| Grapes with Roman Gold Breaking the rule when painting over gold: darker leaves on top of the gold can bring contrast to the piece, framing the painted subject with a richer look. 1st Firing For this piece I used a 10,5� plate; a small 6� plate was applied upside down over the piece in order to draw a circle. Inside this circle I drew the grapes and leaves; at the upper right corner, some grapes were drawn outside the circle. The grapes were painted with yellow-red and the leaves with antique green and moss green. Plenty of highlights were left. The stem that connects the lower leaf to the main pattern was done with antique green. Fire to cone 017 2nd Firing The background was painted using aqua green and touches of yellow. The grapes painted on the previous firing were darkened using blood red ; leaves were darkened with antique green, leaf green and black green. (do not forget to clean the highlights again) Fire to cone 017 3rd Firing One coat of liquid bright gold was applied on the large border. Once the gold dried out (this may take from half an hour to 2 hrs) the pattern was painted again, using caution to avoid touching the gold with wet paint; the grapes were painted first, using a wash of pompadour ;(clean the highlights again) the leaves were painted next, using antique green, a touch of yellow and black green on the darkest side. The lower leaf was painted using the same colors, applied very thin. Fire to cone 018 4th Firing One coat of roman gold was applied on top of the liquid bright gold. The stems and veins on the leaves were painted using black green. Fire to cone 018 5th firing After the gold was burnished with fibber glass, the top dark leaves and branches were painted with black green, violet of iron, rich brown and black. The highlights on the border were made with a wipe-out; removing some paint allowed the gold to shine through the leafs and branches � this are now the highlights. The details on the tips of the leaves, little branches inside the circle and around the center were done with a scroller, using rich brown. Fire to cone 019 �Maria de Lourdes Barradas |
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