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!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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 29: Nearing a Beautiful End

The End of our Fused Glass Sgraffito Challenge is near...

You have all developed into courageous sgraffito-ers, and I am so proud of your progress!

Beginning a challenge like this is difficult even for trained artists, and many of you have told me that your art and drawing experience is very limited.  See what you're capable of???  

YOU HAVE DONE WELL!

Today and tomorrow your challenge is to take a black and white "selfie" and create a glass powder self-portrait from it.  This is a huge challenge for all of us.  I personally have never attempted a self-portrait.  It's very uncomfortable for me to study myself in that way... 

to have a visual record of the way I view "me" is almost too much.  

Maybe that's why I have never tried.  This challenge is on the threshold of what I think I am capable of, both artistically and emotionally.  I think it feels like this for most artists.  

It's a real introspective.

  

It's comforting to know, that should I decide to dump my drawing later  

I'll still have a beautiful, perfect sheet of white glass.  Nothing to lose, right?

 After all, another drawing is jealously waiting to create itself there. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I want to tell you about the artist in the photo above, some of you may already be familiar with her.  Frida Kahlo once said,

" I paint myself because I am so often alone, and because I am the subject I know best."  

Aren't we all the subject we know best, but afraid to say it in a permanent way? 

 Maybe we don't want to see ourselves as we really are... read on...

Frida Kahlo was born outside Mexico City in 1907.  She contracted polio as a child, which left one leg slightly disfigured.  

At 18 she was involved in a very serious accident while the bus she was riding on had a collision with a street car.  She suffered a broken spine, ribs, collarbone, pelvis, and a dislocated shoulder.  

As if that were not enough, She also endured eleven fractures in her right leg, a crushed and dislocated right foot, and an iron handrail pierced her abdomen which would leave her childless...


She spent three months in a full body cast recovering from her injuries, but still she painted.

Frida Kahlo wore long skirts most of her life, perhaps to cover her inability to look like she thought she should.

Although she lived most of her life in horrible pain, bedridden for months at a time, she painted anyway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nobody taught her to paint, she did it anyway.
The curious will always be curious.
The painters will always paint.

Keep working.  You are your own best teacher and 'talent' has so very little to do with anything...

By the way, I haven't even taken my 'selfie' yet and I won't be able to start this challenge until night time...

Add your progress here

Day 28: Fused Glass Powder Sgraffito Drawing 30 in 30 Challenge

Today is Day 28... only one more challenge to go...

Today's challenge is to post your finished 

Albert Einstein Drawing. 

They are looking absolutely fantastic!  

You should all be so proud of yourselves.

 Today I'm posting my drawing of a girl, Jeanne Hebuterne; partly because I think it will help you to see how deep I make the black powder in the darkest areas before firing a drawing,

and partly because I've always loved this photo and I didn't feel like drawing Einstein.  lol

Here's a little history about Jeanne...

She was born in Paris in 1898. As a child, she loved to draw, and later pursued a career in painting.  In her late teens, she began modeling for some of the many sculptors and painters working in Montparnasse.  At nineteen, she was introduced to Amedeo Modigliani, an Italian Painter living in Paris.  They fell in love and became inseparable.  He painted many portraits of Jeanne in the three years they spent together, and she painted at least one portrait of him.

Jeanne's parents weren't too keen on the relationship.  He was fourteen years older than she...Jeanne's family were devout Catholics, Modigliani, a Jew....   Certainly, they didn't want their daughter hanging out with a guy who was smoking, drinking, and drugging himself into a complete human disaster, either... but that's another story.

They became engaged but were never married because of the family differences...  They had a daughter together in 1917, and Jeanne became pregnant again shortly after.  Money was tight. They traded work for food and an apartment, but never got ahead of his drug problems. He was picked up by an agent who arranged his only solo art exhibit, only to have the show closed because it wasn't acceptable to show huge nudes in the storefronts... 

Just as he began to gain popularity and see some success in selling his work, Modigliani's health quickly deteriorated. He had been hiding the fact that he had tuberculosis, and coupled with his lifestyle, he became ill very quickly and died rather suddenly on January 24, 1920.  After the funeral the next day, Jeanne's parents, relieved that the relationship had ended, gave her no choice but to bring her daughter and come home to live with them.  She was 8 months pregnant.  When they arrived at her parent's home, Jeanne was so distraught that she threw herself from the 5th floor window and committed suicide.

Modigliani, painted by Jeanne Hebuterne

Jeanne Hebuterne, painted by Amedeo Modigliani

The story is sad and the images haunting, but I dearly love looking at them.  So many beautifully talented artists live tragic lives and never see the fulfillment of their life's work...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Onward to positive things now!  I want to give you a little hint to help you get ready for the final challenge, for Days 29 and 30...  Don't worry, it's not as bad as it sounds.

The final challenge is going to be a self-portrait.  I KNOW you don't want to do it, but please do.  It can be very simple or very complex, serious or silly, but~

your drawing must include your face.  

A self-portrait can be a beautiful expression of you as a person, and on the final day of the challenge, I'd love for you to look yourself in the eye and say I DID IT.

Use your phone or a camera to take a black and white selfie.  To get good contrast, I stood by a window and let the ever-gray Ohio sky light my face from one side.  Overcast days are the best for taking black and whites!  

Charge on Sgraffito-ers!

An InLinkz Link-up