The Heart Series!

THE HEART SERIES!

 

Directly below are  pieces I painted for the exhibition in Adelaide, but certain things didn't go quite right with the first plate, so I painted another.     Only "perfect" would do for an exhibition!  

 

And so I painted and finished a second piece to find a defect in the porcelain on the last fire.   So that wasn't up to exhibition standard either!  :-(

 

I had one more heart shaped piece of porcelain in my stash, so I began VERY carefully to paint it.

Of course painting free hand, each piece results in a slightly different design.

To my horror, after the final fire I found a tiny hair line crack in the glaze and so that was once more put to one side knowing it couldn't be exhibited in an exhibition.

 

And so was born "The Heart Series".   (You will need to click on the plate to enlarge it.)

 

Which will hang together on a wall in our new apartment!

 

And now it is October 2015!

Today is the first day of October . . . and it is Spring down here in New Zealand in the Southern Hemisphere.     'Tis a beautiful spring day;   blue sky and a very gentle breeze with birds singing and a most beautiful perfume in the air wafting from the spring flowers.  

Tomorrow I shall post some of the work on my blog which wasn't suitable to send by International Carrier to Adelaide to be displayed at the APAT Exhibition to be held in the Mercure Hotel.   7 pieces have gone to Adelaide  . . . and the remaining 2 were too fragile to send.   I was booked to fly out next week to attend the school under the teaching of Paula White, and then the excitement and busyness of the Exhibition.    

BUT . . . . . . . .

My Blog Maker, Very Best Friend Forever, Lover, Husband, Best Companion was diagnosed with Cancer of the Pancreas 2 months ago and I was loathe to leave him and go to the Exhibition.   I chose to stay home and continue my duties as Chief Nurse!  

We have sold our home of 22 years and in a few weeks will move into our Independent Apartment in  Bob Owens Ryman Retirement Village not too far from where we live now.   Type in that title plus Tauranga New Zealand and you will see their site.    

The diagnosis has turned our lives "upside down" so to speak.  We are finding precious gems in our daily life and appreciate the time we have to walk through this whole experience together.   We are praying people and have sensed God's Love, Grace and special Strength to be able to make the most of every day.

So, enough about that!          Watch for the next posts!   :-)

I'm still painting!!

I am sitting in our dining room painting a tall pansy vase, and also painting underneath a 12" shallow bowl with soft roses.    It is pouring with rain and an excellent day to stay inside to paint.    
I havent been able to post any of the work I have done so far this year as it is for an exhibition in Adelaide, Australia.    There is a rule that pieces exhibited must not be previously published so it will be November before I have these pieces on my blog.  

There have been a few frustrations while painting for the exhibition ...... I am not a very patient person and the task ahead of me is huge.   :-)

I did want to "pop in" though, and say hello and explain why I havent posted for so long.

Pansy Vase . . .

SOMETIMES !!  I paint something apart from roses :-)

The vase, given to me by my friend Ming Lien from Taiwan, was painted with pansies using deep purple and Miesen Green in the background.   The neck was 3 fires of the Miesen Green cross hatched to get the textured coloured look.    The band of gold is edged with I.Relief, the band itself acid etched with lines and then fired.    Liquid Bright Gold covered this work, and after firing I painted Miesen Green lightly over the middle section of the band.

The main part of the 6" pot (below)  was painted much the same way, except the LBG first has a heavy application of Miesen Green and when fired  was covered with LBG and glad wrapped.   It is a pleasing effect.

Pansy Pot . . .

Pansy Set!