Tuesday, December 19, 2017

New Work Taken to Jenny Jib, December 19th, 2017

Here are pics of new work taken to Jenny Jib in Lunenburg last Friday.  This very special shop is open for the rest of December (except holidays) before shutting over the winter as usual.

First, a large plate of a relief carved winter scene with a wolf howling at the moon. It comes wired to hang on the wall but is also ready to serve snacks.

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 Large bowl, with a relief carved winter scene that includes a fox chasing a rabbit.  This matches the wolf plate but both pieces are sold separately.





Next is a new large fox sculpture.  I thought it would be fun to photograph it on a stump and managed to find an old one in the woods that fit just right.  



Here is the fox relaxing on a lawn chair by the river:




 Next two bunnies holding flowers, ready to hold rings or just hang out.



A close up of the bigger bunny.

 
New fox figurines! Though one of the two standing foxes ended up coming home with me in a box by accident.



A raccoon bowl climbing a fallen tree.


Figurines: a lion, peacock, elephant and hippo to go with the Gayla Peevey Christmas Hippo song that played a few times on CKBW while I was glazing.


Two puffin figurines

 
A fox bowl



Two relief-carved whale mugs:




Elephant bowl


A sheep bowl


An eagle flying through the forest, or at least that's how it looked after being hung on a tree.


Plates! First, a relief carved puffin plate, which comes wired to hang on the wall but is also ready for a sandwich or what have you.


The rest of the plates are smooth as I thought I'd try painting instead of carving for a change.  Blue crab:


Whale:



Lobster:


Pirate flag:



Small whale trinket dishes.  I made three of these as an experiment but think it will be a fun product for next tourist season.  They are also suitable for dunking sushi pieces in soy sauce.




Another new small product I'd like to make more of, a flounder figurine.




...such a flat fish lends itself to painting messages on the back...





Next is an assortment of brand new brooches, a new product for both Jenny Jib and my art practice.  These are all handsculpted, one of a kind - I don't work with any sort of mold, stamp or stencil.



And handsculpted pendants on adjustable leather cords, tied with slip knots. 



  
These are the same two Christmas trees as in the above photo, they just seemed to go with the dove too.







And finally here are ten ornaments.

First, a shark that Jenny immediately called Hilton, I missed the news that there was a celebrity named Hilton the Shark swimming around off the Nova Scotia coast this summer.



Three fish which would probably prefer to be far away from Hilton

 
An 'orcament'.


And  five flat ornaments: 2 whales, a puffin, a dove...

And this dragon.


That's it!  A very Merry Christmas and/or other winter holiday to anyone checking out this blog! Happy New Year and all the best for 2018!







 

New Work Taken to The Dart Gallery, December 19th 2017

Here are photos of new pieces dropped off at The Dart Gallery in downtown Dartmouth last week, starting with a group shot to give an idea of relative size of the pieces:




The gallery is looking fantastic with all sorts of wonderful local pottery and jewelry, a show of fun pieces inspired by Pixar and many great cards and prints.  The gallery also has a handy storage with many great pieces from previous shows. 

For folks who would enjoy some delicious food and drink with their Christmas shopping, or are just looking for an artsy holiday outing, Dart is adjacent to Picnic at Dart, a licensed bistro under the direction of a very creative chef who trained at Le Cordon Bleu Culinary School.   

The gallery's neighbourhood has also been hailed in the national news media this year as "Halifax's Brooklyn" as downtown Dartmouth turns into a popular indie shopping/dining destination. 

On to the work!  First, a bunny and mouse holding flowers, which could hold rings for safe keeping:


  
 Next up: an owl and pussycat sculptures.

  
For Chinese astrology fans, next year will be the Year of the Brown (or Earth) Dog, beginning February 16th, 2018.   I didn't realize this when sculpting or glazing this basset hound and corgi:  



Next are bunnies with their hedgehog friend: a bowl, sculpture and figurines.  One accidentally ended up with a coat that looks similar to Huxley, the gallery bunny - a glazing "mistake" that ended up being an improvement:


Elephants! A small bowl and a figurine, with trunks turned upwards for good luck, ready to shower good fortune on passers by:



Four more figurines, a frog, cat, German Shepherd dog, and raccoon:



Three chickens, a goat and a rooster.


Four crows:


Four sheep and four foxes:



Next, a selection of handsculpted brooches and pendants!  These are brand new products for my art practice.   First, the brooches, with a loonie (Canadian dollar coin) for scale.  These are a bit big but suitable for a jacket, coat or bag, I'll be making smaller ones in the new year:



Next, the pendants.




Suggested musical pairings: for the flying crow pendants:  "As the Crow Flies" by Stephen Fearing. For the pig pendant, "The Grim Trucker" by Ron Sexsmith.
In addition to the twenty pendants above, there was a mushroom pendant I didn't manage to get a photo of. 

Finally here is a high relief carved bowl of a fox chasing a pheasant: