On my table

A bird made of white clay. He is still drying and waiting for the first firing, the gray will become white, great background for the colors I have on mind.

Sometimes you have to make things before just verbally explain what you can do, that's what my intent is with this piece. I worked on a mosaic project with the artist Cindy Fisher, it was such a joy, after seeing her work I instantly thought my work will look good together with hers. I created a little flower for her and she visualized what I was talking about then the dream became reality

The murals are on three floors of the Inova Children's Hospital in Virginia. Three themes were chosen, earth, water and air. 

The idea of making the bird is to show how the mural would look like if it was made fully out of clay. I'm excited to show you the final results. 

Broadcasting again!

It was very hard for me to let go my old broadcasting service, it is like somehow missing cord phones... nah! it wasn't that old,  it just became too annoying for my viewers with all those unwanted Ads.

Welcome to my new live video through Periscope, you can read about how it works here and easy and portable way to watch me working and chat.

I'm still on the "testing" stage, I made one broadcast and realized I need an iPad holder for my tripod so you can have a good angle view of my worktable. For now, while I set everything up I'll be doing some broadcasts, join me through twitter, download the app and you'll receive notifications when I am online.

Working on a small piece. May 2015. Photo by Brian Swope

 Let me know what would you like to see me working on, maybe glazing an intricate piece, using a mold, hand modeling a flower, there are so many possibilities.

The schedule: Monday through Friday sometime between 9:00 am and 2:00 pm Eastern Time 

Funtional pottery

Believe or not I've never own a pottery wheel, saying that pots had not been something I feel I could make in a production kind of way, instead I love making things that are one of a kind, more elaborated and with minimal use of machinery, still wanted to make some pots and spoons inspired on requests from friends who had seen my work. 

I came up with a theme and colors, all towards a rustic natural look and simplicity. 

I'm delighted to see the beauty of this creamy glaze, this plate makes me think about creme brûlée and the hardness of stoneware is a great touch. 

I also made spoons with driftwood handles, my son helped me to collect the wood from the beach and the lake, it was fun and educational for him since he had to look for non-cracked, doable thickness and lengthy pieces of wood. 

All this work and more can be found on my etsy store. 

Little things on big walls

What a season change for me! When I thought I would had a "relaxing" end of the year I ended up taking a great challenge. I'm collaborating wit a great mosaic artist on a series of murals for the Children's Hospital in VA. I've been making little and some not-so-little inserts, so far everything is looking very good, I can't wait to see the results. 

For now there are some of my favorite pieces 

Leaves for trees 

Stars for air balloons 

Butterflies for a landscape 

Fish for a undersea scene and so on. 

I'm overwhelmed with work but it is a good problem to have, the designs are so playful and brings me a smile each time, I hope does the same to you. 

Knobs and Knobs

The display is all set, the last details are up. I wanted to create a variety of cabinet knobs that would coordinate with my wall designs and there you go! 

The piece of wood I had in my studio was perfect, the finish is nice and smooth, the same thickness of a cabinet drawer and a great contrasting color for the colorful knobs. 

For more details you can purchase them also online on my store www.sikiu.etsy.com if you live close to me then you can stop by David Hecht Kitchens at 154 Cross Road. Waterford, CT 06385 

Old rusted metal and Clay

Sounds like a great combination to me! I went to an old building to take few treasures and I found some big rusted nails, probably used to hold something, when I saw them I immediately imagined how they will look with a colorful flower on the top, smooth and vibrant in color in contrast. 

I started working on the first design as soon as got back to the studio

Collecting wild flowers and browsing my archives also helped me to get inspired and this is what I'm making, it is still very raw but soon the flowers will be fired-hopefully tomorrow. 

Making a simple life

What is living a simple life? you might think it is about minimizing material possessions, I think is living with a clear mind no matter how many "things" you have accumulated. Of course having less clutter and less things to put your energy on simplifies your life - at least for some.

I cleaned my studio, before moving in, I took all seconds, broken, unfinished and unwanted to the trash but what really made a change was to clean out my mind of ideas I couldn't start or finish, sound easy doesn't it? not for an artist who is constantly creating, but in order to bring quality and better results I'm focusing in very few things. Yes, there are still few options since I won't put all my eggs in one basket.

photo by Brian Swope 

My art keeps growing, I wish I have more than 24 hrs a day to make more! there is a sample of what I had been doing lately