DAY 6, A Sketch a Day Keeps the Dullness Away

A sketch a day DOES keep the dullness away! So imagine how brilliant the day will be with 5 sketches in it, instead of just one. 

 This is usually a pretty dull time of year for lots of us.  For me, it can be especially hard to get creatively motivated when I can't be outdoors, and when the daylight hours are so bloody short.  So THANK YOU ALL for participating in this challenge, I love watching all of your progress and have been enjoying the dialog on the FB page.  It's keeping me out of  that dreaded winter funk. 

 If you're one of us who crawls into a winter cave, come on out and play for awhile.

Today's challenge is very similar to yesterday's challenge

5 sketches, 5 minutes each, 5 photos

Give 5 Virtual High-Fives and do 5 dance moves when you finish, 

and then you will have exercised, too.

Again, please complete these using your sifter, a business card, and your fingers.

To change things up you can use other body parts if you like, but I wouldn't recommend it!  

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 I'd like to see more people's work showing up here on the blog... There are lots of people who aren't on Facebook that want to see your work too!  
I'm thinking that if we get at least 125 out of 400+participants to post their sketches for Day 6, HERE on this blog page,  I might have some 'incentives' coming around in the near future... I'm digging through my tool box....

Here is my 5 minute wintery guy.  It looks windy.  So windy he can't even open his eyes....Oops, he blew away.

'Another Yellow Rose' Alcohol Ink Painting for Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 Painting Challenge

Add Your Link

Day 4: Speedy Hands

I used to build wire harness parts for an auto parts manufacturer.  Each week, the company would drop off huge bins of unassembled parts and I would build them using a jig attached to my coffee table. The stacked bins reached all the way to the ceiling!  I hated building those dang harnesses but was thankful to have a job I could do in my apartment, since my husband needed our only car to get to his job each day.

When I was first learning how to put the parts together, I wasn't getting all of my wires to click into their bases equally, and sometimes I reversed the colors, and I took way too long to finish a single harness. I built a lot of rejects in the beginning.

Over time, I got better at building them and eventually I could whip them out fast enough to considerably beat the piece rate.  I built them without thinking about which piece went where, and they were almost always perfect.  I could do them with my eyes closed, standing on one foot with one hand tied behind my back, (that's a lie)...  

I felt like I did them in my sleep, and I watched way too much Jerry Springer and too many soap operas while building them; and that is true.

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Today's challenge will only take you 30 minutes, and not a minute more.

It's a 5 for 5 in the middle of the 30 in 30 that will take you 30.  Haha.

Your challenge is to create 5 sketches, each taking no more than 5 minutes.  We'll be using a single piece of glass, the business card and fingers again

 (be patient, tools are coming soon enough).  

SET YOUR TIMER FOR 5 MINUTES AND TRY HARD NOT TO CHEAT!

Once you have a sketch finished, snap a photo, dump your drawing, and quickly move on to the next one.  When you finish you should have nothing but 5 photos of the sketches you made.  (the extra 5 minutes is for photo snapping)

You can create any subject, any size you like, but make them each different.  Post your favorite photo to the blog when you finish.

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This exercise will force your mind and your hands to learn to work together, and it won't give the doubtful part of your brain a chance to over-think things. The goal is swift thinking, speedy hands, and no second guessing.  The best part is that when you make a reject, there's no physical reminder of it later.  Just dump it back in the jar.

Here is my 5 minute sketch, along with my daily alcohol ink painting for my other challenge.

I used Bullseye Black with a touch of aventurine blue.  After I took my photo I added some other powder colors that I'm testing and tossed it in the kiln.  I kept my sketch because I did about fifteen 3 minute sketches before I made this last one.  If you do that, you an keep as many as you like.  lol

Unfired 5 minute sketch using fingers and a business card. 4"x6".
 I used Bullseye black 0100 and some aventurine blue.

Begonia Blossoms, Alcohol ink painting for Leslie Saeta's 30 in 30 Challenge

Add your Day 4 Photo Here

July Sgraffito Challenge (#2 of 4)

Week one went by really quickly, didn't it?

The crows are so very cool, keep posting them!  If you are like me, and haven't done your crow yet, don't worry.  There is plenty of time to catch up.

Onward we go!

Our next challenge (#2 of 4) is to create a glass powder sgraffito drawing of a lightbulb.  You can pick your own lightbulb and compose a drawing from it, or you can use the reference photo as a guide.

It can be a real challenge to capture shine and reflection, and to make things look 'round and real'  (remember the safety pins?)  you can do it!  Pay special attention to where a dark shape meets a light shape, and compare their values.  Talk to yourself if you get stuck!..."this shape is lighter than that one, but also darker than the one next to it." etc. 

If you're feeling like you need a little more challenge, try laying the lightbulb on a patterned background and see how you capture it shining through the glass, or include your hand holding the lightbulb.

Don't forget to link your photo here so we can all see what you've been doing, now you can use Instagram to post your photos.  YAY!

An InLinkz Link-up

Here's a little quote by Thomas Edison that should be an encouragement to you! 

An InLinkz Link-up

July Sgraffito Challenge!!! (#1 of 4)

A Murder of Crows Awaits...

Hi Everyone! 

Welcome to the first of four weekly Fused Glass Sgraffito Challenges for the month of July!

I'd like to present this challenge as a continuation of the 30 in 30 Challenge that we did in January; so if you missed that one, it's NEVER too late to go back and start at the beginning! 

This week's Challenge offers you the opportunity to improve your basic sgraffito drawing skills, as well as to work on some lovely artistic problem solving skills!  

This challenge is the opposite of the "White Challenge" from the 30 in 30.  Black objects present us with a similar problem.  In order to make something appear white, you need to focus on the shadows which give the white object its form.  Reversing this idea, you'll be looking for and picking out areas that can be highlighted to give a black crow its form. 

Your challenge is to create a powder sgraffito drawing of a crow, with the goal of giving it FORM (not just a silhouette)  

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You can create as many drawings as you like, and you may use this photo or any photo reference you find.  

l chose this reference photo because it's a fine example of good composition, and it also offers those of you who are 'messing with color' a nice opportunity to advance your skills.  

The photo was taken by Steve Lyddon, and taken from the website www.paintmyphoto.ning.com  This is a great website!  Professional and amateur photographers offer their photos here for artists to use as reference photos in their work.  Copyright free!  Thank you photographers!  

Be sure to photograph your drawings and add them here using the Inlinkz link, and also to the photo folder on the Fused Glass Sgraffito Facebook Page so we can build a "Murder of Crows" and continue discussion there.  If you're not yet a member of the group just send me a request to join on Facebook.  Happy Crowing!

Murder of Crows, An InLinkz Link-up

Fused Glass Powder Sgraffito Drawing Challenge 2015

Beginning on January 1st, 2015,  I'll be hosting the first ever.... 
Fused Glass Powder Sgraffito Drawing Challenge  to create 30 drawings using powdered glass in 30 days.  Sounds impossible, doesn't it?  Trust me, it's not.

So far, there are over 350 crazy glass artists from 9 different countries participating! It's just for fun, and we'll all be working on improving our skills using glass powders while having a good time. The goal of this challenge is to encourage artists of all skill levels to develop new working habits, share ideas, and improve skills in using glass powders as an art form in the New Year.

Each of us will be creating a small piece of artwork using glass powders every day during the month of January. Photos of our daily work will be displayed on my blog, with links to each artist's personal blogs.  Please check back each day in January to view all of the artwork we'll be making!   

350 Artists X 30 pieces each = a whopping 10,500 pieces of artwork created in just 30 days!  This is going to be so much fun!!!

If you or someone you know would like to join the Challenge, send them to our Facebook group for details in how to participate.  Not on Facebook? email me and I'll send you the info: kelly@modernancientglass.com

And here are the participants so far:  Get to know them by clicking on their photos!

Artists, upload your photo HERE!