Furniture: Dutch folk art

Hello my friends, 

Last week I showed you my work in a porcelain painting workshop. This week I had an afternoon to spend with one of my best friends and we decided to paint some miniatures together.  And we decided to use dutch folk art of yesteryear as inspiration.

It was common in many regions of the Netherlands to paint everyday objects in order to beautify them. And not just here. Scandinavia, Germany Austria, switzerland and others also had/have a long standing tradition of "bauernmalerei" Mainly the Hindelooper folk art is stil made to this day in the Netherlands but several museums  have stunning examples in their collections from times past.

In a second hand shop I found these books. One is about the folk painting from various Dutch regions, and the other highlights all the different styles that come from the region around Hindeloopen. Complete with tips on how to paint these motifs. 

Now I am not going to fill every room with these things, but I do want to decorate some pieces. Most will end up in the service rooms in the cellar and attic. But some painted pieces will end up in the rooms occupied by the Zonneschut family as well.

Now trying this probably looks easier than it is. But, nothing tried, nothing gained! Some time ago I've bought two oval trays and two 'butten' wooden storage boxes commonly used around the former Zuiderzee coast. These are perfect items to decorate in this style. 

After the two thin layers of primer has dried I gently sandpapered them and degreased them again. Now we were ready to paint. 

I say 'we' because this was a duo effort. I painted these together with Pauline, who is one of my best friends. She is very creative, likes the look of folk painted furniture ánd has recently developed a liking for miniatures.... a perfect combo!

We were both free to choose colours and decorative style as we see fit. I painted the small tray and the large butte. And she decorated the small butte and the large tray. 

I used a pencil to mark out the most important lines for my decorations then I traced those with paint to fill the different areas with scrolls flowers et-cetera.

We had a lovely day together. We had such fun that I only finished the butte. The tray will be finished soon. I painted the interior of the box bright red, a popular treatment in the low countries for the inside of boxes and cupboards in those days. 

My inspiration for the outside of the storage box is the so called 'porselein werk' or 'porcelain work'. A style popular in the 18th century. It is the name for greyish blue decorations of scrolls, flowers, birds and such on a cream background. Sometimes red was used instead of blue.  

And here you can see the result. The other items are not made by me, but collected over the last few years. They fit together well I think. Now how to finish the small tray? I hope to show you that soon.

Hugs,

Huibrecht 

Weapon of choice

Hello my friends,

The first post of this month and already march is almost over. It shows you how busy I have been these last few weeks. No mini-time at all alas. But luckily I had a workshop in my  agenda so that this month is not completely lost for miniatures. Last weekend I attended another Workshop for porcelain painting. I used this day to finish up the four tile tableaux I started in januari. 

So the 'weapon' in this posts title refers to the paint brush! My 'personal weapon of choice  would most probably be the pen, but since I write almost everything I do on the computer I probably pick up brushes more often than pens nowadays... So the brush it is!

In january I ended up with these four  tableaux. The four drawings I prepared in pencil in advance were 'inked' during thAt workshop and the red was already added to the Zonneschut family crest.  When these were fired in the kiln afterwards, the little morcels of Pritt buddies that sticks them on the tile underneath evaporated into a powder. 

So the first job this day was to brush away all that powder, clean the large tile and the 84 little ones, and stick them all back onto the large tile with new pieces of Pritt buddies. that process was going on in the picture below. 

After these preliminary tasks the workshop could begin un earnest for me. We were at Cocky's house with the same group of people as in january. It is a great group of people and we had a lot of fun in between the more serious subjects we discussed around the workshop table. And it happened a few times that we suddenly all fall silent while concentrating on our miniature porcelain. But as soon as it was time for tea, a snack, or a little pause, we resumed the trail(s) of conversation where we had left off.

Just as with the making of the Tableaux of the two princes last year, this time I added colour and shades to fill in the line drawings. This gives them body and some depth. The clouds were difficult to do because they were not drawn previously but had to be made by using a paint brush alone. With one brush you add some small C-scrolls in paint onto the blank sky. Then with a dry wide brush you lightly brush over them to brush them out and lift off some of the paint again. This way I try to make it light and airy. Cocky showed me the method and told it is the same or at least similar method used to paint clouds on antique tiles. It was fun to do, and more importantly, another technique learned. 

At the end of the day The result was as you can see in this picture. Four tableaux waiting to be fired for the last time. The three landscapes are intended for the kitchen and the crest carried by the hounds wil go in the fireplace of the steward's office. 

That is it for now. I end the post like I started it, with another close up. Just remember that when you look at these enlarged, that the 5 tile width of this tableau equals just 5 centimeters or two inches. :-)

The next workshop will be in early June. For now I have made enough tableaux. Next time I will decorate a few plates or a pair of vases.

Hugs, 

Huibrecht