Author: Marci Blattenberger

The art of overglaze painting on porcelain or china painting, as it is commonly known, had its beginnings in ancient China. It continued to gain popularity in the 1800s in Europe, especially in Germany and France where many factories employed skilled artists to hand-paint their wares. The art was brought to the United States in the early 1900's where it became a very popular pastime till about the 1920's. There was another resurgence of interest in the art in the 60's and today there are still small groups of china painters preserving and passing along their knowledge of the art. It is an overglaze process, which means that, unlike its sister arts of pottery and ceramics, all of our work is done on an already glazed piece, using the glaze as an oil painter would a canvas. Many of you have seen pretty hand-painted pieces in antique store and flea markets, some of you have family heirlooms painted by a great grandmother or a favorite aunt and the lucky ones have someone in the family who either has painted porcelain in the past or is still actively doing so....but the number of china painters worldwide is very small in comparison to the number of artists who practice other art forms and it can be a long and fruitless search trying to find another china painter ...much less, a teacher. We are hoping to change all that at PPIO (Porcelain Painters International Online). We are hoping to make porcelain painting information and other porcelain painters easy to locate via this incredible medium of the internet....and to that end, we present our first in a continuing series of lessons on china painting. NOTE: These lessons are not meant to be a substitute for a good teacher. There are some things that are difficult to describe that are much easier taught by watching a knowledgeable teacher, like the correct texture of the paint...and there is nothing like being able to create under the watchful eye of a teacher....but they can be difficult if not impossible to find in some areas...so we hope we can fill in the gap with the information we present here. Also, be aware that there are as many ways to paint on porcelain as there are artists and for the most part, there are many different ways to accomplish the same thing. There are also many different techniques for getting different looks. What I present here is MY method of painting. It is by no means the ONLY way!

Above: American style piece with softly blended background Right: Dresden-type piece with one-fire flowers done in tole-like brushstrokes

	Left: a contemporary stylized piece designed and painted by PPIO charter member Gene Patterson titled "Three Kings" Above: a small contemporary box created by Marci Blattenberger with luster, dichroic glass and porcelain fusion

Above: an antique piece, artist unknown, painted in the American style Right: contemporary portrait (12x16" tile) painted by (and from an original photograph by), Marci Blattenberger, entitled Mary's Reflection.

Marci Blattenberger is co-president of Porcelain Painters International Online (PPIO). She is available for seminars on a variety of subjects including portraits, special techniques, barns, cats, florals, thatched roof cottages and other subjects. Marci is a contributing editor to WetCanvas! For more information on Marci and Porcelain Painters International Online, be sure to visit their official web site at www.porcelainpainters.com. She can be reached via email at rxguitar@bellsouth.net.