I like the drawings of Quentin Blake. They seem alive and about to move around or off the page. I think I remember reading Blake saying that the drawings should show 'action' or the 'anticipation of action'. I like that. And I think it's hard to pull off. Blake's illustrations feel scratchy and twitchy to me. They have a great energy that keeps me engaged and interested.
As a potter I want to make pots that have energy about them. I want them to maintain some of the action that was present during the making. I like marking the pot with the tool as the pot spins on the wheel. The relationship between the speed of the turning pot and the raising tool, or hand/finger, can impart all sorts of information on the pot. Personally, I like a bit of asymmetry, a slow wheel and fast movement of the throwing rib. A wobble in the line around the rim. Those things, for me, keep the pot in motion. An anticipation of action remains in the pot even after the firing.
I throw pots on a treadle wheel. It's a machine that puts me at a disadvantage the minute I sit down at it. I have to sit sort of cock-eyed on a narrow seat and I'm kicking continuously with my left leg. So I'm off balance in some way at all times. But I love it. And I love the way the pots come off that wheel. I have to use soft clay to make the pots on the treadle. The flywheel is light and the crook in the bar makes me feel sort of like I am whipping around. Whoom, whoom. (Kind of like the bass groove in The Humpty Dance.) Well, maybe that's stretching it but for some reason I thought of that. Anyhow, working in this manner, soft clay, kicking, off balance, whoom, whoom, my body moving, the clay spinning, all that is energy right? And that energy can show up in the pot if I allow it to.
Another thing Blake says about drawing is that 'you have to know when to stop'. That's really important with pots too. I don't want to work the pot to it's death. Or 'cat lick' it as John Leach has been known to say. The way I work, with the soft clay and the treadle wheel I am forced into an economy of movement and time. For one thing, the clay is soft and will collapse if I just keep adding water to it. And the other is that I don't want to be up there kicking on one pot for ages and ages! So I try to make my statement and move on to the next pot.
It's been a few weeks since I've made any pots. I had to finish up all the work and clean the studio for the Holiday Sale. Now it's time to get back in there and make a few boards of pots. I'm a bit hesitant to start up right now during Christmas week. But I'm feeling the urge to get my hands dirty and to make a few cups and some plates. So today I'll at least do that. I like having a nice easy start and then moving on through the making list.