The teapots made it out for Christmas

So I said I would post the teapots i was working on for a custom order, so here they are.

And got some wheel practice in, so I will have something to glaze withall the stoneware glazes I am stacking up 🙂   Happy Holidays.  and happy painting .

More Porcelain painting , orders to fill

So It is funny in our Journeys  we get sidetracked from one place and veer to another.  That has been where I have been , playing more with Clay lately than my overglazes and Lusters.  But I have a couple  tea pot orders, so I will try to make it an interactive post thru  the beginning to finished products.    they will be  china paints and lusters with various gold and texture elements.   Similar to these vases.

Long time No See. Wow, it has been a while. New journeys and some of the same.

So , I  have started going further into my Clay journey.  What started out as just porcelain pendants and small textured dishes that I could China paint, Has developed into a Pottery Fest.

It is an addiction in its own.     Lets take a quick look at the last Year and see where I have evolved.     Don’t worry though I have more luster pieces in the kiln cooling as we speak, with 2 more tea pots with…. Yes,  Horses of course.  they are just in  the sketching phase.  but maybe I will make the 2 a blog post itself down the road.

Wonderful Lesson from Tybee

So Much  learning to do at Tybee Island.  I found these Old photos from 2 years ago and thought I would share them .

Anyone wanting to go, Its affordable with lessons housing and food inclusive . and THIS IS THE LAST YEAR .

Photos are from Mark Jones Class.  So much Fun.

just goofin’ Off with Mark

That is my Mom in the first photo (below) , she was a very new china painter.  We all had a Blast!

My crab piece

Revisiting Old paintings

We grow as Artists as we learn from others and our styles vary sometimes.   I was going through old photos of my work , and thought I would share  my journey  with you .

Sometimes I like my older stuff better than new , sometimes I like where my journey has taken me.   I want to thank all the artists in the China and porcelain painting world for sharing their knowledge.  I still look through the old study books, its amazing how often we see the same study  sometimes done very differently and sometimes  very close to the

original.

Re-inventing techniques from seminars

Being able to take what you learn from a seminar or work shop  ,and then Change it a bit to make it more your own.  That is what I try to do with any of my Art that I paint.  There are many teacher teachers that teach similar styles and techniques with little variations.   The Good ones use Their Own  drawings sketches and Compositions.   Since I do not get to many seminars , I learn a lot Online.   So If i see something another teachers has shown or done.  I like to give credit  to that teacher or Artist  and respect them enough to NOT copy exactly their work. (  Unless  part of the lesson is to try to get a close representation of that work. )

For Example ,  I Love Peter Faust’s style of using  color and modern elements and making Busy compositions appealing using china paints Lusters and Golds and Platinums.  I have many of his books that  I  look through and read often  , Hoping to soak up the information like a sponge.    See   some examples of studies I have done from his books.   others  using his “techniques  and style ”  to come up with my own similar designs.

The pink and orange is one I did similar to an ornament in PF book.

The two below are firebrick.com  shots from a Peter F seminar workshop.

these below are some of Mine , using similar techniques Lusters and china paints and gold swirls and circles and detail ornamentation.

See this Wild flowers bowl (Below)  is A Cheryl Meggs design ** used as Reference   , similarities yet very  different.

See Pinterest for other Samples.

Here are a few more of mine , using similar styles and changing things up a bit.

(Click on each image to view as slide show. )

and following Marion Balwins Black lacquer effect .

Art Vase Sold, on its way to new home

My Fur Themed  Vase  “Tribal Cats”  did not get me a trip to Tybee GA  this year,  but I loved it anyway.  It was a bit out of my comfort zone , with many geometric elements and straight lines , not something I  excel at.    I found many photos of big cats online and could not decide on just one to paint.  so I used bits and pieces  to  flesh out my design.   I do not know original photographers  to credit.

I sold it to a repeat buyer ( I do LOVE people that appreciate hand painted work .  Thank you  to those wonderful buyers out there.

The lady was curious to the process , show I showed her a bit of  the “in Progress” stage , before the finished 10 fires or so.  I thought maybe you  out there would also enjoy seeing part of how it was done.

More Luster Cave Horse ART

Here is My latest Cave horse Vase done in Lusters, mostly yellow and ambers with some darker colors layered in swirls at the bottom, a bit of color banding with gold accents on the rim.  a bit different and Tribal feeling.    This is an Ongoing theme  of mine.  A similar style 10 Inch plate is ready to go into the kiln later today.     This Vase is Offered For sale.

An Original Free hand design By Cookie , all rights reserved

An Original Free hand design By Cookie , all rights reserved

I also do What I cal My Vision Lusters,  where I let the lusters from the first fire, take on their own shapes , then build on them from there.

‘ya gotta do what you Love’ ,……. What colors appeal to you ?

I have always love Blues , Midnight and Turquoise  as well as Reds and Golds . In painting I have a tendency to lean towards  the warm tones.  ( you may have gathered that if you have seen my work before 😉

So sometimes I need to give myself  little assignments .  to change things up.   Well last year I got an order for a set of mugs,  a lady saw  one of mine at a craft sale and wanted something similar yet all a bit different from each other.

the one she liked .

but she wanted a basic coffee mug shape.   with a different flower and color on each.    So I studied what I did on this mug.  Color theory is always hard for me.  it makes me think.   I had mainly analogous  colors ( one side of color wheel)  with a couple opposing colors for contrast.   and used light and dark values  and Movement in the floral subjects.

OKAY………NOW,  CAN I DO IT AGAIN…….?

I am kinda known for my ” Floppy Flowers, ”

so I picked four flowers I liked and went from there.

these are the finished mugs . The lady loved them.

a couple color wheels from the internet.  do a search you will find many.

Here is a good one to start on color theory ( See link Below )

http://graf1x.com/color-wheel-history-and-explanation/

Also  search for Celeste McCall + color theory , she has many informative posts  at the Artchat Proboards that really helped me A LOT !

Are you afraid of the Big Bad REDS ??

The Paints of Today are changing at a rapid rate.   so many older colors are discontinuned, It’s important to find the ones you like for your pallette , and test them in several ways ;  as in alone , firing temperature,  blending with other colors  etc.

One way I like to do test pieces is make a pretty test piece, instead of just boring squares.   ( Like I did with my  ” Taking on Mixing Yellow thread” )  so many of the reds on the market are very similar but certain artisist will buy in bulk and sell under their name , So you may have 4 of the same reds, all with different names.   ( as I was told by Stephen  Hayes at a seminar.  )tile fired to 015

this vase  has a few layers of my favorite reds.  NO Cad reds were used

Most will break sown into  light or yellow reds,   Medium reds , and darker value reds.   then all the various mixes with  purples and blues and dark greens added  to get various shades or Red grape  and such.   but BEWARE  of those CADMIUM Reds.   as they are not always  labeled as a cad color  and also  run into the Bright oranges  .

Cad paints do not play well with other colors, ( see here over pink flower and golden yellow BG ) and they are usually

SHOWING AFTER FIRE ALL ORANGE BURNDT OFF

Before -Bright Orange

After fire

Very bright even in their powder form.    the thing with cads is they like to be thick , if  fluffed and softened they burn off. or turn brown . do not fire over 017 -018/

• 
• 

  Before

  you can see at top all the shaded area in orange below is pretty much gone.   Now cads  will fire nice only when you ONLY use that color, you cannot mix with other colors especially non cad colors.   I choose to just NOT use them.  IF you do want bright colors , HELD of Harrogate UK has a whole set of cadmium colors including yellow and red that are mixable  on their site.

NOW   onto  our regular reds,  most are iron based,  then dark pinks and Rubys which are gold based.   when testing I find it useful to also blend paints,  both wet on the brush and also mixing dry paints together for custom mixes.

That is best once you know your colors.  One thing I have noticed. when painting next to  wet wet colors,  the golden ochers , Yellow browns, mustardy yellows are much more trustworthy  when painting  next to or blending with most reds.

so some 

of my favorite colors :  Maryland china Yellow red, also Josephine and Dallas  and Ashcroft YRs, similar are Jos. Meissen red, Rich rust -Held , Fay Good Meissen  red,  San Do Orange Red and Persian red and Rynne yellow red( which is a more red red to me ) see free style red poppy tray bottom right. .  Most Blood reds and Fay Goods Banskia red and Pompadour are darker.   also Kay Knapp’s Apricot orange , and Celie Evens Orange peel are nice strong reds ,  and Paula Whites colors are a very good set  for mixable  colors  that also fire pretty hot.  I usually fire 016 , but most of my colors will fire at 015  for first fire. ~~*NOTE  – when I fire I always VENT my kiln an inch  for first 2 hours, and a half inch for rest. **

Cherries make good subjects for testing and blending your reds.  feel free to use this study and keep track of the colors of reds you use.   on one tile paint each cherry a Different red,  on another  blend light med and dark colors for shading  in your cherries.  **Note ; If painting on glazed ceramic tiles for testing , remember the ceramic holds more heat so its like firing one temp hotter.  I have still fired tiles at 015 but keep this in mind as well as the different glazes that can make some difference in color changes.

Free Style Poppy tray Rynne Yellow red fired 015

Persian red and blood red, softened and blended.

BW cherries study

Happy Painting  

the top cup is soft blended Persian red, with Josephine  gold leaves .

the tile above right are the golden reds; rubies american beauty  ( many of those are also very similar depending on brand names.

Here are a few more samples of Similar reds. Fired at 016 Banskia ( darkest) BloodRed- old vial – Orange peel, Rich rust

final

this piece shows 4 more reds, each leaf a different one but all pretty similar, except the banska with is a cooler darker red.  Can you tell the differences?  this is second painting of depth. over same color , Before 2nd fire. ( first fire 015)Banskia, PW South Brown(name is misleading its a yellowred to me ) , KKnapp-Orange Peel , SanDO -orange Red- Josephine -Meissen Red,

Please leave me a comment  On anything you find interestingor have questions , Was this post helpful to you ?.