Winter Scene

From Old Ceramic Magazine Either trace or free-hand your pattern on your piece. I did it on a small Xmas tree shaped candy dish.
Colors Used: Sky: Copenhagen Blue and ivory. For the glow just above the church, either yellow red (used lightly) or orange or even ochre. Church: yellow brown on light side, dark yellow brown on side in the shade, the side with the larger pine tree. You can also use pecan or a light brown of some sort. Use Copenhagen to show some of the shadows in the snow and to give the snow depth. Tall trees, black green, royal green and a very few touches of either chartreuse or eve green (if you aren�t going to use a snow effect on the trees. I used enamel for the snow on the trees and the drifts, but you might want to just wipe out the snow on the trees, depends upon your preference.
I f your time permits, you may wish to out line the pattern with pen work and fire it, if not, you may wish to do a graphite dusting of the pattern. If you have not the time it takes to use these techniques, start with the background and paint the sky first. Be sure to put in a few clouds high up in the sky
{For those who do not know what graphite paint dusting is the following information will be of help to you. First trace your pattern on with a #7 fresh piece of graphite paper onto a piece of blank paper. Then take dry china paint, either black or brown or yellow brown and dust this over your tracing. Shake the excess dry paint off and it should leave you with your pattern. You can also trace directly onto the piece you want to paint.}
Pull a little of the ivory into the blue to blend them together and not leave a line where colors have changed.
Just behind the church, add a warm glow with some orange or yellow red.
Paint the front side of the church with yellow brown and the shaded side with dark yellow brown (yellow brown #2) Use finishing brown mixed with a little black for the windows on the shaded side. Use finish brown or auburn on the door on the front of the church and the path. Leave some rutted looking places in the path.
The figures do not have to be put in the scene and they don�t have to be where they are in the pattern. Move them around a bit and experiment with them till you have something that pleases you. Use bright colors to paint their clothes or else just use black to indicate they are there. Personal preference should be your guide here.
Paint in the trees, being sure to have three values of color, what ever you like can be used, be sure there is a dark, a medium and a light.
The church roof can be left blank, or just a very light shading of Copenhagen used to indicate there is snow on it.
The steeple of the church should be the two shades of yellow brown. Do, however, lightly outline the shape with your liner brush and some finish brown. Put in the lines at the top of the steeple as well. You may wish to add a cross at the top, this again is personal preference. Wipe away some color coming down off the roof to indicate icicles hanging down Fire 017-018.
If you need to deepen the color, do this before you put the enamel on, if you are using enamel. I also added incising beads to the enamel to make the snow sparkle. Since the incising beads I use are red, they are easy to place where I want them. I used beads from Freddi�s . If you fire no hotter than 018, they will stay like glass beads and not melt into the china but still will adhere to the china.
I did mine in two fires, but if you paint lightly, or use a lot of oil, you may need more fires. You can also leave off the sparkles, but I really prefer it with the sparkles.