Well, thanks to our timely beach vacation at the end of January, I find myself in the new month with batteries recharged!

However, It was really, really difficult to go (in the same day) from this view:

to this view:

But I did survive it and am actually happy to be back in the studio.
My leg has nearly healed so I was able to go snowboarding last weekend for half a day! And tennis tomorrow for the first time in 3 weeks. Life is good again!

Today I tried casting a clay tile in my Keeshond mold. I think my urethane rubber mold is too “soft” for pressed-clay tiles, so I will need to make either a plaster mold or buy more rigid rubber for the next mold. The tile is being reviewed by Keeshond breeders so I’ll be making some minor revisions to the sculpture anyway. But I did make two clay tiles in the mold that I can use in a test kiln firing, to check the shrinkage etc.

I also got another session in on the matte dappled grey Boreas glazing. This piece is going to be simply spectacular; I can’t believe I have to let it go to a client, aaaugh!! Working the glaze right on the bisque is allowing for really superb detailing. Here are the latest shots:

Also, I started on my new Quarter Horse tile. These photos show how I have quickly sketched my design right onto the acrylic base, and then laid flat pieces of clay roughly down in place. (As I was putting clay down, I played a bit with the idea of a windswept mane, unlike my sketch. Not sure if it is going to stay that way.) Just the first stage in the process!

And I did all that just today! Amazing!

Here is my new Keeshond dog tile bas-relief sculpture, a shot of the resin test cast from the urethane mold:

This represents a little milestone for me because this sculpture is my first departure from my horses-only “career”! Later this year I want to sculpt a “3-D” Keeshond, and this was a nice confidence-building baby-step.

It will look a lot more like the breed when painted realistically of course! And I hope that depending on the color painted, this might just squeak by as a Pomeranian, American Eskimo, and a few other spitz-type dog breeds. It would be nice to be able to widen the market for this tile in that way!

When I get back from vacation, I will begin the trials and tribulations of learning pressed-tile casting!

Last Friday I had my first glazing session on a new matte dapple grey “Boreas” Percheron bone china sculpture. This is the glazing project that I made the special batch of matte china paint for.

This “Boreas” is going to be a “medium” dappled grey, so the hindquarters area will be the darkest area on the horse. (Well, maybe a little similarly-dark dappling on the shoulders, too.)

I finished my little Keeshond dog tile last week, and today I poured a urethane mold for it. It’ll take 24 hours to cure and I might have time tomorrow afternoon to pour a resin cast in it. I want to make pressed-ceramic tiles out of that mold; we’ll see how it goes.

I just booked what should be a great fun trip to the Northeast in June. I’m going to fly into upstate NY, then drive over to Massachusetts for a weekend of model horse shows, then drive down to Brooklyn to visit my sister and friends and go into NYC, too. Then I’ll drive back to upstate NY to join Paul at his parent’s house in our hometown of Binghamton. I love the idea of driving solo around the Northeast where I grew up and seeing some old friends in the model horse community. I did so much traveling to shows in the 1980s that I feel nostalgic for the region and the driving around. Being on my own feeds my loner soul! I definitely would always rather travel to new special places with Paul, but once I year I crave a trip by myself. I was looking for an alternative to the BreyerFest/Lexington KY trip, and this will be perfect! I can’t wait to get on the road.

Wednesday we head out to Turks and Caicos in the Caribbean, so not much else getting done this week!!

I spent the morning making a batch of new overglaze paints to use for airbrushing. This is a special batch because I’m going to be painting two bone china bisques in a matte finish. So I have to make separate batches of paints using an added matting agent. I thought I’d photograph and describe the process for the blog.

Overglazes or chinapaints come in powder form. You must make your paints using some sort of oily or liquid medium, depending on your painting style and needs. For the airbrush, I need the paint to be liquid-wet (of course). The chinapaint pigments I use, while very fine, are not fine enough to spray through my airbrush without being grainy. So I have to work at it to get them as fine as I can.

First, I put the pigment powder and an amount of the matting agent powder, into a mortar and pestle. (I’m making black paint, and the matting stuff is white.) I mix them together and then grind them around the bowl:

(NOTE: Normally I should be able to skip the mortar-and-pestle stage, as I am now grinding my paints down using a ball mill. But I don’t have any milled paint at the moment that isn’t already mixed for glossy-finish painting—and ball-milling takes at least a WEEK—so I’m going back to the “old” way for this small batch of matte paints.)

Next I add liquid rubbing alcohol to the ground pigment, getting it nice and wet and mixing all the paint into the alcohol until it is uniform. Then, I pour this wet paint into a laboratory-grade sieve:

This sieve is an ultra-super-fine mesh (.0012″!), designed to weed out all the pieces of powder larger than I’d like to put through the airbrush. It really makes a difference. So I swirl the paint around on the mesh with a spatula until all the fine pigment-bearing liquid has moved through to the pan beneath (and the coarser stuff remains on the top of the screen):

Then, I pour the paint into 1 oz. glass bottles. I like to use glass because I visually gauge the amount of pigment vs. liquid. The pigment settles to the bottom eventually, and once it does that I pour off or add more alcohol. Then I add glycerine, which makes the paint appear the correct/actual color during painting, keeps the paint wet, and suspends the pigment more evenly. Using just alcohol alone as the wetting agent, the alcohol evaporates almost immediately and you’re left with just dry powder on the china. You can’t blend and shade paint that dries like that! Adding glycerine allows the chinapaints to airbrush on just like acrylics or other “normal” paint. That is the essential element that enables me to paint china horses the way I want them to look!

Below: bottles showing mixed paint and pigment that has settled to the bottom:


I just have to shake the bottles to mix it up, pour it in the airbrush paint cup or bottle, and… paint! And they are easy to clean and airtight—airbrush china paints last forever in these bottles. Airbrushing uses surprisingly little paint because the applied coat is so thin. The paint in these 1 oz. bottles is enough for painting the entire base coats on approx. 3-4 horses; many more if I’m only doing detailing and not major body coverage.

Tomorrow, I hope I may actually start painting! !

Apparently some artists and other creative types thrive on adversity and get inspired by misery, but that sure is not me! When I’m unhappy or stressed or anxious about something, I can’t make anything. Fortunately I have a nearly stress-free life, and it is not like me to be anxious, I am generally fairly optimistic. I know I am fortunate to have a great life situation, and would not say I am unhappy or dissatisfied with any part of my life.

BUT…!

I have been completely creatively stalled since January arrived. And here the month is already half gone! I can make a list of little things that have been holding me back, I suppose:

January is the most active time for my last-and-only graphic design client, and their work has been keeping me busy. This kind of work is the very drop-everything and do-it-now sort, which doesn’t leave me with the 3-4 hour uninterrupted blocks of time I need for sculpting or painting.

I’ve had a few little health issues. I went to see an orthopedic specialist about persistent hip and leg pain that’s been keeping me from feeling good about my tennis game, snowboarding, and running. Then, a week ago I pulled a muscle in my calf very badly, and I can’t do ANY sports for at least 3 weeks if not more. A week later I can just now walk normally, as long as I don’t strain the calf. I hate it when I can’t be active! And having a nagging health issue can really weigh on my mind, making me not want to do anything.

The economy. If so many Americans have been spending more than they earn via “easy” credit, when is this house of cards coming down? And what does that mean for everyone else? All this gloom and doom in the news makes me feel like there’s no point in even trying to have a business that is based entirely on people’s “luxury” or disposable-income spending. And if art isn’t first on the list of non-essential items, I don’t know what is!

(Aside: Personally I could not live without art and beauty around me, and would give up certain essential things to have it, but that is just me!)

All that said, I think the #1 thing that has me creatively stalled, is that it is JANUARY. Paul and I have noticed that every year this time of year without fail, we are more likely to be restless, dissatisfied with jobs or work, wishing to make changes, grouchy, you name it. Probably it is that lack-of-sunshine syndrome, where supposedly we all need more vitamin D. Anyway, for some reason the little irritant things that normally don’t bug me, bug me and weigh me down. Which adds up to a bad stew getting in the way of this artist’s essential happy outlook.

I have also learned that if I don’t want to take drugs or vitamin supplements (which I don’t; I strive for a drug-and-supplement-free body) that I just have to ride this out. Fortunately this year we decided not to take it lying down. We were determined to be proactive about it… and in July we booked a trip to the Bahamas for the last week in January!! Now with a week to go, that is looking like the perfect fix and I can’t wait to get to the beach—even if I can’t do activities there like tennis, SIGH!

In December I listed off such a healthy list of things I wanted to do in January. Having a blog like this is interesting, because I can look back at myself so easily and note what I said I was going to do, or what I was thinking. (What WAS I thinking?? JANUARY was coming!!) If nothing else, I guess blogging will reinforce for me that saying about “the best-laid plans…” and to not be upset about goals missed or aspirations not met. Way to have a stress-free life!

Oh, and fortunately the ortho doc didn’t find anything like a serious injury or arthritis, so I am now free to continue to pummel my body with sports. (When my $%#!*&^ calf muscle heals, that is!) And, my graphics work is finished. So I predict—very bad prophet that I admit I am—that February will be MUCH better!