Process Shot of the Week

I'm super excited about all the paint enamel techniques I learned this summer with Jessica Caulderwood. I had purchased myself a set of acrylic painting enamels from Thompson. We didn't cover acrylics in Jessica's class, focusing instead on underglazes and overglazes, and I didn't get a chance to try these out until just last week.

I had a specific idea in mind when I bought these. I'd played around with them before a little and discovered they are similar to gouache. As an undergrad I learned traditional jewelry rendering with gouache, which I enjoy and would like to become more proficient at. So I decided I wanted to to some traditional rendering in enamel. I know the whole "jewelry as jewelry" has been done, and I don't really intend for these to make any kind of statement. I see them as just a way for me to pick up a new technique, and experiment with something other than rocks. (No worries though, I've got more rock works in the works!)

The paint is a little hard to control and rendering is something I feel like I have to do a dozen times before I get it right. The firing on these is a little tricky also; they burn out really easily. Plus, even though I got the soft flux, I still had problems with the white base coat coming up through. I deliberately overfired the example on the far right, to see if I could get a more "sketchy" quality.

I'm not super happy with these, but it's a start.

Group Enamel Fire

Some time ago, a very nice gentlemen donated a large enameling condition to the studio on the condition that his late wife's enamels get fired. The panels are large (for enamels), maybe 12 x 12 roughly, and are very painterly. They incorporate powder, threads, lumps and silver and/or copper cloisonne wires. They are a fantastic example of what a painter can do with enamel, and they type of enameling that was typically done in the 1950's and 1960's. I'm not exactly sure how old these are, but the most amazing thing about them is that they had been sitting with unfired, powder enamel on them for quite some time. This gentleman had very carefully wrapped them in saran wrap, and miraculously, most, if not all, the enamel was still intact. So, yesterday, we fired up the big kiln, and had a little firing party in the Enameling II class. There was even some running around the art building, showing a "before and after" to some painting/drawing faculty and students, trying to persuade people that enameling isn't just for metalsmiths.
These are all after pictures.

Elizabeth Osborne

I'm really drawn to these painting by Elizabeth Osborne. Maybe because my life right now is so frenetic and there's something really peaceful about them. Maybe it's because I'm feeling washed out and faded like a watercolor.