Drawing and Painting - Class Five, and Confessions of an Addict

So... I'm sorry to say that I have nothing to show you from this week's class either! I did manage to get there this week, but I was so rushed that I couldn't even think about getting my pencils and paint together before I left. So why did I go? Well actually the tutor is none other than our lovely Anita, and I'm her transport! I decided to take my book along for a read, and during the journey I explained to Anita that I was really losing interest in drawing and painting now that I've started ceramics, but once I got there I actually wished I had brought my pencils and paint after all.

We have a week off from classes now, but when we return I plan to be a good student :) I must say though that I do find it a bit of a struggle to switch gears mentally from doing ceramics on a Monday night and then drawing and painting on a Tuesday, especially as I'm finding the ceramics course so exciting. There is so much to learn and I find it impossible to sleep on Monday nights after being to class earlier that evening, so come Tuesday I'm exhausted! Plus I just seem to find it so hard to stop thinking about clay when I'm supposed to be thinking about drawing! I want to experiment with so many techniques, my brain can hardly keep it all in! I've had to ban myself from looking at Peter Holland's website until I've mastered some other techniques because my brain is just becoming too overloaded with information! I really wish I could go to the ceramics class more often every day because I'm learning techniques faster than I can try them out.

I have ordered myself some lino and some tools to try using lino-cuts with clay in the way that Cynthia does (I hope you don't mind Cynthia). I don't plan on trying anything near as elaborate as what Cynthia produces, but I thought I would try a simple outline of a character or something. I don't expect to get it right first time, but we have to try if we want to learn.

I've also asked my tutor if I can make some test tiles for the glazes - I'm not happy with just dipping my pieces in a bucket of glaze and hoping for the best, I want to know exactly how each one will look! I've been looking into over-glaze pens on the internet, but they're not food safe. The under-glaze pens are ok if the piece is glazed afterwards, but we don't have a clear glaze in the class. Of course I could just stick to lino-cuts and sgraffito instead of getting carried away with glazes as well...


I emailed my tutor about adding feet to the castle by the way, but unfortunately it's too late - I didn't wrap the piece as I thought it was finished, and it was locked in a cupboard with the kilns on over night. Hubby came up with a fantastic idea though - he suggested that I make a little stand for it, so I shall do that when I return to class.