Ceramic tiles that bend in the road

It's been almost three weeks since I was able to put any tiles in the kiln. Leading tours, being out of town on a business conference, and other duties have kept me separated from my paintbrush.

I have to say that these days, glazing tiles is my favorite thing to do and I actually resent anything that stands in my way, no matter how enjoyable it may be.

These four tiles came out of the kiln around January 5. They are truly a labor of love with many coats of glaze and four firings in the kiln in an attempt to get something I halfway liked. Out of desperation I finally decided to apply two coats of Cobblestone glaze, black on two and white on two. Back in the kiln one last time and voila! It worked.

These were originally painted to fit together in a four-tile frame, but I prefer them each in their individual frames.

I am calling the series Bends in the Road. 4.125" tiles. 6.125" framed.

(Photos and designs copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Hypsography. You'll have to look it up.

I am calling these Hypsography White and Hypsography Black. I can't decide which one I like better. Well, I like them both equally in their own way. These are 4.125-inch ceramic tiles. Now I want to do something bigger in a similar style.

(Designs and photos copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Back to the sixties

I am experimenting with my new glazes. I like these colors and textures. I am calling this series Back to the Sixties as the colors remind me of that era. Of course, I don't remember that era personally... okay I do. But so do the Rolling Stones so it can't all be bad!

Ooooooh, I like these!!!!
(Photos and designs copyright roslyn m wilkins)

First tiles fired in 2012

Quartet of the New Year 010212
10.5 inches framed

After leading a whole bunch of tours around Hollywood and Beverly Hills over the holidays, I was anxious to get back to painting some tiles.

As there are so many things I am interested in, my brain goes around in circles like a train in a loop stopping off at the various stations along the line. I have to take advantage of whatever station I am at  while I am there. For right now that seems to be painting tiles.

I am having a lot of fun coming up with ideas for what I am calling "Abstract" designs for lack of a better name. I am sure at some point I will want to paint tiles in my cats series or places series.

And who knows when I will want to move on to something else entirely different in my bag of tricks. I never know!

I painted these tiles in a different order but when they came out of the kiln they were screaming to be rearranged. Like a jigsaw puzzle, there is only one way the pieces fit in a satisfying way.

I really like painting quartets of tiles and just bought a pile of new frames!!
(Photo and design copyright roslyn m wilkins)

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)

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)

Culver City Art Group 16th Annual Holiday Art Show, November 12

I am happy to invite you to the Culver City Art Group 16th Annual Holiday Art Show, November 12, 2011 from 1:00pm to 7:00pm.
We have a beautiful new venue at Centerpointe, Playa Vista, CA. Just west of Culver City and across the street from the Marina del Rey Home Depot.
I will be exhibiting my new hand-painted ceramic tiles in the following series including Cats! Cats! Cats!, Alphabet, Places, Abstract and Mandalas. I am very excited to be painting again and my hope is that I can keep it up from now on.
I would be thrilled if you could join me at the show. The Artists' Reception is from 3:30pm to 7:00pm. I will be scooting out just a little early to attend another event.
The other members of our group are much more talented than I am, so come and enjoy their work in oils, acrylics, pastels, pencil, digital and photography. We are a multi-talented group of artists!!
Looking forward to seeing you there!
Playa Vista CenterPointe Club
6200 Playa Vista Drive
Playa Vista, CA 90094
For more information or to download printable flyers, visit our website at http://www.ccartgroup.org/

Antique and Modern Ceramic Decorative Tiles

I just created a group on Facebook called Antique and Modern Ceramic Decorative Tiles for people who collect tiles, create and paint tiles, or just love tiles. Please join at:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=317312542954&ref=mf

Or paste Antique and Modern Ceramic Decorative Tiles into the Facebook search engine

Thanks for your support!

Travelin' Tiles

During the past dozen years I have visited a few places from watching the leaves change color in New England to enjoying a gondola ride along the Venice Canals to hiking down the Grand Canyon in the hot hot hot sun to marveling at the clear view of Denali (Mount McKinley) in Alaska (that not many visitors get to see behind the constant cloud cover). The past couple of years I've had to curtail my trips far from home. But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

Fortunately, I took plenty of photos of my travels and now my favorite pasttime is to paint my memories on to ceramic tiles. As I look through my photos for suitable subjects I realize I could spend the rest of my life painting a new tile every day and still not get through everything. One idea sparks another which sparks another...

Sometimes one photo by itself provides the basis for a tile design, sometimes I make a collage of several photos, cutting and pasting here and there. Always I have to make some major design decisions stuffing a 5" x 7" view into a 6" x 6" tile, but after some pushing and shoving it always works out.

About a million years ago I posted the beginnings of a ceramic tile-painting tutorial on this blog. One of these days (!) I will get back to it. But in the meantime, I will say that I start all my tile designs in Photoshop. That's where all the pushing and shoving takes place. You could go through a similar process by cutting up printouts of your photos and moving them around on a 6 x 6 template. But Photoshop or (Photoshop Elements where I assume you could do the same thing) makes life so much easier.

As I go through the process of looking for photos and designing my tiles, all the memories of my trips come flooding back. It's a great way to relive the experiences all over again. And as I no longer sell my original tiles but display them in my house, I am constantly reminded of places and people from over the years. (When a plumber came to do some work, he saw my tiles and asked if my cats went with me on my trips!) I really don't even need to travel anywhere ever again... But I will, I will!

Shown here are my latest Andalucian (southern Spain) tiles of Cazorla (looking from the Plaza), Sevilla (El Real Alcazar), and Ronda (a gateway) in that order. Reproductions are now available on my Cafepress store, RMWdesigns in the European Travels section.

(Photos and designs are copyright roslyn m wilkins)

The Amoebas (or Amoebae if you want to get technical) are Among Us!It was two days away from the Culver City Art Group Holiday Art Show, I was about to do my second firing of a few tiles that needed tweaking. But running my little electric kiln is very expensive so I prefer to have a full kiln as much as possible. As it takes about a week to paint one of my detailed tiles (from concept in Photoshop to drawing on the tile to painting, outlining, and final glazing before firing) I decided to have some fun. Not that creating all my tiles isn't fun—just intense and time-consuming.

I have nine "weird" glazes that I have never really used for anything so I decided it was time for them to see the light of day. So I did some doodles with my Wacom tablet in Photoshop and traced the outline on two tiles so they would be identical. Then I painted both the tiles with the same nine glazes but in different sequences, then outlined the shapes with black paint (as I do for most of my tiles).

The next morning I expected to retrieve nothing but a mess from the kiln. But I was pleasantly surprised and during the day as I was framing and grouting my other tiles for the show, the "Amoeba" tiles started to grow on me. When framed they looked even better. Now I love them and want to experiment more with these particular glazes.

(Photos and design copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, What is the Fairest Bird of All?

I can't really answer that as I love all the birds (and animals, insects, and plants) of the Ballona Wetlands. My Wetlands tile paintings aren't strictly about the Ballona Wetlands and the creatures and plants I draw and paint would not hold up in any scientific textbook. My paintbrush does its best to translate what is being transmitted from my brain, and that's all I can say about it. But I enjoy painting what I call "My Ballona Wetlands Series."

This mirror has been gestating for probably three years. I could see it in my head but I couldn't get it on to paper, let alone tile. I did complete one design in Photoshop—could have been a couple of years ago—but I didn't like it. In the meantime I took a mosaic class at UCLA and decided I wanted to use the frame for that. So I ordered another frame and after a few months took another stab at a different design. I still didn't like it so another few months went by.

Then I decided to draw the design on the ten tiles just to see what it would look like. Hmmm... not really sure so I packed everything up and put it away. Another few months went by.

I thought, well, maybe I should paint one or two of the colors and then decide as I could always wash off the tiles and start over. So I did, lost all motivation after painting two or three colors, and packed everything up again.

With the mirror kicking around in my head and feeling guilty about not working on it, I was unable to work on any other tile projects. So a few weeks ago I realized, come hell or high water, regardless of whether or not I liked the design, I HAD to finish painting the tiles or I would never be able to work on another tile project for the rest of my life!

So with the Culver City Holiday Art Show coming up on Saturday I forced myself to finish the painting. As it moved along I began to halfway like it. Of course, with ceramic glaze you can't see the real colors until after firing. So I held my breath until the morning I removed the tiles from the kiln.

Then I started breathing again. They looked okay. And when I placed the tiles in the mirror frame, the whole thing sprang to life and I am rather pleased with the end result. If I had to do it over again would I do things differently? Absolutely yes. I see all kinds of stupid mistakes and glitches. But I know they are there and maybe nobody else will notice.

Anyway, the main point is the mirror is finished and now I can move on with my life!
(Mirror is approximately 20" wide x 26" high.)

(Photo and design copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Hand-Painted Ceramic Tiles 101

Several people have asked me for a tutorial on painting tiles to install in their bathrooms or kitchens or to make trivets to give as gifts. So here goes with Installment One.

To start, a little background: I first began painting tiles when a potter friend (okay, a boyfriend) had some nice, shiny tiles lying around, some old glaze and one huge kiln (and several smaller ones) in his garage. It seemed like a fun thing to do, so why not?

I think I was hooked from the first brush stroke on that tile. His tiles were already glazed (like the ones you buy at Home Depot) so I didn't need any clear glaze to create a hard coating.

Doing it this way the colors are not at their brightest, but that was okay with me. So after we broke up, not knowing any better, I continued to paint on previously glazed tiles.

Other interests came and went in my life and it was several years later that I decided to get back into painting tiles again as I found I missed that kind of art. I took a couple of classes at Culver City Adult School, and with my (now) friend Lori Escalera with the Parks and Recreation Department, as I didn't have my own kiln at the time. By then I was painting on bisque (once fired) tiles, not twice-fired, glazed tiles.

One thing I learned from Lori was to make a sample palette. So that is where we will start in Installment Two, and I'll share the rest of my tile-painting adventures with you then.

I usually work on 6-inch square bisque tiles. I buy all my tiles and supplies from Aftosa but there are local suppliers who I am told are cheaper—you'll have to check this out for yourself—and certainly a ton of stores on the internet.

I use only Mayco Stroke & Coat Wonderglaze because that's what I'm used to, and I know what to expect from that brand. There are many other brands to choose from; again, that's up to you to check out. Some fun, trippy glazes for weird and wondrous results are Mayco Chunkies, Elements and Crystalites, but that's a whole other story that maybe I'll tell after the tutorials (gives you something to look forward to, eh?).

As for brushes, my favorites are found at Aftosa, Red Pointer Brushes. Again, you can probably find these locally at an art supply store. For more detailed work I use whatever watercolor or acrylic brushes I find necessary. I'll talk about some of those later on.

After all the decorative painting is done, I use two coats of a Duncan clear glaze. But we'll get into that later. I'll post a complete list of supplies somewhere along the line so you will be all set to get started on your own project.

In the meantime, you may want to think about what your subject will be (this is, hands down, the hardest part!). My favorites are cats, my travels, wetlands (birds, trees and plants) and the ocean (as in fish).

See you next time!

(photo and design copyright roslyn m wilkins)

A Muddy Green Mess

I haven't attempted any artwork in months. My kiln has been living out of sight under the dining room table since mid-December, but I quit working on anything long before that. I have wedged myself between the proverbial rock and a hard place. When I'm at home, if I do anything other than work on my resumes, I feel guilty. But by not doing anything creative... other than the "creativity" of my resumes {:>)... I feel like I have locked myself up in a prison with an indefinite sentence.
Last weekend I was invited to an art salon. These artists meet on a regular basis at each others' studios to critique their work. They opened up the group on this occasion in order to involve guests. I felt very honored to be part of this.
I took my "Mosaic of Memories" and talked about how I got started in tile painting.
As we went around the group, each artist talking about his or her piece, I was impressed with the diversity of the work and once again reminded of the ingenuity of the human spirit.
That humans are capable of taking mundane elements such as scraps of paper, fabric remnants, little blobs of paint, or formless blocks of stone or metal, and turning them into something worth looking at is truly mind boggling.
I came away from that meeting inspired to let my creative juices out of the bottle.
It didn't matter what, I had to do something... So the next day I got everything set up: dragged the kiln out from under the table, took out my glazes (couldn't even remember where I had hidden them!), found some old tiles already glazed, and painted over them. I knew that doing this would create a muddy mess, but I didn't want to ruin perfectly good pristine bisque tiles and I wasn't ready for my next project. Besides, I realized the point of this exercise was actually the process, not the outcome.
As I brushed the glazes on the tiles I was in the moment. There was no struggle. No question. No hesitation. I was four years old again, drawing on the wall of the shared bathroom in the boarding house where I lived with my parents. (Of course, when questioned, with the crayon stains still on my hands, I denied the act.)
When I was done with the glazing I felt a tremendous release. You know when you are craving a certain type of food (for me that would be bread) but you can't allow yourself to have it, and then one day you can no longer stand it so you buy two whole wheat bagels, eat them both in one sitting even though you may regret it the next day, and then realize the craving is gone... Okay, so you found me out... That's how I felt painting the tiles.
Then, placing the tiles in the kiln rack there was a sense of excitement, even though I could already see the result in my mind. (For those of you unfamiliar with ceramics, you may not know that, unlike painting on canvas, you cannot see the colors until they have been fired.) I let the kiln fire overnight. As my kiln is indoors I have to make sure there is plenty of ventilation which can make for a chilly night in the winter... fortunately, I don't live in Wisconsin. Also, I would like to note that it's important to be alert for anything unusual... like an explosion, for instance... just kidding. But you would never leave a kiln unattended, any more than you would leave your clothes dryer running while you went shopping... would you?
Around noon the next day the tiles were cool enough to remove. That's the best part. No matter how many years of experience you may have, there is always the surprise element. Some things look better than you expected, some worse, and some about the same. In this case I pretty much predicted the outcome so I wasn't disappointed. In fact, looking at them over the past few days, they are starting to grow on me. However, I will probably break them up and use them in my next mosaic.
So, what is the moral of this story that compelled me to write about it? Number one lesson is that I must fit at least half an hour of artwork into my daily schedule, regardless of how many resumes I have or have not sent out that day. Number two is that for me the satisfaction is more in the process than the end result. Therefore, I should free myself of needing to have all my ducks in a row before I start out, because the outcome isn't that important anyway. Number three is that the weight of that horrible lie about the bathroom wall is now off my shoulders after all these years!
(photo copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Mosaic of Memories

I was wondering what to do with all those tiles I painted some years ago when I first started out hand-painting tiles. I recently took a class taught by Carole Free (a wonderful instructor) at UCLA Extension on the art of making mosaics. For a couple of classes I was stuck as I couldn't decide which direction to take as I had so many ideas.
Probably the only thing worse than having no ideas (never my problem in any situation) is having too many (which is why I've never been able to focus my life on any one path). About a year ago I broke up some of my tiles but then didn't know what to do with them, so they sat in a bag on the floor just waiting for the right moment.
Happily, the right moment arrived! I had previously bought a framed mirror which I had intended to use to hold ten 6" tiles, probably with a Ballona Wetlands scene, but I couldn't quite get motivated to paint the tiles.
So everything came together, as these things do.
Now I have to figure out how and where to hang it as it is so heavy and I don't want it crashing down in the next quake.

(Photo and artwork copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Tuxedo Cat in the Plaka

I will be exhibiting my latest tile from my Places series, Tuxedo Cat in the Plaka (Athens) at the Culver City Art Group Holiday Exhibit, November 13, 2007 from noon to 6:00pm. See previous blog for information.

(Designs and photos are copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Grand Bazaar Istanbul

Obviously it's been a while since I posted to my blog. Mostly that's because I was out of the country visiting London, Greece and Turkey. And as soon as I returned home I came down with this fuzzy-brained virus and cough that will not let go of me. However, after nearly two weeks of unmentionable stuff oozing from my body, I am now feeling halfway human and able to resume some of my normal functions. But it's going to take me months to catch up with all the art and archaeology-related stuff that has taken place in my life in the past few weeks. So bear with me!

Just as an appetizer, here are the two hand-painted tiles I bought at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, Turkey. There were lots of tiles on my trip, but mostly touristy stuff that did not appeal to me. But these caught my eye, and other than the Grand Bazaar I did not see anything that I liked as much as these, so I was glad I bought them when I had the opportunity.
So, among other things that I learned and experienced on this trip, I fell in love with the Iznik style of tiles and pottery. Just what I needed, one more thing to be passionate about! Of course, I have seen this style of ceramic painting many times before but for some reason I was not ready for it. However, starting with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London which has a brilliant collection, I couldn't help myself from falling head over heels.

(Photos copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Your Chance to Support the Greening of LA

"Ballona Tryptich" (20" x 8" in alderwood frame) is one of three ceramic pieces I am donating to the Ballona Network for the Second Annual Art Auction to support the natural environment all over the Los Angeles area.

BALLONA NETWORK SILENT AUCTION, RAFFLE & DINNER
Culver Events Center 11934 West Washington Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90066
A unique chance for you to support Ballona and acquire art by top local artists
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2007 6 - 9 PM
$45 per person (Dinner, drinks and music)
Free preview of art prior to event: 2 - 5 PM
Art works include sculpture, painting, photography, mixed media, ceramics, prints and digital art. Many contributing artists participated in an extensive tour of the Ballona Watershed from Franklin Canyon to the Ballona Wetlands. They are donating their work in support of a Ballona Watershed greenway vision.
An integral part of this green vision is engaging both the public and elected officials in the challenge of creating an urban network of green trails, streams, and natural places - from the Santa Monica Mountains and the Los Angeles River to the Baldwin Hills, Ballona Creek and Wetlands, and Santa Monica Bay, while conserving, cleaning and restoring our water.
All contributions are tax-deductible.

For more information, contact Jeanette Vosburg at Jeanette@saveballona.org or 310-721-3512.

(All photos and artwork are copyright roslyn m wilkins)

Friday in the Poppies

One of my latest tiles, this was inspired by a trip to the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve spring of 2005 to view the poppy fields. You can see this tile and the photo that inspired it, by clicking here.