Bird and Plate

So excited- a show is coming up at the new Cove Gallery on Rocky Neck! I invited five women to join me in an exhibit: Sense and Sensibility.

I have been working on a series during this Plague year, a further extension of my 12 x12” installation that has been assembled twice in different iterations. As a lifelong thrift shop/flea market/dumpster diving devotee, I now find myself possessed by possessions with a (half-hearted) desire to downsize. I figured I could honor my collections by painting them before sending them on their way as part of a package deal. Buyers would get the painting AND the model!

This is the first one I made, starting with gessoed wood. The glaze on the actual plate is crackled, so I researched how to achieve that kind of a texture with paint (base coat, a layer of semi-dry glue, and top layer of paint). Because both the plate and the bird salt shaker were made in Japan, I loosely adapted a 16th c. scroll of cherry blossoms and gold leaf for the background. Next up? Ceramic Canister with bamboo handle...