Here are the finished plates from July’s Raid. I’ll just put initials under each image to identify who painted which plate. The photos get separated from text in spite of my efforts to keep them related.
Eric painted one plate in his usual very distinct method. It’s so difficult to see how many layers of underglaze have been applied until after the glaze firing, and three look best. But this one has turned out with bold colour. He tells me he has already painted another one which he took home – so there’s an August ‘raid’ in the planning stage!
Marlene left one finished squarish plate, with a cartoon-like image. I’m impressed with the fine line quality and the sgraffito to leave white lines. She has two more to finish at home. I do understand the preference to paint in solitude. Me too. Throwing pots with an audience is OK but painting is private!
Cindy Richmond got straight to work, enthusiastically applying the colours but I think she wants to see results of thickness and depth of colour before her next ‘raid’. I’ve just included a couple of her four plates.
Mina enjoyed painting a squarish deeper dish to accompany an earlier one. And the large platter has a deep mustard/ochre finish to enhance the food presentation. She also chose to paint one of the squarish plates.
And finally Jacquie Ross was fitting in a final visit to my studio before her planned move to Toronto at the end of August. We’ll miss her enthusiastic presence – although she has been doing more writing and curating this last year than painting. Her four plates have as much interest on the backs as the fronts so she asked if I could glaze them all over and fire them on stilts. Have done. You’ll see the group of four from the front and the back, in the same order so that you can know which is which. I’ve then only posted a selected two, larger.
Something I must remember to tell my visitors is that it’s important not to handle the rims of the plates too much. They are still unfired and bone dry and thus absorb skin oils. This then prevents the underglazes from adhering completely and the result is that in just one or two plates the clear glaze of the second firing pulls the underglaze away. It’s called shivering and is nasty. After using my glaze for over twenty years I’ve never had this problem, but I’m using slips, not underglaze. For Eric and most others who tend not to handle the ware as they paint it isn’t a problem. But I now see that this may have been what Philippe, Bill, and now Mina and Jacquie have done. It’s just one each and for the most recent two I shall grind the little rough bits smooth and I’m sorry. A potter friend tells me that a little grinding and another application of glaze will fix it. So please tell me if you’d like that.
Enough blogging for one day (we’re taking it easy after a lovely week of RVing house guests and Alan’s birthday dinner yesterday) but in a day or two I shall post pics of my eleven new jugbirds.
