craft – Page 3 – Bridget Macklin

A Very Potty Christmas and A Clarty New Year to You All

So here we are. Christmas comes again! What a year this has been. Full of surprises, tragedy, political upheaval and the rest! The end of 2016 cannot come fast enough in some ways and yet, for me personally, it has been a remarkably good year too: Sales have been good; interest from important directions has been exciting; activity on my social media sites has been incredible and the learning curve has flattened out a wee bit giving me time to consolidate some ideas and try a few new ones. So here are some of the highlights of my ceramic year.

13528813_1738766713055007_803867066520804710_n[1] — I am now represented by Tregony Gallery

bellmansknottclient2 — It has given me great pleasure to hand commissions to my customers and see their reactions.

img_20161008_132444 — I have taken part in some fantastically successful shows: Here was my stand at Kew Gardens

12805887_10153953114063908_4346533268285540102_n[1] — I have learned so much from being a part of Klay

The Battersea Vessel low res — A piece of my work has been photographed and now hangs large, proud and clear for all to see in Battersea as part of the redevelopment of the Power Station site.

2017 will see the ‘Grand Migration’ to Cornwall which is an enormous step – one that I have been wishing for since I was about ten years old, so not long really!! I am hopeful of collecting some more exciting and interesting commissions; I am taking part in a 3 person show in May – 2 painters have asked me to provide the 3D element to an exhibition at highlighting the best of Surrey’s landscapes at the Fountain Gallery in East Molesey, close to Hampton Court – and it kicks of with Top Drawer which is a huge trade show at Olympia in January. I wonder what, if any, surprises That will send me!

So I would like to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and a successful, healthy and happy 2017. Let’s hope for calm waters and sticky mud!

Baby, It’s Gloomy Out There!

Beverley Brook.jpg — Beverley Brook on a grey day in December.

My Beverley Brook vessels have been going down a treat and, in my enthusiasm to make each one unique I went for a walk along the brook at the weekend to try and get some more images to use in the inside of the vessels. The light was awful – grey with a hint of fog – and so I was not exactly hopeful of getting a shot worthy of the Royal Photographic Society but in actual fact it doesn’t seem to matter for what I want. So this week I thought I would do a bit of a ‘how to’ blog because a lot of people have been asking me about the interior decoration.

Step 1: Take some photos. The deer are still feeling a bit frisky and so it was not difficult to find a couple of stags playing ‘I’m the biggest deer in the Park!’

Battling deer.jpg

I didn’t have to get close which is good because I am really anti people stalking the deer and surrounding them with cameras! These two were not really fighting. In fact they looked distinctly bored and the younger one was simply going around the herd picking on all the other stags in order to annoy them as far as I could see.

Step 2: Download your image and enhance the lighting and contrast in Photoshop.

Battling deer_enhanced.jpg

By now the image is looking a little extreme but that is what I need if the decal is to work well.

Step 3: Remove anything that looks the least bit confusing:

battling-deer-decal

all the bracken has to go for starters.

Finally order the decals, stick them inside the vessel and fire. I have not got that far with this image yet – it will probably make an appearance on a piece to feature in the Top Drawer exhibition that I am taking part in after Christmas but I am hopeful that it will look something like this: