A Father's Day Project

For the past several years, our Father's Day tradition has been for my son to take me to the driving range and we hit a few bucket of balls, then my daughter takes me to the movie of my choice. I have always enjoyed these activities, but this year I thought maybe we could try something a little different. I asked myself what I would want most for the occasion and I decided I just want to spend some quality time with my offspring. Everyone in my family has an artist bent, so I thought we could do a family collaboration. I knew it had to be something we could actually complete i a few hours and somehow each could participate. I thought of decoration a platter or shallow bowl with a wide rim as our "canvas". My decision to prepare in advance by turning the bowl prior to our gathering. We went around and around with conflicting suggestions as to how to decorate the bowl and settled on this dragon design taken from the Lora Irish book, "Great Book of Dragon Patterns". This suited both the time frame and the scope and size of the bowl. After sketching out the pattern free hand with the book as a resource, we transferred the pattern to the bowl with graphite paper. The outlines were then followed with a fine-tip wood burning tool. We used thinned acrylic paints for colors and finally a light sanding and a few coats of clear lacquer sprayed on for sheen and protection. Here's the result of our first Father's Day Collaboration.