JFK....

Back in 2010 I was commissioned by some friends to produce a commemorative plate for the birth of their first child, Arlo.  You can take a look here.

2011 saw the arrival of their second child, Joseph, and I was honoured to be asked to make a plate for him.  With his initials being JFK, it was impossible not to reference John F Kennedy.  I replicated the style of Arlo's plate and went with Cadillacs, The White House and an olive wreath, but decided against a gun sight on his photo.  Got to keep it classy!

I loved working on this plate (and the earlier one).  It's not often that I'm commissioned to do pieces (ok, it's never happened before or since) but I really like the process.  It suits me to have a brief to work to (and a deadline to meet!).

I don't want a pickle....

So finally I've photographed the plate I was commissioned to make for friends to commemorate the birth of their son Arlo. What a great project! I was given a brief by the parents - please include motorbikes and pickles. This is in reference to an Arlo Guthrie song. It's a laugh - you should check it out.

This plate was made using the same technique as my "pleased to meet you" plates. It was nice to work in colour this time. I'm not sure that the above photo shows off how vibrant the colours are so I've included an enhanced image below. The truth probably lies somewhere in between.

I stayed with the hand drawn look, and my colouring in the wreath is intentionally messy. This was at first just to get a quick idea of colours, but i liked the look so decided to avoid keeping in the lines. 6 plates were made, mainly as gifts for grandparents.

This was really fun, and something I'd love to do more of. Perhaps I'll just have to start creating my own events to commemorate.