| Monochromatic Peaches I love to work with more than one technique on the same piece. Because I really dislike doing tracing, I usually sketch the motifs free hand directly on the china; for this piece, I painted the peaches, used the grounding technique for the background and finished with penwork. 1st Firing The peaches and leaves were sketched directly on the china, which allowed me to scale and frame the motif directly on the piece to be painted. My goal was to achieve a monochromatic look using different colors, giving the piece a warmer look. The peaches and the leaves were painted using sandalwood, yellow brown, and a touch of yellow-for-reds. Fire to cone 016 2nd Firing The painted peaches leaves and branches were covered with red resist; and the background was then done using shinning black with the grounding technique. After peeling the resist, the peaches, leaves and little trunks were painted with the same colors used for the 1st firing. Careful handling of the piece is required at this stage, since the grounding of the background will still be wet. (This is not for the faint of heart) Fire to cone 017 3rd and 4th Firings Same as 2nd firing, to achieve stronger colors. Fire to cone 017 5th Firing Details on the peaches, leaves and branches were done with penwork, using rich brown. Fire to cone 018 �Maria de Lourdes Barradas |
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