An Object Lesson In Varnish

Here is the floorcloth varnished- although VARNISH is an outmoded term, it's really "clear coat": a flexible acrylic clear coat, non yellowing and non brittle, not like "varnish' at all... thank goodness.
Clear Coats such as I apply now routinely came into existence during the 1990's and get better every year. Before that, ''varnish'' , with all its limitations for a flexible canvas floorcloth, was the only way.

I selected Semi Gloss for this one- its always a decision based on the colours used, the effect sought after, whether to use Gloss, Semi Gloss, Satin, etc. I always use Gloss for anything with metalics, of course..

... but the bright colours here didn't want a satin finish damping them down...

...so Semi Gloss is a great application in this case....

...compare the effect to putting seaglass in water...

... you can see how much richer and saturated the colours seem...

... great stuff.

New Floorcloth

This floorcloth is going into a bathroom, with a bright red shower curtain trimmed in the bright fringe shown below, and with venetian plaster walls in a beautiful rich teal green on which hangs the painting of the fish with a bicycle (!).

Below is the art work I did for the client. I did two versions, including slightly different colourings...they picked the one they liked, the designer got me a sample of the shower curtain and the trim, and away we go....

I am using graphic style crayon lines on the floorcloth to make a nod toward the crayon or charcoal lines drawn in the painting on the wall...

I have also used the stars from the painting, and had a lot of fun painting them, too, with the black lines and all.

There's the fringe, its all looking pretty good...

Time to varnish and trim!

What Else Was In The Kiln?

Inquiring minds may wish to know :"what else was in the kiln, besides the Day Of The Dead mugs?

Well, all this stuff:

Most of what you see here are special orders....

and have now been shipped on to happy homes......
...

Details of the fish bowls:

Fish are so much fun to paint, I never get tired of them, especially on pottery...the glazes blend so well to create a watery softness in the colours...

I concentrated on pastel-ly candy colour for the bowls...

By request...

Ceramic Work Update

I have had a variety of pottery projects accumulating for firing, and after a lovely 2 week holiday in Spain, and a kiln repair that set me back another week, I finally have something to show.
It would appear that now you can click on ALL of the photos to see them bigger, and click again for BIGGER! Cool. This is a special order from an individual who wants a set of mugs depicting skeletons celebrating Day Of The Dead ...as you can imagine this was a blast to paint; I had so much fun, I plan to add this to my usual repetoire. You'll be seeing more of this in the future!

I just scraped the surface thinking up Day Of The Dead imagery... there is so much more!