Holiday Mode

Fiddlin' with porcelain shards

It's getting to look a little like Christmas here. Time for ornaments, and tree trimming parties and family. I got the bug late last night to dig into my Christmas list. So it's official. The studio is now in holiday mode.

And while you get into the spirit of things making your own cheer be sure to add one more address to your holiday card list. The soldier who receives it will be very happy. :)

A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Ave NW
Washington DC 20307-5001

So Red the Rose

Working roses onto the porcelain

Roses are the most difficult object for me to personally paint and draw. I struggled all weekend trying to create roses on the bottom of the porcelain egg. After several tries I finally painted a few roses that looked fairly decent. In the end I had to add a bit of white paints in order to bring out the highlights since they really got mushy looking.

Today I await a shipment from Maryland China which includes a special brush for applying gold. I didn't feel confident in using the water color brushes I currently own. Next to roses, applying gold is the second most difficult thing to paint on porcelain in my opinion.

Support & The Egg

Tons of inspiration in this
room at The Met

Saturday chores are being pushed on the side so I can come close to finishing the egg. I totally took off from any work last night to just hang with hubby. Both he and I have been so busy with work that it was nice to just sit and enjoy our company together.

In speaking of him I think I need to clarify something. My husband is always super supportive and he was the one who actually set up this donation for me with this group that I have been trying to break my artwork to for over a year now. I know his comment was made out of concern for me and all the work I have been putting into this porcelain piece. I know he doesn't want to see me disappointed in the end and he felt I should have chosen a different theme because it would have appealed to a wider audience. I guess in the back of my mind (way, way back there) I know that is probably true and it makes me upset but there should be no question, this IS the perfect audience for such a theme. Or rather, it should be.

Of course, I am just running on inspirations which have been way out there since my visit to The Met last week. My brain isn't working properly its just sorta following the whims of my heart. Before you can get to "The Horse Fair" at The Met you do pass several awe inspiring religious themed pieces. All rendered so perfectly. I guess in passing them a few got stuck inside my brain cause when I pulled this blank egg out there was no other theme that seemed to be perfect for it. Well, we'll see how it's received next Thursday. I'll be there to watch it all unfold too.

Have a great weekend everyone! See you Monday.

Wait! What?

Slowly layering in flesh tones

As you can see I have been working diligently on the porcelain egg box and I have made some really nice progress. It's by far the most adventurous and beautiful china painting I have produced to date. So, I was of course very excited to show it off and left the upper portion of the egg sitting on the kitchen table. Hubby walks in after work, picks up the egg, examines it and says, "It's too religious" then walks away leaving me speechless and feeling rather defeated.

Three days of non stop, solid work were seemingly squashed in three words.

Layering hair

Too religious? Wait! Did you say it was too religious Mr. "HURRY we are going to be late for mass?" How on God's good green earth is this box too religious for the school association of SAINT Bernard's? Should I seriously be worried about my box offending about a hundred Catholic women attending a fashion show in support of the school they are sending their children to?

Defining the veil

The Madonna gently holding her baby is the epitome of a mother's love. A quiet moment of innocence and nurturing. Aren't we as moms and dads always striving for that quiet moment of love between our children? How could the Madonna, the ultimate mom in the Christian religion, or for those non religious- the most ultimate "mom" icon of high art be too religious, too over the top? Whether you are religious or not, it is still a beautiful image, no? Did I miss the memo?

Layering color on infant

Slowly detailing Mary

I know it's become rather fashionable and easy to forgo religion, to forget your manners, to be apposed to anything Conservative these days, and to poo poo any form of gentleness in our rough society. It's quicker and more fashionable to type "Xmas" instead of "Christmas" and any slight mention of Christ brings some to a halt with a snicker. That's OK. I get it and normally keep my religion and religious thoughts to myself, but this idea, this seemingly perfect theme for a huge fundraising event held by women at a religious organization that lands right before the big religious holiday seems right. No, wait, its seems absolutely perfectly SANE in EVERY respect.

Visualizing entire piece together

If this idea truly is not sane, or it is too religious and most of all unfashionable to present a Madonna and Child to a religious association hoping for a rather large turnout to their event with, of course, nice four figured profits at the end of the affair in order to support a RELIGIOUS school, then the whole world has truly gone mad.

Diversify

Beginning stages porcelain painting

Diversity is key in my studio. I love having many things to work on and I actually enjoy juggling between those projects. It keeps me on my toes and I feel my eye stays sharper and fresher. I'm also never bored.

As you can see today I've added another item to the juggle. I was invited to attend a fashion show in Brooklyn and hence asked if my small business had anything by way of donations in order to help support their cause and although the request comes last minute the group that asked is an association that I had been hoping to show off my work to (one goal of 08) but never had the opportunity. When opportunity knocks you answer and so I added this lovely porcelain egg to the mix.

Adding figures lightly

My vision for this piece is to see the Madonna and Child painted on the upper portion of the egg. The lower portion, near the legs, will have beautiful red roses circling the area and there will be 24k gold touches here and there. I have decided to leave the inside white. Perhaps I'll place a small rose inside the box. I haven't decided. Right now my focus is on the Madonna and Child and is always the case with me when I am painting humans my hero Tamara de Lempicka is there in the background inspiring.

More Inspirations

This time last week I was rushing about trying to get ready for my visiting guests. I'll be honest, I was worried and I had some concerns about meeting two people I had only talked to online. I was also nervous about some of the activities they wanted to enjoy in NYC. How would three of us enjoy The Met together? In the past this has never worked with others. Ultimately I questioned what the fascination was with Steph and this Gordon Ramsay.

Porcelain at the Met

I have to laugh now cause the moment Steph and Barb got into the car it was like I was picking up family from the airport. We jumped right into conversation and it continued well into the night over Chinese food and a good bottle of Robert Mondavi. I made sure to order extra Chinese food cause I was convinced we'd be starving after visiting the Ramsay restaurant the next day.

The first thing all three of us did once our feet hit The Met was head to "The Horse Fair". Along the way we all got lost in this painting or that sculpture and somehow we all managed to quietly bump into each other again after an hour or so. I felt comfortable being with them and I didn't feel any hesitation in pulling out my sketchbook to pen down my thoughts.

From The Sketchbook

Notations on vessels

Designs & formulas for china painting

I was urning to view sculpture and pottery. If it was a vessel or it was shiny I was there gawking at it. I saw so much china that fascinated my little brain that I had to take a powder with a nice bottle of water and some Excedrin. It was just far too much information and my head was spinning. I am so glad I decided to take aspirin with me. In past visits to The Met I suffered with an all day migraine because of the visual stimulation. This time though I was determined to be fully ready to take on Gordon Ramsay. I was really ready to add to the list of questionable critiques he received online for his restaurant The Maze.

Food As Art

There's a scallop under there

It's eggplant dressed to the hilt

As luck would have it for Gordon, his wait staff was totally charming and his food, I must admit, was pretty spectacular. If there is a recession going on you'd hardly know it by the way the place was filling up as we sat enjoying our bread. And let me tell you, this was not regular hunk-o-bread they plopped on the table. It was fancy schmancy gourmet bread that was gently placed with care and yes, we asked for seconds cause it was like bread of the gods.

Actually, everything we ordered was not only the most gorgeous food we had ever viewed and totally camera worthy, but it danced on the palette like no other food we have tasted. And I have been to many, many restaurants and affairs here in the city. It's probably a very bad thing that I am craving more of it. I'd have to make a heck of a lot more to sustain THAT kind of habit, but it was an excellent ending to a perfect day filled with art and inspirations. It's still resonating.

Wax & Deadlines

Waiting for finish

After I finished blogging my thoughts yesterday I decided to pull out almost everything I had started sculpture wise, but neglected to finish. When piled together, the lot is fairly large. I believe some mice are missing, which doesn't surprise me. They like to scamper about the studio and they multiply quite fast in wax.

One by one I am determined to finish them and I will start with the easiest sculpture to mold. Molding is a real issue in the studio. In thinking of the new year that is quickly approaching I feel a very good goal coming on and that is to become more proficient in mold making. I will do this. The four legged horse Ophelia will be cast in porcelain. I promise, as will little Leela with her twists and turns and out stretched leg. I will do this.

Pulling these unfinished pieces out so soon after visiting The Met has sparked renewed interest in all the pieces. I want to see them finished. I want to feel them in clay and paint them up in pretty colors. That desire is pushing me to finish. I love when that happens. No matter what the outcome the spark is there and that is half of the battle.

Get my good side dear

Of course, all this spark must be contained for a day or two just until I finish my Just About Horse deadline. There has been so much happening here both studio wise and family wise I only had time to finish one side of the project horse. LOL This time around we are helping artists explore painting the dappled grey. It should be running in the Jan/Feb 09 issue. I took a TON of photos and there are new techniques I'm using and I will be discussing them this time around in the magazine.

More beautiful leaves to share

Lastly, the pear tree in the neighboring yard has finally let go of its leaves and I couldn't resist sharing two more beautiful finds with you. I love how the colors are shining like lightening through the black of the first leaf. Almost as soon as I took these shots both leaves turned brown and lost their brilliance forever.