Another quartet of tiles show their colors

This set of four ceramic tiles were painted before the quartet shown in my previous blog, for those of you who are keeping track of those things...

The image above is how the bisque tiles looked before they were cooked in the kiln. As you can see, there is no indication of what the colors will look like or what shapes and textures the glazes will form. The fired tiles are below.

I can only look at color samples online which really means nothing other than giving me a basic idea of which glazes to put next to each other... or not. So when I am envisioning the end result I have only a very rudimentary idea in my head.

Again, it would be great if there was some way of showing the luminosity and textures of these glazes on this blog. I guess that will have to wait until I can make a holograph.

As I am becoming a little more familiar with how these glazes will behave that end result is somewhat easier to control.... up to a point. As you can imagine, I had plenty of disasters when I first started using these glazes.

I haven't quite decided how to frame these yet. My first set of four tiles I framed together and afterwards wished I had framed them separately (too late, they were cemented in place). I am going to play around with the framing of these.

I have to say I am pretty much pleased with this set of tiles. There is something about designing in fours that is very satisfying to me. I am tentatively calling these Squares within Squares 1-4. But maybe Universes within Universes is a more poetic title. You can decide.

(4.25" tiles in 6" frames)

(All designs and photos copyright roslyn m wilkins)

A tile quartet I like more than I thought I would

I admit I had a little too much wine when I painted these tiles (or can there ever be too much wine?). I shoved them in the kiln at midnight knowing I had wasted bisque tiles, glaze, electricity AND my precious time by being so sloppy.

I had my Christmas lights blinking away, a log in the fireplace and Pink Floyd in the DVD player. With all that, could I really ask for satisfactory artwork too?

I wasn't that excited about taking the tiles out of the kiln. In fact it was about 6:00pm the next day that I even thought about opening the kiln. I took out the first tile. Hmmm, not too bad. The second one, oh, kinda nice. The third, this is promising. The fourth, I think I like this.

I put them all together as a quartet. Not too shabby. Yes, this maybe okay after all.

There is no way I can represent the real colors here or the shimmering effects. This image is a poor representative of the real thing. But you will have to make do with this. I'll let you know when I am showing it at a gallery so you can see it in person. The computer can't do it justice.

I am having fun painting with my Mayco Elements and Cystalite glazes.

They are totally unpredictable so you just have to use your imagination to "see" what the outcome will be when you take them out of the kiln. Of course, the more you paint with them the more you have a handle on them.

But they are pretty much like my cats. Just when you think you have figured them out they do something completely off the wall. I guess that's why I love 'em.

(Photos and designs copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Visit the Culver City Art Group on Facebook

The Culver City Art Group Facebook page is open to anybody interested in art. You do not have to be a CCAG member.

Click here to visit our Facebook page.

However, if you would like to become a member of the Culver City Art Group please go to our website at www.ccartgroup.org and click on the How to Join button.

We are an organization of local amateur and professional artists in the Culver City and Los Angeles area. We embrace all visual arts from traditional to computer-generated, two-dimensional and three-dimensional.

For our members we have activities and special events such as painting/sketching afternoons, museum and gallery visits, group exhibits and artist demos. Although you must be a member to participate in our activities, anyone interested is invited to join us at our general meetings.

Looking forward to seeing you on Facebook and/or at a CCAG meeting!

Out of the fire, into the frame

I fired this set of tiles Friday night. I was able to open the kiln around 1:00pm when the kiln temp was down to about 200 degrees Fahrenheit (about 93 Celsius). The tiles were still too hot to touch so I had to place them in the frame with oven mitts. I was attending the Culver City Art Group holiday potluck in the evening and needed the pieces for the mini show.

Whenever we have a meeting (as opposed to an activity such as a gallery visit) the members can bring some artwork for the other attendees to vote on. Then once a year we add up the points and declare a winner.

As well as cats and scenes from my travels, I enjoy painting mandalas and abstracts. I am classifying this set of tiles as abstract. I used four different glazes of two coats each (Mayco Crystalite and Elements).

As I have mentioned before, ceramic tile painting has its frustrations. For me, the biggest one is not being able to see the colors before they are fired or how the glazes will behave in the firing process. This is also the delightful part. There are always surprises, both good and bad.

Although I like the idea of a quartet of tiles in one frame, once they came out of the oven I realized they would probably have been better in separate frames arranged next to each other, as each tile is like an individual painting. However, too late, as I did not have the required frames on hand.

Today I tried to pry the tiles out of the frame with a chisel and hammer but only succeeded in chipping the glaze and the frame. Fortunately, I was able to repair the damage. So I will have to leave these in the frame and paint a new set to be framed individually.

(Design and photo copyright roslyn m wilkins.)

Cats with coats of spring colors

With all the things I have going in my life I need to clone myself about a dozen times. For my blogs and websites I need at least two or three copies of myself. This isn't about delegating. This is about me needing to be in a dozen places at the same time. That is my excuse for not updating my blogs and websites on a regular basis. Okay, enough said!

In the recent Culver City Art Group Holiday Show I was tickled to win second place in the Members' Theme which this year was Colors of Spring. My piece, a tile tryptich, was a last-minute entry. I painted the tiles on Wednesday and Thursday, put the tiles in the kiln at midnight on Thursday and took them out at noon on Friday. They were still warm as I was gluing and grouting them into the frame. Whew, that was close! Had I not made the effort I would have missed out on a ribbon.

I really racked my brain thinking up an original idea for this theme. I certainly didn't want to end up with anything you would normally associate with the spring season but I did want to work with spring-like colors, because, after all, that was the title of the theme. I had already painted four cat tiles for the show in shades of black, white and grey so I decided on more cats. What could be more obvious?

I was pleased with the way the tiles came out and how they worked together as a tryptich. Of course artists are always their own worst critics. At least I am, always seeing the mistakes in 45-foot-high neon signs glaring out at me. A good thing nobody else is that nit-picky. I will be aware of that issue next time and not make the same mistake twice, or at least, not three times.

So I present to you my hand-painted ceramic tile tryptich, Cats with coats of spring colors. Reproductions of these three tiles are now available at www.RMWdesigns.com under the Cats! Cats! Cats! section.

Also, I have updated my ceramics website at www.RMWceramics.com although there still remain a lot of images to post.

(Photos and designs copyright roslyn m wilkins)