Chameleons and Denim

Fused glass sgraffito painting, 9"x 12".  This piece is sold, but you can check out some others here

She's going into the kiln for the last firing tonight... finally!

Day 8 of 30 "Kiln glass frit paintings" in 30 days

I've been trying out some new color schemes lately, and it made me think about how much light really has to do with how they look.  If you look at each of these photos, they almost look like two different pieces.  Slight changes of color and lighting can really change the way we feel about something we see.  For example, I put on my daughter's denim shirt the other day when I forgot to  take a clean one in for my shower. I don't like wearing blue at all, but after fumbling with a towel and wet hair, I didn't really care what shirt I got out of the dryer.  Later that day I caught a glance at myself in the mirror…
 "Man, that doesn't even look like me", I thought when I saw the blue. Strange.

After pondering this for a bit, my mind landed on chameleons~ and that brings us to the new thing I've learned for today, January 8th.

    Everyone knows that chameleons can change their color to blend in with their surroundings, but did you know that they have the most complex eyes of all reptiles?  I didn't. Chameleons' eyes work independently of each other, allowing them to look at two different objects at the same time, adjusting the depth of field in each eye according to what they look at.  They can see 360 degrees around them at any time!  Pretty tricky to keep one eye watching out for predators from afar, and the other eye sharply honed in on someone's tuna sandwich.  I'm glad human eyes don't work like a chameleon's. Can you imagine driving like that? Or going on a date? or trying to make art? 

Here's a wink for you!  Stay warm friends~