Pottery by Kolene Spicher

Lots of Pottery! 

I have been so busy lately and have not kept up with my blogging.  UGH.  Just too much to do.  I have some nice photographs of my latest work and will attempt to describe the process a bit.  As I have said, this is hard to do.  I have not decided differently. 

This is a ring dish.  I have chosen to keep it,  I absolutely adore it.  I love everything down to the crooked top. 

Another piece with my irregular top.  I call this my Black Forest edge.  

Sorry about the bandaid.  There was no way for me to eliminate it without retaking the picture.

The other side.  Some of the porcelain slip, slipped right off the trees.  I like this piece.  I am keeping it. 

The above piece is so sweet with the red house.  I love flowers and am always trying to make yet a BIGGER VASE.  My skill level is where it is.  I just need to keep practicing. This has a "black forest edge."

This is a salad bowl.  The finish is so pretty but it does have some crazing.  That is because one day I was too impatient to let the kiln cool to the proper temperature.  In my curiosity I peaked in.  I immediately heard the  K K K sound of cracking pottery.  Sure enough, crazing.  It's 'crazy' pretty but I don't know if it will worsen, so I have concerns  about selling it.  

This is a cereal bowl or ice-cream bowl.  It really makes you think spring, doesn't it  

This is a flower vase, it is a special order.  You cannot see it but it has a bird on top and if you look closely, you will see his eye.  He's all black.  We painted on this piece all the customer's favorite things.  I really love it.  Can you see her cats?

This is George and Martha Washington.  (Below is his wife.)  I love George Washington.  This little bowl is another ring bowl.  I have them all over my house because I was told by my jeweler that I am ruining my rings with their daily submersion into paint and clay.  I take them off now and have not lost one because I have these little ring bowls everywhere.

I am in love with polka dots and they are all over this piece.  In case it is not clear, the lady is on one side and George is on the other.

Wine Champ 

Before doing these, I didn't realize that they actually have a name, they call them champs.  HAHA.  someone said something about loving my champs.  I was like, what?  Now I know! They are extra large so as to fit even an oversized champagne bottle.  So much fun.  I love Nantucket. 

Everyone knows I am in love with anything nautical.  So there it is, a big platter with a ship.  I showed this before.  When I first started to paint pottery, one of my friends who does larger pieces, threw this for me to paint.  Again, I didn't sell it.  It isn't that I am not interested, but I don't have many shows scheduled.  I sell mostly on line.  I am so busy with my orders that I have, that I forget to post pictures of what is available.  

My favorite thing at the moment are these pair of lights.  What do you think?  I love winter.  (In art) 

I am working on wiring them and having a custom gingham shade made for each.  They are really pretty and the finish is right on! 

More George... 

This year, I want to visit Mount Vernon.  My renewed interest in George Washington really makes me feel that I have come full circle.  Some of my first artwork 30 years ago was all about George Washington.  I made Fraktur art of his image.  It seems like so long ago, yet it went so very fast. 

I use these pieces for small flowers or for ice water.  They could even be used for coffee or tea, but I think that without a handle your hands would become too hot.  

This is the back side of the above Geoge Washington jar.  It is chock full of George Facts. 

Martha.  Fun top. 

These (and others) are being packed away for my next show, whenever that is. 

These mermaid mugs have been very popular.  I have them all sold :) 

I am still working on Black Sheep mugs.  I have an order for as many as I can do, LOL.  I am sure there is a cap, but you know what I mean. 

I love that shelf holding my black sheep mugs.  This comes from Pottery Barn! 

A closeup! 

I enjoy doing these black sheep creations.  Here is my favorite flower vase with  the black sheep logo.  BTW, my husband claims that he is the black sheep, hmm. 

Finally, here is a Ginger Jar that I made with a small portrait on it.  It is sold but I wanted to post it because it is precious. 

And here is the lid...

That is it, folks.  I do have more in the kiln, yeah.  Tomorrow morning, I get to open it up! (but not before it has cooled, no more cracks!). 

Thanks for tuning in! 

Kolene 

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Custom Ship Painting by Kolene Spicher

The Rebecca 

Today, I am presenting a ship portrait that I am calling, The Rebecca.  This was painted for a valentine's gift and it is a surprise from a guy who calls himself KEV.  That is on the ship, too! 

I painted this on canvas that I crackled using my secret technique, LOL.  

In this shot you can kind of see how the water comes together and the sails.  As time progresses, I paint more and more lines. 

I thought that this was the frame and at first I was going in a different direction with this.  Instead of it being my custom piece, I had decided to call it something different.  At the moment, I am a little infatuated with George Washington.  That flag is the Washington State flag, alas that was painted out! 

I added more and more lines and flags to the sails.  Boy this baby would fly in real life!  

Do you see his initials under the American Flag!?? 

More and more flags and lines.  My lines never make sense, either.  This boat may literally fly.  

The scalloped sea shell frame is really pretty.  It is the perfect size for this and is what I decided to use in the end.  

I decided that while this is pretty, it is too crunched from top to bottom. 

This one is too smashed from side to side. 

This one, uhhhhh, just right.  Don't you agree? 

Thanks for looking and happy Valentines Day! 

Enjoy. 

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SmeatonTower Light House by Kolene Spicher

Painting a Red and White Lighthouse in Plymouth Devon, South West England 

Photo is a little blurry  but it reads,
Taking time out to enjoy life! 

I have painted a lot of lighthouses in my day, but this is a new one for me.  I really enjoyed working on this project.  The three in the front to the left of the light are Grace, Rick, and their doggy Reedus who is enormous.   

My style has always been to paint the ships and the boats in that "folk" style and gathered all around the light.  Reedus and Grace are the joy of Rick's life.  I can tell how he communicated about them.  I love the red and white tower and it reminds me of a lighthouse that I painted before.  I can't remember where it was, but it was red and white!  

The frame is a good one and one of my better frames that I own at the time.  It is a mortised frame and happens to be a tiger maple with lots of lots of age.  Perfect for England! 

The blue is in the turquoise family so it really makes the orange warm tones pop. 

Here's a shot that I snapped outside so that you can really see the color correctly.  

In this shot you can see how the frame just pops against all that wonderful blue color.  The light is solid and diffused so it eliminates those hot spots that I typically get when photographing behind glass.  

Hope you enjoy! 

Merry Christmas Rick and Grace and Reedus!! 

Kolene Spicher 

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Pottery

Nautical one of a kind pieces

of art on pottery 

Kolene Spicher 

I am working on a painting at the moment for a gentlemen who wants the Smeaton Tower painted 

from Plymouth, UK.  As I drew the lighthouse (and I will blog about it later), I was thinking this would be cute on a pot.  

I decided to put some of my Polkadots on this piece.  I have them on the opposite side of the lighthouse painting.  

This is slightly blurry, sorry! 

This little guy needs fired yet.  It is still in its basest form, almost! 

This also needs fired.  The colors will change.  Unfortunately, a lot of times as you fire, some of the colors are less vibrant.  What you paint is not always what you get, almost never, actually, LOL. 

The shape is slightly different from the other lamp bases, but I think it will go well with the one that I still have (in living room).  I will use it till it sells, smile. 

I loved the big round light that I sold at wilton.  Here is a peak!

This has a great gold lined shade, compliments of Restoration Hardware.  I love their shades, actually. 

This vase is hand formed from a slab.  The top is sort of irregular and this was done on purpose.  See how the rose sort of falls in that V.  

This vase in the front is porcelain.  The vase in the back right, which happens to be of the Bay (any bay you'd like), is earthenware.  I am really into the uneven top edge, don't know why, smile. 

These sort of speak for themselves.  But, you can see, there is a lot of artwork on these pieces.  They are all one of a kind.  

I got some mugs back recently, too, unfortunately they had some issues.  However, I know what I did wrong.  

Here are some pictures.  I have 8 more mugs ready to paint with similar imagery.  

This one with the green sails I LOVE.  The surface has some issues, though, so I will keep this one and make more that are similar because the imagery is good and attractive. 

Black sheep mugs for the farm! 

I love  making mugs.  They sell easily and they make people smile, that is a good thing.  People that have followed my artwork over the years know that I love primitive art.  I found this little girl so sweet.  This mug turned out, too! 

That's about it for now.  I will have some more to blog about next week because I have already started to paint my Christmas orders.  I have a good bit to fill so I will be talking away in the near future.  

Thanks for looking.  

 

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