week 39 - Blob bowl and more Xmas decorations

Back again in Pottery this week...

I dried out some slip clay and rolled it into balls so that I could press it into a plaster mould and make my own spotty/multicoloured version of the black bowl I glazed a few weeks ago.


Now it is all pressed into the mould, I have smoothed out the clay on the inside to join all the pieces together. The inside should have a nice marbled effect as well where the different clays are mingling together.

I used grey croxton clay, dark green clay and dark blue clay. I want to glaze this in the white tin glaze that will react with the coloured slip and make a really nice hazy effect where the pigment from the slip seaps into the glaze in firing! The bowl should be multicoloured and sort of marbled looking on the inside as well.

I also thought those smokey looking Christmas decorations that were marbled with slip looked really great - so I did some more of these with dark green and also used the dark blue slip which I haven't tested before. If they turn out well, they will go for sale on the fundraising stall as well.



That white powder is talc, which helps keep the clay from sticking to the cookie cutters. it will burn away in the first firing.



I wonder why I had the urge to go home and bake after making these??

Week 16 - Monana painting is officially finished!

The Montana painting has spent the last few weeks turned to the wall...I wanted to forget about it a bit and then look at it again with 'fresh' eyes to make sure that it really was finished and I am 100% happy with every party of it!

I am happy to say that it passed the test! Finished!



After my self-congratulating was over :) it was time to get down to some more work, so I did a few more small studies for my next commission. Everything is still in the planning stages, but it is quite nice to play.



Painted using watercolours




Painted using gouache

Week 11 - Montana painting 99% done

This week I made the final touches to the snow banks at the waters edge...and then using a wet-in-wet technique painted the water and reflections. I think this painting it is 99% complete?

The few changes I think I have to make are:

• Add in a few more highlights in the water(it is hard to get true whites using wet-in-wet blending)
• Make a few minor changes in the trees

But I certainly don't want to over--work it.
Overall I am extremely pleased! If you have any comments for me, please send them along!
I hope to get back to doing some pottery in week 12 - I have loads of things to glaze.







Close-up of painterly water reflections

Week 10 - Trees = finished

Bit of a busy week, but I have managed to get the trees finished. I had to mix up a whole new set of greens - but I think I've arrived at something suitably detailed and suitably blurry at the same time!

Without further ado...









Tackling that lake and snow bank in the foreground next week!

Week 9 - Surprise from the Kiln!

Feeling a bit under the weather this week, but have a few things to report:

2 tiles have emerged from the kiln!
The colour is differnt to the test tile I did, but they still look good! Perhaps the temp in the kiln was not the same or I put a heavier coat of glaze on the tile...who knows. Happy accidents!





And on the painting I did a bit of work on the hillock on the right hand side, which I am pleased with. I also did a bit of more work on the trees on the left hand side. Next week I hope to finish the trees and get started on the water/reflections.

Week 7 - Forests and craggy mountains

Watching the Winter Olympics has me thinking about craggy mountains and fresh snow...

This week I focused on the Montana painting and worked on 2 different sections:

• Mapped out the light/dark areas of the band of trees - I am not 100% happy with how this looks, the colours are not quite right either, but at least everything is in the right place and I have a good base for the future. It is a complicated part of the picture, there is so much detail in that area and I already know I don't want to duplicate every leaf. At the moment, it is hard to know how detailed to be. I do not want that part of the painting to look like Bob Ross style 'happy trees'.
  
• Mountain in the background - EXTREMELY happy with this. I've been able to show shadows in the snow around those craggy peaks with the pale blue paint. This part of the painting really seems to be 3-dimensional. Unfortunately I am not sure that this comes across in the photos very well :( But trust me, it looks great!
  

It was truly a joy to paint today! I was sad when I had to stop.

Trees:






Mountains: