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.
