For the birds....

(One of my Dad's favorite sayings)

Hello Colorful Friends!

How are you? It’s a beautiful sunny day here at our farm. It is so nice to see the sun again. We’ve had a very gray winter and when the sun comes out and shines, it is like a miracle. It brightens my mood and my steps and makes me smile and look forward to summer.

Thanks to everyone for the comments and kind notes on my first Substack Newsletter from the beginning of February. It was fun to hear from so many of you. You can find the first newsletter in my archives.

In between this……

……over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been trying to force myself to paint some birds. I’ve been stewing on adding birds to my ceramics for a few years now. I’ve painted a few birds here and there on plates and bowls but never a series. I even added a knitted robin to my book 50 Sunflowers to Knit, Crochet, and Felt back in the early 2010’s.

A couple weeks ago, I took down the Christmas tree and cleared a spot in the living room for a card table. (Yes, we are one of those families that hangs on to the tree until it is dry as a bone. It’s a sad day for me when it has to come down.) I dug out my gouache paints and brushes and paper and set up a spot. It looks like this.

As you can see, I left up the Christmas lights and some glittery decorations. It just helps to have some sparkle when it is dark out early. After a few false starts, I managed to paint a few birds with mixed amounts of success. I’ve been saving bird photos on my IG feed for a few years but found it was too cumbersome and slow to keep referring to the phone with the screensaver and not wanting to drain my battery.

I dug out a 1949 book I got at a used book store many years ago — The Audubon Land Bird Guide (many available on-line) . It has a center well of delicately painted birds. Much easier than fooling with technology.

I quickly got tired of painting on paper and messing with my gouache knowing I really wanted to be painting little plates. I turned on the heat in my pottery studio, found some small platters, pulled out my underglazes, held my breath and began. For each little plate, I traced around the plate and then did a pencil drawing in my sketch book. When painting on a 3-D object, there are more considerations than painting on a piece of paper. What will the piece be used for? Is there a rim and how will the design highlight or work with the rim? If it is a mug, how will the motif wrap around the piece? When holding a mug or vase, the right or the left side have more detail? What will the back or bottom look like? I try to think through all these things and more as I am planning the design in my head. But I don’t overthink it - I mostly just go.

I really do prefer painting an object that will be used daily by someone vs. painting a piece of paper that is going to sit in a pile or get tossed. I guess it goes back to my Scottish ancestry and my adopted New England frugality - or maybe William Morris’s quote: “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.” There is something quite special in creating a piece of pottery that will be used by someone everyday for their daily brew. Will my pieces be loved and valued? How will they survive the common everyday use or will they sit on a shelf and be looked at? All things to consider when making a piece of functional ware.

Now to paint enough to fill up my kiln - a tall order but a goal. That’s my deep dive for the week. What are you making or thinking about making? You can add your thoughts in the Comments Section below.

Here are some interesting things I am enjoying this week:

• I have been enjoying PBS’s All Creatures Great and Small. February 21st (today) is the last episode for this season but I hear there will be a Season Two. You can watch it on PBS Passport if you donate $60 for a yearly subscription. You can read a review over on MDK. We were big fans of the first incarnation shown on PBS in the 80’s and it’s hard to see new characters and new sets but all in all it is a nice watch.

• Did you ever do macrame? Check out this huge macrame project creating sides for a building in Bali. It took eight people, a lot of rope and 12 days. Wow!

• My friend Melanie Falick interviewed Kaffe Fassett and his niece Erin Lee Gafill about creativity. You can watch that video here. (1 hour, 15 minutes)

• This is an amazing home in Tangiers. What a beautiful combination of handmade and antique pieces of art, furniture, and pattern. There is a video on the page I linked to which can also be seen on YouTube here.

• Several years ago I saw a show of Faith Ringgold’s quilts and art at the Brattleboro Art Museum. I recently watched this very interesting interview with Faith and her daughter Michele Wallace at the Tate Museum. She covers her art from the beginning and how she segued into quilts. Entertaining too.

• If you are into color and art, David Hockney has a new limited edition book out with Taschen. It costs $2000 which is out of my range but I enjoyed the slide show which you can peruse by clicking on the top photo on this link. I am a fan of Hockney and if you would like to learn more about him, this video is worth a watch. I love his voice.

• Furthering my foray into Indian spiced meals, I made this recipe yesterday for Sunday dinner. I like to let stews, braises, and curries set for a day to meld the flavors. I did sneak a taste and it is delicious. Very easy too. Dinner is done - yay!

• I love my rice cooker. This article has given me some new ideas.

I hope you are looking forward to the week ahead. I also hope you are safe and warm and healthy. My thoughts go to all those folks struggling with all that 2020/21 is throwing at us.

Yours in color and creativity,

Kristin Nicholas

p.s. The pattern for the crochet hexagon afghan is available free on my blog here.