California Poppies

7/2/2018

For a long time I have been trying to do California poppies on my pieces but was dissatisfied with the results. I just looked for photos to show you the earlier pieces, but it's a sign of how dissatisfied I was that I must not have bothered to take any pictures of them. They began by being too pale, so next I blended orange stain with the yellow on the brush, but the orange I had was a burnt orange that surprisingly made the flower more dull.

Then I found a couple of new ceramic stains from Mason - a brighter, more intense yellow and an orange. The yellow was an improvement, but the orange, although it looked like it might work before it was fired, came out neon. Garish. I let the endeavor go for a while - until the CA poppies came up again in the garden this spring.

This time I mixed the garish orange with the brighter yellow, maybe a touch of the older marigold yellow and a tiny bit of burnt orange. Will I be able to duplicate it? Hope so. I was very pleased with the results.

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Peggy Crago
o happy clay!

I spent many hours as a child poring over fairy tales books and copying the illustrations. And having grown up in a large family with no room for clutter, I came to appreciate things that were both functional and beautiful. My studio is in the middle of my organic garden. Between gardening and working with clay, it seems like my hands are never clean!

Before ceramics, I spent twenty-five years in fine art and graphic art, including ten years as a sign painter. My work has won several awards, is in galleries across the country, and has been exhibited in national shows.