Self Portrait

One fine day in August I went to a local paint-it-yourself ceramics studio which I love visiting from time to time. You simply walk in, choose a plain white ceramic piece, come up with a design, select your paints, and begin painting. Once you're satisfied with your work of art (or completely frustrated) you leave the piece in the hands of a trusted studio worker and pick it up the following week. Voilà!

During my last visit I noticed there were several Halloween selections and I suppose the skull I ended up chose was meant as a Halloween decoration. I deliberated for quite a while before I selected the skull. ("Wouldn't a plate or a bowl or a cup be more useful?") I couldn't help myself. I just wanted to have fun. I was reminded of phrenology diagrams (see example below) but I didn't have my smartphone with me so I couldn't look up any images on the internet. Instead I just threw on a base coat and grabbed a roll of thin masking tape and marked off sections on the skull. I ended up with 13 sections and after brainstorming a list of words I drew and cut out the letter of every word on contact paper.

Once all of the tape and contact paper was in place I got to have some real fun and paint each section a unique color. (As you can see some of the paint leaked under the contact paper and tape but I didn't mind much since my mind is a little messy.) After staring at the plain white face for a white I decided to take a chance and add some white paint with colored speckles in it. I was a little horrified at the initial result (a chunky, chalky layer of paint) but once it was glazed and fired I realized that the face never would have been complete without freckles. Check out my inspiration and finished product below.

Mr. Phrenology:

Miss Amber: