What have I been doing?

What have I been doing?  

I was prepping a batch of my laser decal'd nest forms for the kiln when the Kerrie Lowe Gallery in Sydney invited me to take part in their  Print show 'Transferring the Image', opening on 22nd June till 17 July,  'Printmaking in all its forms; limited edition books, works on paper, ceramics, 3D, jewellery and fabric'.  Oh, I would SO like to be there, to see the whole show and to see my own work in that context  - but it is almost 4,000 km away.  I had fun explaining to the CIT ceramics students in the studio how I make the nests and what I do to create and apply the decals.  It seems like a lot of work, but I feel it is worth it all.  

These are the works hot from the kiln, some were TMK stoneware clay and some were in Southern Ice Porcelain, both great clays by Clayworks.

I know, its boring - MORE of my laser decals nests!  I do a lot of these forms, I enjoy them and they mean something to me.  I constantly collect twigs, leaves and feathers to photograph, even my friends present me with them sometimes, it is like collecting shells or pebbles, in taking time for such things you are rewarded with a sense of their beauty and a respect for nature.  I've observed how people impose their own narrative onto a piece and I love to see this happen. If there are no eggs printed or physical clay ones on a nest then it becomes either a childless home or an empty nest, a whole new chapter opens in the imagination of the backstory of this little nest.  If there are two eggs, people with two children light up and relate to it, it becomes somehow more meaningful to their personal story.  An empty nest with a single feather can be about waiting, or loss, the feather representing the prepared home or the evidence of the emptiness.