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New video about lustre painting and magazine articleThe other week I posted a video explaining the techniques and… »
Porcelain painting and other arts in ThailandThe second post in a series about my trip to Thailand last year.… »
My porcelain feature in Swiss magazine Art and PorcelaineI'm sharing another magazine feature of my award winning porcelain… »
My porcelain feature in DECOR-magasinet from NorwayLast month I was interviewed by Editor Margrete Tennfjord for a four… »
Floating in my freedom, Abstract expressionism on porcelainFinally finished this new painting on porcelain this week, "Floating… »
Expressionist landscapes on canvas and updatesI've been really productive over the past few weeks, I've been… »
We are Soldiers of Love, Ingrid Lee, 2013 porcelain vaseI started this porcelain painting We are Soldiers of Love, late last… »
Challenge of abstract expressionist lustre on porcelainThe challenge of abstract expressionist lustre on porcelain is where… »
Finishing and starting new projects on porcelainIt's been busy few weeks, so I haven't had much chance to paint… »
Demo via skype in St PetersburgIt was 4.30 am in Melbourne and I presented a ribbon embroidery… »
Abstract expressionism on porcelain
Progress of lustre painting on porcelain
What’s on my mind
We are Soldiers of Love, Ingrid Lee, 2013 porcelain vase
I started this porcelain painting We are Soldiers of Love, late last year, and finally finished it this week. I was largely inspired by the song “Soldier of Love” by Sade, for the theme of this painting. The lyrics and the music have a lot of personal meaning and I’m using an abstract expressionist painting on a porcelain vase. I am enjoying creating these painting for my series on Destiny and Love, because they are each different. You can see my reflection in a few of the pics…these are only iphone photos, portfolio gallery images are available by request.
“We are Soldiers of Love,” Ingrid Lee, 2013. Lustre and platinum on porcelain vase, 30cm.
More photos after the video…..
“We are Soldiers of Love,” Ingrid Lee, 2013. Lustre and platinum on porcelain vase, 30cm.
“We are Soldiers of Love” by Ingrid Lee, porcelain vase 2012.
This painting is an expressionist style of work, representing the concept of soldiering through love. This painting reflects a time when my friends and I were all single and not in a relationship…but we kept looking, despite broken hearts and bad experiences…like a war torn landscape we are still fighting and searching, not realising that we probably needed to love ourselves at that time, more than looking for love and happiness from someone else…again, that time thing raises it’s head again through my thinking.
This idea is largely represented by the use of platinum at the top of the vase…it creates a mirror finish, a two way interaction, firstly symbolising the introspection of the soldiers during of their search for love; and secondly, it also provides an interactive process for the viewer, you, with this painting. The painting on this porcelain vase is completed in lustres and platinum.
You can see the flaming red orange coloured lustre (a continuation of colour use from this porcelain painting) in the hearts and minds of the soldiers, as they march forth, still hopeful, still searching, then broken hearted as the figures trail around the vase.
The darker colours used on the shadowy figures, reflect the tiresome, and emotionally draining war of love for these soldiers.
Inspiration for the design
Interestingly, the figures were inspired by the vase Kobyletskaya, Factory Vase, 1930 below, which I saw at Erata Gallery in St Petersburg 2012.
Kobyletskaya, Factory Vase, 1930. Erata Gallery St Petersburg
This design has been playing in mind for months, and something finally clicked! I loved this painting when I first saw it, the linear communication of ideas and colours was wonderful, we spent a while studying this painting…the inspiration has come through. I have many other inspirations from this vase…..to see later.
In my next post, I’ll update you on other paintings I’ve finished over the past few weeks, and what else I’ve been up to.
I really enjoyed creating this painting…there is another porcelain piece on this theme which I will start shortly. If you find this painting interesting, please share or leave me comments 
Challenge of abstract expressionist lustre on porcelain
The challenge of abstract expressionist lustre on porcelain is where I am at. For a long while I have wanted to use lustres to paint in as similar a style as I can to my acrylic work. So, unlike acrylics where I have a first layer of colour to lay down first thinking (see here, here and here), which builds up to a certain level of what I see in my mind, then the rest develops from that point. For this new painting I have to visualise and work through the painting at many layers and levels so that I can lay the correct colours and effect for firing, so that they will be seen later. Always remembering that once fired- it is permanent and no room for error. For those who understand the process of lustres or glazes with watercolours, this is not easy. Acrylics are very forgiving!
Here are some images of old works with glazing, these photos are from studies which I taught in masterclasses years ago:
Very early stages of ink painting, it was a study of glass bottles, from memory this was the first day of the masterclass (the whole painting is A2 size)…it was a 3 day class, so this is unfinished at this photo:
A small section of larger painting using glazes with acrylic painting, “Asters”. See the whole painting on facebook
While it is easier to control the colours for traditional painting of flowers or animals…abstract expressionist or expressionist work for me not only deals with the immediacy of composition, but it must also reflect the feeling, at that point in time- not easy when you have to wait, and can change your application of paint! For porcelain painting, each layer of paint and ideas must be fired- so there is stop start of the flow of emotions and thought. It is an interesting problem on an intellectual level, for which I do not have the time nor inclination to philosophically anal-ise- and no that is not a typo 
nor indulge in deliberating that notion here further; I have the fortune of children who require lunch and other attention which brings me back to my reality and focus (the life of a female artist with a family is interesting )…so I will focus on that which is most important the creation!
For me, this style of work is not just a quick brushstroke approach in a single layer of colour, brushed on, ready to fire only once…this is not my style nor way of thinking. The colours must build to reveal the thought and the feeling- as they do on canvas. The beauty of porcelain is that it is translucent in effect, has a different feel to the final painting, it has a cool intensity…resonating much differently than canvas does- largely because of the difference in painting surface. Of course brushwork is inherently connected to this, but it is more like an extension like a petal opening to reveal what is inside, or at times it is a linear communication in itself.
For this painting, I know that on the final layer, I will use gold/platinum work and maybe some paste- so this is not thought of until the end- they are the final thoughts and solutions to the idea expressed. But like on my acrylic paintings, where I have these layers of medium lights, I must plan for these in advance and work down, not up in the painting- if that makes sense. I realise that I need to ‘feel’ in the middle of the painting, and work down to create the depths which will reveal the final lights….a problem which I worked through in the painting “Maybe It’s Love.”
This is the plate I’m working on, a 30.5 cm oval porclain plate..concept explores the dream like state of being in love, love is a two way dream….
Masking fluid for the lighter areas. This is what the lustres paints look like before I fire it….there are 5 colours on this plate.
I decided to try another approach and started a second plate, and add the second figure on the first firing, and simplify the design at this stage, also using different colours (again unfired).
It is an interesting method for me to try channel my feelings and thoughts to be expressed in this style. I was really happy with the paintings “Falling to Pieces” they ustilised more simple techniques, effects and design elements to express the ideas with. The current plate of “Union” precipitated some of those techniques I had been thinking through…I think I have now been able to think it through more. The challenge of lustres is that I cannot see any intensity of ‘real’ colour as they are all brown or yellow or green liquids…so I think tonally and ignore the chroma. So it is painting on many levels, like a mental multitasking, so that the final result will represent my initial response to the muse or concept- I keep journal to map out the plan.
Is it abstract expressionist work or expressionist?
While it is not important for me to find a box to place my work into, it is an interesting notion for me to think about- this one time In my concise nutshell, the tradition of abstract expressionsim in the 1940s America, reflected spontaneity of brushwork and application of paint to release the creativity of the unconscious mind. The method of painting was as fundamental as the painting itself. Interestingly such works during this movement were at time neither abstract, or expressionist ..rather focusing on the spontaneity as previously described. So in relation to porcelain painting using my methods…how spontaneous is sponteneous?
Willem de Kooning, Mary Callery, Arshile Gorky, Helen Frankenthaler are particular influences for me.
Then, expressionism, largely founded in Germany 1905-1930s reflects intense, personal and passionate expressions of the artist;s inner most feelings, rather than to represent reality of the world around them. It is characteristic of violet, unreal brushwork and vibrant colour. Conceptually the canvas is the vehicle for where he emotions are communicated from. See more images etc here. Particular influences of Chagall, Kandinsky, Klee, Marc, Macke, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova and Max Ernst. A gallery of images from this movement at the Guggenheim
What ever it is is not important, rather it is the expressive processes and product of creativity involved in these lustre applications which drives my work.
Finishing and starting new projects on porcelain
It’s been busy few weeks, so I haven’t had much chance to paint porcelain- except for today! The luxury of almost a whole day without interruptions, instead of painting late at night or in bits and pieces during the day It’s ok really, I’ve been working on a few collaborative art projects, one with an overseas company for licensing distribution of my paintings, and another project for demonstrations later in the year…I’ll divulge more about those in time. But all of the paper work and organising of those have taken up a lot of time. I had a fun demonstration via skype the other night, and otherwise I’ve been planning and planning new art works.
Today I finally finished the canvas painting I started late last year (see progress here), I’ll post the finished painting once it has been sufficiently dried and varnished. I’m really glad that one is out of my headspace…as I move onto porcelain paintings.
Here are some snap shots of first firings or early stages of these lustre paintings on porcelain, both part of the Destiny and Love series.
This painting is a 30.5cm oval plate, and will be titled ‘Union’ you can see the colour plan on the drawing, this shows a few of the colours I will use as the unfired lustre work is all yellow-brownish in colour. This painting was inspired by a poem I wrote about the concept of union, and the text will also feature on this design. This design element links to the next painting which will explore asemic writing (what? read on ).
Here is the early stage of the painting ‘Introspection’ which I wrote about here. This will also be completed with lustre paints, gold and platinum. This painting will feature Asemic writing, which
‘is a wordless open semantic form of writing. The word asemic means “having no specific semantic content”. With the
nonspecificity of asemic writing there comes a vacuum of meaning which is left for the reader to fill in and interpret. All of this is
similar to the way one would deduce meaning from an abstract work of art. The open nature of asemic works allows for meaning
to occur trans-linguistically; an asemic text may be “read” in a similar fashion regardless of the reader’s natural language. Multiple
meanings for the same symbolism are another possibility for an asemic work.’ 1
I love the idea of asemic writing, and it totally fits in with this design conceptually. It not only resonates with the abstract work I paint, but I’m getting to reconnect with my past…did you know I used to lecture in linguistics and language (among other arts subjects) at university? This connection I find fascinating to explore, while that work was many years ago now, I’ve always had an interest in the semantics and semiotics of language. So this element is a nice way to return to the past and enjoy some brain play for me…I am happy! 
While these are in the kiln, I’ll start a new canvas painting which has been on the back burner, and finish my design plans for asemic writing- while I still have free time!
Reference
1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asemic_writing, as cited from Michael Jacobson, The Giant’s Fence. Barbarian Interior Books, 2006.
Viewed on 27/01/13
Silk Ribbons and roses…what am I doing??
Silk Ribbons and roses…what am I doing?? If you’ve read most of the posts to date, I’m busy painting on a variety of projects, so what do I do when I need a break? I spend time in my rose garden. I always share my garden with my online friends and followers, and I’ve written and posted about it my blogs before…but this is where I relax and have space. My beautiful roses were in full bloom when I got home from Thailand inn November 2012; but sadly because of the heat now in January, my garden is not happy. So to brighten my day, I’ve gone to look back on my photos from last November, and I’ve been inspired to work on an silk ribbon project I started last year.
This rose isn’t finished yet, but it gives you an idea of what I’m doing. I am using the colours of my roses to create the silk roses on this art work. I find making these silk works a very relaxing experience, and even though it is still painting and creating, it is not as emotionally and mentally tiring as my other work at the moment; but it is very rewarding. Clearly, this one rose is not finished…but I hope you enjoy this early stage of the work. I really enjoy combining painting, traditional embroidery stitches, and ribbons for this style of art, see some of Other ribbon work.
What do you create to relax? Please share you ideas in the comments If you like this picture or post, please share with the likes, pins or tweets below!
Tours, events and hairy pancakes in Thailand
Finally I have time to sit and write about my amazing week in Thailand last year. During the 8-11 November 2012, I was invited as a guest artist by artist, Helga Jaermann (Painting Teacher at the Bangsai Arts and Crafts Centre, and notable master in porcelain painting for over 40 years), to exhibit my porcelain paintings at the Thailand International Porcelain Painting Convention in honour of the Queen Sirikit’s 80th birthday celebrations. I won some awards, if you haven’t seen them, they are here, and here. So what else happened on this trip? HEAPS!!!!!! I’ve decided to write three posts one about the art and artists in Thailand, another about an award winning Thai artist who I also bought an artwork from, and this one about Tours, events and hairy pancakes! I’m going to do a picture story style post with a little bit of description, there are a few videos too…pictures tell more than me writing- and I could go on and on, believe me! It was a fantastic experience, and I plan to go back again in the very near future.
Artists Ingrid Lee and Yumiko Kanazawa
If you’d like a thorough detail of this trip day by day, please read my dear friend and sister Yumiko Kanazawa’s blogpost about our trip- we travelled together on this trip. Yumi is a Japanese artist, she won an award too, I love the story behind her paintings and the wonderfully creative journey she is on.
I really want to learn her kutani painting, I plan to travel to Japan to learn kutani painting with Yumi and her Master, and see more about Yumi’s integration of East meets West painting.
Thailand 2012
We stayed at Dream Hotel, Bangkok…the hotel was fantastic, all of the staff were wonderfully friendly and helpful, we had a very pleasurable stay. The restaurant food was really great…good atmosphere for late night drinks too. It is very hot in Thailand, but the hotel was totally air conditioned without fail!
Photo courtesy Dream Hotel website
Views outside of our hotel room
DAY 1:
After a 1+ hour bus ride we arrived at Donkaidee Benjarong Village
I will show more of the artwork from this award winning porcelain painting gallery and studio in the next post. At this venue, you can stay and study with the artists here also! Something to think about maybe for the next trip Yumiko? There are many places in Thailand, with posters and paintings of the beautiful Queen Sirikit, I can see why her people love her so much, and her smile exudes such warmth and friendliness, which is seen in all the people I met with.
Photo courtesy Nielia Ferrier
Very large hand painted wall tile
On the riverboat, thankful for the cool breeze and wonderful entertainment form the musicians and dancers! Did I mention Thailand was hot?
We ate a wonderful banquet lunch on the river…
This is a short video I took of an internal waterfall at the lunch venue….I want this in my studio! Can you imagine such luxury in a workplace?? How relaxing and inspiring…..a dream!
King Rama II Memorial Park gardens….beautiful~
We then visited a temple and training ground…
Later that evening we attended the opening ceremony…and met BOND!!!!! Bond Malikaew paints on porcelain as well, and has a very interesting alla prima method his works are very expressive. Bond was an awesome host, and friend to us both, we hope to catch up with him again soon on our travels.
Later that evening, Bond took Yumi and I to the Hotel Sirroco...AMAZING place!!!!! is all I can say…thank you Bond . I loved the skybar! It was a fantastic evening after a really busy day…and we still continued on into the early morning at some fun places.
DAY 2: At TIPP 2012 Bangsai
We actually did a lot on this day, but I’m saving these stories for my next blog post. Here is the TIPP convention in Bangsai, at The SUPPORT Arts and Crafts International Centre of Thailand (SACICT).
Day 3- Guest artist Lunch, Tour to a temple and hairy pancakes
Helga Jaermann, Patrice Frass (editor of Magazine Art and Porcelaine), and me- Thailand Porcelain Convention 2012. In this photo you can see a little pin which Helga and I are wearing, I was presented with this pin for being a guest artist. You can see more of the Thailand Trip, paintings by Yumi and myself, and other art works from the whole event in the Magazine Art and Porcelaine.
I actually bought this painting by award winning artist (plate here in the photo below)…you can read more about that and see the video soon. Here, I’m speaking to the interpreter. I spent most of this day talking to artists and shopping….I know that doesn’t surprise you Yes I bought one pair of shoes- slip on ones, because I got nasty blisters and foot swelling from the heat, so my little black patent leather flats were quite useless for comfort. In saying that I still painfully squeezed my feet in the gold strappy shoes for the Royal Gala Award dinner and presentations- as you do!
Later that day, the feature and guest artists were invited to a special lunch at the Bangsai Arts and Crafts Centre. The food and hospitality was wonderful, and a great venue also. We got to see lots of Thai artwork, including some contemporary art- you’ll these photos in my next post (sorry, there’s not enough room in this post!) Here is just the start of the banquet, the whole table was filled with delicious spicy and hot dishes, fish, lobster, soup…too much to mention.
Some of the feature and guest artists from the lunch….(left) Yumiko Kanazawa, Helga Jaermann, Rocio Borobia, Me, Marie-Clarie Frass, Sudasamorn Suwancharoen , Joerg Kugelmeier, Erika Bemme, Di Curtin, Nelia Ferreira and Beatriz Ramirez.
Wat Yai Chaya Mongkol (The Great Temple of Auspicious Victory), Ayudhaya, Thailand.
After the lunch we were taken in small groups to a Buddhist temple, which was known as the Royal temple, when Ayudhaya was the capital city back in 1350. This temple has great historical significance, it was the seat of Buddhist patriarchs and monks who practices meidation and insight. This temple was named after the Victory of the King Naresuan the Great over the Burmese invasion in 1593. I absolutely loved this part of the day and the trip. For me going to any spiritual place always gives me a deep sense of inner peace and calm. These places for me have different energy and resonance which I feel as soon as I enter them- maybe it’s just me. Whether it was in cathedrals in St Petersburg or Moscow, local cathedrals and churches in Australia, and the Buddhist temple here in Thailand, I always receive a great sense of calm and peace. This was a wonderful opportunity to be thankful for my journeys, and pray for my family and friends and make that time for quietening the mind and spirit. I love having the porcelain painting of the Buddha in my home- I find it to be a meditative point in my home to use throughout the day, and brings happy memories, and takes me back the quiet I experienced at this temple.
NEXT! more food
Hairy pancakes that’s what I called them anyway….these are a fruit flavoured crepe batter- banana, kiwi,vanilla (I think) and some other fruit. The pancakes are soooo delicious on their own, but then it gets better, you fill them with flavoured and coloured fairy floss (more like persian fairy floss texture). The floss resembles the texture of silk strands. You then assemble like a filled crepe, roll it up and eat! These were freshly cooked and still a little warm, Yumi and I loved them…I ate all of mine, I assure you I was thinking of you all
Yumi, I was tempted to show that picture…..but I didn’t
Day 4- Awards and Gala Dinner
A BUSY day and evening. Most of the morning was spent doing promotional photos and more shopping (of course!)
Ingrid Lee, Yumiko Kanazawa, Marie Claire Frass, Di Curtin, a great photo of the morning when the awards were announced for the porcelain competition.
Di Curtin was one of the Feature Artists at TIPP, she is the Australasian President of APAT and together with her committee in New South Wales, is organising the next Australasian Exhibition & Convention in Sydney in October 2013. You can see the painting of Australian flannel flowers in her contemporary style, which Di presented for auction in honour of the Queen of Thailand’s Birthday, see Di’s photo and the APAT fan page. I look forward to seeing many of you at this event, I will be doing some demonstrations there- more about this later.
Below is Chakrawut Phongkraisrisiri, Helga Jaermann, and Karom Boontem. These are her award winning students from the Bangsai Painting Station, for the TIPP 2012, you can see their winning paintings and my vase far right.
Later that evening…….the big event! Here, Bond and I…actually our hair is almost matching- and our clothing compliments too (he a purple coloured sash band)…really the three of us matched! This was only the start of tonnes of publicity photos for the evening, I was really surprised at how special and BIG this event really was. I’m still amazed.
Ingrid Lee and His Excellency The Privy Counsellor, Thailand…Here I am talking about my two award winning paintings at the vernissage, prior to accepting the award.
Here I am saying thankyou “Kob Khun Ka” to His Excellency for listening to my Vernissage.
Receiving one of my awards….we had to rehearse the formal acceptance and curtsy.
Can I explain the hair issue, which is bugging me in all of these photos….humidity, a tiny can of hairspray and heat, and I’ll repeat humidity again with curly hair do not mix. I needed more hairspray, and you can only take tiny cans on the plane, and I couldn’t get these little cans with super stayfix lacquer…for those of you who know me really well, you’ll understand my need to make this comment.
New friendships were made during this trip, and I can’t wait to catch up with many of these lovely people again. Here I am with Sudasamorn Suwancharoen, a lovely woman, and was very hospitable and welcoming. I love her bright coloured clothing throughout the week…her silk suits were impeccable.
Me, Yumi, Ivonne Planos, Audney Thuestad, Helga Jaermann
I hope you enjoyed this blog post about my trip to Thailand. The next blog post will be about some of the artists I met with and beautiful art works and handicrafts I saw, and there’ll be one more after that featuring videos with the artist who painted the Buddha plate I purchased…so make sure you catch the newsfeed of follow me on my networks (top left of page).
I’d love to hear what you think about this trip, please leave your comments or share this blog post with your friends, click on the social networks below! Thanks
The journey of Destiny and Love, what I’m painting
I started this painting at the beginning of December, and it is still on the go (yes the other porcelain paintings I’ve been working on are still being worked on too…but things dry at different times, kiln firings take time, so I maximise my time! ). This post is to document my thinking through this painting and where I am at during this series of art works about Destiny and Love…it’s a long post. This series of artworks has been an interesting journey, one of bringing up old feelings, sharing experiences which are personal, or had been locked away, thinking and observations of love over the years, inspirations from what I read and music I listen to…and while I paint and explore, I expect that the works will represent the thinking through my understanding of the concepts. This is one of the largest paintings I’m working on in the series of Destiny and Love, it’s 152 cm x 90cm…I have not given it a title yet.
I have been researching Tenebrist painting, particularly the works of female Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi.
“Judith and Her Maidservant” by Artemisia Gentileschi
Her paintings left an impression on me since I first saw her work at a Melbourne exhibition in 2004 (I will write about this in another blog post). The use of extreme contrasts of light and dark in figurative compositions to reflect drama is a technique which is of particular interest. While my current painting is not figurative nor technically tenebrist, (my other paintings using this technique will be different, talk about this later), this painting is the first process of discovery for communication of style and thought of an adaptation of it. For this painting, I wanted to use my techniques of layering intense complimentary colours in contrast to darker background, to show reveal the composition and forms (in place of the figure), in abstract expressionist style.
Here is the first layer of undercolours and combinations of intense colours.
Underpainting, Ingrid Lee
As the painting has progressed, the darker values are working to create the contrasts and mood. I do not work with black, I prefer to create a richness which balances throughout the painting and mix with my own darkest values, and contrasting them with complimentary colours to grey them down or make them pop. The paints I use are a flow consistency, not structural, so they are easier to build up with thin layers of glazing. For me I still want life in the painting, and to utilize the idea of movement in the background of the painting, as shown in Velazquez’s work, I will see how this approach goes.
…still a long way to go….
So how does this connect to Destiny and Love?
Destiny….how do I understand it now, after 8 paintings (I haven’t shared all completed art works at the moment, I have planned for about 20 more)???? Is destiny the result of wanting what you want today, but realising that it takes longer to have what you desire, and what you desire will truly come in time? I think that concepts I’ve explored in the paintings so far direct my thinking that all things will come in perfect time, and that we should enjoy the journey while finding what it is we want…maybe this is destiny.
The biggest part of my journey through these paintings has resulted in my learning about how to deal with my relationship between impatience and time- something which also I have learned about through love. So I think that destiny is a journey, not a finite thing that will result in happiness or unhappiness, it’s not about getting what you want, but what you are going to discover about yourself.
Through abstract expressionism I have been able to communicate my actions and immediate feelings and responses to experiences and observations about Love and Destiny. Through this whole journey, which started as far back as the creation of Ingrid-creates, and my exhibition of Journey for the artistic soul in Russia, and my research for this current series of paintings, I have realised that I am not fearful of feeling or expressing my feelings and thoughts because I have come to realise, that that which makes me sad or disconnected, or fearful is really an energy and experience which can I use to transcend from those shadows toward finding light and hope, this is the path to the journey of finding love…maybe. This painting in particular represents that transcendence. So this journey of being connected to my feelings and expectations of what I want is going to reveal something wonderful.
What this journey is…is not about romantic love, this is about love for myself, learning to express those feelings connected with our everyday perceptions of love, but really what I have been destined to do, as I understand it, is to find and understand the passion within, harness it, by making the choice to create my experiences.
I will wait to see how this painting finishes…..
Another painting on porcelain in this series “Maybe it’s Love”
Inspiration for porcelain painting
Just sharing a beautiful painting by Emma Meyer, of women decorating porcelain. I just want to thank my friend from facebook, Marina Orlova, for posting this beautiful and inspiring art work to me this morning….a wonderful way to start my day. The fantastic part about being an artist, and in particular an artist on porcelain are the friendships which connect us all from this art form. I have been truly blessed that I not only gain great pleasure artistically and spiritually as an artist to paint on porcelain, but I have made the most amazing friendships with fellow artists and art lovers internationally from this beautiful medium also.
- Emma Meyer (Danish, 1859-1921).
Women decorating porcelain at Den Kgl. Porcelansfabrik (Royal Copenhagen).
Maybe It’s Love, by Ingrid Lee 2012 porcelain plate 38cm.
This porcelain plate titled “Maybe It’s Love” was exhibited in the non competition section of the International exhibit for the Thailand International Porcelain Painters Convention 2012. This painting is part of a larger body of work called Destiny and Love. The style of this painting is abstract expressionism, and uses a variety of techniques of onglaze paints, gold pen work, and raised paste with burnishing gold.
“Maybe It’s Love” by Ingrid Lee 2012, porcelain plate 38.1 cm.
Background to the composition:
I have been fascinated with the communication of eyes for many years in art…I have a created many drawings of eyes over the years, some of which were used in my Gogol inspired painting which is still being exhibited in St Petersburg, Russia.
“Gogol’s search for artist’s truth” 2012, Ingrid Lee, acrylic on canvas, 104 x 104 cm
I also enjoy working in an abstract expressionist style…here is one of my paintings Happy Love, completed in 2004 acrylic on canvas.
Happy Love, 2004 acrylic on canvas, Ingrid Lee
During my trip to Moscow this year I was inspired by the modern artworks I studied at the Museum of Private Collections near the Pushkin Museum. I had some interesting conversations with one of the women who work at the gallery about the early soviet gouache and inks graphics and paintings which were placed under velvet covered glass cabinets. Lifting each velvet cover revealed new wonders…of course I was inspired!
I was also recently inspired by many of the Kandinsky and Picasso paintings (too many other favourites to list and add photos here) which I saw in Moscow and also St Petersburg at the Erata Gallery when I went to a visit art galleries and museums with professional porcelain artist Alexei Nordin (during my 2012 trip to Russia and again during my 2011 trip). This was not my only source of inspiration, there were many other modern art works in different art forms also. After each trip, I made copious studies and notes from these gallery visits so I would not forget….a habit I have kept for many years.
Ingrid Lee in St Petersburg with Kandinsky painting 2012
And last year, during my first trip to St Petersburg in October 2011, we saw another of my favourite Kandinsky paintings:
So why translate my interpretations of a theme through abstract expressionism in acrylics to porcelain? Well, thanks to a dear friend and big supporter of my work, I was encouraged to try it…now I have released a new genie, and there are many more works I am completing now in such styles. Porcelain offers a translucency which canvas cannot support; I can use the porcelain shape to stimulate or translate an idea that will parallel the theme- unlike canvas…and white gold is white gold, it’s value is unsurpassed. I simply love porcelain, and I’m free to express myself totally in my favourite medium; and paint more than flowers (see other painting styles of my porcelain painting here , here and here).
Porcelain Painting ”Maybe it’s Love”
The porcelain painting “Maybe it’s Love” explores the initial emerging sensations of whether a couple is possibly in love, the journey of that process and the possible transition of new things to come. The fleeting eye contact, electrical sensations from touch and interaction or communication. It is a totally engulfing, merging, consuming, passionate time, hence represented by the colour and transparent layers of technique, only achievable for me on porcelain. The translucency of porcelain painting I feel has enabled my to capture to multifaceted emotions one feels during this precarious time of possibly falling in love.
The use of gold line work not only reflects the abstract notions of the the concept of love itself, but it symbolises the stop starts of those feelings as they become finite…is it love, isn’t it..maybe? possibly.
I am finishing a larger canvas painting on same concept, but different energy to communicate…I’ll show you soon.
See my other award winning porcelain paintings from the TIPP 2012 here and here.
Why paint about Destiny and Love?
Why Destiny and Love?
This blog post is a continuation on exploring my next series of art works around the themes of Destiny and Love. The initial idea for these works stemmed from my last trip to St Petersburg, where (apart from my own exhibition of works which are still there- being taken to another gallery soon ) I was asked to paint about my inspiration or reflections about Dostoevsky’s writings, as I had already done a painting reflecting Gogol’s “The Portrait” for my exhibition in SPb…thanks Valeri Ivanov . I did not have a lot of time to paint my impressions during my stay, but I decided upon an artwork which was inspired by Dostoevsky’s short story “White Nights.”
I hadn’t read this short story before, but I am thankful for my meeting in SPb with the brilliant photographer Nikolay Krusser (his Fan Page on facebook) for this suggestion, and our chat about destiny and this piece of literature. After I had read the novel and analysed my notes about the concepts, I wrote a short interpretation of what inspired my thinking around the major concepts Dostoevsky explores to then allow the images to form in my mind over the next day.
“Dostoevsky- White Nights” 2012, Ingrid Lee Acrylics
One fleeting chance with love in a city so familiar, yet so lonely- is it destiny? Dostoevsky explores the notion of love, loneliness and destiny, in the short story ‘White Nights.’ In this painting, the ‘yellow’ city of St Petersburg surrounds us with warmth and familiarity, but the endless dreaming and feelings of isolation from both the city and the possibility of finding love for the narrator in this story, eventually leads him to loneliness.
While he dreams of finding love in a city which is becoming alien to him, these dreams appear to come true. So the depths of his passion envelopes his soul, and when he finally reaches out to his one love, it is questionable as to whether this relationship will fulfil his destiny and end his loneliness. Sadly this love is unrequited, and there emerges the darkness of loneliness, in a fleeting moment of finding love. Ingrid Lee May, 2012.
Here is a small part of the art work I painted for the White Nights piece, originally it was to be a diptych, but I ran out of time to complete the second painting…but now I will repaint a new version of this where I have time to think about the clarity of my expression; and perhaps the ideas are better expressed over a few paintings.
I liked the initial raw response to the concepts I explored…how ever now I have had time to think more cohesively about a bigger picture and story, rather than one isolated impression.
My painting of “The Air That I Breathe” as discussed in a previous post, and “White Nights” stem from understandings about love, self love and what is destined on that journey; it is these understandings which will draw a common thread through all of the art works in this series. To read more about my inspirations of Love, please read a series of blog posts I wrote for my other website Ingrid Creates
Creating Romance Through the Secret Language of Love
Please let me know what you think about my work or creative processes in the comments, I’d love to hear from you
Painting of First Night in St Petersburg….Step by step
This is another of the 13 paintings I’ll be taking for my exhibition…so I thought I’d share with you the step by step photos so you can see the development of the painting. This painting was totally inspired by the photo I took during my first evening in St Petersburg, Russia, see more on this blog post.
The finished artwork (it is still difficult to capture the transparency of the layers of gold work with a camera).
"First evening in St Petersburg," 2012. Ingrid Lee, Acrylic on canvas, 76.5cm x 61cm.
This painting is one of delight and wonder as the magic and life of this city sparkled before me. I love the technique of using gold paint as a beautiful metallic base for my artwork and I also mix this rich hue with other colours to highlight the energy and light of a subject.
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Close up of finished painting:
