8x10 Oil. A Pair of Pelicans
Spent a lovely morning painting these two. I was a bit frazzled by the odd beaks, nothing like the short beaked birds I was used to painting. The beaks make everything so different in regard to the head shape and body contour of the birds.
9x12 Oil. Took most of the day to finish.
I'm so glad to be painting a bit more like I was years ago. Also my eye for drawing is starting to come back a bit. The drawing part on the canvas was done with a paint brush with a thin wash of burnt umber.
8x10 Oil. Its All Apples, Grapes, And Bananas
This was a challenge! An afternoon of painting and I'm quite pleased how this one came together.
8x10 oil The Dolphin
Started out to be only a value study.. But morphed into a very lovely painting. Using only a warm blue, a cool blue, ivory back (also a cool blue), and cremnitz white.
12x16 Oil The Heron
(Another thing I forgot, to name my paintings.. Hahaha!)
Two days of second guessing myself.. The Heron was easy, but I need to reacquaint myself with painting reflections.
9x12 Oil A still life from the online course.. I'm happily relearning some of the many things I have had painstakingly had just out of reach in my head.. Gosh the things we forget overtime. This has not quite been like riding a bike. I'm still wobbling around the corners a bit.
Feeling so much better about painting..
Oil 12x16.. I had started this years ago and never got close to finishing. I have put it on an 12x16 and repainted it to the finish. I've enjoyed this painting so much because the bushes now feel better in my hands. Also the paint mixing and value shifts were just coming along nicely.
8x10 oil still life. Took about 3 hours.
Finally I really enjoyed the painting of this still life! Did not have to think to much about lost edges or values, I just painted!
Well the saga continues. Mostly done using a pallet knife
9x12 Oil still life. Not my choice of subject, but decided to take an online course to get some mojo back. Took about 5 hours to finish. My drawing is soooo rusty.. But onward I go.
11x14 Oil.. 2 days to complete. I really hated the whole process. I questioned myself the entire time about how hesitant my strokes were. Just how awkward the painting came together. Values just seemed to run together and I lost my lightest ones. Remembering what I should have done after I already put the stroke and color to canvas.
I should have picked an easier subject, smaller canvas perhaps too. But it is what it is.
Yes I'm hooked.. Gesso arrived, pulled out some canvases, triple primed, and sanded. Smooth as silk!
Now I have something to really start painting on!
Dug out my brushes, oil paints and canvases..
Just canvas with to much tooth since my gesso was not the greatest after being stored for 12 years. The rough texture was not to my liking at all. Though I was a bit surprised that I even remembered what is to my liking!
8x10 quickly done in about 4 hours. Testing what I remember and what I need to practice.
Its been a long 12 years with not much painting, well if any painting at all. Though I really never quit painting in my head, but never put it to canvas. I started to focus on pottery during the toxic housing crisis because artful pottery that was functional sold well and one has to eat doesn't one?
So.. a gallery in Sedona declined my work because I was splitting my art time between painting and potting. I made the decision to go with the pottery and I was told by the gallery that I could not serve two masters, they were right. It wasn't long before pottery took over my working life and painting fell to the wayside. I didn't realize how much I have missed it until I again put brush to canvas!
This is the painting that started it all.. Years ago.. Far far away.. I painted this quick 8x10 still life as it was in front of me. Meaning the right hand corner photo had all the things that should not have been put in artistically. Soooo.. When I was going through some paintings in storage.. I thought, ugh I need to fix this. Yep.. started me back on the painting road.
It took awhile to get glazes to match what I had at ^10. But after a year of fiddling I finally got the beachy glazes in hand!
Of course photos don't due justice to the mugs. But I'll get a few better ones posted.
I've been showing my ware at Marco Island, FL. this year, since so many of my shows have been canceled due to hurricanes. The trouble with shows canceled at the start of season means that there are not options to get into the bigger juried shows. So.. I'll be applying to larger weekend shows next year but still plan on keeping the shows in Marco, since they mostly fall on Thursdays and Fridays.
Here are a few pictures of some of the setups!
Due to Milton I've had to change venues. Hope to have dates and events locked in by the end of January.
Please check back for future updates!
Last year, do to the hurricane I didn't do many of the larger shows. I do hope to have many other show dates to share this year. Ready to go and I'm looking forward to the new season!
I will hope to attend more of the Promenade Shows this year as well as a few of the larger shows that Boulderbrook Art Shows puts on.
Will have dates soon!!
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Crystals in glazing can be difficult, which is why I have avoided adding to my list of sale items. But now after taking glaze courses from CMW. I feel very confident about putting the glaze on pots. This crystal test came out of the kiln today and I'm quite pleased. The sharper snow flake crystals are my favorite style. I have some of the test tiles in a vinegar bath now to see how much sharper and stunning the crystals will look when etched.
I have quite a few wall hangings made of tropical fish. The one animal I really wanted to put on a wall was a dolphin. So here are the dolphins.. and I did get a bit off track cause I made quite a few trigger fish too!
There is a quarter in the photo that shows just how big these are... A real nice size for accents.
The paper I use doesn't have a covercoat for the waterslide. I actually add the covercoat to the printed paper by using a silkscreen. The covercoat is what makes the waterslide work.
The decals will be placed over the underglaze painting giving the painting added depth.
I have been on the hunt to develop dependable phase separated glazes. That being said, a tiny chemical change to a glaze can alter the glaze to make it unique from the parent glaze. So if you want to change from a copper blue to a cobalt blue the wonderful phase can disappear and you get a nice boring blue. Also any number of other faults can show up.
After six months of testing, looking for phase separation and finding lots of really nice glazes.. I have finally found the glazes I am going to add to my studio.
Pictured below are just a few of the tests I have been working on. The base glaze formula I have is really working well with producing phase.
Now... I've been going through a phase. Yup a phase separation!
The term Phase Separation has to do with the fact that the glaze, when properly made to specifically phase, is creating two separate glasses at the same time. Cool right? Yes, yes it is!
So how did I get so glaze nerdy? I took Matt Katz's Online Glaze Class and now I can make my glazes based on science and not poking about to finally get a good glaze for my ware. Check out his site and classes at Ceramic Materials Workshop
So.. On to my new Phases. :) Can't wait to put the glazes onto a pot!
