Seasonal depression, skeletal obsession

What's new over at rceramics and all things clay and illustrations

Shadows loom over Punxsutawney and it spells a l-o-o-o-o-o-ong winter over here in the North East. This is about the time everyone wishes Summer lasted forever and the Holidays never ended (except for busy-time ceramicists), but the snow does soften the wintry blow, kind of.

—Speaking of snow, I’m making some frosty porcelain cups and bowls available march 7th online at rceramics.com—

Over at the studio, much has been done; my north star late last year was to revel in the first few months of the year to spend reflecting, exploring and discovering new inspirations in clay and personal life. But with March in front of us, I look back and feel like I’ve not done much in the way of inspiration, and instead feel like it’s been Holiday-extendo. Continuous projects and commissions coming in feels like a positive reinforcement for all that I’m doing, but it’s hard to face the reality that work =/= play, even if its clay.

I will say though, the slower days have me taking my time with new work, and writing this makes me feel like I have given some more thought (than usual) to what and how I’m making my work. My recent work does have a different feel and look to it! This time also has me able to cross off the list new clay bodies - namely frost porcelain, which can be translucent or almost see through when trimmed thinly and put against the light.

Speaking of forms and clay bodies, I have finally found some time to test out the Icelandic sand I picked up late in August. It has been sitting in a corner on my desk for months and I had the random thought of mixing it into my porcelain and seeing what happens. The result has me so excited to work out more forms! Check it out:

On the illustration side.. I felt throughout the holidays that I tended to stick to one underglaze color, either for convenience sake, consistency or fear of new colors. But, I took a dive using Lunar New Year as my reason to go red. This is really the first time that I’ve overlaid multiple colors and here’s the result:

There are bolder lines and stronger depth with each piece, and I’m excited to continue exploring this. It may seem like a small change, but it’s huge in the perspective of an illustrator.

Speaking of bolder lines, I know a lot of my work before like the black underglaze cowboys or blue ducks were popular, so I’m thinking of ways to have two different bodies of work that will be available. I will continue to do both.

Lastly, I’ve worked with a close friend of mine, @theworkssf to make some proprietary rceramics beefy tees that I’m pumped to share. These tees feature my duck design squished and mirrored to create a watery— lake effect in blue and highlighter green. It also had a small duck embroidery moment at the bottom near the hem, because why the hell not???

Tees will be on my site during my March web drop. March 7th at 11 am ET!!!!!!!!!!

Here’s a little homie discount: newsletter

Anyway, cheers to Spring coming soon.

RC