Communication and waste

Can you guess our drawing challenge words of the day for yesterday and today? Hint; look up ;o)

Yes, "communication" was our word for the day yesterday, and "waste" was today's word. I always think the key to true communication is the ability to correctly receive and then respond to the message. I visualized this as a set of transmitters and receivers with the receivers much larger than the transmitters, symbolizing the importance of speaking gently but listening "hard". I think there may be shades of struggle from an old relationship directing this one  ;o)

Communication:

For "waste" I immediately started considering things that waste my time, sucking away opportunities to be creative. The top of that list: television. I find it such an easy escape, very much the opiate of the masses, circa 20th-21st centuries. I suppose social networking/getting stuck on Facebook is a close second.

Waste:

I actually only gave each of these 5 minutes, making them as a warm up for a couple of pieces I wanted to do some more work on.

I wanted to add a silhouette of a girl on a swing to the picture I started earlier with the old entwined trees. I like the play of youth (the young girl) against age (ancient trees) in the fading fall twilight. I will add more color to it in a subsequent firing, but here it is going in for a second firing today:

I have also had the picture of a Haitian woman in a desolate, dusty landscape (the reality for much of Haiti following massive deforestation and destructive typhoons) to add to. For now, I just added some shoes (the color I used earlier was too transparent) and a dust storm blowing up behind her. This may complete this piece (except for the framing of it), we'll see late tomorrow :o) BTW, the powder on the sandstorm fires much darker than it goes on. I used two colors that I mixed myself...

Thank you for dropping by!

... TRrrish

30 day challenge -- the abstract version! Days 1-4

January 2016 has brought with it snow, ice, migraines, and a new 30-day powder drawing challenge! Between traveling and recovering from all those "foreign" germs, I have been slow to start. But today I was determined to get caught up.

This year's challenge is actually quite different from last year's. We are only "allowed" 10-15 minutes for each powder drawing: they are intended to be a "warm up" of sorts to get our hands and heads loose and working. Yes, our heads! You see this year we will be given a new abstract noun each day and challenged to, well, draw what comes to mind. What comes to mind for me is that I am not sure I am much of an abstract thinker! 

Here are my quick powder drawings for January 1-4th. White sheet glass, black glass powder, using my fingers and a business card as my only "tools":

January 1st: "Comfort"

January 2nd: "Effulgence":

January 3rd: "Generosity":

January 4th:  "Chaos":

Work in progress

My kilns have been working overtime this month getting Christmas gifts made. And a couple of birthday presents as well as two wedding gifts. I'm looking forward to a slow down of "production mode" so I can experiment and play some more!
Last count I think I made 10 candle holders, 6 platters of various sizes, and a couple of bowls. Here are a few examples:

I have a few works in progress that I am so very looking forward to completing also. This first is based on a picture I saw of a Haitian woman in World Pulse Magazine a couple of years ago. I love the gauzy appearance of the dress, and don't want to lose that by over-firing, but do think I am going to play around with adding an additional element -- perhaps a basket or a small patch of weedy vegetation... I will also add some color to make her shoes stand out a slight bit more.

  One of my favorite color combinations. I used a black powder glass with mica in it for the design and it is really sparkly. It will make a lovely bowl!

For this piece I was playing around with colors that contain elements that react with each other. Where the copper-containing blue touches the sulfur-containing cream, a you get a change in color to a smoky gray/brown. I like it especially for this because I wanted it to have an "industrial chic" vibe. I don't think I will be adding additional colors or firing it again, just need to come up with an appropriate way to display it. I may mount it on oxidized copper or distressed wood.

Emo girl -- I've tried a couple of different borders but haven't come up with one I really like yet. I have a new one in mind, however. I think it will be just right!  ;o)

This was a fun exercise in playing with layers of both color and texture. I may make a couple more of these and fire them differently then mount them as a triptych..,

Signing off for now, thank you for visiting!

Playing with texture

I have been so busy working on new techniques that I have had much less time for powder glass drawing than I had hoped! Here are a few pieces I managed to create in breaks between the day to day production of Christmas gifts and ornaments:


This is my favorite of the bunch so far. About 8" square. I'm pretty happy with it, but still considering adding a tiny round circle where the red ball is, to make it stand out a bit more.

 

I still have work to do on this one (a lot of work). I'm planning on adding color, and a swing on the long branch. I like the idea of adding a couple of children, probably in silhouette, because I think they will be a wonderful juxtaposition and contrast to the mature entwined trees. Kind of a play on young love and old love ;o)

And one of my dandelions -- I'm already thinking about how I am going to do the next one!

I've also been really enjoying playing with texture -- here are a couple of pieces I completed this month: 

 This is a bas relief piece that just glows, I used iridescent glass for some extra pizzazz, and it really helps the texture "pop".

For this I played with glass enamels and created a bubbly texture on the surface of the glass. I love the texture and the cool bumpy surface!

Clearly, I need to find someone local who is better than I am at photographing my glass! Here is a close up of the color and texture of the bubble texture piece:

Oh, did I mention Christmas presents? This 8 x 12" platter and 6" square candle dish are just out of the kiln this morning!

And my smaller kiln -- gave these up today!

Finally, and just for fun -- here's my first lidded box. The first picture is of the lid. I held it up to the light so you can see how fabulous it looks with that light shining through it. People have asked if this is granite, you will see why in the next picture, but it's all glass! The lid like this reminds me very much of a koi pond  ;o)

And here is the whole box, with the lid on. I think these will make spectacular "gift boxes" for tiny little special gifts like rings and other jewelry!

I am having so much fun creating -- and the kiln is once again FULL of platters and dishes that will be making their way under the tree very soon!

The Big Draw, day 6

Oh boy, another day of 5 minute drawings :op

Our talented leader, Kelly Crosser Alge calls this exercises "fast hands" and insists that practice makes, if not perfect, at least better. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know it's "good for me", but I find it sooooo hard to come up with anything I can draw in powder (with just my fingers and a business card, remember!) in 5 minutes.

Despite that, here I am, immortalizing my lousy drawing attempts for all eternity -- the internet is forever, you know! Despite my fear of derision and my immense embarrassment and how rudimentary these images are, I'm posting them. Hopefully this will help encourage other newbies to get started on their own paths toward personal artistry ;o)

Drawing 1:  A face (couldn't get the detail done in 5 minutes, so it is a very blank face. More a head, I guess):

Drawing 2:  A cone flower:

Drawing 3:  A wooden deck chair:

Drawing 4: A very fluffy pine tree:  ;o)

Drawing 5:  A pine-y landscape (wish I were there!)

Thank you for dropping by!

#TheBigDraw day 5

Yippee :op   today we "get" to do another 5 5-minute sketches. Not my favorite exercise, and I am looking forward to being able to use some tools, rather than just my fingers and a business card -- it seems I am all thumbs when it comes to drawing with my fingers!

It did dawn on me as I was trying my hardest to come up with five things to draw, that weren't too detailed (gotta do it in 5 minutes with just these fingers and a card): I do a much better job when I have a picture or photo in front of me as inspiration.

Note to self:  get yourself some pictures!

Hopefully my old self will get off this ample tush and find some pictorial inspiration BEFORE tomorrow's challenge!

Here are my drawings for today:

1. Wonky bowl

2.  Anemone blossom

3.  Pantry door

4.  Generic bird

5. Dandelion puff

The Big Draw, days 1-4

Yay, we are doing a new 30 day powder drawing challenge as a way to participate in #TheBigDraw !

I don't know how these hashtag things work, so I doubt that this post will makes its way into the official Big Draw archives, but I am still excited to be participating again. Not least because although at the end of January, I had every good intention to practice drawing every day, but I didn't even make it through Feb -- and it only had 28 days!

So, I'm back, drawing and doing sgraffito every day (crossed fingers) in the month of October.

Here are my drawings for the first 4 days: (Please forgive the sideways and upside down pictures -- I have forgotten how to rotate them in this format!)

Day 1 -- the challenge was to draw something using nothing but powdered glass and our fingers. Think finger-painting with a dry powder instead of gooey paint. I decided to play around at drawing a large chrysanthemum blossom:

Day 2 -- using no tools other than our fingers and a business card, draw a tree. I decided to do a slight update on my old drawing of a tree with a tire swing:

Day 3 -- still no tools, draw a landscape. I initially started working on a dessert scene, complete with a cactus. I quickly gave up (couldn't get the cactus right) so I did this little seaside scene instead:

Day 4 -- the speed round, still no tools. Draw 5 different pictures using no more than 5 minutes to draw each one:

I started trying to do a pumpkin. Aaack! Definitely not a "great" pumpkin!

I'm planning to do a study of every day objects, so next I tried a cotton swab:

Then a murderous pencil (it's wiping out that poor stick figure)  ;o)

Fourth is a pineapple that I would not be even slightly tempted to eat :op

And last, I did a quick powder sketch of my favorite dog. She is 3/4 poodle and has the cutest brown curls which I have been wanting to try to draw for a while  ;o)