Here is a trick that you may be surprised to learn about how to paint glass objects:
25+ Easy Pottery Painting Ideas For Mugs, Plates, And Bowls
Are you ready to unleash your inner artist and create stunning pottery pieces that will leave your friends and family in awe?
If so, you’re in luck!
Painting pottery is an incredibly satisfying and fulfilling activity that anyone can enjoy, regardless of skill level or experience.
However, we all know that sometimes coming up with the right idea can be a challenge.
That’s where I come in.
In this blog post, I’ve compiled a carefully curated list of the best pottery painting ideas out there, designed to help you unleash your creativity and create truly unique pieces that you’ll cherish for years to come.
From stunning floral designs to intricate geometric patterns, this list has it all.
So whether you’re a seasoned pro or a complete novice, don’t miss out on the opportunity to take your pottery painting skills to the next level.
Mug painting ideas
Let’s start with some pottery painting ideas for your mugs. Since mugs are pretty small, it’s normally best to stick to a simple design. And almost nothing is more simple than polka dots.
Covering your mug with these dots is super easy and fast. So you can paint all your mugs in no time. You can try some big dots, smaller dots, colored dots, or stick to the classic black dots.
For a design that looks slightly less symmetric, you can transform your polka dots into cow spots as well.
If dots are not your thing, how about some lines? You could use straight lines that run parallel or perpendicular to easy other.
Or for a more chaotic design, you can cover the mug with randomly orientated zigzag lines.
If you are painting a mug for a loved one, you can paint a heart patterns as well and write that person’s name.
The last two mug painting ideas are a little more advanced. But if you have some painting experience, you can try to paint a mini landscape on your mug.
The first example below shows some highly simplified landscapes, but they look amazing. The difficult part is knowing how to break down a complex idea into simple shapes.
Or for a real challenge, you can try to draw a complete landscape as well. Of course, this is much more difficult. And you’ll need some special paint, since standard pottery paint doesn’t make these smooth gradations very well.
Plate painting ideas
Among all ceramics, plates are the easiest to paint. You can paint almost anything you want because most plates have little to no curvature.
Like always, you could use dots to paint some easy patterns. But if you don’t want to make a repeating pattern, how about painting this heart below made almost completely out of dots.
Of course, you don’t need to make a heat. You could paint anything you like by using these colors dots. This art style is called pointillism and has been popular for centuries.
You don’t have to cover the entire plate with a pattern. Sometimes less is more. Take these plates below as an example, half the plate is a solid color and the other half is decorated with a simple pattern using circles or lines.
One type of design that has always been popular in pottery painting are leaves and floral patterns. The simplest variation on this is to paint a single per plate and make sure every plate is decorated with a different type of leave.
Before you know it, you’ll have a whole set of painted plates!
Painting a repeating floral pattern is a little more tricky, but if you already have some painting and drawing experience you can give it a try.
Here are some more examples of some plates with nice floral paintings on them.
If you want a more eastern style painting, you can go with a branch of your favorite tree. Especially paintings of cherry blossom trees are very popular in Asian countries.
When painting your plates, you don’t always need to use a ton of colors. Black and white also works great.
Hand Painted Mug.
Let’s start with something simple. A project for which you’ll need a porcelain mug, porcelain outliner and patience. First make sure the mug is clean and dry. Then start painting. You should use a tiny brush or you can use the tube without anything else. Once you’re finished, let the paint dry for a day. To make the paint dishwasher-safe, just put it in the oven after you have turned it off and leave it there until it cools to room temperature..
Fun mug.
If you prefer something more fun and playful, here are some great design ideas. You’ll need mugs, liquid lead glass stain, a brush and acrylic ceramic paint. First draw the outline of the image you want to create using the liquid lead. Then paint the image between the lines. Let it dry and enjoy..
Monogram Mug.
You can also personalize your mugs with monograms. The supplies you’ll need are scissors, a pen, tape, graphite transfer paper, a black porcelain pen and a print out with the initials you want to use. Cut out a piece of transfer paper and an initial. Tape the initial and the paper to the mug and then trace the lines. Then use the porcelain pen to trace over the lines of the initial. Let it dry and enjoy..
Encourage right-brain thinking!
Often, our logical left brain takes over and tries to dictate what we “should” be painting and how it “should” look.
Therefore the main trick to learning how to paint glass objects photorealistically is to activate your right brain by getting rid of those “shoulds” and instead, paint what you actually see.
So don’t even think about the fact that you are painting a glass object. Just focus on color, shape, and form.
If the glass is empty, focus on each specific color, paying close attention to each color shift. Start with the obvious, noticeable colors and then use the glazing process to smoothly blend everything together.
In summary, this is the real key to how to paint glass objects photorealistically:
Be sure to paint what you actually see, and not what you think you see. Part of what makes painting glass photorealistically so tricky is that the brain often tries to dictate what the painting should look like, and that interferes with the visual information that is actually there.
Pay attention to subtle colors
Once you’ve started focusing on what you actually see, you are now released from the “idea” that you are painting something that should look a certain way. Now you can focus on the actual painting process.
Colors are very important when attempting to capture the look of glass in paint.
Obviously, whites and blacks will be very important when painting glass, as well as various shades of grey.
I have personally never used grey paint, so although it is readily available, I don’t really think it is necessary. You can mix any shade of grey that you need easily by using plain old white and black.
Additionally, look closely at the colors that are actually there – are there tints or shades of blue, purple, brown, green, etc. For instance, in my painting “Posse” that you see above, there are 3 different types of glass objects, and each has its own distinct coloring.
The left one is a cool, bluish grey. the middle one is an umber sort of grey. and the right one is a sea-greenish grey.
Take a close look at the colors of the glass, and be sure to incorporate them into your painting using the glazing process.
Creating acrylic glazes
What is this “glazing process” that I keep mentioning? And why is it so important in learning how to paint glass objects?
Glazing with acrylics has to do with creating very thin layers of paint – either watered down or diluted with medium such as Acrylic Glazing Liquid (this links to Blick Art Materials, and if you make a purchase, I get a small commission, at no extra cost to you).
The glazing process is really important when painting photorealistic glass objects. This is what enables you to capture those subtle shades and hues that you see in the reflections. If you want to paint glass objects in a photorealist style, definitely check out my page about creating acrylic glazes!
