Back to College!
The return to college for year 2 of HND in Art and Design has been intense! The first two weeks started with life drawing. This was an interesting experience as I felt I was prepared having drawn throughout the holidays, how I was wrong. Out came the old bad habits, the flat line drawing, the struggle with 3D representation, looking but not seeing. My tendancy to maintain tight control meant that it wasn't until the last two days that I had loosened up enough to try new things and not try to get it right all the time.
However, there were some moments where I liked some parts of the drawings and it is a process I enjoy. I just need to practice a lot more!
Fife Coastal Path
21-24th July
Coastal photography, sketching, Crail Pottery Exhibition, sun, see and great food!
This year's summer holiday was to the sunny East Neuk of Fife, namely Elie. It's a great area, mainly due to the coastline and the ability to walk the Fife Coastal Path. The beaches are many and you could be forgiven for thinking you are on the coast of Brittany!
I was mindful that there were some art opportunities (aren't there always?) and so spent some time doing some rough sketches, experimented with different media and visited an exhibition on the history of Crail Pottery, which was really interesting.
Crail Pottery Exhibition
The exhibition was an unexpected bonus, I had only meant to visit the pottery. Luckily there was an exhibition which showed the early days of Steve and Carol Grieve's purchase of the pottery building, the renovation in the 1960s and the progress across decades. It all started with the classic - A Potter's Book by Bernard Leach and the maker's own home made wheel and then grew from there. The work that had gone into the renovation and the production over the years was evidently a real labour of love.
Left shows the early days of the working pottery and Steven and Carol Grieve's story. Steve built his own wheel and wood fired kiln. They initially dug clay from Shell Bay but as this was unsustainable ended up having clay
delivered, 200 bags at a time!
Below are some examples of Steve and Carol's work across the decades. There were some pieces I really liked due to form, glaze application and the process of construction. The current pottery doesn't make work like this and I much preferred these pieces.
The jugs, bottle and planter to the left appealed to me for a number of reasons.
The form of the rounded jug feels ancient and I like the mark making where the shoulder meets the neck. When the form is pleasing then sometimes there is no need to
overcomplicate with a lot of decoration.
The evidence of the makers handling of the clay on the tall jug, you can almost see the
action used to attach the handle and make the pouring spout.
The bottle with its lean and offset neck just asks to be handled and the glaze is delicious!
The planter looks to have been made by pressing clay forms into a mould to create a
landscape. I hadn't seen this done before in this way and liked the simplicity of it.
I found this a really enjoyable experience, as well as the pottery, there were some more
sculptural pieces, one made with ceramic and rubber piping, another made of resin and another with a variety of mixed media. It was good to see the earlier more sculptural, abstract work alongside the pottery and revealed more about the makers.
Holiday Sketches
I tried a variety of media including pencil, fine liner, pastel, watercolour pastel and charcoal. I didn't have a lot of time so many were unfinished or undeveloped. They were nice to do and I liked trying out different things as I tend to stick to pencil.
Photography
During my time in Fife, there was a lot to take photos of. The Fife Coastal Path provided opportunities for some landscape photos.
I also focused on texture and pattern which could be found everywhere. I find these to be good inspiration for future glaze finishes for ceramics.
I also looked at composition
and drawing the eye through
the photo. I could have
added many more to this
selection but this gives a general flavour, and we don't want a 1970's holiday slide show do we?
It's fair to say that a good time was had, I really recommend this area for a visit, though be warned, it's not cheap! If you get the weather it's stunning and I expect the coastal path would be beautiful and dramatic whatever the weather.
Ceramic Exhibition at Scot-Art
26th June 2026
After receiving a heads up about an open call for a ceramic exhibition in Edinburgh, I applied and was excited when my AI piece was accepted!
The opening was on Friday 26th June and my friend and I attended. There was a good variety of work, some which I particularly enjoyed were from Lea Harris, her fish and buttons were joyful. Ellis Robertson's piece Venus(Gillette) was nicely made and appealed to me. The curator Alina Litvinova had some really nice scraffito pieces displayed and I was excited to see Niamh Finnigan's work which I had see previously at the RSA.
It was of course an opportunity to chat with some of the other artists about their work and creative process and to talk about what they thought of my work. Interesting conversations regarding human trafficking were had with Adriana Smabrano and on a lighter note the depositing of profanity buttons on certain MSP's desks at the parliament.
Another exhibition was running in the gallery room next door which allowed a mix of painters, drawers and ceramicists to mix and enjoy each other's work. There were some pieces in the art exhibition which I found interesting such as Stevie Cavana's This Is Not Content.
Generally it was a positive experience and up to that point I hadn't been aware of what the Edinburgh Palette seeks to achieve or the Scot-Art organisation. I think it is a great
initiative and something I would be interested to be more
involved in in the future.
Alina with her self-portrait!
Exhibition layout including my own work.
Stevie Cavana's "This is not Content".
Niamh Finnigan's work.
A closer view of the wonderful characters Niamh creates.
Ellis Robertson's "Venus (Gillette)"
Lea Harris' fabulous fish!
Summer Holiday Sketching
Use it or lose it!
17 June 2026
As the holidays started, I found my sketching had been neglected after an end of term ceramic push. To get back into the groove I chose a flanger pedal as my muse to draw and print it until I got to know it properly. Included in the choice of media was fine liner, pencil, ink and a stick, lino print and oil pastels. I then added in some other items and created a larger still life to add in some perspective challenges. This is something that will span the holidays as part of a wider drawing and painting challenge to myself. When the new term starts the first unit is Life Drawing so I feel that "keeping your eye in" is important to make the best progress possible and not start from a "rusty" position.
more drawing
Ford Pottery Festival
Small but perfectly formed
14 June 2026
The tiny village of Ford in Northumbria was an unexpected location for a pottery festival, but it was worth the visit. There were two main exhibition sites and both pottery and sculptural ceramic works were displayed. Of those makers, I particularly enjoyed the work of Lee Mace who creates work based on Roman dodecahedrons and petrographs and Margaret Nowak whose work connected with the landscape.
Although it was a small festival there was a great buzz and the Ravn Clay studio offers taught sessions, bookable studio time, community firings and some raku events. Hopefully this event will grow and see a broader range of ceramic work exhibited in the future.