AMak Color

My first (ugly) tile painting

I wanted to share with you a photo of my very first ceramic painting on tile. This is not a very recent accomplishment; I did this little project back in Atlanta in October of '08 at All Fired Up (a little "paint your own pottery" shop). It is a red Chicago Skyline, similar to my small canvas originals, but an ugly one indeed! I have always been interested in painting with underglazes, but discovered that I don't like the process too much. Painting with ceramic underglazes is tricky, and quite different than using regular paints. You can't layer light colors over dark, everything needs at least three solid coats - ugh... Not nearly the same as having artistinc freedom on canvas. Interestingly, though, after playing with tiles more in '09, I discovered that I enjoy screen printing on them. So, once I get some results that look halfway decent, I will be sure to showcase them right here!

On a different note, we're off to Brazil tomorrow. While I am excited about the trip, I am not looking forward to our flight, as it is going to take forever with three connections. We will be visiting the beautiful airports of Dayton, OH, Washington, DC, and Sau Paulo, before we step on Rio's soil. I suppose that is the price we pay for flying for free (we're both using credit card miles for this one). But why is it every time you fly on miles, you are forced to take a million-connection flight?! Isn't it MORE expensive for the airline to put us on several planes? 
(...The first part of my Salta, Argentina trip report will auto-post here while we are gone.)

What's on my easel: Notre Dame

Take Paris' Notre Dame, subtract the tourists and the blue sky, add a lonely bird and an ornate street light, and you get my unfinished painting of the famous cathedral. With this one, I am using chunks of gesso to add texture to the sky - but I haven't decided on the sky's color yet. Maybe something that matches the cathedral, but maybe not...