Hi everyone! I hope you’re all doing well and enjoying the bit of fall weather we’ve been having! This week, I have a few things I’m excited to share! I’ve been mostly brainstorming ideas for my ceramics projects, but I’ve also been working hard in my Watercolor class, creating some pieces I’m really proud of.

First, I want to talk about my watercolor class, which has been so much fun. Over the past few weeks, we’ve been focusing on landscapes, which I absolutely love, and I’ve come out of it with one of my favorite paintings. For my reference, I used a photo I took in my hometown at my favorite beach. It’s an absolutely stunning sunset, and it was intimidating to try to recreate, but I ended up loving the challenge. I definitely took some creative liberties throughout the process, but I’m so happy with the result and excited to try more landscapes in the future. Take a look:

Secondly, I would like to discuss my ideas for my upcoming ceramics projects. I’ve mainly been working on our environmental awareness project, where we had to choose from a list of environmental issues and create a piece revolving around our chosen issue. I wanted to incorporate a vessel or form into my project, as sculpture alone isn’t really my thing in the ceramics studio. So, I decided to create a pitcher to represent the issue of water scarcity in the area. During my research on water scarcity, I discovered that approximately 25% of the population faces water scarcity. I also learned that Central Africa has one of the largest populations facing water scarcity, with 70% of the population lacking access to basic drinking water. To incorporate this information into my piece, I decided to include aspects of early Central African pottery and culture. Some of those elements are the shape of the pitcher, the black glaze I want to use, as well as my utilization of the natural orange color of the clay after it has been fired.

Some other ideas I have for my pitcher are to make the handle and spout look like an old water pump and spicket. I think adding those elements will set this pitcher apart from any ordinary pitcher. The last thing I want to add to the pitcher is a texture on the surface of the vessel that resembles dry, cracked ground, similar to what you would see in a water scarce area. I’m not sure where on the pot I want to utilize that texture, but I’ll try it in different spots, and if I don’t like it, I can always smooth it out.

So far, I have made the vessel and attached the handle and spout, which I’ll show you below. All I have left to do is design the surface of the pot, if at all, and decide on how I want to glaze it. Here’s what I’ve done so far:

I hope you enjoyed hearing about my watercolor successes and my ceramics process. Hopefully, I’ll have some more updates on my ceramics project soon. I should be finishing it up this week and glazing it after fall break. I’m excited to share it with you all. Talk soon 🙂