So the second niche, just to the right of that back door is going to have TWO boots in it. This was our original drawing, but we made some changes as you can see below.
We decided to make the background similar in flavor to the first.
This time, instead of a cactus, Sue drew in some barbed wire and a horizon line.
This bottom piece was photographed right after we painted on the underglaze. You can still see some wet lines. Now it will be bisque fired again, checked for color, and if OK, will be glazed and fired again.
Two down, one to go.
My "Five on Tile" buddy, Sue and I have been working on a new tile job this last month.
We're filling these three niches with tile murals for the owner of Saba's Western Wear.
So what did the owner want? Why, boots of course! Sue did the designs on her new I-Pad. What a handy tool that has turned out to be.
Here's the drawing of the first boot, then underglazed. We fired it, then corrected for color. It's now glazed, and ready for the final firing, which will happen hopefully next week. Then it's on to the second piece, which is, wonder of all wonders: TWO BOOTS!
Gotta love using photos as a tool! Looked at this one after I'd posted it yesterday and went back and made some corrections. It's better, yes? Not wonderful, but better.
The next one I was working on, and finished yesterday, was of an orange trumpet vine, again from my backyard.
One of the problems I'm seeing, working small like this, is that I need to simplify my backgrounds. It's all a learning process, but I think this next one looks too overworked. And I think it needs to be more flower, less background.
What do you think?
I had this idea: I had a bunch of small pieces of leftover watercolor paper, and I have taken a bunch of flower pictures over the years, with absolutely no hope of ever painting them all. What if I did a bunch of little quickie paintings of different flowers, then, when I am flush from a completed project, have them made into boxed card sets for sale.
This is an aloe from my backyard. Obviously there's too much going on to put all of it in, so I simplified.
I don't know if I was totally successful with this one. It may not make the cut when I'm all done. I also have the single poppy that I did about a month ago and posted. What do you think? Is this a good idea or not?
Remember that latest batch of hummingbirds? This is the picture before they were fired.
Now you know how these underglazes change a lot when the piece is high fired?
How's this for a radical change?
I'm happy with the bottom two. Not so much with the top ones. Too dark! The light backgrounds seem to work the best.
This was the very first picture I took. Yosemite is just one huge photo op. What an incredibly beautiful place. I had to keep reminding myself to put the camera down, and just enjoy everything with my eyes instead of the camera.
We had a great time and I would love to go there again in my life, and take my kids and grandkids.
I won't bore you with the whole 120 pictures I took, but I will add one more of just one of the waterfalls we saw. Absolutely amazing!
We said "wow" a LOT!
No, I'm not going to Hawaii, darn! But we are taking a mini vacation, so I'll be back this time next week, hopefully with some great pictures for future artwork. Got one good thing in the kiln, and our first new batch of tiles for a downtown art project is in the bisque kiln, testing for color. So if it comes out well, I'll give you all first peek.
Aloha.
This is my not so little lamb, sitting on the glazing shelf, ready to be fired.
It has the flower lace pattern I've been using, with clear glaze over Seth's black and light blue and green engobes underneath. The white glaze is oatmeal. It was a little old and very thin so I had some concerns regarding how it would turn out.
As you can see below, the oatmeal was definitely too old and too thin. But I think for a first attempt at an ambitious project (for me, anyway) it didn't turn out too terribly. Anyway, the pot will have a plant in it, and that will soften it a bit. My kids thought the eyes were too scary. Sheesh!
My favorite boy brought me these beautiful flowers yesterday for Mother's Day. He's just the best. He HATES to spend money on flowers, but he knows how much I love them.
Below is a picture of me, daughter and grandsons. We had a fun breakfast this morning at Joe's Farm Grill. If you've never eaten there, I highly recommend it. It's all fresh, and you get to sit outside and eat under the trees. What a great way to start Mother's Day!
I painted this bisqued porcelain bowl last week with orange and brown underglaze, then put a black underglaze on the inside.
And this is how it turned out when fired. The reason the colors are so intense is that I low fired instead of high fired it.
The downside to that is that the clay never vitrifies in a low fire, therefore is still very fragile and not really food or water safe.
But it's pretty when it's done, huh?
I liked my new pattern so much ( the little plant pots) that I tried two other things with it.
This is a luminaria, about 15 inches tall. I'm going to paint the flowers on it and then glaze it.
The other is a lambie flower pot for outside. I have a very old and crumbling Mexican flower pot with a goat head on it.
So I made one with a lamb on it. It's looking weird at this stage, but I guarantee it will look cool when it's done.
Remember that I was trying a new shape last week?
Well below are the results, and I am really happy with them.
I made the post so that you could easily dump a 4" pot of flowers in them for a quick centerpiece, or flower arrangement.
Or you could even use them outside.
So after I took the "plain" picture, I did just that to see what they would look like.
I'm so pleased that I made two more this week, only bigger. I'll let you know how they turn out when they're done. Very Cinco de Mayo, doncha think? Oh, and they're for sale, if anyone out there is interested!
