Color Combinations

A big part of being a ceramic artist, or any kind of artist for that matter, is color. The choice of color, the combination of colors, and how we use them can make or break a piece. Working hours or days on a piece can come to ruin if we don't get the colors just right. Lately I've fallen in love with the glaze color combination of a truly red red and a wonderful soft yellow orange. Both are from the Duncan Ceramics line of glazes called Concepts. The red that I love is called Really Red and the yellow orange is called Safron. I now am driven to make a day's worth of bowls and plates to use the two colors on. These are the first of the bowls that came out of my last kiln load.

As I scroll through my recent posts I realize that my blog's name, Butterfly Farm Pottery, makes it look like the Fish have taken over the Farm. I have three major themes that I work with, Fish, (no major mental leap there) Cats and Butterflies. There are times when the mood strikes me to just make butterfly themed pieces and then there are times like now, when all I want to make are fish. I often feel like a person with multiple personality disorder. Just to give the butterflies some face time, I'm posting a photo of a recent Monarch Butterfly serving dish. It's an evolved piece and is one of my favorites.

New Old Teapots

I just finished two fishy teapots that are remakes. This version of "Mandy" is my favorite. I lucked out when I looked through my stash of beads and found the perfect hank to use for her beaded wire embellishment. I was equally lucky to have an ample supply of buttons for "Button..."

Pictured on the top is "Mandy" and of course every time I type her name I hear Barry Mannilow singing in my ear. And, on the bottom is "Button, Button, Who's Got the Buttons?"

Both teapots are made from soft earthenware clay that started out as two forms thrown on the potter's wheel.