20. Ceramics is addictive!

My first semester of Ceramics class approaches to the end. Almost a half of my projects is inspired by Victor in some way, and at least three are simply implementations of his drawings in clay. Finally, my (or his?) animal tiles have been glazed and fired. I am showing the prototype as well:

It was not easy to make "Pottery Love." I had to start over a few times, before I figured out the best way to do it. The day before glazing I asked Victor what color glaze I should choose. He responded: "Love should not be glazed. It should be raw and ooze blood." Well, I don't completely agree with it. Love can (and should) have a happy color! But also, without glaze it was light pink, and it definitely was not what he had in mind. So I picked a matte glaze, the most resembling raw clay (or raw meat, if he insists).

  

 

I also started making a mug based on one of his drawing. But since I  only go there once a week, it will take three more weeks for it to be bisque-fired, glazed and fired again. I can't wait to post this, but I will add the picture later.  

19. All about lobsters.

A few days ago Victor sent his drawing with a strange name: "Lobster reminiscent of the islands:"

I liked it, although I said I probably would never be able to eat a lobster again. This time I didn't even ask, why such a strange idea, but Victor told me that in the November issue of his favorite magazine "Around the World" he read an article about a French chef Olivier Roellinger who works in a London restaurant. One of his special dishes is called exactly so: "Lobster reminiscent of the islands." Of course, Victor immediately saw this image behind the name.

I recalled one more Victor's lobster, or rather a crawfish, from the 1990's. It's also sad, but in a different way. There is a Russian idiom that literally says "You will know where crawfish spend winter." It has the same meaning as "You will get it in the neck." So this drawing is called "Where crawfish spend winter."

"Где раки зимуют"

18. Challenge -4.

In one of the earlier posts, I told about the challenge that initiated our "game:" almost every day I give Victor a theme - usually just a word inspired by certain events or impressions of that day, and he finds and sends me a drawing that he already has on this topic. Some themes are more and some are less concrete. Sometimes his responses match more perfectly and sometimes less. (I guess, they do match perfectly in his vision, it's just that we - non-artists - cannot always see it...) These are just a few sent for the last two weeks:

I had a cold, and couldn't think about anything except my stuffed nose; I couldn't even talk. When I e-mailed Victor that this is the only theme I could think of, he said it's not interesting, too "down to earth" for him. Still, next day he sent this to me. I felt better right away!

"Common Cold"

"Простуда"

Then there was my son's 22nd birthday, and in our conversation I listed his achievements for the past year, and sent his picture. This is Victor's response:

"Pride"

"Гордость своим сыном"

Once thinking of the next theme, I realized I've never "ordered" Victor anything about teachers (Geometry - yes, he sent a few drawings about it, but not about teachers in general). So when I told him about it, that's what he found. I gave prints of this to our English teachers.

 "Dragons need reading aloud"

"Драконам нужно читать вслух"

17. Foliage.

The Fall is almost over, and I just realized that I haven't showed any of Victor's "seasonal" drawings. These are just a few. The first one was drawn a couple of weeks ago, the other one is from the past.

"Coloring the Fall"

"Раскраска Осени"

"An old park plays again its timeless music to a couple of eternal lovers"

"Старый парк в дымке туманной снова играет музыку листопада вечной паре вллюбленных"

Another sudden realization: Why haven't I posted any of Victor's photography yet? It is also very artistic/poetic. It just hasn't fit into the themes of my past blog pages, buy definitely fits this one! These two are my favorite of his Fall pictures (or rather of those few that I have, which is a tiny portion of all he has).

"All gold in the world..."

"Золотой мир."

16. Virtual crafts.

Since I started taking Ceramics class in September, we have been talking and e-mailing about it, as well as about other crafts. I am telling Victor about my modest progress, and he generously shares his unfulfilled ideas. Even though he has never done ceramics, he has several drawings that were, in fact, design for pottery. They just ask to be made! I hope I'll have time in my course to make them.



Even more surprisingly, it turned out that he also has some drawings that just look like wrought iron design. In fact, they are! Victor made them for one of his friends a long time ago.

                                "Rain"                                                                           "D'Artagnan"                                                                                               

                               "Дождик"                                                                    "Д'Артаньан"                                                                            

I wonder if there is a course in NY where they teach to make wrought iron!