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)
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!
I'm really loving the artwork coming out of this group. Yesterday's challenge was to create a sketch of a piece of fruit in some kind of a setting, or 'doing something'. Let's just say we had some laughs and some of our minds have been in well... the compost heap. Ha ha!
I chose to sketch a pomegranate yesterday, partly because I had one sitting on the counter, and partly because I love the intricate patterns of their perfectly packed pulpy seeds. They're delicious! Today's challenge was to use the same fruit and make it 'more'. That meant I really had to think about pomegranates. The first time I had one was in 8th grade Latin class. I thought they were weird, but the story about them was pretty cool.
Ancient Greeks believed the pomegranate to be the 'fruit of the dead'.
Here's the story in a nutshell:
Hades, the god of the underworld wanted to have Persephone for his wife. So he kidnapped her and took her to rule with him in the underworld for eternity. Demeter, Persephone's mother, was the goddess of the harvest. She mourned in anguish at the kidnapping of her daughter, and refused to produce a harvest or allow any living plant to grow. The big man, Zeus, decided that it would not be ok for the earth to die off just because Demeter missed her daughter. So he ordered Hades to give her back to her mother... There was a rule that if anyone should eat or drink while in the underworld, their fate would be sealed and they would remain in the underworld for eternity.
Hades didn't want to return Persephone, and although she didn't eat or drink in the underworld, Hades tricked her into eating a bit of a pomegranate before returning her to her mother. Because of this, she was forced to spend half of the year in the underworld with Hades, and she was only allowed to be with her mother for the other half, and so on, for the rest of eternity. The Greeks used this myth as an explanation for the change of seasons.
My sketch today reflects on this story, each seed bitten sealed the doom of a soul.
Morbid, isn't it? Sorry. I can't turn off my brain. I wish I could...
OK
For Day 11, your challenge is to sketch a vegetable. Pay very careful attention to its texture. Is it smooth? Bumpy? Figure out a way to tell us as much about how that vegetable looks and feels as you can through your glass sgraffito sketch. 'See beyond what you see'! With your new arsenal of tools, you may have just the thing you need to show off the texture, maybe not. You might have to dig a little deeper to find just the right thing.
This is getting more fun for me each day. :)
'Sunrise Ridge', alcohol ink painting for Day 11 of the 30 in 30 Painting Challenge
Your tool arsenals are looking mighty fine! There are some truly awesome tools being made! I hope you're all feeling challenged, out of your comfort zones, and maybe just a little frustrated. It takes some time to get your brain 'thinking backwards', and of course, exercise hurts a little. If you're frustrated, keep pushing yourself! It will be worth it, you'll see. The first day of the challenge, I shared that I did not want to paint apples when I was first learning to paint. I thought they were too boring. Good thing that for today's challenge, you can be as boring or as exciting as you'd like to be! Your challenge for Day 9: Choose any fruit. Using your homemade tools, business card, sifter, and /or fingers, create a sketch of a piece of fruit. No paintbrushes.... no paintbrushes....no
Wonky Wobbly Street 4x6
It helps to have the real thing to look at, and it's a great challenge to translate a 3-D object onto a 2-D surface. If you don't have a piece of fruit, you can resort to using a photo. (but you won't learn as much and that's taking the 'safe route') You probably should get yourself some fruit, because Hey! t's part of a healthy diet.
Tropicana Punch
Here are two sketches: one fruit, and a wonky wobbly city street, along with my alcohol ink entry for Day 9 of my other painting challenge. I made the pear awhile ago, but I did use only the business card to make it. No sifter!
I hope everyone has survived the 5 minutes x 5 sketches challenges.
You'll definitely have more than 30 sketches by the end of the month. Sneaky!
The discoveries you've made in those short minutes will serve you well~
Your posted work has been outstanding, and it's only been a week!
We are glass artists. We are tool crazy.
Tools are nice, and we want all of them. (don't we?)
You've probably noticed that there aren't really any pre-made tools specifically for drawing with powdered glass. That is a good thing, because it forces us to be resourceful and inventive when it comes to the tools we use to create imagery.
I recently watched one of NBC's Dateline Documentaries about the weaponry being fashioned in prisons by very creative and resourceful prisoners. Knives made from Jolly Ranchers melted in foil left over from dinner. Filed down toothbrush handles and bed spring pieces become serious weapons. We can stay on the outside and fashion some serious tools to play with in our glass adventures.
The Challenge for Day 7 (and Day 8)
Select well among old things, and make a tool. It doesn't have to be changed from its original form, but it could be. Perhaps you have something in your junk drawer that could be useful? The only rule: Your tool cannot be a paintbrush... NO PAINTBRUSHES!!! noooooooooo paintbruuuushhhess.......
Use your tool, along with the business card, fingers, and/or sifter to make your entries for Day 7 and Day 8
If you have a blog, tell us about your tool and post a photo of it along with your work! I can hardly wait to see what you all come up with. Here are my entries for Day 7, A quick glass sketch and an alcohol ink painting for my other challenge :)
Testing another 'sunrise' piece. I added color and it's in the kiln...
Wow. I am SO impressed with the photos everyone has been posting, both here and on the FB page. I have a feeling that by the end of the month I might be out of a job!
It takes courage to boldly display your artwork amongst others' work that you think is better than yours. KEEP IT COMING! Try your best to 'lose the fear of being wrong' that is putting doubt in your mind. Your work is good enough, and you'll start to care less about comparing yourself to others as the days of our challenge progress.
I'd like to share some work by participants who are really pushing that concept of being resourceful that we talked about yesterday, you girls rock!
Charlotte Kay does not have frit. She is using Trader Joe's sipping Chocolate and a flour sifter.
Charlyn Moellers is traveling and has tried flour, sugar, and has settled on using baking soda. Charlyn, you have discovered why Bullseye's stiff black doesn't work well for sgraffito. It behaves like a mix between flour and corn starch :)
I used dirt one time when I was supposed to demo at a show and forgot to bring frit... If you want to make art, you'll make art with whatever you have available.
Kudos to these ladies!
Here are their photos:
Charlyn Moellers is using baking soda
Charlotte Kay is using Trader Joe's
Sipping Chocolate
Day 3 Glass sgraffito sketch, 4"x6", Unfired.
Here are my entries for today, one glass sketch, one alcohol ink painting, and one photo of the piece I fired from yesterday. Tomorrow's challenge is to keep using only the card and fingers for a few more days! This time, try a landscape.
Day 3 of 30 in 30 Challenge 'Yellow Rose', Alcohol Ink $20 bid
Day 2 Glass Sgraffito Sketch (fired)
I added BE 301 Pink, 0137 Fr. Vanilla frits
I love the 'freshness' that a new year brings. I get excited when the hustle of the holidays ends and a bright, shiny new beginning to a whole year of possibilities lies before me... Here's a little story:
Two years ago (as a New Year's resolution) I accepted a challenge to paint 30 small paintings in 30 days. The challenge was offered by artist Leslie Saeta, and I was pressured by my painter friends to give it a try. Here is a little background info... I did not care about oil painting. In college I painted what I would describe as a 'whopping total of two complete failures' using oil paints, and I never wanted to use them again. As an art major, I thought I should automatically be good at painting, but I'm telling you that I mean it when I say 'complete failure'. Fast forward an undisclosed number of years... I gave in and decided to give it my best shot, even though I knew I would hate it.
The first week was torture. I, (being me, of course) chose the most difficult things I could think of to paint. A yellow fire hydrant on a violet background. lights and buildings reflecting on wet pavement. bicycles. backhoes and orange barrels buried under piles of snow. Those things interested me. Painting apples did not. Strike one. (apples are easy) Trying to paint the subjects I wanted to paint with this peanut buttery disaster of a medium made me mad. Strike two. (I got mad). After the first 4 paintings...Strike three. (I quit). I was so frustrated!
A few days later I 'un-quit'. I was determined to finish my 30 paintings even if every one of them sucked, because I wanted to be a better painter. In all, it took me 45 days to finish my 30 paintings. The timing doesn't matter. What does matter is this: The things I learned in that short time by experimenting on my own and forcing myself to practice amounted to so much more than I ever expected; and the speed at which I improved could not be matched by taking a painting class.
This year, I've invited glass friends to join me in a similar challenge. We'll be working to complete 30 fused glass powder sgraffito sketches in 30 days. Many do not have experience using glass powders, but have accepted the challenge feet-first. I know they will improve by leaps and bounds over the next 30 days! Surprisingly, there are currently 376 glass fanatics from 9 countries who have accepted the challenge as I write this. It is going to be so cool to see everyone's work, and if we all complete the challenge, we will have created almost 11,000 works of art in just 30 days!
You can follow our progress each day here on my blog, and check out the artists' web pages and blogs by clicking on the photos they will be uploading each day. Of course I'm doing the glass challenge, but I am also participating in the painting challenge once again, with alcohol ink paintings (call me crazy and maybe I'll break out the oils).
January 1, 2015 Challenge is to create a sketch using only glass powder and your fingers. They're your best tools!
Artists: Upload your Day 1 sketches by clicking the 'add your link' button at the bottom left. Choose a photo from your blog, Facebook, or instagram page, or upload one from your computer. If you have trouble locating the image URL, try using CTRL+click on the image, then choose 'copy image address'. This should give you the image URL. If you have problems, check the Facebook page for the Fused Glass Powder Sgraffito Drawing 30 in 30 Challenge. Happy New Year!
Here are few more Fused Glass Sgraffito tree sketches to share~ I spent much of the past week working on color swatches and test samples. New glass colors are always tempting me, and there are always new ones coming out. (Big thanks to Bullseye Glass Co. for that) Each new color I use requires some testing to see how each interacts with colors I'm familiar with, and how each works for the technique I'm using. Today I have been working some trees with a special production 'Chalky Blue' glass. It's a larger frit painting that will require more than one firing, and won't be ready to share for a few more days. The other one I'm working on is a Chicago themed piece featuring the famous Water Tower. A little tricky to plan, and again, multiple firings, but I'm really excited to see how these fare in the kiln. Here's a little sneak peek of the chalky blue forest...
My post for today is going to be short and sweet, and wet and sticky. More on that in a minute…
Today, January 5, I am excited to have this lovely snowstorm blowing in tonight. Everything is so beautiful and quiet outside, and it was a balmy 30 degrees all day. My studio is finally warm enough to be able to work in without a bunch of sweaters and boots on, and although the temps are supposed to drop to -17F tomorrow I am happy, because my big kiln is loaded with new artwork and warming up as I type.
(By the way, I am typing with both hands again, which makes it even better)So here is the wet and sticky part.
When I came in to do my computer work, my lovely husband brought in a nice glass of wine and some almonds for me. He spent the entire day slaving away scrubbing and resealing grout with a toothbrush, and painting trim. In comes my daughter (who is supposed to be in bed, but for some reason needs the stapler RIGHT NOW). She reached for the stapler, and knocked over my nice glass of red wine right into my keyboard, my iPad, my new white Goodwill sweater that I love, and oh no… right onto the new grouted floor. OH Oh oh.
I can tell you that the stuff he got from Lowes to seal the floor worked like a charm and there is no trace of purple anywhere except my lap, which is still soaked. Happy ending to a nearly disastrous event. The new thing I will learn for today? How to change the keyboard back to english. I must have hit something while I was drying the mess :ñ
A friend and I went to this cafe for breakfast when I was teaching a glass class out of town. A man came in while I was there, he was apparently mentally challenged and he looked cold and hungry. I asked him if he was hungry and he said no but I could tell that he was. He wanted a small cup of water.
We secretly bought him a coffee and bagel and left without him knowing.
I think about this man often, wondering if he is cold and hungry a lot.
I want all of the proceeds from the auction sale of my painting to go to this coffee shop in Benton Harbor, Michigan, to start a sort of "kindness fund" in honor of that man.
It would be a great way to offer any random person the opportunity to have a free cup of coffee, be warm, and feel cared about for awhile.
Please, please share this story, and put in a bid if you're inclined. You can do so by clicking the link under the photo. You could get the painting and help a lot of people in the process!
Wilson's Sandwich Shop in Findlay, Ohio Photo reference credit: Andrew Thomas Lee
Well, today's painting challenge was to paint a local landmark, and I chose to paint Wilson's Hamburger Shop in my hometown of Findlay, Ohio. My family came here a lot when I was a kid. It was here before McDonald's, Burger King, or Wendy's, and popping in for a cup of coffee and a slice of pie is still a daily routine for many people here in Findlay. What does this have to do with the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld? Read on....
As a kid, we used to go sit down with Mom to 'hold the table' while my Dad went up to order. I always got a 'special', which is a burger with lettuce, tomato, and mayo, and a malt or a 'frosted'. It seemed like forever passed by while we waited for our food, and we would impatiently jump out of our seats at the table and go for a spin on one of these stools until we were dizzy. Wilson's was always loaded with old people, and there weren't many kids around.
It wasn't until I was older that I realized that Dad didn't want us at the counter for a good reason. The staff wasn't so patient with kids, especially the 'stool spinning' sort, and you had to order correctly to make them smile. There is a certain way to do it, and you don't dare 'stray from the way'. Ha! So here is entertainment at it's best, a blog post with video! You can check out the true scoop on Wilson's in Findlay by clicking this short video link (starring my sister-in-law Angela), and then take a look at some of the Soup Nazi scenes, have a laugh and decide for yourself!
By the way, if you'd like to buy my painting of Wilson's Hamburger Shop, you can bid on it this week on Carol Marine's Daily Paintworks, bidding starts at $15!
As I am freshening up around the studio, I wanted to post a few of the fused glass pieces I currently have available. These are on display at Coffee Amici in Downtown Findlay during the month of February, and are available for purchase in my online gallery at Daily Paintworks. If you are interested in learning about my process, you can check out my website or register for one of my upcoming classes in fused glass sgraffito drawing or "frit painting".
Some really exciting news, (and words can't convey how excited I am!)
PORTLAND!! Bullseye Glass has invited me and 9 other glass artist/teachers to come to their factory's Research and Education Studio for a week in May for some in-depth training and collaboration. More on that later.... But be prepared to hear about some fun specials I'll have coming up this month to help raise some money for a plane ticket and lodging:) Planning to have some new work up by the end of the week! Blessings to you...
Garden Party, Fused Glass Frit Painting $595 SOLD
Farm Storm, Fused Glass Collage $2300 SOLD
Paris Boat Dock, Fused Glass Powder Sgraffito Drawing $395
YEA!! I am finally getting it! Painting every day is getting to be more fun now... I wonder if I'll have trouble going back to glass next month when this challenge is finished? I joined Carol Marine's Daily Paintworks this week, & love looking at all the 'real painters' works on the site.
The Phoenix cafe in Benton Harbor, MI. I am enjoying palette knives and trying to paint glass and shiny things. I like a lot of Leslie Saeta's knife paintings on her page, and I am going to try more of these.
Another wet street in progress. I think I found a subject I like.
My Brother's Rescue Husky, I got this far and realized that I didn't have room for his nose and ears on my board!
