I had to get this out the door before I could photograph it properly. The clients were delighted! If I am lucky they will send a photo of the installation.
The Library of Congress has a flickr account with some great photos of Ireland from the Detroit Publishing Company. Here's the link from the flickr blog.
I am not a huge fan of corned beef and cabbage (soda bread is good though!), so this is what one of my favorite food blogs does with a beef brisket. I think you could even get away with doing this with tempeh for the vegans in your life. Mmmm...
Mr. Cranky thought my bear looked a bit like a pig(hmphffff!) so I made the fur look shaggy and bear-like with brush strokes.
pencil sketch on tile
I changed the size of the trees when I applied the blue wash. The view from the window where this will be installed looks out into an old growth evergreen forest, but the trees in my drawing are more like poplars in a deciduous forest. I washed in the thicker areas between the trees instead of the thinner lines in the original sketch to make it more like the deep dark woods that is actually there. I also changed the owl to appear more realistic, and less cartoon-ishly cute.
I have a bit more detail to add and then it will be time to glaze and pray to the kiln gods.