Raku Pottery Illustration // Painting Process

A little painting to illustrate Japanese style "Raku" pottery-firing event at an annual fair. This illustration was created for Southbound magazine in Atlanta.

"The process of Raku firing differs from other firing methods because the pots are removed from the kiln at their maximum temperature. The unique look of Japanese Raku pottery is achieved by utilizing both smoke and fire in the Raku kiln to create an unpredictable and unique style." 

Painting the iridescent glaze on this beautiful style of pottery was a first for me - so I needed some practice before I was confident enough with my technique...as you can see some turned out better than others!

www.amyholliday.co.uk

Pet Portraits - gerbil babies, budgies and fancy goldfish

These are some pet portrait commissions I have completed recently.

This little series was a commission for a5-sized paintings of three gerbil portraits and one budgie. I worked from photo references but the client had some requests for little extras which I added in too.

 The rainbow was an unexpected request, and it called for some practice and experimenting with various techniques before I painted the final piece.

This handsome boy's name is Merlin, so he needed a bit of extra magic! 

Another recent pet portait was of this playful chappy named Bartholomew (the best name for a fish I have ever heard)