Colorado Wildflowers ~ The Flower Garden Series

Colorado Wildflowers
The Flower Garden Series
Photograph Credit ~ Daniel Krucoff

I would like to debut my new glass series I am calling The Flower Garden Series. This bowl is called Colorado Wildflowers as it reminds me of some of the open meadows we can see in Colorado that are filled with beautiful wildflowers.

Ever since I lived in Texas, I fell in love with the wildflowers that would bloom in spring. Bluebonnets and Indian Paint Brush filled fields and the shoulders of the Texas highways. They were beautiful, especially in the hill country close to Austin. It's a must see in my book, if you've never visited Texas in March to see nature's splendor.

Lately I tend to experience something I can visualize in my mind's eye and this bowl is the first of many where I see glass shards creating a wildflower scene. Please don't take this the wrong way, but this is one of my favorite bowls. I hate the thoughts of parting with it, but if it is meant to find another home, that is its path. This one will be one of my glass works that will be on exhibit during the month of August at Boulder Arts & Crafts in Boulder, Colorado.

I think the highest compliment I've received on this piece is from my husband Dan. He said it looks like an impressionistic painting. And that reminds me of another comment a fellow artist recently left on my blog, that some of my glass bowls look like I'm painting with glass. I was truly flattered by Deborah Younglao's comment, given her talents as a silk painter, that was a high compliment. Please check out her work on her blog and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

So I'm debuting a series that will be dedicated to the delicate beauty of wildflowers. Some of the ones I've completed in this series are bold and dramatic. Others a bit more subtle like this one.

For each of these, I start out with a blank of clear Bullseye Glass as the base. The I start adding glass shards and frit to create the look of grasses, stems, flowers and sky. I've really enjoyed experimenting with this process and I have definitely enjoyed the results.

I hope you like it. Please feel free to share your thoughts.

Until next time, aspire to be more as an artist and a person.

Scenes from the Opening Reception

Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts

I thought I would share some of the photos from the opening reception on Friday night at the Palmer Lake Artist Group's Fine Art Show at Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts.

As I have mentioned, I do like this venue. The turn out for the opening receptions continues to be good.

The Krucoff Clan fared well as each of us won ribbons for our works. Dan won first place in the Photography category.

Daniel Krucoff ~ First Place Photography

Mary received second place for her watercolor.

Mary Krucoff's Watercolor ~ 2nd Place in the category

I received a second place for my wire wrapped glass jewelry.

Bling Wire Wrapped Glass Jewelry by Kathleen Krucoff

And I also had the good fortune of receiving 3rd place for one of my glass bowls, Summer Days.

Summer Days ~ 3rd Place ~ Fused Glass Bowl by Kathleen Krucoff

Suzanne Jenne, a gifted artist, was the MC for the silent auction. I'm happy that I won one of the items in the auction. The proceeds from the auction go toward the scholarship fund to help art students from the area go on to pursue their studies in college.



Here are a few more shots of the variety of work at this show.







And here are a few of the Krucoffs. You will notice a photo of Dan in front of his work is noticeably absent....hmmmmmm he does like being the photographer!

Mary and her painting.

Me with my jewelry.

A girl and her glass..... bowl that is, with ... a glass of wine!

Oh yes, those are 'adult beverages' that Mary & I have. What's an opening reception without a little wine or beer?

We had a fun evening. Hope you enjoyed seeing a glimpse of the surroundings.

Until next time, aspire to be more as an artist and a person.

Palmer Lake Art Group 45th Annual 2010 Spring Fine Art Show

Opening Reception, Friday, June 11th, 5:00-8:00 pm, Free and Open to the Public

Featuring Aaron Medina, classical and Brazilian jazz guitarist, graduate of Lamont School of Music

Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts, 304 Highway 105, Palmer Lake, CO 80133, 719-481-0475

Exhibition, June 3—29, Tuesday—Saturday, 12:00-4:00 pm

Dan & I will be there for the opening reception along with many of the other talented artists of the Palmer Lake Art Group.

Until next time, aspire to be more as an artist and person.

Spring Skies

Spring Skies
Sky-Scape Series
Photo Credit - Daniel Krucoff

Another in my Sky-Scape Series, I was thinking of colorful spring time skies as I worked on this piece. It was very difficult for Dan to photograph because I had more darker colored glass in this piece and trying to get the light to shine through with the highly reflective glass surface made it almost impossible to photograph. I had 1' square mirrors that I use in shows for my pieces when the lighting is low, so we thought that would help. I think it did some and it does give you the opportunity to see the underside of this bowl. This one truly is a bowl that you need to see in person and hold it so the sunlight shines through so you can see the colorful glasses I used.

All of the glass that I used for this piece are my favorite Bullseye sheets. I combined opals and transparents for this one. The crackling you see on the surface was created by the use of crystal clear frit in the chunky size. It's one of my thicker bowls, approximately 1/2" thick, so it is quite heavy. I do like how stout some of these bowls are, but I have started to tone down the thickness to 3/8" on others I'm currently working on. I thought it would be good to have a variety of thicknesses and then see what the public likes.

Currently it is on display at the Palmer Lake Art Group Fine Art Show at Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts in Palmer Lake, Colorado. The opening reception for this event will be this coming Friday, June 11th, from 5 - 8 PM. There will be refreshments and an open bar, along with live music. Generally there is a good turn out for this reception and Dan & I enjoy it a great deal.

Until next time, aspire to be more as an artist and a person!

Summer Day

Summer Day
Photo credit ~ Daniel Krucoff

It has been a long winter and late spring here in Colorado. Wishful thinking when I created this bowl with thoughts of summer and the colors I recall seeing on those warm summer days. This bowl represents my thoughts about green grasses along with a smattering of dandelions!

This is one of my bowls that will be available at the Palmer Lake Artists Group's Fine Art Show starting this Wednesday, June 2.

I used all Bullseye glasses for this piece. There are a couple of new yellows & greens that I picked up on my recent visit to D & L Art Glass.

I'm happy to report that over the past week, the weather has warmed to the point where our Aspens have sprung to life with that lovely shade of new growth green. More inspirations thanks to the warmer weather.

Until next time, aspire to be more as an artist and a person.

Frank Lloyd Wright ~Tributes

Photo credit ~ Daniel Krucoff

I've been experimenting a bit. I am a huge fan of Frank Lloyd Wright and while these didn't exactly turn out as I had hoped, they are a start. I have several books on his works and thought it would be fun to take a mini view of one of his designs. I'll keep working on this concept and maybe I'll hit on something that is a better representation of what I had planned to do.

The white background was fully fused to a clear blank. Then I added the color elements and just tack fused them so they would remain raised rather than sink into the white glass as they would have with a full fuse. I find it intriguing that the tack fuse takes the glass up to a temperature sufficiently high to bond with the surface of the base piece, but not 'melt' completely into it. Another benefit with tack fusing is it just starts to round out the edges of the pieces ever so lightly and gives them a bit of a watery appearance.

My original intent was to have rusts and greens, but the striker glass I used in this one turned more red and rust. Used my favorite Bullseye glasses again. I really like strikers because they change colors in the fusing process and don't always look like the colors they are prior to fusing. Since it was an experiment I wasn't worried about the color shift and in this case they turned out a bit more Christmasy than a Frank Lloyd Wright-ish color scheme.

I haven't given up on this concept. Currently I'm working on projects for an exhibit in August, so I have to set experiments aside and focus. I'll pick up on this again once I have my work done for the exhibit.

Until next time, aspire to be more as an artist and person.

Glam

Glam
Photo credit ~ Daniel Krucoff

Next month will be the annual Palmer Lake Artists Group Spring Show. It will be held at the Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts in Palmer Lake, Colorado. Many of you know this is one of my favorite local venues for art shows. The turn out is good and the opening reception has live music.

This is one of my entries in the show. Crinklized dichroic pieces that I've wire wrapped in Argentium Silver. As I looked at the matching earrings and pendant, all I could think of was glamourous....so I decided to name these Glam.

I have a couple of fused glass bowls that will be in the show too and I will post pictures of those later.

In the meantime, if you are looking for a nice diversion, the opening reception for this show will be Friday, June 11 from 5 - 8 PM at the Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts in Palmer Lake, Colorado.

Until next time, aspire to be more as an artist and a person