52 weeks of Art Plates with Laura Fraedrich: Week 1-6

Friday, February 15, 2013
Hello iLoveToCreate® Blog fans! My name is Laura Fraedrich and I am a mixed media and ceramic artist who gets to work at the happiest place on earth….iLoveToCreate®! I work on the Ceramics team and although I’m supposed to be a salesperson, I just can’t keep my hands off of all the Duncan® glazes and bisque pieces that I work around everyday. I am addicted to painting ceramics and no naked piece of bisque is safe in my presence. It won’t be naked for long!

I’m definitely not what you would call a ‘traditional’ ceramics painter. I’m more, how should I put this… experimental. I love to combine techniques that I use in my mixed media art on my ceramic projects. I love to break the rules and have a hard time following instructions because I’m always trying to write my own. I also love to find new uses for classic products. My latest obsession is trying to achieve the look of art journaling pages onto ceramic plates. I’ve given myself a personal challenge to complete one plate each week for all of 2013, so when the year is over I will have a series of 52. I am currently working on plate number 7 and have been asked to share the progression of my plate-a-week challenge with you here on the iLoveToCreate® blog. It would be my pleasure! Let me catch you up with the first six plates. I write about them in more detail on my personal blog – The Peculiar Palette – if you’d like to read more…

Let me catch you up with the first six plates. I write about them in more detail on my personal blog – The Peculiar Palette – if you’d like to read more…

Plate # 1 – New Year’s Resolution 
This is what I resolve to do in 2013, in addition to my plate-a-week challenge. 
I’m going to be a busy girl.
Plate #2 – Poetic Picassoness
This is one of my favorite quotes by Pablo Picasso. I can relate to it because anytime I have a lump of clay or a paintbrush in my hand, I forget all the things I would otherwise be worrying about. I’m sure you can relate too! 
 
Plate #3 – I Just Can’t Get Enough of You, Pablo
This is another great quote from Picasso and fits my plate-a-week challenge perfectly. I’m going to be keeping my diary on ceramics this year! 
 
Plate #4 – The Art of Stacking Rocks
This is a quote from another one of my favorite artists, Henri Matisse, which fits well with my ode to Cairns (stacked rocks). 
 
Plate #5 – Complementary Fonts
This plate was inspired by a project I saw in a recent issue of Somerset Studios by Gail Russakov. I love how she combined different textures and colors, so I wanted to create something similar using a wide variety of Duncan® glazes.
 
Plate #6 – Happy Birthday to Me
You guessed it! I made this one the week of my birthday. It’s a quote from the Beatles song, It’s All Too Much. I can’t say I have ever heard the song, but I sure do like the lyric! Thanks, George Harrison. That brings you up to speed! I look forward to sharing my next 46 plates with you. 

Until next time! 
Laura