Day 2: EFFULGENCE

effulgence

Day 2:  Effulgence.  I love this word!  When I think about examples of effulgence in this world, I picture the tiny reflections of the sky on water, an angel's face, neat and intricate rays... Optical illusions...

 noun. ef·ful·gence \i-ˈfu̇l-jən(t)s, e-, -ˈfəl-\
Definition of effulgence:  radiant splendor :  brilliance

I'm glad to see a few of you posting your entry from yesterday's "Comfort" Challenge!  If you are having trouble with posting your photos on the blog, please drop me a note either by private message on FB or by email: Kelly@ModernAncientGlass.com.  I don't always see every post on the Sgraffito group page.  Thank you to last year's Pro's who are helping the new folks figure it out too!  It took me awhile to get back into the groove of figuring out the whole blog posting thing too.    Remember that you can have each daily challenge sent to you by email if you click 'Follow by Email' on the sidebar of the blog post.  Forward we go!

  

Day 31: Show Off Time, Your 30 in 30 Review!

To all of the 2015 Fused Glass Sgraffito Drawing 30 in 30 Challenge Artists who have completed all 30 days of the challenge...

You have done what seemed impossible,

and your hard work has paid off!  

As Nelson Mandela said, "it always seems impossible until it's done". 

Mr. Mandela was speaking of peace, of course, but for those of you who have completed this seemingly impossible challenge will certainly relate to his wise words.  

 Your work is beautiful and you've improved so much during this normally dismal January.  

I applaud you in your efforts to learn a new skill and start the year off with lots of creativity and fearlessness about the unknown.

Now is the time to post your collage of the pieces you did this month so we can all see your progress!  

If you have trouble creating your collage, please look at yesterday's post for instructions on how to create one.

Although this is the 'official end' of this challenge, I think there are more plans in the works... It is going to be hard for me to just 'quit' when so many of you have given so much of yourselves to participate in this first time endeavor.

If you didn't get a chance to begin the challenge, now is YOUR  time for you to 'get busy'.  You can start at the very beginning and complete the challenges as you go.   To get the most from your efforts, start at the beginning and take each challenge in sequence.  Please post your efforts on the blog page by following the link at the end of each post.  If you would like to join the challenge you can sign up any time through Facebook by clicking the link.

Those of you who have participated, please keep working!  This is not the end, your journey in fused glass powder drawing is only just beginning.  I am sure of it.

I would like to thank this January's participants for your gifts of encouragement towards one another and for

'Playing nice in the sandbox'. 

It is absolutely COMMENDABLE that I did not have to intervene even one time to break up snarky posts and fix hurt feelings.   Hurray to all of you who have been SO AWESOME in participating while encouraging and helping one another without any BS.  I love that. 

You have all made this a project worth doing, and I can't thank you enough for being kind and encouraging  friends toward one another throughout this entire month. 

 That in itself makes it worth it to me to have begun this challenge.

Love to all of you!  ~Kelly

Add your 30 Day Collage Here!

It's Day 30, Congratulations to All of YOU!!

DAY 30 HAS ARRIVED, CONGRATULATIONS 
2015 FUSED GLASS SGRAFFITO ARTISTS!!

The First Ever Fused Glass Powder Sgraffito Drawing 30 in 30 Challenge is now ending, but that doesn't mean that you should stop making small efforts each day to complete SOMETHING!

 I enjoy the daily challenges (and even the frustrations) that go along with working in glass powders, and I've had a really great time working along with you during our 30 days together.  It is sad that the end is at hand, but:

Today is the day to post your gorgeous self-portraits!  

Alas, mine is not finished... I took a 'selfie' and then got insanely busy.

If yours is not finished it's OK... life happens and you can finish it over the weekend and still post it here.

Tomorrow, for Day 31:   I'll put up a link so you can share a collage of your work from the challenge.  
How might one go about making a photo collage, you might ask?.... read on!
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Here are some free websites that you can use to create a collage of your 30 in 30 challenge pieces.  It's really neat to see the progress you've all made, and WOW what progress it has been!  A visual record of everything you've created this month will be a fun thing to share.

The first one is PicMonkey.  

You can connect your photos from Facebook (and I KNOW everyone has their challenge photos ready to go on FB.  ha ha)  
Here is what the screen will look like after you hit 'collage'

The second site you can look at is for everyone who likes Instagram.  If you haven't used it before you should check it out, and then check out Flipagram, which is even betterl!  All of these options work easily and well with Facebook. 

Here is what you'll find on Flipagram.

Post your collage tomorrow, and we'll talk about what happens next :)
Great day to everyone, and THANK YOU for all your hard work this month!

Link your Self-Portrait Here

Day 27: Words of Wisdom and a New Inspiration

'I am the artist's model."  ~Albert Einstein

We are almost to the end of the 30 in 30 Challenge, only four more drawings to do... 

It's a little sad, isn't it?

Looking back at the photos of drawings you all did in the first week, I can hardly believe the difference in what you've been able to accomplish.  I hope you're seeing it too!

Today's challenge is going to feel impossible at first.

They all start out that way, but I have faith that you can do it!

The daily challenges leading up to this day have prepared you.  You're ready!

The challenge for Day 27 & 28  (I think you know what it is).....

Create a fused glass powder sgraffito drawing of our model, Albert.

(here is the space where I'll let you have that mini-panic attack and then catch your breath)

^)(#*&%_)@(*#_%()*_#*(&Y*(&^_(*@&!#^@&$%&*)(#*%&!+_)^*()!#&%&*#(^_@(*&^^

deep breaths, deep breaths

Here are some hints that will help you in your approach:

Begin your drawing upside-down.  Squint your eyes and look for the areas that are the darkest darks and the lightest lights.  Get the rough shapes of those areas in first.    Next, think about the tools you've created and the textures you've been able to make with them.

As you work, take photos of your portrait in progress.  This will help you figure out where problem areas are.  You will have two days to complete this project, so post an 'in progress' photo for today, and a photo of your completed piece for tomorrow.  

You have everything you need, use everything in your arsenal!

An InLinkz Link-up

I'm behind on my painting challenge... I'll have to bust them out at the last minute (as usual!)

Here is one for today.  Alcohol ink on Yupo.

Day 26: Fused Glass Sgraffito Drawing 30 in 30 Challenge 2015

It's kind of sad that we're in the last week of the Fused Glass Sgraffito Drawing 30 in 30 Challenge already... Let's make this an EXCELLENT week for drawing with glass powders!

Today's Challenge for Monday, January 26:

Create yet another tree.... BUT!

 This time, the tree should be created upside-down.  That means that you will start at the top  of your glass with the trunk, and pull the glass toward you to make the branches.

Today you may use both hands in your work, plus the business card and your choice of tools.

Here is the 'catch'... Anything on the left side of the tree must be drawn with your left hand, and anything on the right side of the tree must be drawn with your right hand.

Even though you have full access to your 'tools' you should still use them in the appropriate hand, depending on the side you are working on.

Isn't this just a fun Monday Challenge?  

You CAN do it, it's not as difficult as you think!

An InLinkz Link-up

Day 25: Fused Glass Powder Sgraffito Drawing Challenge

Today is Day 25 of the very first,

 'Official Fused Glass Powder Sgraffito

 30 in 30 Drawing Challenge' 

ever to be attempted by any human on earth, with intent to improve skills and have fun regardless of the brain pain.

Hurray! YAY!  Great Job!  For all of you who have stuck with it every day of the challenge, 

You are special, few, and far-between.

As part of the "Non-Dominant Weekend Challenge" today,  I can tell you that your efforts will benefit you even if you don't realize it.  And the more effort you make to practice these challenges long after we're finished with the 'Official 30 in 30' thing, the better your artwork will be.  If you have just joined our challenge, there is still time to participate!  5 days is better than sitting back and watching things go by.  Start at the beginning and get your first five days in.  

You'll be glad you did! 

And YOU, sitting on the couch with that 'fluffer-nutter' sandwich in your hand, watching this challenge from your laptop and dreaming... shame on you.   Get up and get busy drawing!  I have never seen a real 'fluffer-nutter' sandwich, but they are real, and I hear they will kill you if you didn't grow up on them.

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Today's Challenge for Day 25:  Create a Glass Powder Sgraffito Drawing of a tree, using only a business card, tools at your disposal, and your non-dominant hand. 

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 Sit on the dominant one if you have to, and think of one of our precious fellow people who have lost their dominant hand forever while you work on it.  

You may never know them, but be sure that each one could use our prayers for strength and the ability to overcome,  because they have no choice but to do it.

An InLinkz Link-up

DAY 22: Sharp and Shiny and a Reward Tiny

Today's Fused Glass Sgraffito Drawing Challenge will build on the skills you've been learning through your practice so far.  Now, let's sharpen how we see.

A safety pin is a fabulous subject for so many reasons... It's a simple object that everyone is familiar with, but still a difficult little bit of a thing though, isn't it?  That's what makes it a great challenge! Plus, if you get really frustrated you can open it and poke someone. 

Just kidding.

Here are some hints at how you can tackle this tiny shiny.

Really LOOK at the pin.  Study it and find the edges where dark and light meet.  Lines are essentially 'darks meeting lights'.  Finding those places, instead of just drawing a line in the shape of the pin will be important if you want to make the pin look shiny.

Pay careful attention to the negative space around and inside the safety pin.  Getting to know the shapes around the pin itself will help you get the shape of the actual pin right.

2. Your wide range of values (light, middle, dark) will determine whether your safety pin looks flat and dull, or sharp and shiny.  Find those edges where light and dark meet. They're not always where you think they are!

Don't forget to add your link!

An InLinkz Link-up

Here is a tiny reward... it's not a video (need more arms) but you can at least see a step by step progression. I did a similar piece as a class demo last weekend and then dropped my phone on it right before I was going to fire it.  That one went bye bye... 

This one is going to be much better.

I'll post more as it goes along.

*please don't copy these photos without asking permission, thanks!

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DAY 21: Stepping Up a Little

"I feel such creative power in myself that I know for sure that the time will arrive when, so to speak, I shall regularly make something good every day. But very rarely a day passes that I do not make something, though it is not yet the real thing I want to make."

 ~Vincent van Gogh (Letter to Theo van Gogh, 9 September 1882) 

Fused Glass Powder Sgraffito Drawing 30 in 30 Challenge 2015

Today's Challenge for Day 21: 

Compose a collection of flowers in a container.  

You may use dear Vincent's painting as a reference photo, or create your own arrangement.

Again, try to stick with using only black glass powder, as tempting as color may be... 

 Focus on achieving a nice value range, white, light, middle, dark, black

Squinting at your work will help you see if you have a good range of shades, if things look flattened, you probably need more values in your range.

Pay attention to flowers that are not front-facing, and try your best to place some flowers in front of others to create depth.  

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It's getting a little tougher, isn't it? 

We're going to step it up a bit over the next 9 days.

These glass sgraffito drawings just keep getting better and better!

You may use any tools at your disposal, and spend as much time as you like.

No painting for me today... I was babysitting a 2 1/2 year old, can't look away for a moment.

Still waiting to see 60 flowers on the blog page from a few days back...

An InLinkz Link-up

Day 20, More Sgraffito Flowers!

Day 20: Sketching Glass Sgraffito Flowers...

You know, I didn't really think about all of us sketching flowers using black frit.  They are looking pretty darn black, aren't they? 

                                                                                                       

You all did some very nice work!  I love how many different kinds of flowers we all chose.  

So many artists use flowers in their work, and I've never known anyone to say they hate flowers and mean it...  They are a subject I always turn to when I'm missing summer.

I will keep things short today, because it's almost not today anymore :)

Here is a little blast of color to break up all this black and white!

Tomorrow, for Day 21 of the 30 in 30 Challenge 

We have another exciting day floral drawings! 

 This time, we're going to use ONLY black frit, and aim to get a wide range of values in your sketch.  Experiment with ways of applying the glass powder so that you can achieve areas that are very dark, very light, and 'some things in between'.  Here's a hint: The distance you hold your sifter, fingers, etc. from your glass makes a difference.  For lighter areas, try holding your hand higher, darker areas, work closer to the base glass.

"Poppy Fields and Blue Skies"  Alcohol ink painting, Kelly Crosser Alge

Post Your Black Flowers For Day 21 Here!

Link-up opens at 12:05 am EDT

An InLinkz Link-up

It's Day 19 of the Fused Glass Powder Sgraffito 30 in 30 Challenge!

I know there are LOADS of you out there now who have signed up or are following this 

30 in 30 Glass Powder Sgraffito Drawing Challenge.

Where are you?  And why aren't you really participating?

If you're just starting, don't feel intimidated.  We're just a bunch of artists trying to get better at a very new form of glass art.  You are welcome here! The more creativity you use, the more you have.  Maya Angelou said so, and I love Maya Angelou.

Please don't just hover around and see what others are doing, GET BUSY and make some art!  The only way to get better at this is to fool around and make a true effort to practice.

This is Day #19.  That means we have only 11 days left to complete this Challenge!

Who cares if you've just joined in and make 11 glass powder sketches to finish? 

You will be all the better for trying.

Tomorrow's Challenge is easy.  Create a floral themed piece of your choice.

You might use this as an excuse to buy yourselves some real flowers. I think I will.

Spend as much or as little time as you are able, but GET BUSY!

If more than 60 of you post to the blog tomorrow I'll make a 'floral video' and post it tomorrow night.

If you use Instagram, GREAT NEWS!  You can use it to post your photo now.  

Here is the link to see how to post:  Instagram

I did a drawing for Day 18 in class today but stupidly forgot to take a photo before putting it in the kiln.  I'll make my floral piece tomorrow when it's really 'today'.

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Today got ahead of me and I had no time to paint.  See?  Human life really happens. If you've missed a day or twenty, it's not too late to start.  Come join us and post your floral photo here for Jan. 19th.

An InLinkz Link-up

DAY 18: Show off Your Whites!

Are any of you feeling like this yet?  

If you are, you're definitely not alone.

Keep Doing it Anyway

You're all making great progress!

Fused Glass Sgraffito Drawing 30 in 30 Challenge

How are you liking the "White Challenge"?  Whites are a challenge in almost every art medium, because there are so many shades involved in making something 'look' white.  Check out the millions of shades of white paint next time you're at the hardware store!

A few of you have figured out that white powder against a dark background kind of 'disappears' after firing. The white is just not strong enough to fully cover a dark color, and it has to be applied in such large amounts to show up much at all.  

I call this 'Bathtub Syndrome'....

You know when you run a bath and then realize the water isn't hot enough? So you try to warm it up adding hot water until the tub is nearly overflowing, only to find out that it is just a bigger tubful of not quite hot enough water? darn.

It happens in painting too.  When you mix white with a color, it's best to add a little of the darker color to the white, and gradually add more color until you get the shade you like.  If you do it the other way around adding white to try to lighten a darker shade, you end up with  a LOT of paint that still isn't light enough.  Bathtub Syndrome.

Here's something for you to try if you need a "great white subject"!

It's been a busy weekend around here, I have a lovely group of ladies in town for a sgraffito workshop, extra kids spending the night, basketball games, and the dog has just delivered the head of a dead mole to me as I type this... gross. I think I'm ready for a hot bath!

An InLinkz Link-up

Day 16: WHITES WEEKEND!

Day 16 of the 30 in 30 Challenge, and we are over the hump!

Today is the beginning of a 3 day "Whites Weekend" Challenge!  

You have until Sunday night to create 3 sketches of an object that is white.

You can use the same object for all three sketches, choose a theme, make a triptych (3 panels that create one work of art) or just pick different, random 'white things' .

Portraying white objects in a sgraffito drawing presents a nifty little challenge in itself.
Those of you who did the Great White Shark sketch a few days ago know what I mean :)

Here is a hint:  If you focus on adding black powdered glass to the areas that are in shadow (the negative), the object (the positive) comes forward.  Then you can focus on the details.

It does make your brain hurt a little, but once you get it it keeps getting easier.

Try to stick with light colored glass and black powder for these sketches....

I'll tell you why tomorrow.

Here is a quick sketch of my baby shoe

Quick alcohol ink painting today... I love these colors

An InLinkz Link-up

Day 15: What Are You Afraid Of?

The Challenge for Day 15 of the Fused Glass Sgraffito Drawing 30 in 30 Challenge, is to sketch something that frightens you.  Snakes frighten me, but especially this one. I'm actually thinking I might be sick if I have to sketch this thing.

The African Black Mamba can move faster than I ever could, 12.5 miles per hour.  If you get bitten by one and don't get anti-venom quickly, you WILL die. Sometimes within 20 minutes.
The reason I picked this particular snake is because I remember my parents' story about a woman in South Africa who invited them to stay in her home.  The roof was thatched grass, and the woman knew she had a black mamba snake living in the roof.  She was angry when a suggestion was made to get rid of the snake, because she liked that it kept the rodent population away from her house.  I can't imagine trying to sleep there, and I also can't imagine these snakes slithering across the school yard as they do frequently in the village.  There is a superstition in S. Africa that if you kill a snake, you must leave it 'belly up' or else it will come back to life.  I think I could do better than belly up, I like knives and fire.   Regardless, snakes make me shiver and I DO NOT want to sketch a snake.  Why did I choose this challenge???

Ok, so I started to sketch a black mamba and then changed my mind.  I just hate those things. Plus, my sketch was boring. I really dislike grasshoppers too, and they're a little more interesting sketch-wise.  I think grasshoppers are mostly ok except for their clingy legs and that brown tobacco spit (that I tasted once when I was a kid on a dare.  Bart Rice, do you remember that?)... Today will officially end the gross challenges.  I can't take any more!

The challenge for tomorrow, January 16:  Sketch in 15 minutes or less, something you ate today. I hope it wasn't a grasshopper.

Here is my ink painting for day 15 of Leslie Saeta's 30 paintings in 30 days Challenge.  It's much nicer than mr. grasshopper.

Click to Bid on "Purples" in my Daily Paintworks Auction, $20

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