Roger’s working on a new piece!
And you know what that means… That’s right. No love for the Ingrid.
But even I have to admit it looks good.
We were out for a walk the other day. I prefer the parks, so I can chase balls and squirrels, but walking along the Columbia Slough is nice, too. And sometimes we head over to Portland Meadows and I get to bark at the horses. They tend to ignore me, so I bark more.
Anyway, Portland Meadows is where he took this picture of a thicket:
He thought about it for a while, then decided he really, really liked this picture. So much so, that he planned on taking one of his favorite pieces, Op.505, Marble Kodama, and make a bigger version of it using this photo as inspiration.
This isn’t as easy as it sounds.
Roger forgets things sometimes.
Sometimes he forgets to pet me, or he forgets to get up early enough to take me for a walk when it isn’t hot out (and it’s been really hot out!). But this time, he forgot the palette that he used for Marble Kodama.
So tests were made. Lots of tests. I think he may have cried at one point, but that could have been me because he hadn’t taken me on a walk yet.
But he eventually figured it out, pulled every table possible into the studio and starting throwing glass around, breaking things, and generally making a big mess.
He made the background first, since he had just spent all of that time figuring out the colors, and made a bunch of raw firings in the palette. Those were all fitted together into the proper size, and to make the background follow the light patterns of the photograph.
Then came the foreground, which turned into a whole big puzzle piece of tree branches, tree trunks, tree twigs…
Once he had that all sized properly and ready to go, he threw a bunch of frit on it, tossed it in the kiln, and went over to a Jenny‘s house for fish tacos. (He didn’t take me along, but that’s because Jenny’s dog is a b*tch and doesn’t like me. B*tch.)
This morning, this is what came out:
Doesn’t look like much, does it?
Well, it’s all right.
But wait until you see what happens when he puts in on the background!
Impressive, isn’t it?
Today he’s going to trim it all up, fit it on the base plate, pretty up some of the uglies with a little frit and scrim, and then back in the kiln it goes.
It’s almost magical.
Someone less practical than a dog might believe it’s magical, anyway.
And since he hasn’t made a new piece for a while, I suppose I can just relax here on the cement floor of the studio.
