Richard Scott Blog - 23 February 2025

 

Monday morning was coffee on the deck and getting ready to go go go for the week.

I have such an amazing energy going at the moment, both mentally and physically, that I even look forward to Monday morning and every morning for that matter.

Angelina and I shared our usual daily pics while I had a coffee on the deck. She was sending me pics of yummy foods. It inspired me to make a yummy Quinoa and Barley salad with chopped onion, cucumber, tomatoes and herbs from the garden. Supper was ready for later that day.

The rest of Monday was prep work and the usual meetings with the team.

It’s also a great energiser when you draw up a TO-DO list and cross out as you go along.

I did spend a lot of time in the studio as I wanted to finalise digitising the print code book.

All was done by 4.30 when Joanne came home and we ate the super I prepared, on the deck.

Signing Stencils.

These stencils were used extensively in the making of the Richard Scott Gin Bottles.

Pre-signing.

Hendrik and I doing it the South African way.

Starting on the Mast Bench.

I found these studio test pieces when cleaning out the studio this week.

Gold Pussy almost done.

r  i  c  h  a  r  d  carved out on the side.

Some larger stencils coated in gold.

Cape Town. Oil on Canvas, 40 x 40cm. Collaboration with Ignatius Marx.

Before.

After. Messing about with sizes for the new Kevin's Girl Candy Print. 80 x 80cm

Tuesday was my Ceramic day at Mervyn, but I got sucked into doing a long list of things on my TO-DO list.

Sending Angelina my early morning pic. Starting to get dark in the mornings now.

Hello.

My view in the morning.

From painting a meter by meter blue tree to fixing the frame on the back of a 1.5m x 1.5m gold tree, recently acquired by a new collector.

Angelique and Frans busy in the studio.

Applying a layer of Gloss Varnish to this Spent Wine Barrel piece.

Ta daaaaaaa.

It was awesome to do some of my own repairs instead of outsourcing it.

I didn’t know I could re-brace a stretch canvas. Well, now I can.

I even managed to add Impasto Paste to 10 smaller 30cm x 30cm paintings I am painting over from 2006.

You know that series I’m working on to breathe new life into older works that have been in storage.

It’s a bitter sweet moment when you paint over a piece initially, but some greater force in the universe is calling.

Nonetheless, it was a great morning considering I was supposed to be doing ceramics.

Joanne came home and we had yummy roast vegetables with Quinoa and Barley. That too was nice to eat as it was getting rid of left overs and a bunch of vegetables that have been in the draw for a while.

We made so much that it lasted for my lunch on Thursday.

 

Sending Angelina food pics. BEFORE.

After.

Wednesday morning, after a quick staff catch up I walked into the studio looking for a drill bit, of all things. For the life of me, I couldn’t find it. So, on the spur of the moment, I decided to do that 2024 December studio clean that we never got around to.

We all climbed in. Angelique started asking “and this?”, throw it in the big rubbish pile.

And so, it grew and grew. I was gob smacked at how much stuff I was hoarding. Most of it was for the Circular Recycle Series, but clearly I had hoarded too much.

It’s such a nice feeling throwing stuff away. That split second where the devil on your shoulder says “keep it” and then the angel on your other shoulder says “do you really need it?”

 

Whoaaaaaaaaa.

Thursday morning, I realised I need to spend a lot more time at Mervyn Gers Ceramics. This was after I tried all week to get there, but the admin gods would have none of it.

My morning started with what Joanne calls, “A Richard Scott Coffee” at home at 5.45am before we head out to town together.

A Richard Scott Coffee is basically a flat white made in my fancy ROCKET coffee machine using simple, but delicious, Guatemalan coffee beans bought at Checkers.

They have four flavours and all of them are really good, but the Guatemalan blend is our favourite.

Joanne takes hers with a tot of foamed Macadamia Milk and I take mine as a double espresso.

By the time we hit the road at 6am, we’re both ready for the day.

Packed and ready to go with us. Richard Scott red wine and Red Tree, on their way to one of Joanne's colleagues.

Joanne and I had a real good catch up in the car as it was the first time I drove in all week. 

You know that intense work conversation you can have in a car while travelling for an hour. With a long list completed, I dropped Joanne off, quite early for a Thursday; 7am, and I headed to SHIFT next door for my second coffee of the day.  I thought my coffee was strong 😳. I keep forgetting to ask the waiter to put the double espresso into a flat Cappuccino cup. 

Perhaps I will offend the Barista. Let’s see if I can get it right next week. I will report back.

The espresso arrived. Angelique arrived.

Chad arrived and we had a Sales/Workflow/Admin meeting before we all went off to tick boxes.

Angelique was off to see galleries, while Chad popped into Deckle Edge to get some studio supplies.

I, in the meantime, as mentioned above, headed to Mervyn Gers to get cracking on my new ceramic series.

Yes, I do need to spend more time at Mervyn.

Working with clay and working towards a dream and goal is both exciting and daunting.

Clay is very forgiving, but don’t take advantage.

There are many things they can go wrong if you don’t follow some basic rules. 

Sounds like life: you can have fun now with the clay but remember the basic rules as all can go wrong when your vases explode in the oven if you didn’t follow that basic life rule.

Clay and ceramics also suit me down to a tee as there is an initial element where you play and have fun, then the technical/business elements kick in and takes over. You need to be a master of both if you want to succeed.

 

Shaping one of the Vases. Clay is very forgiving in the beginning.

I had lots of fun today as I decided to use up all 15 of the clay slabs David had provided me with.

I rolled the clay around thin plastic tubing to create curved edges that I will use next week once they have slightly cured.

The clay is easier to work with, for my application, once it has cured and hardened slightly.

I cut out all the shapes I needed and wrapped it all up in wet clothes and plastic before I had to leave at 12.30.

Joanne booked me my monthly facial with Wilscha in town, so I was off.

I said goodbye to everyone and gave some instructions RE clay and ovens and fettling of items.

It was nice to see and catch up with Wilscha. She was in Korea for a month with her daughter. The way that Wilscha tells stories of her travels and daily experiences and endeavours is good enough to write a book.

2.30 pm came quickly with all the fascinating tales, so I was off to pick Joanne up.

A quick check in with all the staff to see if we were on track in studio and sales and Hendrik with the making of the new sitting bench from the Ship Mast.

Joanne and I had three errands to run, RE Wedding plans, before we got home.

1. Flowers at Andre

2. ⁠Vegan cake at Big Bay Bakery 

3. ⁠Cake forks at Banks.

Boxes ticked we were off home for an early supper.

The kids were home, so crumbed chicken was put in the oven, while we ate a delicious Greek salad with some of Joanne’s famous lentil bolognaise sauce. Neither touched sides. Joanne offered to clean up while I finished up in the studio.

The ship mast “bench” was looking fantastic. Hendrik really outdid himself.

The studio was still looking clean and spacious after Wednesdays spring clean.

Fran’s had added the final touches to a commissioned piece and there were 3 packages all packed and ready to go to new collectors homes and offices.

I checked in on the vegetable garden and harvested some tomatoes.

After that it was cup of tea time and collapse on the couch and catch up on the day. We were in bed nice and early at 8.30.

Friday was nice. Once again we worked from home and managed to resist taking the BMW out of the garage.

It was one of those days. Work hard till around 2pm then enjoy the afternoon after a good tough week.

The guys were all in studio finishing off for the week.

Fran’s did the final touch ups on a set of the smaller Candy Girls while Hendrik prepped the deconstructed High Road wine barrel. I want to try the candy stripes on it.

I also decided to finish of the “I LOVE FRANKFURT” piece that has been staring at me in the corner for a year.

The Wednesday spring clean also unearthed a lot of unfinished pieces tucked away. So, they all got put on the white table, as I want to complete them and in doing so, clear my mind like we cleaned the studio.

I had thoughts all day of being at Mervyn Gers doing my ceramics. They were calling me. 

I decided to spend more time there next week but then realised I have two weeks to go till the wedding. I still have a few bits and pieces to do around the house in preparation.

Hendrik did finish converting the 60 year old ship mast into an awesome bench.

I was a bit nervous to convert it, but I am sure you will agree, it looks spectacular.

Friday morning early, and Saturday morning for that matter, I managed to sort out my WORDLE crisis. I failed to get the word all week and then tried a different strategy Friday and Saturday and got both in four goes. Yeah.

Getting Better.

Friday afternoon we had lunch on the deck and caught up for the day.

Friday evening I made us some coconut yogurt ice cream with almond butter and almond milk. Joanne opted for the chocolate flavoured cup while I scoffed the double almond butter one.

Joanne said I managed to crack the recipe from last week. It really was a nice treat.

We ate it while finishing off a series called High Potential.

Saturday morning, I decided to paint the wine barrel white and then give the two Backgammon boards a coat of varnish. I might be able to rescue them. Remember they are a bit thin to close. They will work if I keep the dice and other parts separate.

I will revert.

Joanne and I did manage to do a long road run nice and early and then a delicious mixed breakfast of fruit, cereal, coconut yogurt and all the stuff that reminded us of Stuart and Jane's breakfast.

I took a early morning photo of this Construction Piece with the sun baking on it.

I decided to heat up the pool as the kids were coming over. That worked well.

Joanne and I did some cooking in preparation for supper and Sunday lunch.

As mentioned above, I spent some time in the studio, which was nice considering it is so clean.

Saturday afternoon was on the couch talking family and future and business.

We made the kids some steak or lentil chilli con carne, potatoes and corn on the cob.

More Food Pics. Lunch:

 

Dinner

I also tried my Almond ice cream again which went down well.

We had a late night catching up with the kids over supper and a swim.

Until next Sunday.

Thanks for reading, and viewing.

r   i   c   h   a   r   d