Art in the afternoon

My daughter and I spent the afternoon just relaxing in the quiet of the house and creating some art.

I finally decided to open the box of pastels I got as a Christmas gift, and just play around. I ended up with three 9"x12" paintings. Pastels are pretty fun to work with since I use my fingers as a tool!

  

Although I was done a few hours ago, she is still working on her pen on canvas drawing, so  here's picture of the artwork she did during the week.  She painted some very cute characters on 4"x4" canvas's that I really adore! As you can see she has an outer space theme going on!

I'm Plugged in!!!!!!!!!

How excited can a person be to get an electrician to install a 220 plug?

VERY EXCITED!!! 

After a year and a half of not having a plug to turn on my Skutt-GM1414 I am officially plugged in today!!!!!   When I bought my kiln in the spring of 2015, I had no idea that I would be leaving my studio behind and storing the kiln that I only fired 3 times. Over this last year and a half I have debated with myself about selling my equipment. I'm really glad I didn't. I hired the same electrician that installed the plug in my old studio to install at my new house.  All this time I thought it would be in the thousands, when in reality it was only a few hundred. Now my plan is to rearrange the garage and have my own corner to create. Also this weekend after the garage is put together I am hoping to get my "Happy Day's" painting cut & framed.

Now since I got the exciting new out of the way, I went to the library on my lunch hour yesterday to return some books that I had borrowed, and as I  browsed the 740 section I came up on a book with no title on the cover, just a surreal painting of a man. and a single Greek letter on the binding. I was intrigued so I checked it out. I have taken art history in college and I never heard of the artist Marc Chagall before.  I was astonished at his fame as a Jewish artist.  I truly felt naive that I didn't know about him, because I would have thought his name should be as common to me as Matisse, Monet, Picasso, Manet and more.  I have been scouring the internet looking at the paintings he created and the stained glass work that he has done. The shear fact that he died in 1985 at 97 years old, I feel that should have known about him and his work long ago... I am glad that I found him now and can't wait to read his story.

Just an fyi... I never noticed that while I write my posts, in the top left hand corner there are two buttons next to each other: compose/html.  For the last few months I couldn't figure why my paragraphs would run into each other even tho I had spaced them when typing, and when I uploaded pictures they were in HTML. My default setting had switched from compose to html, so I switched back now, and feel much better....

Glass, glass and more glass

This week was packed with so many things to do, think about and move forward with. First off I was contacted by the commercial real estate agent for a space that I inquired about in a shopping center about a mile away from my house. The space is intended for a possible art co-op. I stopped by and peaked inside the 605 sq ft space. It was narrow and long with the only natural light was coming from the from of the front of the shop. The good thing was that the owner agreed to a month to month lease. I decided that for the 1056 a month rent + utilities + cost of installing 220 plugs, I needed to make sure that I would like the place well enough to commit, but the bottom line is I just don't like the space.... I'll keep looking. On the flip side my husband called the electrician that installed the 220 in my old studio to come and install one in our garage for my Kiln, YAY!!! I think he is trying to detour my co-op plans however I do appreciate the fact that he wants to make me happy. If I get the plug in the garage, maybe I can just invite some artists over to my house and we can create some art! I hit the glass jackpot the other day! I inquired to my friend, which is a jewelry artist if she had any frit glass (crushed) that she wanted to sell she she is no longer working in glass. Well, she told d me for a "buddy" price of $150.00 i could have ALL her glass! I jumped on it without even asking about the colors because I know that she has good taste, and I know she is a very generous friend with both her supplies and her knowledge. I went to pick up the glass from her house and was pleasantly surprised by the amount and of course I loved all the colors! I estimate the retail value at about $800 worth of glass, so I scored! Before I knew I was buying glass I had committed myself to buying a couple of crates to store glass in from another friend who is downsizing. When I bought them I actually thought to myself why did I buy both since I don't have that much glass, well now I know why!!! I'll pick up the crates end of July and hopefully the garage will be a fully functioning studio for me by then.

10 half sheet & 2 full sheets

a bunch of frit and a few jars of confetti glass!!!

Artistic talent

Last night if I had $500 in my checking account to spend I would have bought a beautiful peice of art, but I dont have the money so all I was able to do is look at it and tell the artist how beautiful I thought it was. Last fall when my duaghter participated in Luminaria, that is when I first saw the amazing portraits that Kaldric Deshon Dow was exhibiting at the park that evening. With lights coming down on the large protraits they seemed as if the shadows and lights were naturally reflected, but it was his skills coming through. Unfortunately, something is going wrong between my ipad and the blog, so I can't link his site, you're just going to have to google to see his amazing artwork. And the artwork below is the reason I went to show last night. A portrait of a child painted on a patterned fabric.

Art Co-op?

I'm not sure if my attention span will last long enough to see this thru, but I have been inquiring about renting some commercial space near my home to turn into an art co-op, specifically for glass artists. There are two great glass shops, one is almost an hour away and the other is almost an hour and a half away, a bit to far to travel after work. I would just love it if I could leave my day job and go straight to the glass studio and be surrounded by other artists. I think my creativity level might amp up. I am still trying to figure things out financially and realistically. I'm hoping that I can find the right spot at the right price and not scare myself into doing nothing...... My cat Tiger looks concerned and a bit depressed. He has been lonely since he lost his best friend Jake back in November after 11 years of hanging out together. Tiger is 13 now and all he want to do is cuddle.