Trump

My husband, who is a black American, has finally taken me seriously when I said that I will not live in the U.S. if things get worse. On the Holocaust Remeberance Day, things have gotten worse. To ban    Muslims from seven war torn countries from entering the U.S. is an epic humanitarian failure. Trump is the puppet, and when he gets kicked off stage the actual puppeteers, Pence and the rest of the Klan, will make it much worse.   The fascist system that is taking hold will bring on a horrendous nuclear war and even predicted, we cannot really fathom the tragedy until it actually happens. Do we prepare to leave now, or wait until its too late when all borders are closed to us?

Ideas

We all know what it's like to wake up in the middle of the night with a great idea, or poem, or melody of a new song only to go back to sleep and forget what that great idea was when you wake up in the morning. This happened to me twice this past week.  I had what I thought was a great title for my new art piece at about 3am, and figured, "I can remember that"...... which I didn't when the alarm woke me up at 6.   I also had this awesome poem late one night for my "season of the poppy" series, but had to come up with something not as awesome because I couldnt remember the original one.   Anyway, I decided that the sketchbook that my daughter gave me for Christmas is what I will keep on my night stand for middle of the night, ideas, poems, and anything else that might Come to my mind, along with a sharpened pencil and and sharpener close by.

Say Si

My husband was trying to help me last night by coaxing me into the garage while he worked on his car.  He figured if he was working out there I would work on my art.  I had a small hissy fit about not being able to decide what I wanted to create, but he just stood firm and told me just work on anything. Once I had the glass in front of me that's all it took to create something..

I took my artwork out of the kiln this morning and put it in the frame and I'm pretty happy with the outcome. I'll be dropping off  the finished piece at SaySi on Saturday for there annual Small Scale silent auction in March.  I really do like enjoy participating in this because it promotes art education for children all the way through high school. I truly believe art education is an important part of children's lives, and they grow up to be creative adults that think outside the box.

I haven't decided on a name for this yet (I have until Saturday to decide) but here it is:

 

On a high

There are so many things going on in my brain right now.  I' m on this energetic high of ideas. I have a list of things I want create, a list of things to complete and new ideas to get connected with other artists.

I kept my energy going this evening by not turning on the TV. Instead I changed out of my day job clothes, pulled my capris & t-shirt on and went into the garage.  The evening was nice, I had the garage door open, music on and danced bare foot while I worked.  I am trying to  finish the Poppy series.  So far I have completed 3 out of the four boards that I will mount the glass on.  The Series is called "Season of the Poppy".  I had also completed 3 of the poppy drawings on glass a while ago, and decided that I want to draw one more to make it four. Originally I had planned on making six.  Here is a sneak peak of one that is almost complete, just needs to be mounted:

If you notice, the I have a collage of newspaper clippings all about Heroin. I want to bring attention to the epidemic of Heroin addiction and overdose deaths in our country.  My husband asked my why I was creating something so depressing.  My answer was simple, It's not depressing to me, and I have a need to create this.  I'm not sure where this series is going to be homed once completed, but I'm sure it will find an appropriate place.  

On another note, My new business cards arrived last week and my website dritaharris.com is up and running.  My large doodle paintings and my seascapes are on the website, but I haven't posted any of my glass yet. I'll work on that later. I also put prices on the pieces that are on the website, but no paypal button to purchase them, lol! I guess if anyone really wants something, they can just email me.

New things

Saturday was the first day of class with Kelley Crosser Alge. Her work and technique seemed familiar to me, however learning online versus in a classroom is whole different ballgame. Little tips and tricks, that just aren't shared if your not face to face all get missed when your online. Also, the challenge was just a basic introduction to Sgraffito drawing on glass.  Over the last three days I learned valuable information and more than I expected. One of the most valuable lessons I learned this weekend was in the first 10 minutes on the first day of class about displaying two dimensional artwork. As a glass artist one of the biggest challenges I faced was mounting my glass. What do you use? Silicone? Glues?  wood? metal? Glues don't always last, the glass will shift or falls off. Silcone can be used but it's not ideal for me.What does Kelley use?.... Industrial strength velcro!!!  Wow, life has been made so much easier now!

Since this was drawing with glass, we used powders, and different sizes of frit. The overall lesson was developing perspective, color variation along with the different chemical compositions of glass and the reaction they would have when they are fired together.

Over the last three days each student made several pieces of art.  I was able to bring home 4 of them home, while the other two are in the kiln overnight.

There were several nice things about this class other than learning a new technique.  I had recently met a lady that does glass and pottery during an art show in the spring of 2016, and we hit it off and have become friends. I told her about the class and she decided to take it with me, so we took turns driving each day. When you have good company the hour drive each way didn't seem so long. The other nice thing was that I knew six out of the eight students that were taking the class, so conversations and joking around came easy. Oh yeah, I joined the glass guild again.  One more thing, Matt Grones is a a fairly new owner of A&A Products (18 months). Prior to his ownership, it was only a glass supply distribution center. Matt has created  wonderful work station that is very spacious for each artist to work. He is new to hosting classes and he is a very gracious host. Also, he couldn't have picked a better teacher to teach this class! I wish him much success.

4"x6"(this one is my favorite)

8"x11"

4"x6"

4"x6"

I was tried of drawing- so this my abstract :)

               

upcoming class

Last night I didn't have any weird dreams, that I can remember, so I felt good waking up this morning  not having to interpret something strange and contradictory.   My distress of yesterday has calmed and I feel back on track to try and focus on some new projects, including the website.  What really helped me today was a Ted Talk about procrastination which really hit home. Yes, I am a procrastinator, and have always been one.

I am getting excited for the upcoming class this weekend, it's the first glass class I am taking since 2014. The class, "Into the Forest" is taught by Kelly Crosser Alge, and ever since the free 2015 online challenge she had (which I participated in faithfully :), I have admired her as a teacher and her work as a talented artist.  I received an email today about the class, which spurred my excitement, on what supplies we may want to bring, and that we will be having breakfast and lunch at the studio. I'm not a huge breakfast person, but having lunch provided at the studio is really nice since I don't know my way around Seguin.  I am looking forward to meeting Kelly in person and learning something new for 2017.

On the flip side, I still have to get my artwork designed and done for SaySi with the January 21st deadline, so hopefully I can complete that this week, because I really don't want to donate a piece from the class.

Sunset at South Padre Island, TX

yellow

So we're in our second week of the new year and I am a bit freaked out.  In 2009 I created a website, had an etsy shop and made every possible excuse in the book as to why my art business failed. From not having enough computer time between kids doing their homework, or not enough time to create between my day job and running kids to after school activities. Eventually everything in my art-wanna-be-business went downhill. Between then and now I have resurrected my website a few times only to let it go again.    Now lets fast forward to 2017.  My daughter creates a new website for me, and even designed business cards. Now I am supposed to work on the website to tweak it, add art to it, and be fully vested in this. I literally have no excuses for failure.  I have no valid excuses not to create art, promote my art and sell my art.  I feel like a broken record, like one of those people that keep telling you there going to do something in their life but NEVER do it....   I REALLY do not want to be one of those people!!!!!    

Last night I had a dream that I bought an all yellow scratch off ticket and when I scratched off the yellow, all of these smiley faces were winning amounts. So my scratch off ticket was a big time winner!   So in my dreambook I looked up the color yellow and looked up winning lottery ticket.

 
yellow: You have a fear or an inability to make a decision or to take action. 

winning lottery ticket: To see a lottery ticket in your dream indicates that you need to leave some aspect of your life to fate. Learn to let go and let fate take its course.

Is this a contradicting dream or what????

A new year!

Monday, January 2nd 2017, I cleared some space today in the garage so I can start working on some art. I don't want to make a "resolution" however I want to start a new "habit" of going into the garage after work to create stuff instead of plopping down in front of the tv after dinner.  I received some amazing gifts this year to create art and I want to utilize them all.

All of my kids gave me some really special gifts for Christmas, but my daughter worked on one of my gifts over a long period of time.  While working at her internship and living at home, she secretly was working on a website for me. This gift was presented to me through a small sketchbook with a business card inside..... MY new business card that she designed with my new website address.  What a great way to be surprised! I am currently tweaking some things on it, but overall it's ready to go.

I've been invited to donate a piece of art to SaySi this year and I have accepted the invitation. I have until the 21st before I need to drop the piece off.  So this will be one of my first pieces I will need to work on. I'm currently throwing around ideas in my head, but nothing that makes me smile... yet.

So now, I just need to paint, fuse some glass and create instead of just planning and writing the lists of things I want to do. Happy New Year! I wish all your dreams come true this year!!