Beeg feesh bowl

I've been working on this for days... I must be the slowest painter on the planet.

Magpie

Here is the finished magpie painting from last night.

Charcoal, Acrylic Paint, Pickle Paint and Collaged paper

Love Love Love

Of small things and dead things

 

I LOVE doing these little paintings. They come so much easier than the big stuff. No pressure - this painting is only 4x4 inches, so its ok if you screw up. Its very freeing. Very satisfying, especially since they only take a little while to make. LOVE Love love.

 I think they look lovely together as well, don't you?

 

Here's a preview of what's coming next...

 

Careful!

It was time to transport the birdbaths to the BayArts pottery studio. The birdbaths were bone-dry, very fragile, and too large to box. Not an ideal situation. I decided to drive very carefully with them on my back seat.

Whew! Success. Here they are safely on my shelf at the pottery studio. The next trick will be to get them bisqued. At least they're totally dry!

I glazed four dessert plates on Saturday...

And here are the finished mugs from last week. They came out okay... so did the fish cups and saucers.

Small Good Paintings

My house is so hot that the only room that is cool enough to work in is the bedroom! So... I lugged all of my materials into the room and made these two little paintings. All of the drawing was done sitting on the bed! Acrylic, charcoal, pickle paint, and collage on unprimed wood panels. Please note: colors are a little off in this photo. They are even prettier in real life!

The last of the small fishbowls

Wonderful weekend

I worked like crazy over the weekend... Here's the cream and sugar set, ready for the bisque kiln. It'll be part of the dotted dish set.

I trimmed up some dinner plates. Plates aren't my strong suit, but these ones aren't bad. They're nicely balanced.

Here are their bottoms. They're more like super-shallow bowls, really.

And here's the fourth plate. After firing, they should be about 10 inches in diameter. I'm going to paint medium-sized birds on them. I'm thinking a blue jay, a yellow-shafted flicker, possibly a mockingbird (there was one downtown earlier this month, but a co-worker insists it was a brown thrasher), and maybe a belted kingfisher. My underglaze palette is limited (only about 20 colors) so I have to choose my species wisely!

I glazed the last of the fish cups...

I hope I did a good job!

And I glazed some dotted mugs. My wax really let me down! Usually, the glaze will bead right off of it, but in this case I had to wipe off each and every dot with a sponge.

All better, but it took forever.

If these don't turn out, I want my Sunday afternoon refunded.

Cameron Continued

Hello! I am back from my vacation, freshly relaxed and ready to work! Here is the latest progress on the Cameron painting.

 

 

Oopsie

Why do I only notice these things 2 months later, when I'm ready to paint? I did a really bad job trimming this cup... It rocks a bit on the tabletop, and here's why:

Do you see how wonky the foot is? I must have been asleep at the wheel.

Looks okay with its saucer, though.

I'm painting it anyway, but this cup will be mine. (It's like slicing a pie... you keep the mutilated first piece for yourself.)

A couple of little bluegills in progress... I have to remember to paint that dark spot behind their gills.

There are some little top minnows near the handle, too. These cup interiors are difficult to photograph, considering the paintings are viewed right under your nose. It's sort of an immersion experience (ba dum bum!)

One for the recycling bucket

I'm working on some more turtles while I ponder the fish lantern problem... They need to be sturdy, easy to hang, and not cause anyone to burn their house down.

I decided to not keep the overly fragile "singing fish." It now resides in a million little pieces in the recycling bucket.

Ribbit!

Taken at the Carlisle Reservation duck pond in the Lorain County Metroparks. Lots of frogs and juvenile bluegill.

Still throwing...

Some small plates, plus cream and sugar pieces-parts.