on creative process

silk screen prints, Kylie Budge

While sitting in my doctor's waiting room recently I was flicking through a 1996 edition of World Interiors and came across an article about the English modernist potter Edmund de Waal. His work is deeply beautiful, simple and clean, and very influenced by Asian aesthetics. A simple sentence from the article struck me as being quite significant. To paraphrase (no, though tempted, I didn't take the mag home with me) de Waal is known for rigorous critiques of his work, which means that he destroys about half of what he makes after it is fired.

I find this fact about his process very interesting for a number of reasons. Firstly, at the time of the article de Waal was working with an expensive kind of porcelain but nevertheless he wasn't afraid to destroy something he created. Perhaps he could afford to be this ruthless, perhaps not. Secondly, he focuses on releasing the best of what he can make (or what he considers to be the best), and nothing less. So quality is clearly important to him. And third, there is something deeply thrilling to me about the idea of letting go of the 'lesser pieces', the work that hasn't quite resolved itself (to use an art-y term), and being ok about that. Not tearing yourself up about it but just letting it go and accepting that it is part of the process of developing and creating.

Does anything from this ring a bell for you in terms of your process?

of white & blue

It feels quite fitting with my current egg obsession in illustration (pics below) that I should now be the owner of this beautiful egg vase by Melbourne based ceramicist, Anne Ronjat. Really, how lovely is this? It's gorgeously thin and delicate - an example of very good crafts-person-ship. Ask any potter, it's not easy to make pottery this thin. Bought from a place not to be missed if you're in Kyneton, Victoria: the Stockroom.





Mr Kitly has a beautiful raffle of Japanese products going on to raise money for disaster relief in Japan.

secret pottery loveliness

Quickly. Shhhhh! Let me show you this beautiful bowl. Crafted by a new potter who is very blog shy so I dare not mention her name. Let's just call her M.I've been sneaking around the house this morning photographing this lovely work because I really believe it should be shared.The glaze is a delicate and subtle green. Like that gentle green you often see in Chinese pottery. The bowl is wonderfully thin and shaped so beautifully that it's a joy to hold in your hands.And I ate that nectarine as soon as the photo shoot was over. My first of the season - so sweet and juicy. I have a feeling I'm going to be in so much trouble for showing these pics to you. But in my defence, isn't the bowl just lovely? And wasn't I right in sharing it with you? But shhhhh! Don't answer too loudly, ok?

this is love

I've fallen in love with bison. I'm not sure if this affair will be lasting or even if it will cause me pain, but I know for sure that I love this bison stone cup. I found it in a little bison shop in Melbourne down in the laneways near Flinders Lane. I can't remember exactly where. But if you check their website I'm sure it will tell you and it also looks like online shopping is coming to bison soon.
And they pop this cute little info sheet in with your purchase to tell you about bison's origins and how to care for your bison piece. Also repeated here. If you want to be tempted by more beautiful bison ceramics look here. The truth about my own bison cup (pictured above) is I bought it to give to a friend for her birthday. But as I said, I'm having an affair with bison, and I couldn't bear to part with my little piece. How terrible is that?

Some favourite things from around my house:

• a wedding box from Vietnam
• sake cups from Japan
• op shop vase with succulent flower
• old Japanese multi-stack lacquer box with ikebana teapot on top
• blue vase from Japan
• chiyogami paper box from Japan

I've just realised how many of these things are from my travels and life lived outside of Australia. They also reveal my love of Asia.

I recently discovered the beautiful ceramics of Queenslander Shannon Garson. She's a finalist for the Home Beautiful Product of the Year Award and has some stunning ceramics made from porcelain with botanical designs.

chelsea, ny

The MoMA was great yesterday but somehow all those famous paintings just started to wash over me after a while, despite the gorgeous building and location. Today was different though. I saw the woodblock prints of Zhang Huan at Pace Prints in Chelsea and fell in love with his work (see his print above). His works are large in scale (the one above is 40 x 67 inches) which any printmaker will tell you is difficult to do. He also works quite loosely and it looks like he carves on very large, rough pieces of wood, giving his prints lots of texture. The print above is just beautiful. And being a dragonfly devotee I was especially taken with it.

Finding the International Print Center New York was quite complicated as it's tucked away inside a massive building near the water in Chelsea. Once there I was extra happy because they had an interesting show on plus they had a flyer with a list of print galleries in New York for me to take home :) Do you know how hard it is to find print galleries amongst all those glossy, big scale painting and sculpture galleries? Not easy.

And for ceramic lovers I found Kai Tsujimura's work at Ippodo Gallery in Chelsea also. Kai's fragile, earthy ceramics and this gallery were lovely to discover because I developed quite an appetite for Japanese ceramics while living in Kyoto.

And finally a snippet of the view from a window at the MoMA. I still think you have to go there if you're in NY. The collection of all those big names in one museum is quite mind blowing.

paper boat press

I've just discovered paper boat press through an article in today's paper on Kylie Johnson, a Brisbane based ceramics artist and poet. Her work is just so thoughtful and serene that I have to share it with you. I can think of at least one couple I know (she, a ceramics diva and he, a poet) who would love one of these poetry bowls.

pottery play

My small woodblock print, green tea, is really popular in my etsy shop so I have decided I need to re-explore my fascination for Japanese ceramics (especially those from the Shigaraki area near Kyoto) and design another tea and ceramics inspired print. These close ups are from this funky calendar I have from Shigaraki covered in Japanese tea cups. I LOVE this calendar poster so much I can't bear to take it down off my kitchen wall even though it is for 2005. Some might say this shows I haven't accepted that I've left Japan yet, but I would say it just shows how much I want to keep little bits of Japan alive in me wherever I am. Anyway that's my story on the tea cup poster. I'm using it to inspire a bigger, tea themed woodblock print. This one will involve a teapot too. I haven't decided on the colours yet but am working up to it.


Best news is (for anyone who cares, I know at least Kristin will....) we have bought a new house and so are no longer spending every waking moment house-hunting. Yay! And the new house even has a studio for my printmaking! I'm soooooooo excited.