The Sgraffito journey is complete!

There were days that I just wanted to come home from work and draw with glass, then there were days where I was just too pooped out to draw, but I kept going and didn't miss a day!

When New Year's eve came around I was listening to all the resolutions my husband wanted to accomplish in 2015. Me, myself and I, didn't really have or want to make any resolutions. I was kind of feeling melancholy on New Years eve. I was celebrating with all my kids at home, but was thinking about how my home was going to be empty once their Christmas break was over, and my oldest son moving to his new apartment. Then while I was browsing Facebook, there it was, a 30 day Sgraffito challenge! I got so excited that I was going to have something to look forward to, and keep my evenings occupied while I played with glass!

It has been such a fun month creating, and looking at all the other participants creations.

Thank you Kelly Crosser Alge for this great opportunity, pushing us forward and keeping this going even when you didn't feel well!

Sgraffito Challenge~day 28-29

Self portrait. Easier said than done. I couldn't get the angles right and the selfie was on my phone that kept going dark on me every time I looked up. It's all good though. I am one day closer to the last day of the Sgraffito challenge!  I had so much fun doing this! It kept my evenings occupied and my creativity flowing every day for an entire MONTH! It was a great! I so am glad I saw the invitation for this challenge on New Years Eve and was accepted to participate!  

I would have smiled in my selfie but I have a crooked gap between my front teeth

that I know I wouldn't be able to come close drawing with glass powder

Einstein Sgraffito challenge day 27 & 28

The challenge for day 27 & 28 is to Draw Albert Einstein upside down. I understand the concept of drawing upside down, your eyes follow the lines instead of the image we think we see. I was introduced to this technique about a decade ago in a drawing class.   At first I was going to follow the rules and draw the picture upside down, but then I decided not to. Drawing upside down takes time, following the lines and shadows. I really don't have the patience for it after a long day at work, so here is my upright, free hand drawing of Einstein..  

Sgraffito challenge ~ day 26

Upside down tree drawing, left handed branches on left side, right handed branches on right side.

4"x4"

Sgraffito challenge~day 23, 24 & 25

Day 23 challenge-create a drawing of an item that I collect...hmmm, I collect a few things, sand from different beaches in jar. I collect seashells in a jar, I collect glass scraps from different projects in  jars. So my real collection is jars!

I collect jars, to collect different things.

Just thinking about the challenge that day 24 presented, doing stuff with my left, non-dominant hand had me push all the days challenges out until today. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be, It just took more time working with my left instead of my right hand. Not that I created anything spectacular, I just completed what I needed to.

Day 24 challenge-using my left hand to draw out trees without any tools. (I had to do this one twice since my branches were going up instead of down.

(Okay, so they almost look like trees)

Day 25 challenge was using, my left hand with some tools. My tool of choice was the little card.

I think everyone can tell it's a tree with a swing~ mission accomplished.

Sgraffito Challenge Day 22~Safety pin

Wasn't too sure about how this safety pin was going to turn out. Took me about 45 minutes before I declared that I was done.. This is on white glass with black glass powder.  I used the pallet knife to create the line within the needle and use the card to shape it.

1 1/2" x 2" glass

Day 21- not so detailed

Today's challenge was to create a bouquet of flowers in a vase.  I stuck with my 4"x4" canvas for this project which only allows me  room for so much detail.  I follow an amazing Turkish miniature painter, Hasan Kale that can create great detailed paintings on any tiny surface, but that's not me. The smaller the object gets the less details I apply.

   bouquet of flowers 4"x4"

Sgraffito Challenge~Day 20

Today it was all about the flower. Design and shade with black glass powder. Well as soon as I walked into my studio tonight I could stop sneezing, which makes hard to work with a mask on. As you probably can tell I didn't work on this flower for long, but mission accomplished for tonight.
I may go back to it on different day.

random flower 4"x 4"

Sgraffito weekend challenge plus Monday

I am so glad I was off today.  This weekend has been an emotional one. My youngest son left on Saturday to go back to school, and today my daughter is on her way back to her school.  My house feels empty and quiet now.  I wanted to spend as much time with them as I could over this winter break, because I knew as as soon as they left I would miss them, and I do.

Today after my daughter packed up her car and her little dog, I ventured out to my studio.  It's a beautiful sunny 69 degrees out, so I was able to have the windows open as I worked.

I am pretty impressed with all of the other artists that are in this challenge, and their beautiful detailed work.  I also can't believe we are on our 19th day and only have 11 days left in this challenge.

If anyone wants to check out the blog where all the art is posted go to Modern Ancient Glass. It's been a great artistic journey so far!

So here are my three black & white weekend pieces and my Monday Pink Rose.

Poppy bud 2"x3"

flower 2"x3"

Resting Bird  2'x3"

Pink Rose 4"x4"

Day 13, 14 &15

This evening I felt pretty good, good enough to work on days 13, 14 and 15. I  was reluctant to create the sharks mouth, I don't care to draw scary or surreal drawings, but decided since I wanted to commit to this challenge I might as well go with the flow.

  this one went right back in the jar after I took the picture

I love the ocean but I do have a fear of sharks

I don't fear roaches, but I do not like them, and have no problem killing them

Just another day

Today was the first day this week that I felt a little relief from a pinched nerve in my neck. The pain isn't completely gone, just more tolerable.

I bypassed the the last couple of days of the glass challenge, not really interested in the subject matter and sheer fact that it's been impossible to create anything with the pain. I may or may not try and play catch up,  I just may pick up on the challenge tonight or tomorrow.

The real reason that I wanted to post this afternoon doesn't have anything to do with anything. It's all about the sign I ran into when I went to our office restroom today.  A clever little sign, don't ya think?

Day 12-Coffee!

I start my day with a good cup of coffee. It's a must.  I'll have one, two, sometimes three cups of coffee. I grew up in a family that drank Greek coffee morning, mid morning, mid afternoon and evening.  We drank coffee ALL day long!  Then everyone wondered why they couldn't go to sleep....

I love coffee, and my coffee cup.  Tonight;s sketch was a quick one

.

Day11~It's all about the Lemon

I cut my lemon in half and I attempted it a couple of times, but once it gets to a frustrating point, I'm done.  So here is the inside of my lemon!

before and after firing

So I thought I would share pictures of the four pieces I fired in the kiln yesterday. I went to a high tack fuse of 1380.

On the building I cleared most of the powder that surrounded the building, I thought it would turn out too dark. I think I should have left a tiny bit on there. 

day 10 ~ Lemons with leaves

It's a wet and cold day.  Even though I woke up early I just puttered around the house until this afternoon.  I turned on the small kiln to fuse four of my previous days challenge pieces, also hoping the kiln would heat up the studio faster than my little space heater.  The studio did get to a comfortable temperature, but I didn't spend too much time on my project today. The challenge  was to "Do a sketch of your fruit in some kind of setting, or something fun". I created two lemons still attached to their leaves.

I thought  about staying out in the studio to work on my other project, a stained glass window,  but it's more of a snuggle up on the coach, with a warm blanket, hot chocolate, and a good book kind of day.

  Lemons with leaves

Day 9 ~ Lemon

Toady overall was a better day than yesterday. My studio was comfortable this evening (I remembered to turn on the space heater for a while before I started to work out there).

Today's challenge was to draw a still life of a fruit. All I had in the house was lemons, limes and oranges so I chose the lemon. It's been a long time since I drew a still life, and I never did it with powder glass before.  I didn't find or use any new tools tonight, I actually like working with the little card.

My Lemon

Day 8 - just one of those days

So I have have kept this blog for a while, and it' not just dedicated to my 30 day challenge. so I feel that I have the privilege to go on a little personal pity party rant tonight. Today sucked.  I didn't get enough sleep last night, I literally forgot to put any makeup on before I left for work this morning, (I feel lucky I remembered to brush my teeth:)), my neck and shoulders are killing me from a pinched nerve and and my studio was so freakin' cold tonight that my fingers were going numb. Granted I could have turned on the space heater for a while before I worked in there, but I forgot to do that too.

Needless to say, tonight's challenge didn't last that long. I didn't have anything planned out, and I didn't want to stay in the studio to plan anything out. The glass I was working with had different shades of blue in it so I decided to sift some butterscotch, spring green and canary yellow on it.  With a pallet knife, I just did a scribble through the powder.  That's it for tonight. :)

Day 7 :add a tool

Today I decided that I was going to draw instead of using the "sgraffito" (scratch out) technique.  So over lunch I sketched out a drawing to prepare myself so I wouldn't be staring at a blank canvas trying to figure out what I wanted to create.  I also wasn't sure what kind of tool I wanted to add since brushes were absolutely forbidden.  I actually liked working with the card and my fingers but adding a tool was going to allow for some more details. I chose the burnishing pen that I use for my copper foil when I work with stained glass :) I was pretty pleased with it too!

4"x4" street lamp

2015 a new year

At the end of 2014 I was in a bit of a funk and feeling that my life was in a time warp that kept me doning the same thing in the same place day after day, year after year. Well I came to realize that i need to appreciate all that I have and that it was completely up to me to get out of my "box" and do things for myself that will get me out of the "box".

I would like to incorporate more travel in my life.  Texas is big and it's almost impossible to do a "day" trip anywhere interesting, so I want to plan long weekend trips.

The Sgarffito challenge came at a great time as well. It gives me something to look forward to everyday for the month of January.  I'm looking into participating in juried art shows as well.

Life is good, and the mental challenge is to see it that way.

Day 6 Good days and bad days

So today I was really unmotivated to do anything.. I sat in front of my small little canvas's and couldn't think of anything to create. It seemed that creativity flew out the window tonight, until I thought about my favorite design.  I absolutely love abstract loopy designs, and have created quite a few stained glass windows and fused glass art with this type of design. I have fun creating them so it works for me. My 5 minute drawings turned into 1 minute drawings. I did get sloppy with the last one, but I completed my challenge tonight!

This one was the a

Can you tell this was the last one I did. :) it's pretty messy...

Day 5 of the Sgraffito Challenge

As the clock approached 5 today, my brain was coming up with beautiful sketches and ideas for the challenge today. I couldn't wait to get off from my day job and implement all of these ideas onto the glass. However, it seems my minds eye versus my finger tips, and the card that I'm using for a tool had other plans! The images in my head versus what what I was actually creating on the glass didn't look the same at all! :) That's okay though, I completed tonight's challenge, and left my studio a feeling satisfied that I finished 5 pieces within the 5 minutes allocated for each piece. (so glad my glass is only 4"x4") 

Day 4 Sgraffito challenge-the good, the bad & the ugly

So I learned a few things between yesterday and today:
 #1: stiff black glass powder doesn't move around as easily as regular black glass powder. Someone asked the question yesterday, what's the difference between the two, I never knew the difference before, and today it made my life so much easier!

#2. As I have been working with a card, I realized I could cut the edges every so often to keep the corners "sharp".
#3. I have done minute drawings in a drawing class before and realize that there is a natural flow when working fast, even with glass powders.

So here are my five in five minutes each. the good, the bad & the ugly.

yes-this one is sideways-it was very uncooperative!