Great News!

Breaking Dawn

Sky-Scape Series

Photo Credit ~ Daniel Krucoff

I received some great news today! My contact with Boulder Arts and Crafts got in touch and wanted to extend my show through October 17! Wow. What a wonderful surprise. She said, and I quote, "your work perfectly compliments the next show that went up, paintings by Joeseph Smith." I am thrilled. I truly love the venue and there are so many wonderful artists affiliated with Boulder Arts and Crafts, so my dream continues to become a reality.

The piece pictured is another from my Sky-Scape Series. I am such a purple fan and there are days when the sky takes on that color palette. So this is my tribute to those mornings as dawn breaks....not the book by Stephanie Meyer for those Twilight fans!

Breaking Dawn is one of my works available at Boulder Arts and Crafts, now through October 17!

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

Blue Skies ~ Skyscape Series

Blue Skies

Skyscape Series

Photo Credit: Daniel Krucoff

Another from my Skyscape Series. With this plate, I wanted to convey the sense of a pretty blue sky on a summer day with a few stray clouds.

I also created what I call the 'mini-me' version of it shown below. This little plate is approximately 4" square, while its larger version is approximately 12" square.



Both are on display at Boulder Arts & Crafts through the end of the day today, when the exhibit closes.

I did receive word this week that my Full Bloom plate, that I discussed in my 8/28 post, sold.

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

Breaking Dawn

Sky-Scape Series

Photo Credit ~ Daniel Krucoff

Red glass has always been one of my favorites. I like the depth of it, the various shades, and the richness. This is one of my Sky-Scape bowls and I wanted it to convey those first red hues as the sun rises in the morning. That is my reason for calling this one Breaking Dawn.

I used Bullseye glass in this strip construction, combining the transparent glass with opals.  Creating any of these Sky-Scape bowls takes more time because I'm trying to get the right balance of glass colors to create the affect I want.  Of course, the way the strips look, prior to their first firing in the kiln for the full fuse, doesn't always provide an accurate view of how the piece will look after being fused.  There can be color shifts in some of the glass after fusing.  In this case, some of the reds turned out darker after being fused.  However, I'm still happy with the end result as I think it is dramatic.

Here's an interesting tidbit of information about red glass.  Gold is used in its manufacture.  I have an inventory of red glass that I purchased about 2 years ago which was before gold prices exceeded $1000 an ounce.  I haven't checked the price of red glass since gold prices went up.  Right now I'm happy that I have a supply.

Breaking Dawn is currently available at Boulder Arts and Crafts through September 5, 2010.

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

Clearing Skies ~ Sky-Scape Series

Clearing Skies
Sky-Scape Series
Photo Credit ~ Daniel Krucoff

Growing up in the Midwest, I have a fondness for thunderstorms. I think there is a real beauty in the lightening shows they produce. And then there is that moment as the stormy skies are clearing and the sunlight emerges. That moment is what I tried to capture in this piece, which I call Clearing Skies.

Working on the pieces in my Sky-Scape Series has its challenges. Trying to combine the right glass colors, create the effect I'm hoping for once the pieces fuse together. The picture below is this piece as it's ready to go into the kiln. The glass at the top and bottom is one of Bullseye's Blue Steel that shifts from the deep blue you see in this picture to a silver when fused at a certain temperature. You can see this color shift in the finished bowl pictured at the top of this post.



When I took this to full fuse temp, around 1525 degrees Fahrenheit, it remained that deep blue shade you see in the pre-fuse picture. After I completed the coldworking phase to finish the edge, I put it back in the kiln to slump into its final shape. That slumping temperature I used took it to about 1125 degrees and that is when the color shift to that silver took place. Fascinating! I truly love opening my kiln and seeing what awaits.

That's exactly what I wanted and thanks to that shift, it created the stormy sky clearing effect I wanted. Dark stormy grey/silver edges with the clouds dissipating after the storm and the light shining through.

If you'd like to see this one in person, it will be part of my exhibit at the Boulder Arts & Crafts Gallery in August. Stay tuned for more details on that show.

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

Colorado Sunset ~ The Sky-Scape Series

Colorado Sunset

The Sky-Scape Series

Photo Credit ~ Daniel Krucoff

Last month I provided a sneak preview of my new Sky-Scape Series with this piece, which at the time I had given the title Sunset. However, as I completed the finish work, it became clear to me that I needed to call this piece Colorado Sunset.

In my March post about this piece, I shared a photo I took from our back yard of the sky, that was the inspiration. As I reflected on it, I realized that the spacious views we enjoy of the ever changing skies in our area meant that I needed to include Colorado in its title.

Coldworking is one of the finishing steps to complete a piece like this. It involves going through a series of incremental polishing phases with discs to bring the edge of the plate to an optical finish. Initially, I found coldworking to be a bit intimidating and tedious. However, Colorado Sunset and another piece I will share in another day or two, have shown me the true joy one can experience with coldworking. Once I achieve that optical finish on a piece of glass, well, it gives me a great sense of accomplishment.

There are more to come in this series as Colorado Sunset is the first in the series. I truly believe the possibilities for this series are infinite because the sky is constantly changing and beckons me to try to capture, in glass, one of those brief instants in time of its beauty.

Colorado Sunset is one of those pieces that just makes me smile. I am happy with the results and its beauty. It will be offered at Mountain Living Studio in Manitou Springs, Colorado.

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

Preview ~ Sunset, Sky-Scape Series

Dan & I are fortunate, we live in a country setting, just outside of Colorado Springs. One of the many remarkable things about living where we do is the wide open space and expanse of sky. This photo is one of mine that I quickly took, just outside our back door, as the sun was setting. I wanted it as a reference for those stunning colors.

I have always been fascinated by the sky. The way the clouds form, drift, take on colors. The glow of a sunset. The somewhat eerie aspect of a summer storm forming. Where we live, we have very little blocking our view of the sky and the colors that nature produces are marvelous. This idea has been taking root in my mind for a while now and when I saw the beautiful colors in this sunset, I knew I needed to capture it in glass. Sometimes I can create a marvelous sky in a stained glass window thanks to the color variations in a sheet of glass. Bullseye, Uroboros, Fremont, Youghiogheny and others create some wonderful glass for depicting skies. But now, I wanted to capture the sky in my fused works. The great thing for me is that I knew I could do this and I wanted to take my glass work in a bit of a new direction.

I'm still working with glass strip construction, but now I'm trying to create abstract versions of those colors in the sky that I see almost every day. The possibilities are endless, I think.

Let me introduce the first in my new series. I call this one Sunset. The name of the series is Sky-Scapes. Sunset is not completely finished yet, but I thought I would be fun to give a preview of where it is, how it was constructed, and its inspiration.

The photo at the top of this post is the inspiration. While I have a great little digital camera, it's hard to do justice to the beauty of nature with it. However, I just wanted to make sure I had this image to refer to as needed.


These sheets of glass are the building blocks for Sunset. All Bullseye; it is my favorite. For this piece I decided to use a mix of opals and translucents. Others in this series are all translucent and some will be all opals....it just depends on the effect I want to achieve.


These are the strips I cut from the sheet glass. They are approximately 1/2" thick. I really like the thickness and the weight of the thick plates/bowls I do. They aren't for the feint of heart!


This is the start of the construction. I am improvising with things to hold the glass strips in place. I now have a new tool to help hold things in place and I'll preview that in another post.


It's ready for the kiln. You may notice that I'm changing up the randomness/mixture of glass and going for more of a jagged layer look, which I'm trying to create the effects I see in the sky.



This is how it looks after fusing. I really enjoy how some of the glass changes color a bit once it is fused.

Now Sunset is ready for the coldworking phase. After I complete that, I will slump it in the mold for it to take its final form. The next time you see Sunset, it will be one of Dan's photographs to showcase how it really looks and emphasize its beauty.

I hope you like the preview of this new series.

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

The 2010 Handbook

I have been furiously working on new projects. Earlier experiments did not turn out as I had hoped. However, I do have a new series I'm calling Sky-Scapes and I'm anxious to complete the first in the series to share. Until then, I wanted to share this with all of you as I just received it from a dear friend. I hope you enjoy.
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2010 Handbook

Health:

1. Drink plenty of water.

2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.

3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants...

4. Live with the 3 E’s -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy

5. Make time to pray.

6. Play more games.

7. Read more books than you did in 2009.

8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

9. Sleep for 7 hours.

10. Take a 10-30 minute walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:

11. Don’t compare your life to others, you have no idea what their journey is all about.

12. Don’t have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

13. Don’t overdo. Keep your limits.

14. Don’t take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

15. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip.

16. Dream more while you are awake.

17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need...

18. Forget issues of the past. Don’t remind your partner with his/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.

19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don’t hate others.

20. Make peace with your past so it won’t spoil the present.

21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

23. Smile and laugh more.

24. You don’t have to win every argument. Agree to disagree...

Society:

25. Call your family often.

26. Each day give something good to others.

27. Forgive everyone for everything...

28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.

29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

30. What other people think of you is none of your business.

31. Your job won’t take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:

32. Do the right thing!

33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful, or joyful.

34. GOD heals everything.

35. However good or bad a situation is it will change...

36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up.

37. The best is yet to come...

38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.

39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Last but not least:

40. Please share this with everyone you care about.