Wednesday's spotlight Meet Joann of the Painted Panache

Today's team member feature is Joann Y Wheeler of Painted Panache located in Pasadena, Maryland. 

Joann has always been inspired by nature and prefers to paint or draw flowers and animals.  Her favorite art mediums are colored pencil, watercolor and pastel.  In 1986 she was introduced to the world of porcelain art and since that time it’s been the art form for which she is most passionate.

She opened her doors at Etsy in 2007. In the beginning her shop consisted of ACEO's (Art Cards Editions and Originals - fine art always 2.5 x 3.5 inches in size).

Available on Etsy 

and Porcelain Art (China Painting).

Available on Etsy

As time went on, decorative painting on wood and glass were also added. Most of her paintings fall into the Cottage style. Please come visit and follow Joann

Available on Etsy

You can find her at various places around the web:

Etsy as JYWheeler
Blogger: JYWheeler
Pinterest - Joann_Wheeler
Twitter - JYWheeler
Facebook - Joann Y Wheeler
Tumbler - JYWheeler
Instagram - Joann Yori Wheeler
Google Plus - JoannWheeler

As a Thank You for spending time getting to know Joann, she is offering a 15% off coupon in her shop use coupon code: THANKSBUNCHES

China Painting A Work In Progress

Inspiration Piece

Blank China

People always ask me  about my china painting. They have no idea of how involved it is. This time I took some pictures at each stage. Each piece of china is painted and fired in a kiln to a temperature of 1800 degrees multiple times. Here's some pictures of how it progresses:

Design Sketched in

The paints used are powdered paint pigments, mixed with oil for a painting medium.  Some people buy special mixtures of oils, however, you can use anything from mineral oil to motor oil!

Brushes used are very soft.  Unlike other types of painting very little paint is loaded on the brush. Your brush "kisses" the porcelain as you paint.

The First Painting & Firing

Second Painting & Firing

Each piece is painted multiple times as you build up your color from light to dark. There is no white on the palette, the white seen is actually the porcelain showing through. At each firing the glaze opens up and the paint goes into the glaze. As it cools the glaze closes and the paints become permanent. They will never wash off. They are dishwasher & microwave safe.

Third Painting & Firing

The only exception to this is if the porcelain artist uses gold or lusters on the piece. Gold is actually 24kt. liquid gold. When fired it doesn't go into the glaze. It sits on top of the glaze. Lusters like mother of pearl also sit on the top of the glaze. For that reason should you have gold or lusters, handwashing is advised.  Gold should never be put into the microwave as it is a metal and might give you a fireworks show!

So, if you are interested in porcelain art (a gift to treasure for generations to come), please visit my Etsy shop: http://jywheeler.etsy.com

and if you are want some awesome Folkart and Primitives Search for FAAP Team on Etsy. You won't be disappointed!