All the World's a Stage

Big changes have happened on the ceramics/house front. 

To recap, I started working on translating the cardboard rooms put together based on my active imagination work with Estelle...

... into porcelain. Unfortunately, but probably predictably, the two side walls without support started to warp. I didn't want to close the room off with another wall and for a good while thought about different possibilities.

Then a light bulb went on. Perhaps the idea had been lingering for a while as a few months back I'd been captivated by the idea behind the film 'Hugo' and Georges Melies the French illusionist and film maker's work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_M%C3%A9li%C3%A8s

I suddenly remembered the Pollocks Theatres I'd played with as a child. How about turning every room into a theatre set. 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toy_theater. 

After all, as William Shakespeare said: 'All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts...'

And I found one in, of all places, a small second hand bookshop in Stellenbosch, tucked away in a corner. (Wasn't for sale!!!)

So I set about making a first template and putting together my first porcelain theatre  bringing together elements of the original Pollocks Theatre characteristics and the dream work I've been doing with Estelle.

Still a long way to go with this first piece but I am very excited about how it is developing...

The black and white tiles that seem to always feature in my dreams and active imagination work

And the forest... Which I am drawn to. The forest, which stands for the unconscious and its mysteries and which features in my paintings

And instead of the orchestra at the front, another symbol of the unconscious, the sea.

Stellenbosch

Paul and I recently spent a few days in Stellenbosch and camped in a forest just outside of town surrounded by the wine estates.

We slept out and watched the stars through the forest canopy. And in the afternoon napped (after a considerable amount of wine tasting) with the sun streaming through the trees.

So I had to paint it. Works in progress using grisaille again and concentrating on tones on a coloured background with silk screened hand drawn images and patterns and a burnt sienna glaze

 I love the way the colour comes through from underneath

and how the silk screened images and patterns show in some areas