I spent the evening prepping these bisqued pieces for illustration.
First: drawing the whales and cutting them out to see how they would look on the plates. On one of my first pieces, I painted the form with a black underglaze but it looked to static for my taste. This time, I’ll try an underglaze pencil and use the same technique that I usually work with on the pepples: draw, smudge, repeat.
Drawing or painting on bisqueware is tricky. Underglazes tend to stay put when you fire them compared to glazes, but the texture is a bit similar to gouache, even more powdery. It feels like it’s sticking to the clay, as it’s absorbed instantly, thus making it hard to get a flowing brush stroke. And you have to apply two or three coats of this medium to get an opaque finish with the second firing, otherwise, you’ll end up with this uneven result.
Everything is so white and grey outside at this time of the year. Here are some green pick-me-ups from this summer.
