Merry Christmas

I would like to profit this Festive  occcasion to welcome my new followers, thank you very much. I know I negleted my blog lately but I´ve been occupied with Familly obligations and with another ancient hobby in which I concentrate now all my spare time.

During my artistic life I had several passions, and this hobby turned now into a new one. It´s out of my control, I like to change from now and then and try new forms of art,  so for now I embraced Jewelery Design.

 

Necklace with natural silk, raw synthetic rubies, tourmalines, silver from India and a belt to match made by a dear friend.

 



A set of necklace and bracelet made for a special gift to my daughter to match a scarf. This set includes Coral, onix, ancient resin beads and silver from India.

Now I would like to wish  my visitors a Merry Christmas, and I hope to appear more often  next year.

Cranberry Glasses

First of all a special wellcome to my new Followers, thank you very much for visiting my blog.

And I profit the occasion to show you some of my last acquisitions at the 1st Portuguese International Miniature Fair. I found the Cranberry glass very attractive.









Works on the table

I selected a few pieces to decorate and I choose one of my favourite motifs of inspiration, chinese landscapes, birds and flowers.

Two oriental boxes: I started already with the one on the right, inspired by a snuff bottle of my collection bought in China, I just love these kind of snuff bottles painted by the inside, they are amazing.

Another tray made by Maria Armanda. Happy me, from now and then I receive these lovely hand made pieces to decorate, now I have to decide which motif to paint,different from the one on the left, which gave me a great pleasure to paint, thank you Maria Armanda.

May be I will choose birds and flowers....

Or may be a chinese landscape like these one I painted years ago with tempera  on a real egg, duly emptied and cleaned ....

 

 

Also I decided to make a new border on this table, decorated last year, inspired by a tissue, in which I painted the decoration freehand over a black ground, I was luky with the result.

 I started with real silver leaf, then I will "age" it .

Birds or flowers to decorate these two side tables?

A delicate table I bought from David (David Iriarte) for my collection, I´m awaiting for inspiration to decorate it, but for the moment I keep it in my Neoclassic Room.

 

And a last lovely piece made for me by Maria Armanda. Don´t forget to visit her blog, she updated it with new pieces, I appreciate very much her work, she is improoving everyday. Thank you Maria Armanda for this new lovely piece of furniture, I know already I will enjoy very much to decorate it. I think I will decorate it also with chinese motifs in gold over dark blue. At the back you may see a chinese landscape painted with tempera over a wood panel painted by me in the years 80.

And to finish I made two photos dedicated to my new Followers - Spring Roses from my garden, and my miniature roses made with paper with accents of watercolour. Thank you for following my Blog. 

Painting on China

Yes I´ve been absent for some days but here I am again, and to begin with I would like to thank to all my new Followers, it´s nice to have you near by.

At this moment I spend my spare time trying to organize my self with my work, but this  is not very easy because I have too many passions, one of them is painting on China. Years ago,  more than 20 I involved my self  repairing old china after a Course I took in London, then followed by several  classes to learn the technique of painting on china over the glaze. The following pieces were painted in the years 80.

Days ago and after so many years I opened a  big box with lots of white porcelain and decided to paint a few pieces, I started with  porcelain boxes, which I´m going to show you but please note that this boxes need two more fires on the kiln, I usualy paint in three steps. Among theses boxes you may see some miniatures, but as the are so tiny I have to make some experience first, I hope they don´t brake inside the kiln, but this is my next target to paint porcelain on scale 1/12.

 

Fist fire at 750º near you may see the proper brushes, a spatula to mix the pigments, a pen to do the pen work and a little box with purple one of the most expensive pigments.

A round plate painted free hand, in two firing 25cm dia.

A plate inspired on a tea porcelain caddy - 1750 Cie. des Indes - Décor Occidental,

I loved to capture the real character of the people involved in this decoration, it is not easy 

   

A detail (I used to sigh all my works only with my initials AM)

Dish with a Japanese woman (it was painted with a chinese ink pen)

Dish with fruits, and insects

 A cake dish inspired by Meissen décor

 Decoration - a Coat of Arms 



Detail

Another porcelain Box - with a fine work in gold over relief (four firing at the kiln)

Detail

A jar painted freehand, which means no previous drawing

Romantic decoration on a plate (also freehand) 22x14

Art Nouveau findings

Today I would like to show you my latest Art Nouveau findings, but before that I would like to thank to all my new followers, I´m glad to have you following my Blog.

Days ago I found these pretty ornaments in a desplay at an antique shop, I realized that they had very good quality so I couldn´t resist, here they are together with two items I had already belonging to this decorative style.

The Art Nouveau jardinière - Leda and the Swan -  is inspired on the Greek Mythology in wich Zeus came to Leda in the form of a swan.

Grandfather clock with pendulum, made of pewter and gold painted, the clock-face is behind glass, date around 1910 - height 13cm. It needs  and deserves some repair work, I hope to do it one day because it´s very lovely. 

Detail of the one above - A Japanese Fan

6cmx2,5cm

(The ornaments in background are from a Art Nouveau book).

I hope you get inspired by this decorative style. In wich concerns my work I hope to apply my   Art Nouveau ornaments  in a decoration one day, if not I will simply look at them fascinated for this decorative style.

And to finish I took a photo from a book, also fascinated by the Art Nouveau Decorative Glasses, these begong to  Daum Frères - 1904, as I can´t afford them in scale 1/1 I imagine to have them made in scale l/12..........



A break for a tea

First of all I would like to wellcome my  new Followers, thank you very much for visiting my Blog.

I´ve no news in which concerns my work, I´ve been operated a second time to remove the "support material" of my broken foot, and I hope to get well in a near future, and hope also to return to my studio as soon as possible.

Now I profit to invite all my Followers to join me at another cup of tea, and a slice of marble cake.

Tea cup from Limoges and marble cake

Porcelaine "Tête-à-Tête" tray, with a simple but lovely hand painted landscape

I "bought" this tea set more or less 20 years ago from an antique dealer to whom I restored some porcelain pieces, instead of receiving money from my work I preferred  to buy this antique tea set from Limoges. The lids have a few damages but I never had time to repair them....

The mark at the bottom of the tea cup

And of course a miniature tea set near one of my cakes.  As I can´t find any supplier of  good white porcelain one of the experiences I would like to try some day is to enrich some of the miniature porcelain I have, i.e. I intend to profit the decoration  made with decals of these serial pieces,  and paint some more detail and a border using porcelain pigments, there´s one thing I don´t know, if these tiny pieces will stand high temperatures of 780º., as always I´ve so many ideas on my mind and so little time to accomplish them.....

I would like very much to find good quality white miniature porcelain to paint, do you know any supplier?



An unexpected gift

I began the New Year receiving an unexpected  and amazing gift, just take a look

I looks real, in scale 1/1 doesn´t it? Pay attention to all the detail...

BUT.......

It is a lovely work made by Maria Armanda in scale 1/12 , she has such a talent!

Enjoy the detail: the perfume bottles, the mirrors, the lip stick, the nail varnish, the comb, the necklace, it´s incredible, everything is in place for a great evening, I can imagine the "owner" of this cozy corner spending some hours preparing herself for the party.

Note the evening dress which  is embroidered

The shoes are lovely

I will treasure it, thank you so much Maria Armanda for this lovely gift, an I wish you a Happy New Year with great projects.