- Remy Jones
Paint Me Like One Of Your French Ferns
Updated: Sep 30, 2019
Lately, I've been feeling a little stuck in my life. There are so many new, exciting, and amazing things I have been working on! I just started a new job that I love, I moved back to the best coast, and I am happy and healthy. But you know when the ocean is calm and quiet all around, and the lonely feelings of melancholy start to sneak in? Hey! It happens.
Luckily, I don't like to sit complacent in these feelings. I really do have so much to be grateful for and even my crumbiest of days would be someones paradise. So, instead of sitting around feeling blue, I like to either visit with my amazing friends or devote myself to a project. (Or, in this case, BOTH!) On Labor Day I channeled my inner artisan and spent the afternoon in my girlfriend Katelyn's Ceramic Studio. I watched her scurry around, helping customers pick the perfect glaze colors and teaching painting techniques to bring their pieces to life!
Katelyn is a gem in my life. She is one of my original friends from childhood. These four girls (five including me) couldn't be more different. We met at the ripe age of 6 and grew up with completely different lives, styles, and hobbies, but like... together. To have girls so Loyal to me, and the fact that I can just pick my grouchy butt off the couch and walk myself to Katelyn's Cafe, Color Me Mine, for sheer pleasure and enjoyment is a gift that is unmatchable by department stores and amazon prime. (No beef though, I love Amazon Prime.)
So without further adieu, here's my Labor Day Color Me Mine experience.
When you first walk into the cafe, you'll see shelves lined around the store with plain unpainted ceramic pieces, you'll have to pick just one. I was searching for a rimmed platter preferably rectangle or even oval shaped. I had this plan to paint a game-day platter that resembles a football stadium. Unfortunately, they had just sold out (WAH!) so I was forced to go with plan B... which had not been imagined yet.
[20 mins and a lot of pacing later]
I decided I wanted to go with a plate. Something cute, functional, and tasteful. I looked to instagram for inspiration and I found this botanical design to copy. Something you should know about me, is my artistic skill start and end with meticulously copying of designs or hodgepodged collections of pieces I find online. However, when I commit myself to a project... I am all in, however long it may take. Luckily I only spent about 3.5 hours picking, sketching, and painting this intricate design. And about 10 minutes picking the right paint colors, because oh my goodness look how many choices there are! Katelyn has these numbers and memorized!
To finish up this post I will just leave you with some of the Pointers Katelyn gave me, because this was a new environment for me. I also want to finish off by saying I put a lot of effort into this project and I am really proud of it, but I would have been just as happy painting a small ceramic cat sculpture. Perfection is so over rated, and sometimes you just have to let loose and go with the flow and see what comes together! So paint the cutesy mug, or the poop emoji coaster! It's fun, so just do it!
Katelyn's Tips:
In the paint image, the upper left corner of each tile is one coat of glaze, and the bottom right is three coats, always apply three coats for an even, streakless color.
When you sit down with your plate, before you start sketching your design, take a wet sponge and wipe down the item so that all the chalky, dusty residue doesn't cause your pencil to smear
LABEL YOUR PAINT COLORS, you will need to go back for paint refills and I forgot my color almost every time, even when she labelled them for me.
The pencil graphite will burn off in the kiln, so don't worry about sketching on the plate or covering it all with paint.
Scroll through this slideshow to see some of the design progress!
Blog post... TO BE CONTINUED! Fire up the kiln!
