Some inspiration and a memory

Today, I went to the Smithsonian Zoo (or the National Zoo) in Washington DC. Amongst all the gorgeous animals I saw today, I also saw this plate in a gift shop.

And it reminded me of this plate I painted back in 2012

Now, all the work I have been painting has been fairly cartoony. This doesn't mean I can't draw realistically. In fact, I remember painting sea turtle platters that were fairly designed/cartoony before discovering that a more realistic turtle was more interesting and more popular.

And now, I think you all know where I'm going with this. Expect to see some fairly realistic paintings of animals coming up on plates. Can't wait to get back to clay when I get home!

I also have to make a couple of bowl for some ladies I met as a thank you for them a)hosting a lovely dinner party and b) bringing me my camera when I had forgotten it in a taxi on the way to the party and the driver returned my camera to the house.

So, lots to do when I get home.

And here's a tiger picture that will be my reference...

Latest Sculpture

August was not a very productive month for me, mostly because I was in Hawaii for the first two weeks of the month. However, I came back inspired and ready to make more stuff!

The Knitting Room was running out of yarn bowls, so I made about 2 and a half bags worth of stock. Unfortunately, of the 14 I made, I've lost 3. Ah me...

I've also been accepted into the Alternative Press Expo, so I made a few more plates to paint. Egad, where does the time go?

I threw 6 plates, one squared bowl and 3 more yarn bowls. Unfortunately, they were too wet to trim today, so I got to sculpt. Yay!

I threw the body of this sculpture almost 3 weeks ago and today was the first time I got to work on it. I'm using the Dark Brown clay and will add a celadon glaze over it once it's done. For the face, I think I might use a different clay (BHC which is kind of a warm honey colored clay body when completely fired). Should be fun.

I have really enjoyed making the folds of the dress look like the trunk of the banyan tree, so I'm continuing with that sort of look. I'm looking forward to adding some interesting details on this one.

For my next sculpture, I'm actually going to branch out and try to make a male figure. My aunt would like a Gandalf like sculpture, so that is what I am going to go for.

More painted plates

I got tired of painting small plates, so I decided to mix it up a bit and make bigger plates (around 9 inches wide) and paint bigger scenes. Originally, the Catwoman above (no, I do not own the rights to the character. She belongs to DC... just had to say that) did not have the tiger stripes around it. But, she really needed something. And, if I'm going to charge a certain amount of money for the plate, it really needs to have the detail worth the price. So, I painted tiger stripes and it really worked well.

Next up is the SpiderWoman. No, not the Marvel character, but one of my own. She's kind of like one of the Three Fates. This was a fun drawing that I did years ago and finally am putting it to use. I shall have to make more plates to paint this character on. I am also thinking of slabbing out some porcelain and carving her onto that slab. Then, I'll add the underglaze.

Both of these plates have underglazes that make it to cone 10. They don't burn out. The color will shift (like the purple on the Catwoman will turn bluish), but the reds, purple/blue, and black show up fine. This way, I can use the regular cone 10 glaze instead of the cone 5 glaze I plan to use on all my other plates. It's easier this way... though, I am tempted to just go cone 5 with this. (Cone 5 is a lower temperature than cone 10).
Finally, we have Kergie, based on Kerrigan from Starcraft. No, I haven't played that game. At any rate, I decided that since I had a fantasy/metaphysical character and a superhero/villain, I really needed an alien. So, here you go. After I drew her, I realized that Kergie needed a good background and something more. So, I added an alien 'puppy' along with some other background bits. We'll see how I paint this one.

A strainer and a vase/bottle

A friend in the pottery class is moving, and she gave me her clay. Not wanting the clay to go to waste, I made a few things for her that she wanted. Above is a rather large bowl made from about 6 lbs of clay. It will be a pasta strainer once it is trimmed and poked with holes.

Then, I made a bulby vase for her too. This is my effort to throw a little over 7 lbs at once. I prefer to stack my clay when I make big things. I get more height when I do that. Still, it's good to challenge myself on occasion.

I also threw 4 four pound plates for APE, a show in October. As much as I like my little plates, it is going to take a lot of plates to make up some value. So, I decided on a bit bigger plates and I will use a few main colors (black, blue, red and maybe some green) that I know won't burn out at cone 10. Yellows, pinks and such lose their brilliance at cone 10 (2345 degrees F). Small plates will be fired to cone 5 (2100-2200 degrees F).

Plates at the ready

Plates have been sketched on. Now, to paint them.