Puzzle Pieces

More beautiful crinklized dichroic from Coatings by Sandburg (CBS). This pendant and earring set is my last entry in the Palmer Lake Art Group Fine Art Show that starts on June 2nd with its opening reception on Saturday, June 6th at the Tri-Lake Center for the Arts.

The glass pattern was called Puzzle, so I felt that was an appropriate title for this set.





I used square Argentium silver wire to wrap these, along with a few Swarovski crystals for the earrings.

On Thursday of this past week, I had a fun little trip up to D & L Art Glass and was able to hand pick some more of the CBS patterned dichroic. A new batch of fused cabs is cooling in the kiln as I write this. I can't wait to see how these new patterns turned out. I will be wire wrapping and posting new pictures soon.

A Grove of Trees ~ In Progress

I'm calling this one, A Grove of Trees. I never really thought of myself as an abstract artist, but I find that more of my fused glass pieces are turning out to be abstract and I like it.

I really enjoy working with shades that compliment each other, along with adding a splash of color throughout a piece. This piece just came out of the kiln yesterday. More greens, but this time I added some amber and marzipan along with a pop of yellow here and there. Bullseye glass of course! Now I have coldwork to do on this piece too; it's in the queue behind Arrow in the Forest. I couldn't resist showing this morning's light coming through the fused piece. I like having transparent pieces mixed with opals so the light 'jumps' around a bit.

I had random lengths cut and started to combine them. During the process of building this piece, I had to cut finish pieces to fit in the steel circle. The fiber dam will prevent the glass from adhering to the stainless steel ring.







Here the work on putting all the pieces together to make up the Grove design is done and it is ready for firing in the kiln.







This last shot is of one of my views from my studio window. Now that some of my flowers are blooming and the aspens have started to leaf out, I can look out and get a great view of nature! I took this yesterday afternoon and it is the view through the screen, but this is what I can see when I take a break.

Hope all of you are having a terrific weekend! I am. :)

Arrow In the Forest - Work in Progress

I started work on this design a couple of days ago. It just came out of the kiln yesterday and I will start coldworking the edges next, prior to the final slump in the square dish mold.

For this design, I used one of Beverly Ash Gilbert's color wheel schemas and I really like the way the colors came together for me on this piece. I had the rich cranberry stringer that I think stands out with the yellow confetti pieces as a back drop.


I started with the vertical section using 3 pieces of Bullseye canary yellow confetti. Then I picked out one of the cranberry stringers I had made a while ago, that had a nice string of navy running through it. The navy was twisted around inside of this stringer as part of what I did when I made these. I decided to outline the vertical with more yellow and I wanted a dark green border for the entire piece. I tried several pattern variations for the greens and ultimately, this was my final choice.



This is the completed design, before I packed the vertical area with clear frit.








And now the clear frit is in place, just before fusing. I created fiber dams to hold the glass in place once it becomes molten. And reinforced those with pins and a couple of kiln posts.

The top picture shows the result to date.

I thought I would call this one, Arrow in the Forest.

Messier 83 - Spiral Galaxy

There are so many beautiful photographs of space and the inspiration for this bowl came from one of the Hubble telescope's photographs of Messier 83, a Spiral Galaxy. I changed up the color scheme and went for brighter colors than the original Hubble photo (it was mainly gray with a little bit of red and white). The thing that really intrigued me was the spiral. I wanted a graceful spiral and put my on 'spin' on it...so to speak. :D

For this piece I used a combination of various frit sizes, from coarse to medium to fine, trying to come up with the effect of the stars in this galaxy. At the end, I even added a little dichroic frit to create some sparkle, like a twinkling star. Unfortunately, that does not show up as well in this photo as it does in person.

This is one of the three entries I have for the Palmer Lake Fine Art Show coming up in another week. I have a pendant and earring set I need to finish wire wrapping that will also go in the show (along with Window to Another World).

Window To Another World

I call this Window to Another World. There are some really nice transparent Bullseye cranberry and teal glasses that I used as complements to the streakies. I also added clear strips in the construction. The cranberry solid glass section is the 'window' part of this piece.

This is one of my entries for the Palmer Lake Art Group, Spring Fine Art Show that starts on June 2nd. Messier 83 will also be in that show and I'll post a picture of that one soon.

I really like these thick bowls and will always be grateful to Patty Gray for teaching this technique in her class last fall.

Puppy Newton...his first portrait

Fellow blogger, Sheila Tajima, saw my last post on our Newton's birthday and asked if she could do a portrait of his puppy picture. Well, of course I said yes. And here is Sheila's portrait of Newt. You can read more about this on her post, called "What a Face".

Sheila is a creative force, painter, and generous spirit. She offered to give me this portrait and I happily accepted. She paints pet portraits and donates some of her work for her local chapter of the SPCA. She has another blog, Art For Shelter Animals. I felt the least I could do is make a donation to one of her causes, so I'm sending a contribution to the East Bay SPCA.

Thank you again Sheila!

Newton ~ A Basset Tale..yes pun intended

This is one of our bassets, our youngest one, Newton...named after Sir Isaac. Today is his birthday. On the left, the full grown boy of 3 years. On the right, typical basset puppy sitting posture at 8 weeks! He's still just as cute and sweet today and every inch a puppy!

While this post isn't related to my glass work, he is an integral part of my work as he does keep me company while I'm in the studio. :)

And his parents are pretty gorgeous too....both are Champions. His Dad is Expo, on the left, and his mom is Riva (she's known as Red). I sure do love bassets. My aaaawwww moment of the day.

My Violet Volunteers

Ever since I was a child, I have loved violets. Probably because of their lush purple colors. I remember there always was a batch out by my parents' garden and I took great delight picking some to give to my mom. She would put them in a small vase and we would enjoy them for a short time.

Today I was able to get out into my flower garden and these little guys have cropped up everywhere. I just love it. They are so colorful. I took a number of pictures, I'm thinking I'd like to do a stained glass window of them. I'm not sure if I should do a group, like this picture, or just a solitary one, or maybe a pair. I think it would be fun to do all of the above actually. What are your thoughts?

I mixed up my various work efforts today. I'm currently doing the coldwork part for two different bowls. One is the galaxy bowl and the other I have yet to post any pictures of. I thought it would be fun to just publish the finished piece. I hope to have both of these done in the next week or so.

May this week be a great week of creativity for all of you.

Second Place Ribbon ~ Warm Glass Category

I had a wonderful surprise last night as Dan & I entered Co-Art Gallery to look at all the beautiful glass art displayed as part of the Glass Artist Fellowship, Glass at the Gardens.

My Solar Flares pendant and earring set, won second place in the warm glass category. From that point on I don't think my feet touched the floor for the rest of the evening.

Now I have been fortunate enough to win awards for my work in other shows, BUT this is the first time I've won an award at an all glass art show! And there are such gifted glass artists that display their work, so I am humbled and honored to have one of my pieces selected for a ribbon.

I managed to take a few shots of other pieces, and forgot to photograph the other side of the gallery. So I will share the few I managed to take. Of course, Dan took the photo of me beaming with Solar Flares.

They have three glass categories for this show:
* Hot, which is flame/torch work.
* Cold, which is stained glass panels
* Warm, which is the kiln work.



The piece that came in first in the warm category was absolutely amazing...it also took best in show. I couldn't get a picture of it because it was in the front window and the sun was making it impossible. There were some gorgeous things in both front windows and it was just the wrong time of day for photo ops.





I guess I'm going to have to get off of cloud nine and get back to the real world today.

Opening Reception

It's going to be a busy Friday. Tomorrow morning, Dan & I head over to Coyote Creek to deliver his photography and some of my glass cabochons. It's exciting for Dan to have his work in a gallery. I'm so proud of him.

Tomorrow evening we have an opening reception at the Co-Art Gallery in Denver for the Glass at the Gardens show. I have three pieces in this show; Meteor Showers, Neptune Embellished and Solar Flares....or is it Flare? We'll enjoy an evening in the Denver Art District and I hope I'll have some good photos to share of this event.

Happy creating all!

Messier 83 - Spiral Galaxy

This is the start of a new bowl. It just came out of the kiln today and I'm really happy with the result so far. Another thick piece, this is about 1/2" deep and almost 14" in diameter. I need to clean the edge before I start the coldworking process.

The inspiration for the design was born from a Hubble photograph of a Spiral Galaxy called Messier 83. The color scheme is my choice and I wanted that spiral effect. I used more frit this time and my biggest concern was getting the fiber dam to hold as this fused. As a result I used a TON of straight pins and unfortunately some of the tips became embedded in the edge. This isn't really a problem as I will clean up the circle shape with my trusty Taurus 3 ring saw and that will eliminate any residual pins.

The next time I photograph this will be after it's slumped in the bowl. I will be entering this in the Palmer Lake Art Group's June show at Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts. Looking forward to it.

Growing Love

Another completed piece. I entered "Growing Love" in the Manhattan Arts HerStory2009 call for submissions. I'm very happy with the way this turned out. Now we'll see if they like it well enough to accept it in the online show. I don't think I'll find out until June.

No matter what happens, I had fun creating this one.

Coyote Creek ~ Sneak Preview

Dan took some great pictures at Coyote Creek yesterday. I thought I would share a few here and if you would like to see some more, check out the new group I formed on Facebook for Coyote Creek Studio Arts.

It was a nice day, we had a good turnout of first time patrons. The inside of the gallery has undergone this wonderful transformation of gorgeous works by all the artists.

An added bonus, Dan took in his portfolio of photographs and was immediately accepted! That's my guy. Lexi Erickson, who is the President of Coyote Creek, said he had her vote the minute she saw his photos on our website. Lexi is pictured here, outside the gallery with a large floral sculpture and a few of the artist, including the mayor of Fairplay (Fred on the left).












And yes, here is yours truly inside the gallery. The camera is not always my best friend, but it's a shot where I'm talking to Dan, my personal photographer. :D

By the way, Lexi and I have become fast friends. There are those wonderful, rare occasions when you meet someone and experience an immediate connection. We did that and I cannot tell you how much that means to me. I am enrolled in Lexi's Art Jewelry Workshop in June and we are going to take my jewelry to the next level!

Solar Flares....or is it Flair?

Ever since last year's Glass at the Gardens exhibit, when Floral Talisman sold, I want to have at least one piece of wire wrapped glass jewelry in a show. This pendant and earrings will be my entry in the revised Glass at the Gardens at CoArt Gallery in Denver.

More of that crinklized dichroic with a pattern...I just love this stuff for glass jewelry. I tried to keep things fairly simple, while enhancing the beauty of the glass.

Ever since these came out of the kiln I thought, "Solar Flares"...so that is the title, but I think it adds a little Flair for the wearer! ;)

Meteor Showers

The thickest fused glass bowl I have made to date, Meteor Showers, is done. It definitely helps to have the right equipment to get the job done. With my new table top lap machine, I've been able to complete things that have been waiting in the wings, like Meteor Showers.

I took a couple of views of it tonight and will ask Dan to take the portfolio pictures of it for me. In the meantime, I wanted to post this latest completed work.

I am a member of the Glass Artist Fellowship and we will be having an exhibit at CoArt Gallery in Denver from May 12th through May 23rd. The opening reception will be Friday, May 15th. Click here for more details on the event.

I have two other pieces I am entering in this exhibit...one is Neptune Embellished, and another is a pendant/earring set that is currently in the works. I'll post a picture of the set in the next day or two.

Coyote Creek Studio Arts

Sometimes I feel like I have my own, personal photographer...and I guess I really do. My husband Dan took this photo of me yesterday in front of Coyote Creek Studio Arts, after we completed the delivery of my work.

It was the first time I got to see the gallery, visit Fairplay, and meet Pat Pocius...one of the co-owners. Pat is great; she owns South Park Pottery too. I'm happy to be affiliated with this new gallery.

We hung of two of my stained glass windows and you can barely seem them in this picture, but Tower Falls is hanging to my right (your left) and Euclids Garden is to my left (your right). Nice to see my work in a couple of their front windows.

Coyote Creek is set to open next weekend, with its Sneak Preview. I just love the setting, the gallery, the atmosphere....it is so Colorado, so quaint little mountain town. No, not a tourist trap, just a delightful place in this world with charming, friendly people. And the scenery is breathtaking. Mountains stole my heart eons ago when I first saw them in person. I would LOVE to live in an area like this and I'm happy in the knowledge that I live so close to these places that I can visit frequently.

After next weekend's sneak preview, I'm sure I'll have more photos to share of the interior and exterior of the gallery....along with some scenic views too. The weather was a little too overcast yesterday for good mountain photo opts.

I have new work in the kiln and I'm getting ready to start on another piece this afternoon. The creative juices are flowing!!!

Some of my Favs!

I promised to post more pictures of the jewelry that I'm taking to Coyote Creek tomorrow. And to that end, here are a few of my favorites! Sometimes it's hard to let go of a piece. But I can't keep everything I like. These are more of the crinklized dichroic that I'm just enamored with. The violet pendant and earrings are called Violet Brilliance. The pictures just don't do the glass justice as they really do sparkle.





And I have to thank ALL of you who encouraged me to stretch and make earrings. I have 21 pairs to take to the gallery, along with 49 pendants. Yes, I've been busy.









This last pendant is from a crinklized pattern, called Puzzle. I think it's a "Standout", so that is its name.

Sneak preview at the gallery will be next Saturday, May 9th. I hope there is a great turnout.

Thanks again for all your kind words of support and encouragement. I truly value it.