Art Competition Piece

During my senior year of high school, when track season was in full force and the AP tests were out to get me, my ceramics teacher suggested that I enter an upcoming art competition. We had been working on vases so I simply decided to amp up the one I was already working on. The vase actually started off pretty simple...then it turned into this.

This is right after it had been fired. I had no idea what I wanted to do with the paint job but I knew I wanted to bring out all the texture I had established in the vase. Glazing, I felt, wouldn't have done it any justice so, my teacher suggested a wash of color to bring out all the texture in the pebble like surface.

I really loved the look of this and I decided to just go to town with the washes. Honestly, I couldn't tell you how many washes of this deep brown color I had done, I just kept doing it till I was content with the color.

After an unknown amount of washes, I decided that it looked a little bland so I figured a little bit of gold sponging wouldn't hurt it all.

Final product
I really loved how it turned out and its probably one of my favorite pieces to date.