Category: Ceramic

Can you see the creatures? Made from reclaimed clay this is a sculpture and a painting in one, with a poem thrown in.

This piece is made entirely from recycled clay. It was found in the slop bucket were people in the communal studio, where I work, leave wet clay from the wheels. Some of it was spread out to dry on plaster slabs. It had such amazing texture and was crying out to be made into something. I hollowed it out, and sculpted it into the rounded base.

And then cactus, tree, lizard and kitten, were standing on the surface as upright slices, drying out. You can see a thumbprint in the dead tree, not mine, but the person who was dealing with the clay’s.
All I did was hollow them out.

After drying out, the sculpture was first bisque fired, then painstakingly coloured with multiple layers of underglaze, to give the colours depth; a painting and sculpture in one! It was then high fired, to stoneware temperature, giving a satiny soft finish. The eyes are highlighted with a shiny clear glaze.

All alone in the desert....
A gnarled old cactus, 
and a dead and hollow tree. 
A lizard has a an uneasy feeling, 
is someone watching me??
He leans against the cactus, 
and behind the hollow tree.
He stays very very still, 
and maybe no-one will see...

All alone in the desert.....    
A gnarled old cactus, 
and a dead and hollow tree.
A kitten doesn't know this strange new place,
it's not where she wants to be.
She hides pressed up against the hollow tree, 
and behind the old cactus arches tall,
She thinks that if none of her sticks out, 
no-one will see her there at all...

Now everything is quiet, 
but nothing quite feels right,
lizard knows he has his tusks, 
he thinks he'll be alright...

Kitten has her claws and teeth, 
if need be she can fight...
Neither one can see the other, 
but they both know someone's there,
Both are a little curious, 
and they sense it in the air.

Who is going to come out first? 
Lizard takes a little peak,
He doesn't want to move just yet, 
he feels a bit too weak.

Kitten thinks: 
someone has to come out first, 
but it's not going to be me,
I could now if I wanted to, 
but I'll just wait here and see...

It's been a little while now, 
I'm not sure exactly how long,
and maybe no-one's there at all, 
I think maybe I'm wrong.
It's just a stripy ginger tree, 
it must be just its bark,
and that's a normal cactus there, 
that eye is just a mark...

Find it in my Etsy Shop:

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/845884744/hiding-from-each-other-cat-and-lizard?ref=shop_home_active_3&frs=1

Or through my contact page:https://ellencooperart.com/elementor-3648