Michael W. Moses Art pottery vase and plum blossoms with haiku by Chiyo-jo

What I did today. I spent the day at the shop. Not a whole lot of people came in today. I spent most of the day working on a new vase. I took a few minutes to cut a small branch of flowering plume and place it in one of my vases that I call "Passion Red Fruit Vase". I specifically designed this intensely red vase with a small hole in the side where a single stem could be inserted leaving the large main opening of the vase free of flowers. I then took a few digital images. here is one that I processed this evening using Photoshop. I added an appropriate haiku by Chiyo-jo and this is the finished image. Signed prints available.

 

To the person breaking off the branch,
giving its fragrance,
the plum blossom.

 

Blue and Yellow Chinese Export Ware Style Dog Bowl by M. W. Moses

A while back I found a large, blank, bisque ware dog dish at Dogwood Ceramic Supply, in Gulfport,MS. Where I purchase all of my pottery supplies. I do not generally bother with pre-made ceramic blanks, but I saw this dog bowl and I thought how cool it would be to do a deluxe blue and yellow Chinese export ware style dog bowl.
So I did a blue dragon on a yellow ground with clouds and blue cherry blossoms. I must admit that I was fairly pleased with the finished piece.This bowl would be perfect for that truly pampered, special pet, or for that Quirky upscale  take it to the next level caviar party!

Here is an image of the project at the beginning of the painting stage.

The finished bowl

The center of the bowl

The Human Heart, Valentines Day,Carla Zilber-Smith, and My Chthonian Drinking Vessel

Today's post is a little different than any of my previous posts. but it is ultimately a post about art. In this case an artist and how she turned her very life into a work of art.
Today I was working on a bisque ware drinking vessel. It has a cryptic Chthonian design on one side and has a stylized human heart on the other side. I was looking on Google for an image of a human heart that had more realistic colors than the typical red and blue color scheme that one always sees in images of human hearts. I found this image.

 

 It was a post about Valentines day that had me just enthralled with it's wit and the over all quality of the writing. I was going to contact the person and thank her for here wonderful Valentines day post, when I realized it was from last year. I jumped to the most recent post and was stunned. The authoress of this piece Carla Zilber-Smith had subcome to ALS AKA Lou Gherig's disease on May 17th, 2010. I next found myself in tears. It just has never occurred to me that I could be reading a blog that had been written by one that is no longer on the same plain of existence that I am. I can not coherently explain the attraction that this woman's words has had on me. all I can say is that I have become a follower of her blog. I know that she will probably not be doing anymore posts, but she might. I know this sounds a bit weird, but she might. She wrote her own obituary and also made a surprise memorial video, that can be seen on YouTube. She seemed to have been a very cool woman and because of the internet a small piece of her has survived for the world to experience.

The Sleeper Dreams Bowl by Michael W. Moses at South Coast Antiques & Gallery

This is a piece that I did awhile back. It is a bowl that has a sleeping upturned face that has a hole piercing it's forehead. and a single long stem flower coming out of the hole.  The flower is one that I hand crafted from beads, floral wire, and floral tape.

Ceramic Art Pottery Bulb Vase in a Bowl by Michael W. Moses SOLD

This is a piece that I call "Bulb Vase in a Bowl". As the name implies it is one of my bulb vases attached to one of my bowls. It is intricately hand painted in deep rich tones of blue, green, teal and red, with a few pink flowers tossed into the bowl. This piece is hand modeled in extra heavy ceramic so that it can hold an extra tall, extra large single flower and not fall over.

Image of a Greenware Art Pottery Figurine of Cthulhu by Michael W. Moses

Today's post is a greenware work in progress. I usually do not show a lot of my works when they are in the greenware stage. Being just unfired clay, pieces at this stage are so fragile that it is just not worth making a permanent record of the piece. This one however just was begging for some photographs. It seemed so photogenic that I just had to take a couple of shots of it. Here is one of those shots. This image of a ceramic art pottery figurine of Cthulhu features a detail of a Victorian era leaded glass window as a background. This image was enhanced with a bit of sepia tone added with Photoshop. Once this piece is fired and painted I will post further images.

Fragmentary Bowl number 87386. Ceramic Art Pottery by Michael W. Moses South Coast Antiques & Gallery, Ocean Springs, MS SOLD

I sold my "Fragmentary Bowl number 87386", a few months back.
This is one that I really miss.  I normally do not get overly attached to the things I make, but just every once in a while, I do a piece that I just personally enjoy looking at.  This was one of those pieces.  It is sort of based upon a lost, large format painting that I did in the 1980's.  I have always loved ancient potsherds and fragments of ancient art.
  

This work evolved from the idea of a large ancient pottery bowl that had been lavishly carved and painted then broken, it then found it's way into the Ocean and was partially buried in the sand. Then the tides and time did the rest. There is even a single large barnacle on the back. 
It went to a good home though. A person that has a number of my works added it to their collection. So it will not be alone. 

A Ceramic Art Pottery Bowl by Michael W. Moses at South Coast Antiques

Here is a bowl that I did awhile back. It is what I call a friendship bowl. This bowl has a highly hand mottled red exterior and a bright yellow interior that features the Renailian symbol for samatay (love) when it is referring to the love between friends.  This very special one of a kind work of ceramic art has numerous small drilled holes that are glazed over, creating little windows that allow light to shine through. This bowl is further embellished with red swarovski  crystal rhinestones.

New Bayou Blue and Yellow Vase by Michael W. Moses at South Coast Antiques & Gallery

Here are a few images of my new ceramic art pottery piece, that I call "Bayou Blue and Yellow Vase".

A Piece of Pottery by Michael W. Moses in Three Different Stages SOLD

Here are some images which will allow one 
to see three different stages in the development of a piece 
of my ceramic art.  This one sold a while back to a nice couple from Arizona.

This picture shows the piece after it has been fired
and is at what is known as the bisque stage and is
ready to be painted.

Here is the piece after I have very carefully painted the
piece.

The final result after the painting and glazing!

Another view of this work of art.

I have for a number of years now been watching with intense interest the figural creations of porcelain artist Kate D. MacDowell. Her work has a bold crisp refined quality that few artists have been able to achieve in the difficult medium of porcelain. This artist's work is fraught with an almost Victorian over exuberation that just fills ones senses.

Take a look at more of her art here