Spring is in the air ( well almost)

Hello Dear friends, hope you are staying cosy. Mikey the cat wants nothing more than to cuddle up on my lap these days and I'm sorely tempted to allow him! If I want to know where he is other than this, I just go and look in the spare room and find the lump under the quilt, forget about guests! 
Mikey has claimed that one.

So, what's going on in the studio? Well, my friend Mary wanted to have a throwing lesson yesterday. Did you know how the term 'throwing' came about? 
Around 2500 years ago, only the wheel head was on the ground and only men were allowed to be potters ( typical!) lols. 
They would sit cross-legged on the ground in front of the wheel, then wind a string around the wheel head, which was attached to a big heavy stick. They would throw the stick which would force the wheel to go round like a top!
Well, we had a little play. Throwing is not my forte, although I do enjoy the experience. After a while, there was a definite electrical scent to the air and when I felt the side of the wheel base it was warm. Needless to say, this bit of equipment will need servicing before we have another attempt. It was a gift and I haven't used it before.
 I looked at the last test label and it was 1992! Please don't report me to the 'Elf and safety! lols. 
The newest idea is holding kids birthday parties, a 2 hr session for £20 pp. Loads of fun and something to leave for firing and later collection.
Pictures to follow as I have my first booking this Friday. Parents are welcome to attend and in fact at least one must be there to take photos and help out. Age range 8-16 years, max' 8 numbers.

Still not much to report in the way of new work, although the ideas still pile up in my mind. Eventually, they will have to spill over into something practical. 
I have a mermaid project to do and found this beautiful image online. Have no idea who to give credit to, maybe someone can help me out? 
Many thanks to Jack Allison for finding out that this picture is named 'Havfruen' by Elisabeth Jerichau Baumann. c1873.
I will be looking for more of her beautiful work.

Definitely, Arts and Crafts period, my love for this style has endured since I was a teenager.
Translating this into a 3D sculpture is going to challenge my technical skills big time. 
Watch this space and please be kind enough to share. Many thanks and lots of love Lucinda

Happy New Year.

Greetings fellow travellers. What a glorious frosty day ! 
Just coming out the other end of a nasty bug that almost everyone I know has had an encounter with.
 And pretty fed up with spending most of my time lounging around either in bed or sofa, but lacking the energy to do more. I gave into it. How long can it last ? I asked myself, couple of days in bed and it will be gone...... hmmmm see me almost 3 weeks in, aching to begin my new regime ( health) ;) similar with new ideas for art pieces. But no, the old bod' has other ideas, keeping me confined to quarters all over the festive period, as concern for friend's elderly relatives was too much to contemplate.
So many of my close friends have lost family members in 2016, I don't wish to be the cause of a flurry more. 

Those of you dear friends who follow this blog for news of classes? I'm confident that we will resume by the 2nd week in Jan. Anyone interested in a Head/ Torso modelling group please contact me and we can arrange a day or evening to begin. 

Where's Mikey? oh here he is...on my bed as usual. A prodigious hunter, left me a dead rat at the end of my bed the other day. Well proud of himself too !
I'm not grossed out these days, just thankful that he doesn't have an appetite for this type of rodent and that they are DOA !!! We have had many a fun time chasing live mice around the house when he has lost his grip. One managed to survive a whole week after finding lodgings in one of the drawers where I 'kept' my sketch pads. Having made himself a cosy bed from the latter, he then found a corridor to the bird food on the landing and lived like a king ! Well its good those were the best days of his little life. Once discovered, it was a joint effort between me and Mikey to round him up and end his privilege. Sounds heartless, but I leave them alone outside, once in my territory, they are fair game. I send them back to source where they can decide whether or no to return, and as what.
Look at him, field vole wouldn't melt in his mouth !

looking really cute post belly rub. lols

too much information....

greetings friend ;) it seems appropriate to address one person as only one will read this.. 
I have spent a great deal of time on Facebook, I have found out loads of stuff. I am learning to filter.
 What to trust ? There is so much going on in this world and in my personal experience that contradicts my belief that 'all is well'.
 Its a challenge sometimes, but the reward for being more conscious benefits everyone.
 I have decided to leave Facebook for the time being. Long ago I stopped watching the news or reading newspapers due to the overwhelming ratio of bad news over good.
 Now we discover that most of what is out there is fabricated or manipulated to gain power over the population. Fear over love.  I'm not playing any more. 
 I'm going to focus on the 'All is well' and create some magic and beauty.
 Love is indeed all.

 I

I almost forgot! Where's Mikey ?

Oh there he is !

To see more of my artwork or to book a workshop please visit my new website;   www.lucindabrownstudio.shop

New Era

Good afternoon dear friends, what a difference a day makes ! If like me, you have woken up to find yourself dismayed by the news of whom the US elected to be their next leader. ??
Fear not, all is illusion and in the great scheme of things, this is a mere blip. 
 It may be the darkest hour before the dawn but the sun is coming. 
 I found myself in tears at the prospect of a 'world' leader, who is not only a racist but a sexist and a phony. But then I turned around and went within, focus on what is real. that is the message. 
At least this man is open about his views and those views may bury him yet.
 I have to remember that he is just playing his part, sleepwalking no doubt but no less a part of the whole.
 Remembering to be in peace and not fear is going to be the challenge now.
 if you need any help with this? I recommend the teachings of Prem Rawat.
For over 40 years he has been my teacher and guide.
www.wopg.org
www.premrawat.com

 God Bless America.

new website up and running !

Hi dear friends, well it took some time but finally I have my own new website, one that I can manage by myself because I created it. Yippee !
here is a link;

www.lucindabrownstudio.shop

Do let me know what you think of it on my Facebook page and give me a like while you're at it ;)
I have even created an 'About me ' page with a somewhat abbreviated life story, you may want to take a peek.

busy creating lots of art for The Affordable Art Fair in Battersea at the moment, kiln chose the perfect time to breakdown but its all fixed now and onward and upward.
Life is exceedingly good, even without cake ;) lols

new website coming soon

Hey dear friends, its been a while and lots happening as usual. Happy to say all good,  I have no idea how I found the time to run a gallery ! 
 I'm now fully occupied with testing new ideas, creating art, meeting new clients and doing workshops. It a blast ! 
 I'm also getting my head around designing and building my own website. Its not rocket science with all the templates that are available, but having got to the point of being ready to publish ( almost) and then seeing that my pages were taking ages to load... things became a little sticky. think I will get some more tech help from the 1&1 team in the morning. Something about the images needing to be low res..... ? ho Hum back to the drawing board !
Got some lovely textures going on with the new volcanic glazes I've been playing with, its like being back at uni. I just want to get a whole range of surfaces that I'm confident in reproducing and then we are good to go. 

Below are some of the maquettes.

just what I was looking for :)

so I tried it on this pot, nice 

So if you have stayed the course this far, the new website will be;
www.lucindabrownsclayart.com But its not live yet so wait for the next blog, 
Okay time for my bed, wonder where Mikey is ? 

oh ! There he is, my little heart. :) goodnight all xxx

gallery closing but its not all bad news...

so my friends, its time to let go of some things that are not serving me and follow my passion. 
The little shop has served a purpose but now I want to rise to the challenge of making a living from my art alone. 
 On Friday I hosted a one day workshop for two lovely ladies who were absolutely thrilled with their results. Challenging for me as they wanted to do something  much more advanced from the usual. Very hands on but their reaction was worth it. Everyone uses my moulds so the work looks very much like my own but each person brings something different to the mix and its exciting for me to see how people who claim to have zero creativity, suddenly find some when they look deeply enough.

The Monday evening classes are still going well and once I can get the girls to focus we do get some results that are pleasing.
I am attending a one day workshop myself in early June, with my friend Rebecca Buck, a sculptor who specialises in large scale free forms. I'm very excited about this and plan a 3 day break by the sea in Wales to celebrate. 
By then the shop will have closed and I will have no more commitments apart from finding someone to look after Mikey the cat :)

The decision to let go was not an easy one but once made I felt as if a weight had been lifted. I had been carrying that load for a while and mostly alone, so relief is all I feel now, well excitement too ! 
 watch this space ! :)