Plates

 So, I've been working on plates recently. I've made a few dinner plates, which I really enjoyed making, but for the most part I have been focusing on the dessert plate. Dessert plates see a little bit less use than your average plate, and I think for that reason I find it more acceptable for them to be ornate. It is also a smaller canvas than the dinner size plate, which increases the feeling that what is served on these plates is a bit more special. These first two pictures are 10 inch dinner plates, although their owners treat them more like smallish platters (which supports my dessert plates theory).

 I really had a lot of fun working on these flat wide surfaces, but it took a few different design plans for me to adjust my imagery to the flat nature of the form. With cups you have that roundness that lends itself to storytelling. As you turn the cup the images change allowing a narrative to unfold as one image turns into another. With plates it was a struggle to not just make the surface into a landscape. I tried to create the feeling  that something was happening just outside of the scene captured on the plates. Some of them were more successful than others...

  but over all it was an excellent way to re-train my brain so it didn't get stuck on one kind of surface. I feel like I have a few more months on plates, there are so many possibilities. I also stumbled across a few tutorials from Molly Hatch on her mishima process which I can't wait to try out. See her tutorial on her website here . Hope your holidays were awesome, and Happy New Year! Bianca







                                           More plates!