Ed Walshe Ceramics Exhibition in Longford

Everyone's favourite ceramicist, Ed Walshe*, has an exhibition in the Backstage Theatre in Longford, the opening of which we attended last night.

 The pieces are gorgeous, all painstakingly hand burnished with a spoon before being fired in a bin of sawdust and straw, which leaves a smoky unpredictable finish on them and lets you know of the pyromaniacal nature of their maker. Then they are shined up with a beeswax polish.

 I love the process, and have helped out with it on occasion. When you use a kiln with ceramics you really don't have the same elemental feeling as setting bins of flammable material alight and waiting to see what the results will look like this time.

 No two pots are the same, and the smoke leaves delicate and strange patterns on them.

Anyway, get down and see them all for yourself! And purchase one! Very reasonable with most pots being 25 Euro.

* AKA, Dad.

Hunter's Moon 2012

Well, it's been another great year on the Art Trail at Hunter's Moon, with lots of great work from talented artists and loads of positive feedback from festival-goers and locals alike.

Here is a taste of what we had over the weekend...

 Bold and striking paper cut-outs from Ellie Downey.

 Sandra Lulei's delicate and beautiful installation of handmade paper keys.

 (This looked particularly good at night.)

 Paul Terry's mesmerising projection of shoal movements. Lots of kids kept trying to catch this one as it flitted about the wall.

 The Drone Dome from Willie Stewart proved a popular spot for hanging out and listening to drone music.

 The Mr. E's installation of bizaare and elegantly macabre hats and taxidermy created a dark atmosphere in the Green Gallery.

 Powerful and engaging large-scale portraits from Davy Gascoigne.

Gavin Porter's delicate etchings had a dream-like quality.

 A collection of evocative otherworldly paintings from Jane O'Sullivan.

 Turf Boon's detailed and meticulous drawings drew the viewer's eye in. (More images to come.)

Colourful and surreal paintings from Su Fitzpatrick.

 Ricky Adam's dark photographs gave a sense of desolation and destruction.

 

Playful and sweet drawings of childhood monsters from Natalia Beylis.

 

Aoife Barry had a selection of striking and remarkable photos and collage work which worked particularly well in the book shop.

Abstract and moody paintings from Carol Wood.

And finally, a knitted murder scene from myself with text from Istrim Gusset.

Barn Owl Kit on Etsy

The autumn equinox was this weekend and the evenings are getting darker and darker. (Well, at least until the clock goes back next weekend.) It seems an apt time to put up this new kit on Etsy to make a barn owl in needle felt. 

Barn owls are elusive creatures - I've not seen many in my time, and most of those were in the UK. But I did hear one in the trees in front of our house once. It's nice to know they are there anyway even if we don't see them!

This is a needle felting kit, with full instructions and all you need to make an owl.

 And for this week only, there is a 10% discount off it, hooray!

Just enter the code OWL10 at the checkout.

Raindrop Mobile Kit up on Etsy

 And here's one I made earlier...

No, I haven't spent the last weeks working away on a new kit while sleep-deprived, smelling mostly of baby vomit and occasionally being peed on. I made this kit earlier in the year but now seems a very appropriate time for it - it's been the most rainy summer, absolutely dreadful weather really, the garden looks awful (more to do with the new arrival than the weather to be honest though) and even the house is damp.

 There has however been a plentiful amount of rainbows...all you have to do is wait for the next shower to end and the sun to peep out a little to catch one.

 So here is the Raindrop mobile kit...listed here on Etsy, works very well as a baby mobile, funnily enough...for the sum of sixteen lovely euros.

 Contains all you need to make the mobile with a step-by-step tutorial full of diagrams and photos. And instead of horrid polyfil stuffing for the cloud there is some lovely texel sheep's fleece. Go natural materials!

Suitable for beginners, but not young children as the needles for needle-felting are quite sharp.