This new year brings with it more than the usual amount of
"newness." Glass Bird Studios moved from New Mexico to Juneau, Alaska
late last year. I love it here in the Northwest, though the short days
and long, dark nights made me very glad to see the winter solstice come.
Later this month I will be showing my work in the Juneau Artists
Gallery, and have been pushing hard to produce new work for that
opportunity.
When I read about the 30 Frit Drawings in 30 Days Challenge on the Facebook page Fused Glass Fanatics,
I was intrigued. I love working with frit, and have always enjoyed
drawing. What a perfect way to pull myself out of production mode and
into pure creativity! Of course, making art is always productive, but I
am letting myself range widely in the images I select to work on during
the challenge...whatever catches my eye is what I will do, rather than
staying within some self-imposed notion of consistency or theme. This
activity will be about exploring glass using the technique known as
sgraffito.
This morning I viewed today's Facebook post by the wilderness guide, author, and photographer Lynn Schooler,
who also happens to live in Juneau. The striking photo he posted of a
raven in snow struck me as the perfect image for my New Year's frit
drawing. I was delighted when he gave permission for me to use the image
as inspiration, so I got to work.
I cut a
piece of white opalescent glass 5 1/2" x 9" and sifted a thin layer of
black opal powdered frit over the top. Using my fingers, various small
brushes, an Xacto knife, and clay sculpting tools, I pushed the powder
around, subtracting it, defining forms, and creating texture. It was
suggested that the first drawing be fingers-only, but I was more
interested in getting the right results for this drawing...something I
could not accomplish with just my fat fingertips!
I
photographed the piece when I was satisfied that I had adequately
interpreted the spare elegance of Lynn's original photo. Tomorrow I will
fire the panel and think about what I want to do with it next. It's
snowing in the source photo, and I need to see if I can find a way to
represent snowflakes against the raven's deep black body. It's a
challenge that I'll address in later firings, probably by adding white
frit powder.
In the meantime, this image of a
raven in winter is my first contribution to the 30 in 30 Frit Drawing
Challenge. Thanks to fellow glass artist Kelly Alge for launching the
challenge. I'm happy to be one of the 300+ artists participating!
Love your raven and the delicate buds on the tree.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Kathy!
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