Murrumbung Commission

[MJL]

Tracey Francis is a patient artist.... and surprisingly polite to someone who keeps asking for strange pots.

When we discussed the pot that I had in my mind, Tracey's reaction went something like...

When we discussed the colour it was a similar reaction.

Tracey then went and did what Tracey does.... my preference is to provide a loose brief and then let artisans be artisans, interpret and use their wonderful skills ...

Now .... I have not yet laid hands on my pot yet but I am soooo excited - check out these photos - sorry, not hi-res but they just came through and I am stoked. Utterly stoked.

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Like my first pot, I expect that this pot will stretch my skills and imagination; I probably won't do it justice but I will enjoy this pot every time I walk by it. I can't wait to see it in person.

Thanks Trace - to quote an 80's term - you're ace.

[Ryceman3]

Nice looking glaze on that MJL... got any particular forest in mind for this...
... I smell tridents!

[MJL]

Aha, quite possibly R3. Actually, when I get it, I'll have a think.

I can tell you - when I commissioned this earlier pot (see below), I did not have this in mind... it is so hard to take a photo of this but I can tell you it is one of my favourite bonsai/pre bonsai - not to everyone's liking to be sure but the pot inspired the grouping.

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I think this new pot will hold a more 'traditional' deciduous group ...but who knows?

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Muse I will

[pjames]

Love the shape and color. Well done

[TimS]

This is what i love about how you approach bonsai Mark, always a challenge to be accepted and embraced and turned into something better than could have been achieved by using the 'usual' approaches. Love it!

Having seen that forest of yours in the brown pot in person, i am really excited about what you will bring to this next pot.

[MJL]

Thanks Pj and Tim. Appreciate the feedback.

Yes, options are coming to mind. Indeed, R3 noted I had tridents in mind and yes, somehow he read my mind! However, my mind is hard to read - a complex beast - mainly because it changes - a lot. I had another thought today ... I'll be a little cryptic for now but this pot has hues of the ocean in it's colour and indeed, is evocative of a shoreline in it's movement. Sometime back I posted some trees where I was trying to evoke a Qld holiday...

Hmmm ...options abound.

[Ryceman3]

Casuarina???

[MJL]

I am stoked with this pot from Tracey Francis. It's just brilliant. I only picked it up yesterday - as she was packing her car for Canberra.

Part of the brief for this pot was to evoke the beach/sea. Inspired by recent holidays and indeed, the recent native bonsai show, I wanted something unique but still representative of our local landscape. This pot evokes movement and flow in it's shape and the colour pulls my imagination to picture sand, sea and indeed, sky.

Back when I was on holiday on the Sunshine Coast with my family, I loved the casuarinas by the beach. It's casuarinas that are destined for this pot.

Thanks Tracey - hard to photo but bloody beautiful. As usual my bonsai won't do it justice but it's great to have such a wonderful piece of art.

I remember Ryan Neil at the native show saying something about how we (collectively) will create our own style; inspired by our local landscapes and trees. Well ... this is on that path.

Some photos taken inside, some out in natural light. When the Sun hits this pot it goes to another level again. Did I say I love it.

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As I have said before, we are fortunate to have so many local potters. Cool to have some great imported pots; cool to have some local pots. There's room for all.

Cheers, Mark

[MadPotter]

I'm very pleased that you are so happy with your pot, Mark! (The ideas were all yours, I just followed instructions). I'm glad that I didn't re-glaze it now. I was worried the glaze may have looked a bit patchy - even though I wanted to represent the moving tides and various depths of water - even to the extent of seeing the sand in the shallows. I am pleased with it - I think we did a good job together!