An Interview with Daisy
What is your favorite technique/style?
My favorite technique is the 18 century Swiss Nyon style, but I am equally familiar with any 19 and 20 century European porcelain painting and love them all.
What artist has had the biggest impact on your work?
My first teacher in Switzerland, Mlle Cecile Giddey who came from a long line of Nyon porcelain painters. She was a great teacher with infinite patience and kindness.
And Georges Miserez-Schira also from Lausanne, Switzerland. He was my mentor and one of Europe's most famous painters in the 20th century.
What inspires you to paint?
When I have a white porcelain piece in front of me it is my goal to enhance this piece so it expresses the period and style that the porcelain represents. Harmony of colors and design are also very important to me.
What do you love most about painting porcelain?
The details!!!
I was teaching a seminar to porcelain painters in a monastery in Michigan. A priest that came to visit my classroom said to me when he admired my work: "God is in the details." And then referring to another kind of Porcelain painting that was taught in another class: "and a coat of paint covers a multitude of sins." This left me speechless and grateful that I can glorify God in my art.
The other thing I love, is the transformation of the dull paint, and the gold that is black when painted, during the firing in a kiln at about 1650 degrees Fahrenheit. When I open the kiln in the morning (it takes a whole night to fire) the design has a beautiful shine and depth to it. The gold is still dull and needs to be polished with sand and water to a beautiful shine.
What kind of paints do you use?
The paints I use come in powder form from Switzerland and are ground minerals and quartz. They need to be mixed in small quantities with a fast-drying medium. When I paint, the colors dry very fast and allow me to shade over them without firing in-between.
The 24 K gold comes in a semi-liquid form and is black when I paint with it. It only becomes gold during the firing process.
My favorite technique is the 18 century Swiss Nyon style, but I am equally familiar with any 19 and 20 century European porcelain painting and love them all.
What artist has had the biggest impact on your work?
My first teacher in Switzerland, Mlle Cecile Giddey who came from a long line of Nyon porcelain painters. She was a great teacher with infinite patience and kindness.
And Georges Miserez-Schira also from Lausanne, Switzerland. He was my mentor and one of Europe's most famous painters in the 20th century.
What inspires you to paint?
When I have a white porcelain piece in front of me it is my goal to enhance this piece so it expresses the period and style that the porcelain represents. Harmony of colors and design are also very important to me.
What do you love most about painting porcelain?
The details!!!
I was teaching a seminar to porcelain painters in a monastery in Michigan. A priest that came to visit my classroom said to me when he admired my work: "God is in the details." And then referring to another kind of Porcelain painting that was taught in another class: "and a coat of paint covers a multitude of sins." This left me speechless and grateful that I can glorify God in my art.
The other thing I love, is the transformation of the dull paint, and the gold that is black when painted, during the firing in a kiln at about 1650 degrees Fahrenheit. When I open the kiln in the morning (it takes a whole night to fire) the design has a beautiful shine and depth to it. The gold is still dull and needs to be polished with sand and water to a beautiful shine.
What kind of paints do you use?
The paints I use come in powder form from Switzerland and are ground minerals and quartz. They need to be mixed in small quantities with a fast-drying medium. When I paint, the colors dry very fast and allow me to shade over them without firing in-between.
The 24 K gold comes in a semi-liquid form and is black when I paint with it. It only becomes gold during the firing process.
