I am thrilled to see the results in the kiln this afternoon, after last nights firing!

There are many pieces here, it took a while to get enough to fill the kiln, in fact, I left the top shelf pretty bare, because I just wanted to see it all done!

 I always feel very inspired to immediately paint MORE when I have such a good firing result.

 The next load of pottery will be larger pieces, and wont take so long to fill up.... I love this time of year, its when I do most of my pottery painting, and its of course for teh holiday shopping season. If you see anything you like, drop me a line!!!!! I wont be able to post to my ETSY shop until later in December.

 Of course, all this will be on display and available for PURCHASE for Sarasota, Florida peeps, December 12 and 13th at the Atomic Holiday Bazaar.

 OK, back to the studio!!

Matching Floorcloths Process Continues

Here you can see the plant design taking palce on top of the soft colours and patterns....

Its is a cheerful, stylised almost folkloric design, but distinctly modern and expressive too.

More pictures soon!

Matching Floorcloths Process

Here is the familiar process...stretch the canvas, prime the canvas, turn the canvas over, stretch and prime...

And start painting.

This design relies on the build up of a lot of patterns and colours to make it interesting and rich in the background of the main design...its important not to be in too much of a hurry here....

At the same time, the overall effect needs to be subtle and warm, not too bright or contrasty....

not harsh, not boring!

Just right....

Now some drawing takes place, with chalk, so I can easily make changes and then paint over my drawing, wiping away residual chalk marks...

Painted Planters

Here is an interesting project :paint up these terracotta planter pots to give them a little pizazz. I used paint for painting cement, which should offer some extra adhering qualities.I also used some cool metalic in the recessed areas of the pots, to add to the sense that these are now objects of great antiquity, made of fantastic enamels, glazes and precious metals(!) You can see many of these pictures larger by clicking on them.

It was a lot of fun working with the bas-relief areas, layering a lot of paint, and making it look like mineral build-up, and drips.

These pots will be outside, most of them under cover, on patios, but even the ones out in the weather should hold up fairly well...and as they endure the elements, further weathering will probably only make them look more interesting.

I was particularly pleased with this sideways leaning pot. It was more of a challenge, since it didn't have any raised areas, so I had to do much more to make it interesting. And it now has a lot of character.

Some of the pots had cement screed dropped on them, from construction on the site where they where kept before I got them to paint. I was able to knock some of it off, but the cement that would not knock off, I painted brilliant gold, and then "aged" it, so that it looks like real gold was carelessly dropped on them.