Afternoon of Paint & Pottery
I had the sweet pleasure of spending a couple afternoons painting and hand sculpting clay with a new friend, Cristal. We met at the plant shop I work at, and soon got to talking about our love for planting, attending school for Horticulture, and our passion for photography. As our friendship blossomed outside the shop, she invited me to her lovely home where she teaches pottery and painting classes. I was able to explore her creative space and invoke inspiration from previous art while she took inspiration from mine: a photograph I took a few years ago of a secluded house in the mountains of Asheville.
First time shooting with Portra 160! Other than my shaky hand (oops), I love the muted, pastel color palette.
I took this photograph at the beginning of my photography journey and it will always be one of my favorites. The vastness of the powder blue sky gives the illusion of the house living in the clouds. I love how its surrounded by nothing but lush greenery and pops of Autumn reds. As a daydreamer, head always in the clouds, I feel as if this house symbolizes myself in a way.
Painting has always been such a relaxing practice; losing yourself in a whirl of colors and hypnotizing brush strokes, breathing vivid visualization into imagination. The motion itself exercises the creative (right) side of your brain, a side that a lot of us fail to engage when dealing with mindless daily tasks or work. It teaches me to embrace a blank canvas in the best way possible, reminding myself to stay playful in the process despite challenges of testing the canvas’ dimensions and alternating my focus on the details vs. bigger picture. While painting, conversation naturally flowed about life and current interests. We came across the topic of pottery, a process that’s always amazed me—how you’re able to shape functional items through your creative expression. Cristal enlightened me on the pottery classes she holds and how enjoyable they’ve been. Much to my delight, she had an opening for the next day and I quickly signed up. She provided me with a pottery guide book, which prepared me with the basics on how to get started and the building blocks to working with clay.
After browsing through a few of her personal pieces, I knew what today’s creation would be: a serving tray paired with two sake/tea cups.
We transformed the spacious kitchen island into our workstation, by setting the wood cutting board down, meticulously placing our tools, and donning our aprons. A mound of clay was set up so we could take a generous amount for our eventual serving trays and cups.
It warms my heart to hear one speak on their knowledge of a passion. Just by listening to them, you can hear how they have poured countless hours and consistency on learning, grasping and loving their craft, and I admire their initiative to teach me enthusiastically and effortlessly. Cristal explained, then showed me how to roll out the clay—making sure to flip it often so it flattens evenly, while also being aware to keep its thick consistency. We had a few encounters with air bubbles, using the needle tool to pop them and the metal scraper to smooth them out. Bubbles can prevent thorough drying and trap moisture, which can cause your piece(s) to explode in the kiln. I know some things in life can be uncontrollable, but best believe, this was being controlled.
Tools needed for a successful pottery build: needle tool, metal scraper, wooden rolling pin, sponge(s), water glass, paint brushes
I’m a visual learner so I appreciated her way of teaching, giving me confidence when it was my turn to repeat her steps. I used her serving tray as a template to shape my own, using the leftover clay to create the sake cups. Using a sponge plus my thumb to shape the edges of the tray was our next step, followed by smoothing it with little amounts of water to prevent cracking. A cup of water and a few pieces of clay added in (known as slip) is great to use as the “glue”, which we used to mold the handle to the side of the cup. After molding, and ensuring we had the shape desired, we placed them in paper bags by a fan to keep them from drying too fast.
Although I’m not a huge fan of the taste of sake nor do I even know how to make it, this gives me the opportunity to explore a whole new realm in the future! Sake brewing classes anyone?
Cristal had the wonderful idea to incorporate herbs from her garden to press into our trays as a way to show our biophilia. I chose two of my favorites, Rosemary and Lavender as they symbolize love, gentleness, and peace.
There’s something so special about working with your hands, especially molding pottery. The sounds of her pet Finches chirping and singing along with the calm music filled the air and I couldn’t have thought of a better space for creativity to flourish. As an artist collaborating with another, our energy felt kinetic, as we explored our passions with openness and wonder. A reminder that the world is truly a beautiful place and as random as an interaction can be, keeping an open mind and striking conversation can start a journey you’d have never expected. What do they say? “A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met.” I’m so grateful to have come across such a wonderful soul and connect through our individual crafts. Since moving to a new city, it’s been important for me to be intentional on finding and maintaining genuine connections. Continuing to radiate high vibrational energy and love, people, opportunities and the like will gravitate towards me and me to them. The universe can be ever so rewarding.
I’ll have to keep y’all updated on the finished product. Until then, thank you Cristal for providing such a comfortable space to scratch my curiosity and thank you, beautiful one for reading!
Peace and blessings xx
Alexis
