ceramics in process 10.27.2022

I've been creating lots of pots in the past few weeks. vases, bowls, trees planters, orb, ikebana vases platters, vases, orbs These are all at the "greenware" stage, meaning ceramic pieces that are dry clay. They're very fragile at this stage. In the next week, once these are completely dry, I'll fire them to the …

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watercolor portrait 8.18.2022

My youngest child Berit married her sweetheart Brian earlier this month. I gifted them with a watercolor portrait. Brian and Berit, ink and watercolor on 140 lb cold press watercolor paper, 9x12 This is the reference photo. Here's a very early stage of the painting. And me with the finished, framed piece:)

Flattening watercolor paintings 6.16.2022

When I create a watercolor painting, sometimes the paper buckles and warps, depending how much water I use in the painting. This post shows how I flatten those warped paintings. Here you can see how my small paintings warped. Start with a flat board or surface. I'm using a clean piece of paper, too, because …

using bisque molds 4.7.2022

As a ceramic handbuilder, it's nice to have molds on hand. I can use a mold to make several matching pieces, or to quickly create a form to build off of. Molds are typically made from plaster, but I don't want plaster in my home studio because 1) it takes more equipment that I don't …

blind contour self-portraits 2.24.2022

I've started a series of self portraits using the blind contour method of drawing. Blind contour drawing is a technique that some suggest improves hand-eye coordination and hones observation skills. But I use it for the results I get. It's my favorite drawing method. In blind contour drawing, the artist looks only at the subject …

notan, part one 9.10.2020

Earlier this year I bought a book titled Notan: The Dark-Light Principle of Design. Notan, a Japanese term, involves the concept of dark and light; black and white; positive and negative. It's a small book of 80 pages, but it's jam packed with great information. As a life-long student, I was pretty excited to discover …

progression of a painting 4.9.2020

Untitled, watercolor, 11x15 on Arches paper

berit in color 2.27.2020

This is the last of my pieces that were "in progress" at the beginning of 2020. And I've finished it! And all the others that were in progress! There are probably plenty of artists who have a group of unfinished works they're working on, but my small pile of works in progress were a constant …

watercolor charts 2.6.2020

A couple summers ago, I took a watercolor class where I learned that I could make a variety of colors by mixing only primary colors together: blue, yellow and red. All my long life, I've used pre-mixed colors in my paintings, and even though I mixed those premixed colors together to get other colors, it …

elly and buckley watercolor 1.30.2020

As part of my ongoing 2020 goal to finish all my WIP (work in process) paintings, I completed my oldest WIP! Yay me! I started this painting back in 2016. Before I had any watercolor instruction. The paper I used isn't even watercolor paper. And the paper's been taped to the board for so long …