiring and a little trimming it begins to show some form.

Pots in the Studio

Just a quick post of the working end of the studio. Lots going on here.  I enjoy looking at other artists studios and workshops myself.

AUTUMN

IN THE BLEAK MIDWINTER...

Its good to look over some pictures from the golden days of autumn.

RESTORED WHEELBARROW

Thanks to Graham Eagle for the metal  (all that remained of his original wheelbarrow).  This was a fun project and it has come in handy for moving pots around the garden.  Nice to have a wheelbarrow with a tire that never goes flat between uses.

MORE

Mame bonsai pot - 7 x 4 x 3 cm

RECENT POTS

PINK MONKEY FLOWER

Planted in a ball of moss it produces flowers annually. Its a favourite wildflower, found along moist seepages and streams in the mountains. I need to identify the cream coloured plant - anyone know?

For some, summer means rolling in the grass

 This is Morgan, on Wigeon Creek, north of  the Pitt River in British Columbia.

SUMMER MEANS WATERING!

And it means growth, feeding, flowering, fruiting, wiring and pruning! 

JUNIPER IN AN UNGLAZED POT

More recent work.

This Juniper is shown here two years ago after a year in training.  It was a collected  garden plant.its showing a lot of new growth here.  Recently I put it in a new pot of mine and changed its position to show off the trunk line and deadwood. I'll have photos of it for my next post.

A White Pine repotted into an unglazed pot of my design

SPRING TIME MEANS REPOTTING

...and there is a lot of it to do.  I repotted several trees for clients into my pots.  I'm also getting a lot of my own trees into their new pots.  Its always exciting to see the change in the image of a tree placed into a new pot that complements it. The bigger trees I've moved from their nursery pots and put into shallower wooden boxes.  Those that have been in training boxes for the last few years can now go into proper pots.  Some trees just need a different look. 

This Scots Pine has been worked on through part of the last two growing seasons and got a new pot last week.  Still needs a few years to develop and refine yet.

Deep snow covers the garden

Cold Arctic air meets moist Pacific air and the result is snow.  Its gone now and the stars are out tonight.  Sunshine tomorrow.

FROST and POTTERY

This is what a pot has to withstand at below freezing temperatures. Can you make out the crystals of frost in the soil?  Pots must be made of a clay that fires densely enough to absorb no water, or else this is the result.  This is a commercial pot from China.  The shape is fine - the sloping walls directing  the expanding ice upwards rather than outward.  But the porosity of the clay is the weakness here.  When choosing a clay I choose the lowest porosity stoneware I can.  I fire it to the point where it becomes as hard as stone.  None of my pots have suffered any damage from freezing.

Ready for glazing and firing

Part of the next kiln load almost ready to go.  I'll glaze some, stain others and leave some unglazed as well.

Also I'll be doing some test tiles of new glazes and glaze combinations. Its always exciting to see what the firing does to a new glaze - even to a familiar glaze - you just have to wait and see if your vision of the result is close or not to the finished result.  Sometimes its better, sometimes worse, but its always interesting!