Jars etc

Lately I have begun doing some jars with lids. The surface was cut and then colored with different oxides.

Very qiuckly I realized which oxides are a mess, and which of them came out beautifuly.

ochre and red iron oxide under Eggshell Glaze.

rutile green under val Cushing Silky White

copper and cobalt oxide under Rutile Green Glaze, and Cream of Mushroom glaze of Clayart.

Into a new path

After so many years of painting; piles of works in the draowers, lines of canvases leanning against the walls, and doing nothing about selling... I have decided to change my route.

I always loved pottery, and always thought about the possibility to adopt my painting techniques into a clay work, so becoming a potter looked as a natural shift.

I took some technical lessons, but being so independent and autodidact, very soon I've found myself experimenting alone, by trail and error. I am only at the beggining of a long new way, I know, therefore I have made some initial rules and decissions; in my age I'll probably won't become a master in the technical aspects, but I hope that my paintings and decorations will cover the imperfections.

There is still the same problem I have encountered with my paintings: I have no idea how, or any ability to sell my works. maybe i should go and learn marketing...

I started with sgrafito. it is fascinating technique but a time consuming work, so very quickly I felt the need of other methods to experiment;

other methods like painting with slips, and underglazes under Tony Hensen Clear glaze.

experiments were not enough for me, as an artist who deals so many years with colors, mediums, and all sorts of paintings' techniques i need the excitement of finding new ways, and my own uniqueness. I started to learn about glazes from the internet, from books, and from Jacob, my local materials' supplier http://www.ceramiccon.co.il/

My adventure had just begun, I am in heaven of testing glazes, mixing my own colors, trying new shapes, and using different kinds of clay...

Rutile Green glaze and Variegtad Blue glaze

with Black Gold slip painting under.

Val  Cushing "71" glaze

Ron Roy's Nutmeg and Weiser' Honey glaze with Black Gold slip under

In the last couple of months, I bought a kiln, a potter's wheel, and a few tens of raw materials for the glazes, and engobs. Although it is so different from painting, I am very happy.

Painting is something that demands a lot of spirtual concentration, pottery requires another kind of concentration, especially when mixing and fixing new glazes...

I have already made some wonderful mistakes... that sometimes lead to beautiful new surprises, but sometimes lead to disasters...

well, this is what a new path means, isn't it?