Blue and White Watercolors

It had been a few months since I had sat down to paint blue and white china so I decided to pick out some of my Meissen Blue Onion porcelain and some other pottery from the china hutch and recreate it on paper with watercolor!

I have always been fascinated by monochromatic paints not only because I can overdose on a particular color I am obsessed with, but also its really easy to work with!
Instead of concentrating on color and shade, you just work with shades, to bring about depth and emotion.

I chose a cobalt, straight from the tube (because its....duh.... monochromatic!).  Cobalt also suits my subject - blue and white china!
I also love the crisp contrast and clean, fresh look monochromatic cobalt blue and white gives to a piece of spot art.

While i was at it, I also created a few European-inspured folksy art florals to use in a new collection of fabric I am working on.

Painting my Blue Onion pieces

Sometimes I use Google images to find pieces to reference while I paint.

This grouping was painted on ready-to-mail greeting cards with envelopes. So the art becomes the car and gift.

My "Goodie Drawer"

   I once told a friend about my kitchen "goodie drawer' post idea and she thought it a good one but to change the title for it because someone else once blogged about their goodie drawer - next to their bed, if you kin my meaning!

   Well I can understand why she'd be worried about that!  But I have called my "goodie drawer" just that, for years!  And to people like me, this is a real goodie drawer - full of beautiful kitchen and serving pieces I use but rarely or on special occasions.  Silver knives with M.O.P. handles...silver sugar cube tongs, tea strainers, etc.  And my favorite pieces of all, the soft paste porcelain handled serving pieces made by A.E. Lewis in Sheffield, England.

   Some have navy handles with a colorful filigree pattern, some have a pale blue handle.  My favorites are in the classic Blue Onion pattern.  I used to have over 110 pieces but sold some off now and then to raise money for other household projects.  The pieces I sold were flatware - fish sets and soup spoons, etc.  The pieces I kept are ones I use and bring out at tea parties or during the holidays.

   The pieces range from bread and cheese knives to salad servers, berry spoons, cheese planes, pickle forks and even iced tea spoons, with long necks and a perforated  bowl with etched filigree.
   Most are stainless while a few are silver plate, like the gorgeous 2-sided punch ladle I found on eBay for $55, around 15 years ago!

   All are treasured and live in my kitchen "goodie drawer", which is off limits to everyone in the house but me.  I can't tell you how many times someone has dropped one and shattered the precious and delicate porcelain handles so now they are used very sparingly but are wonderful to look at in between those occasions!
   My kitchen is tiny so to set aside an entire drawer for these treasures shows you how I feel about them!  

   I thought I'd set a few up outside on the patio table, under the protective umbrella, on a very hot summer day, and take photos to show you.  This isn't all of them, I have around 50 pieces, but they are some of the more fun ones!  I used one of my own fabric designs I have available on Spoonflower, for the back drop: "Watercolor Roses in blueberry blue".

 Server, berry spoon, bread knife and serving fork in Blue Onion

 Pickle fork and cheese knife in Blue Onion

 A cake server and combed cutter in navy Floraine

 Cheese knives and planes in periwinkle Floraine

 Iced Tea Spoons in navy Floraine

 Double-sided silver ladle in periwinkle Floraine

 Butter knives in navy Floraine

 Silver salad servers in navy Floraine

 Bread knife and extra large serving spoon in navy Floriane

A very old Austrian-made silver dessert fork in Blue Onion

Link to Pink Pagoda to see many other wonderful blue and white entries!
 Pink Pagoda Blue and White Bash