Mittwoch, Feb. 10

I'm feeling pretty productive this week for a change...

These are some of the glass flowers that I made for a class I taught at Fletcher Farm in January. Not what my students wanted apparently, but I love them and I think there are others out there that will love them too. So I packaged them up for retail sales and hope, hope, hope someone will buy them. Earth Treasures in Keene has a nice selection on display. Want a closer peek?

These are my particular favorites... then why am I selling them? I'm practicing letting go of my artwork and allowing someone else to love it too.

In honor of the upcoming St. Valentine's Day I made a few more hearts...

The hearts are made with Swarovskis crystals ... sand opal, padparadscha and purple haze. Mmmmmmm. These crystals are like chameleons and take on a different look when they are next to skin. Sorry, you'll have to take my word for it ... they are also at Earth Treasures.

Finally, between projects, I started an online class...this time with SuziBlu ... Goddess and the Poet...so far, so good... I only spent a little time in two separate sessions working on these, but am very pleased even so. I must have inherited drawing genes, because I spend so little time drawing... the most I had done was last year during Lent ... I created a ring design every day for the duration of Lent. So I practiced my drawing skills then, and am actually kinda, sorta pleased with the results... v. glad I didn't pronounce that I was making a design a day for a year though!

The first drawing was all about tonal values and shaping things with them. Learning how to use a pencil. I have to say it is pretty exciting to be drawing again, and making progress on top of that. The value scale was made with just a mechanical pencil. I started adding in an HB standard pencil when I got to the cross-hatching part and for the portrait below I just used the HB.

So, the objective of the class with Suzi is to make a stylized portrait... I know this isn't terribly stylized, but all in all, I am okay with it. Now I see the flaws of course... yikes where is the eraser!!!

I'm thinking that drawing is all about really looking at something, then recording what you see. I can remember the time I discovered shadows underneath a table cloth when making a pastel painting several years ago. Duh. And the time I saw reflections of clouds on the surface of the ocean for the first time. I won't admit how long ago that was.

It's funny, I think of myself as an observant person, but I am often shocked at what I don't see until it literally hits me smack in the face.

Well, onwards and upwards... Go make something!