Carved Cups

Trumpet Vine Bowl

Magnolia 3

This is the last of this series of magnolia blossoms I saw in Florida this spring.  My favorite part of this painting is the light violet grey in the shadow of the blooms.  I love that color with the intense other colors.  It tied the two blossoms together too.
I may go in and work on the long green leaves in the forefront, but I am about done with this.

Magnolia II

Well, I am finally painting again.  I like this one.  I didn't use any white for the blossom and enjoyed the intense colors and shadows.

Morning Glory mug

This came out of the kiln today.  Cobalt blue slip over white and iron slip, clear glaze. ^10

Spodumene glazed casserole

I threw several casseroles this summer and this is the best so far.  The lid fits well and I  like the red iron oxide wash under the spodumene glaze that shows off the carved textures.  Now I need to cook something to put in it!

Trumpet vine cup

This is a carved black Mason stain slip I have been working on. The glaze is a clear ^10.  I like the dark black for maximum contrast with the white clay body.  I am working on some colored slips, but it will be weeks before they get thru the process.

Carved Cup cobalt blue

This is the first cup that has turned out the way I wanted.  There is a triple layer of porcelain slips that I carved through.  Glaze ^10 over white stoneware.

Squirrel Urn

The color of the glaze is nice and I am pleased with the texture of it with the iron oxide of the squirrel and leaved.  It is a little top heavy in design. 

Carved stoneware, white and black slips, clear glaze, cone 10

I am excited about getting one of my carved pieces out of the kiln.  This one has three layers of slip on the greenware, then was bisque fired, and glazes with a clear glaze.  The brown of the red clay didn't come thru very well, but the shadow effect of the carving is good.  I need to work on a more opaque white slip.

Magnolia 2

This is the second try at this floral.  After seeing it on this page, I want to go back in and all pink to the blossom petals.  The different colors I used are not showing up. They all look white instead of yellow, blue, and pink.
I also find the upper left corner too distracting.  So I have another session to do.

Magnolia 1

This is the first pass at pastel painting on some fuzzy board I got from Britta at the last APS meeting. It is acid free and archival and this one was dk. grey.
 It looked so much brighter in my studio, so I need to go back in and work on it.  It's still pretty dark, which is good as the lighter colors are easier to put in at the end.  I have noticed that there is no removing the pastel once it in on the surface, and no blending with my finger. So I have used only soft pastel on it's side.  It is very interesting and new.

Carved White stoneware

cat cup

This is a new glaze color for us.  It is a blue purple and I never know where the colors will change.  I used a cat image I cut out of clay for the handle and it feels pretty good to hold on to.  This is the most functional of the animal images I tried for handles.

top of lid: Wren jar

Tiger cup

New Wren lidded container

coffee cups

Celedon bowl

I enjoyed doing the carving on the leather hard clay to get the design on this 8" bowl.

The Celedon green glaze is not as vibrant as I wanted, probably because my clay isn't porcelain.
I have never been able to throw with porcelain, but got some porcelain "like" clay to try next time I want to get a richer green.

white thrown clay, carved decoration, celedon glaze cone 10

copper red tea cups with lids

The lids keep the tea hot while steeping, and then they turn over to receive the tea bag.

Red is a very hard color to get, and hard to control. You can see where the kiln didn't reduce enough on one side of the cups to turn it to red. But, I kind of like the combination. The red is so nice on the side that the white just sets it off.

Wheel thrown cone 10 white clay, copper red glaze.

6 inch bowl

I really like this combination of glazes. I love the throwing process and find glazing to be very challenging. This one worked, but I have several really bad ones.

Thrown white cone 10 clay with black glaze and over-dip of rutile glaze, red iron stamp decoration.

Duncan on black paper phase 2

I put more lights on the left background and added some orange to tie in with the subject. This is also taken in cool light and not as bright as the real painting.

You can see where I taped it off to cover it in ink. After almost dry, I weighed it down to make it flat again.

I will blend the background more and add whiskers.

Duncan on white paper phase 2

I worked on this one today and like it a lot better. I'm not sure I'm finished.

This is taken when sky is overcast, and I will try another photo with the sun out. The oranges look dull here.

I'll have another go at it.

Duncan on black paper phase 1

This is the same image of Duncan done on Rives BFK
paper that I covered with India Ink and a brush. The shadows are still too dark...the contrast in values is too great.

But, this one looks more like my dog than the other, so I am partial to it.

This one has 3 layers: pan pastels and then sticks. There is no white or black used, which is alittle hard to see on this photo.

Duncan on white paper phase 1

This is as far as I got on a demo for CTPA last week-end in Georgetown. I am using pan pastels on Rives BFK printmaking paper. I told everyone that you can get about 3 layers on the paper, but as I've been working on it today, I've gotten more than I thought.

I started with a light touch with pan pastel applied with cotton balls and q-tips. The next layer was with sticks of pastel.

My next blog entry shows more.

Finished Tiger

This has the whiskers finished. Here's today tip on these delicate aspects of an animal. I don't use white. The ones on the left are light blue, and the ones in the shadow right side are light purple.

I put in a dark violet line right under the light whisker to make the line stand out. I use value contrast instead of white because I think white tends to flatten and is less interesting. Especially if you use too much of it There is no white in this painting.

I am pleased with this and am so glad I was asked to do it. I've wanted to do this tiger for some time but was stuck. Now I'm ready to paint more.

Almost finished

I word on him awhile yesterday and got in more vegetation and cleaner features. The nose is greyed down and darker in value. The eyes sit back nicely. The reflection is sharper in the left eye as I wanted for variation and to keep the head rounded.

Now I think I am ready to put in the whiskers. It is the last thing and fun to pencil in with pastel pencils. I may put alittle more green in the background too.

Demo for Art Guild

This was as far as I got for my demo this last week. I got in the basic design and the temperature I wanted. The eyes look "buggy" to me and when I stood back, the nose was way too light and too pink. It is a nose for a house cat.

I do like the pink, blue and yellows instead of white. I will take it home and finish it.

Bee Pot

Here is the new lidded container I finished last week. I like the color and how the bees turned out. I have 2 cups in the glaze kiln with the bees. I hope one will match.

Oregon landscape

Another try at a path into the woods. I would like to change the width of the strokes on the road. The back in thinner strokes and wider on the bottom.

Not really satisfied with one. I'll do this again sometime

landscape from Oregon

This is a small one, but I am pleased with the colors. The atmosphere there was very clear and the greens had alot of blue... not like our warm sage greens here in Texas.

Oregon coast

landscape from Oregon

Terry's Girls

This is from photos taken this summer in Oregon, where we visited Janet and Terry with their two grey kitties, Bruzer and Bella. This is Bella, the lovely.