And Ouli. Two.

Well. Never had a commission quite like this before.

My initial response was to say no, oh no, i don’t do folk. But when Laurie sent me her photos and i saw the wonderful glamour of Goldie and the gentleness of Ouli. Well, I said I would give it some thought.

This piece is to sit in a meditation corner. They are special individuals. And I have done my best to do them justice.

I am really happy. Sometimes when I finish a piece I may think, ach, I’d have done (that) a little differently. But this time. Well i think I gave it the best I got.

And how did i do it….

Laurie said red lippy and glasses… and big ears… and I’ll have nailed it. (Glad I didn’t get confused!)

So, thanks to Jo Vincent down at The Factory for her feedback and loan of her shot blast cabinet. I made Goldie using flashed glass and a hand cut stencil resist for her lippy smile and gorgeous red frock  (I had two shots. It is a fine line indeed between red blush being there… and then gone!) And hand painted above. On a rainbow of amber golden tones.

Yep. Shot blasting is all about courage but knowing when to stop. And then of course you have to keep it clean through all the other messy processes. (Thanks to Jo for the tip of firing it to smooth the surface and make it bit more resistant to smears)

Ouli was hand painted too with the images united across sweeps of vintage muranese glass. All put together using traditional leadwork techniques.

And now it fly overseas…. Thank you Laurie.