Smashing through the "Wall of Color"!

I did a very quick test run of the "color" on my sample Jonah.

Will the real Jonah please stand up.

I have not been going to my studio much because I've been kind of stalled. 

Let me explain. You see I have been not only working in my studio but also at my business. My business keeps interrupting my art! One of the biggest interruptions lately has been that I have injured myself! Yes, it is true. My true male masculine self doesn't like to admit it but I have to say I have been slightly "slowed down." I had to cover for one of my staff, and I had to clean 6 places in one weekend. At the very first place I lifted a very heavy mat to flip it over and forgetting it's weight was not prepared for the strain and sure enough, pulled some muscles in my upper back. Well, it did not hurt that bad at the time and so I continued working. That was Saturday. The next day in the afternoon I continued cleaning the four places left, and it became a marathon of pain.

I could have stopped but no...never considered it. Kept going and made what would have been a minor injury into a major, life effecting, muscle twitching painful experience. So, I have been recuperating now for a while..

But I have not stopped working on my art! I have been "thinking" (I know, hard to believe) ...about color.

You see I have been continuing to create new work, some are bisqued some are not. But both the dried work, the bisqued, and the green ware, are all on my shelves waiting to be finished. I had hit the wall. The wall of coloring my work. "I have to deal with it" I thought, "and it might as well be now while I'm too sore to spend much time in the studio."

So I have been thinking about what colors to use to finish my sculptures.

This is an issue for me and a lot of artists working with ceramics. We enjoy the creating part of the work but are loath to deal with the surface color issue. Do we use glaze? Maybe under-glazes? What colors work best with what I'm trying to say with each piece? Should there be texture to the surface? Should I use a wash? But again what color do I use and what should my pallet of colors be? Maybe I should go monochrome! OK, but again then, what color of monochrome should I use? What is my "voice in surface and color"?

All through the joy of creating my pieces I have had this one sobering thought....what color will I make this piece? And since I could not come up with a definitive answer, I put it off.

BUT NO LONGER!

I had begun to color Jonah, but I just was not satisfied with it. It did not really reflect the essence of the character of the prophet. It might have looked nice but nice is not the answer here. I needed his essence oozing out of the color of the work.

I have memorized Jonah, and have come to understand him as a grumpy stubborn man who is not happy to obey God's orders to deliver a message to the Ninevites. After all, these were the bitter enemies of his country and the people of Israel. They raided their towns and villages, venting their rage in cruel and unspeakable ways. They were hated by Israel and by Jonah. None of Jonah's friends would understand him going to preach to these barbarians. What if they repent and God forgives them? Horrors! No one, not even Jonah wants that to happen. As far as he's concerned these people don't deserve even the chance to repent, and he's afraid to preach because he knows that God is long-suffereing and forgives those who repent, and he doesn't want that to happen to these pagan, beastly, idol worshiping, war mongering enemies of Israel.

So, I gave him a Rottweiler head. A stubborn, tough, prone to disobey breed of hounds. Secondly the color should reflect his attitude of "I want to do things my way" life style.

With all of this in mind, I stood before what seemed to me millions of color choices and glaze options at "Sounding Stone". Finally, after a few visits I remembered a figure I'd done over 5 years ago.  "I am the Gate". I'd painted him with two different colors of gel, then wiped the second coat off at points I wished to highlight to reveal the undercoat of color. It turned out great. The light went on.

I asked for the "antique gel" section and found some colors to match the character of Jonah. I chose metallic colors, silver and black. This was Jonah, the hard surface of metal said it all, unforgiving, cold, unfeeling, harsh. Something that could be imagined bashing it's way through life. That's it! (fist pump) I got it!

Not only that, but I believed this technique would work for the rest of my stuff. With different colors of course. Unbelievable, I had my color and "surface voice" for my pieces.

OK, Now I feel a lot wait off my shoulders and, my back feels a lot better too.

" Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, "We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son's tunic or not?"   

Gen. 37:32