It's Finished! Woo Hoo

So remember this plate of the Holy Family that I  blogged about a while ago. I finally finished it. The photo on the left shows it in "first fire". That is the first application of color. Notice how light it is.

Believe it or not it took me 10 fires in the kiln. Painting on china requires building up the color and firing in the kiln in between.

 It took that many fires to get the depth of color in the background. I am pretty happy with how it turned out. It looks much better in person. It's a very large plate...10 inches in diameter.  I still think the Blessed Mother could use a little more work on the face but for now I'm finished. At least I think so.

But you never know, I might later go back and put some kind of other detail on the edge. Maybe some enamel or luster...not sure.

Happy Paint Party Friday!  For more Paint Party Features visit: http://paintpartyfriday.blogspot.com/ 

What Did I Get Myself Into?

Ya'll know how I love to paint. I am a pretty prolific painter and I always see things and think I want to paint that.

Years ago (must have been at least 15 or so) I saw a painting of the Holy Family in a china painting magazine and tore it out. I have had it for years thinking one day I'm going to paint that.  Well the day has come. LOL.

I'm not crazy about portrait painting...skin tones, etc. Oh and how I hate clothing folds...I struggle with it but it's like landscapes I hate to paint them and I think I suck at it but I make myself do it. You can't  paint all the cutesy stuff  forever and you can't grow as an artist if you don't push yourself.

Soon after I started it, I could see that this piece was going to take many paintings and kiln fires. The whole time I'm praying to the Blessed Mother, St. Joseph & Infant Jesus! I need big time help!

 In this photo I was just starting the 2nd fire (painting) process.  I was working in the face area (where the colors were being darkened). You can see the rest of the plate is very light, that was the first fire area.  Yesterday I  finished working on the 2nd fire painting and it's in the kiln now. It looks much better. Things are more defined and taking shape, however, it's got a very long way to go and the background....well to get the depth of color I want...more fires. When I get it out of the kiln I'll take another photo of it...so stay tuned folks.