The Big Nap Decorative Dish, After Warhol

The Big Nap Decorative Dish is 6.5″ wide x 5″ high, and about 1/2″ deep, made of polymer clay. Each dish is formed by hand and individually painted with red orange and cobalt acrylic paint, and the original brush pen sketch is brushed on each dish. Each one is handmade, hand-painted and unique. NOTE: This dish is not safe for food or water.



Orange and blue with black, “The Big Nap” decorative dish.

Big Nap Decorative Dishes

Big Nap Decorative Dishes

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Jelly Bean’s roundness is a little exaggerated but it really was a big nap. Another one of the feline shapes I love.

“Big Nap” decorative dishes are based on one of my brush pen sketches, each one handmade, hand painted and unique, reflecting my influences from Japanese brush pen art, Theophile Steinlen, and Andy Warhol.

When I made my initial trinket dishes two years ago I developed a ton of ideas after working with both polymer and air-dry clay. The basis of one set of designs is my brush pen sketches integrated in several ways. I worked out the first of one of those styles, a little larger than the original 4″ trinket dishes, and using the outline of a sketch to shape the dish. Air-dry clay feels more like real clay but in earlier tests I found that worked this thin it would lose its strength, so I chose polymer clay.

The round shape of “The Big Nap” fit well to this idea. I didn’t really want to cut around all Bean’s legs so I added a little to the shape to fill in around his legs. Because the clay is baked and it works best if the object is held to the final shape while baking the size ended up being determined by the one dish I could use to form the gentle curve I wanted that could also be baked in the oven along with the clay. After it’s baked, I use the same brush pen to draw the sketch onto the clay that I used for the original sketch.

Andy Warhol

The orange and blue combination with the black outline is inspired by Andy Warhol. Years ago when I began filling my black ink and brush pen sketches with bright colors readers compared them to Warhol’s cats. Being from my hometown I had grown up with that as an influence and totally missed it. I’ll be making more of this style in a variety of other colors.

Orange and blue with black, "The Big Nap" decorative dish.

Orange and blue with black, “The Big Nap” decorative dish.

Japanese brush pen

Sometimes just a single interesting line is most expressive.

Original natural with black, "The Big Nap" decorative dish.

Original natural with black, “The Big Nap” decorative dish.

Theophile Steinlen

The red and black with gold is an homage to Theophile Steinlen’s style when illustration black cats with an accent color. He has been an inspiration since before I can remember, and while the black and white design was what inspired this particular dish, this design was the color version I envisioned before I knew I even wanted a color version.

Black and red with gold, "The Big Nap" decorative dish.

Black and red with gold, “The Big Nap” decorative dish.

Read more about “The Big Nap” and my daily sketches on The Creative Cat.

More like this

Find more Trinket and Decorative Dishes in my Handmade Gifts Gallery.

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