January 31 Collage of Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge

What a fun journey!  Many thanks to Kelly for taking the time each day to initiate and manage this challenge for the past month.  Many thanks also to all of the artists and budding artists who gave nothing but support and encouragement along the way to those of us who are not yet as proficient. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson said that every artist was once an amateur... yet at no time did anyone ever point that out.

Day 29 & 30 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Self Portrait

Today's assignment is to take a black and white selfie and then draw it.  Whoa!  I was afraid of that!  I don't like photos of me.  I'm usually the one behind the camera.  But I did it...

Tools used were mostly shaper tools and bamboo skewer.

So, I can't say I would recognize that person walking down the street, but as I stated with Al's portrait... at least you can see that it's a human form.  And... it's not a stick figure, nor did I resort to Kilroy this whole challenge :)

To add to my glee, my husband asked me if I could copy this for him.  What a sweetie.   Maybe cupid will do something with it for Valentine's day.  In the kiln now... I'll post when fired.

Fired Self portrait:

Hmmm...I look like I'm sucking on a lemon or something, lol!  I was hoping that I made the lips light enough that I could fix them after firing but, oh well.  I'm still very proud of what was produced during this challenge.  My head is so full of ideas of how to incorporate this new skill into my glass work that I can't stop smiling (even though it doesn't show in the portrait).

Day 27 & 28 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Albert

Days 27 & 28 are to draw Albert Einstein... upside down...  huh? (scooby doo voice).  Ok, well here goes nothing!  Here's my first attmempt

 So, when I look at him right side up, he looks surprised...

2nd attempt:

I don't know, Al.  This may be the best I've got :)  The more I putz with this the more distorted it gets.  I comfort myself with the fact that at least this drawing is recognizable as any generic old man.  27 days ago I was drawing stick figures. 

Day 26 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge Upside down Tree

Today's assignment is to draw a tree upside down (the tree is upside down, not me), using non-dominant hand. hmmmm.... I thought I would put a spooky looking tree on this blue adventurine spirit glass and make it look like a night sky. 

Interestingly, doing this upside down made it much easier to draw the parts of the tree that gave me problems, like the small branches.  As I got down to the large branches and trunk I pinched the powder.

Day 25 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge

Another day of south paw drawing, but we get our tools back, yayy!!!

I felt like I had better control today than I did yesterday but still having difficulty with fine details.  I do love the way this glass looks like snow at night.  I think I will clean this up later and fire it.  Will post fired piece.

Day 24 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge _ Release the Chains

Today's assignment is to draw a tree using only a business card as tool but must be done with non-dominant hand.  I was feeling comfortable occasionally using my left hand for certain angles but a whole tree was a bit more challenging.

So this doesn't look much worse than the way I started on day 1 using my right hand, so I'm not too discouraged.  I will continue to work out my left hand and I suspect that these drawings will improve as muscles get in condition.

Day 23 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Collection

Today's assignment was to take a picture of something I collect and draw it.  Uhhh...draw my glass supplies?? Wait, what lol!  I've not really collected anything except glass, glass supplies, glass fusing books, stained glass books, drills, molds,torches, gases, or anything but glass for a very long time.  I do have a decent collection of Nativities but they're already put away until next Christmas season.

But then I saw my collection of leis that my grandmother and Anty Honey made.  Oh snap!  I snapped that picture :)

My treasure is one of the seashell leis that Grandma made even after diabetes took her eyesight.  It's one of the few things that I have of her besides a well worn letter.

The kukui nut and koa seed leis were made by Anty Honey.  Anty was always looking for seeds, beans, whatever to make into a beautiful lei.  I once remember walking downtown Honolulu and Honey Girl spotted some gray seeds.  Most people walked by and stepped on them.  WE picked them up!  I wish I could remember what the name of the tree was...  Honey Girl could make beauty out of anything!

So here is my rendition of my calabash bowl with collection of leis.

2 rubber shaper tools were used for this.  The seashells and kukui nuts were pretty straight forward.  I used negative space to give the effect of the koa seeds, since they are so tiny and so many that I would be in over my head to try.  But I like what is here.  Part of me wants to darken the left side of the bowl, but that's not how I'm seeing it now with the light reflecting on it.  I think I'll fire it as is and then see if it needs anything.  Will post when out of the kiln.  Aloha!

Day 22 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Safety Pin

Today's assignment was to draw a safety pin... that's right... a safety pin!  And that little thing was a real challenge to draw.  Here is my first attempt:

And, as it turns out was my last attempt.  I like to take a picture when I'm near the end of a project and then I can see what I want to tweak before I fire or post.  After I adjusted this one I dropped the shaper tool on it and poof, it was gone, lol. 

Day 21 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge _ Black & White floral arrangement

Three weeks into this challenge!  Today's assignment is to draw a black and white of flowers in a container.  It took forever but finally...

Day 20 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge _ Floral #2

Today is another floral day.  I've chosen the lehua flower as my subject.  From the myrtle family of evergreens the 'Ohi'a lehua is one of the first plants to grow on new lava flows.

 

Hawaiian folklore ties the ohia tree and its flower the Lehua blossom to the volcano goddess, Pele. According to the legend the goddess was smitten by beautiful Ohia and wanted him to marry her. Since Ohia loved Lehua he refused to marry Pele.  This enraged the goddess and she turned him into a crooked tree.  Lehua was stricken with such grief over being separated from her tall handsome husband that the gods took pity on her and turned her into a flower so that they could be together again.  From that day on, the Ohi'a tree has blossomed with the beautiful red Lehua flowers.

It is said that you should never pick these flowers.  While the flowers remain on the tree, the weather remains sunny and fair. But when a flower is plucked from the tree, then heavy rain falls upon the land like tears, for Lehua still cannot bear to be separated from her beloved husband Ohi'a.

Prefired Lehua:  I will fire this once and then add the mountain range.

This was drawn with two basic tools; a straight edge rubber shaper and a business card.

So I guess today's assignment is to draw black and white floral theme.  I really intended to make this drawing in black and red only but somehow found myself adding color to the leaves.
Here is my second attempt at today's assignment.

I'm not secure with black and white.  We'll see how it turns out - not sure if I'll fire it.

Fired piece... and... I like it!

Day 19 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Floral Theme

My sister's favorite flower was plumeria so I am dedicating this day to Paula.  So tattoos weren't really popular when we were growing up but for her 40th birthday she got a tattoo of plumeria, lol.  After she passed away I found some of her memoirs about the plumeria and how it represented her awakening of her passion for Hawaiian culture.  I'll share the excerpt...

"Aunties and Uncles:  I have read that the relationship between children and their Aunties and Uncles in Hawaiian culture is a strong one.  Even more than that, I have felt those bonds ever since I was young.  Whether related by marriage or blood, they are parents to me no matter how old I am.  When I was very young, we had a very unusual visitor, the eldest of my mother's siblings, Uncle Junior.  He traveled for his job and for the first time came to visit us.  My mother did not talk about her home in Hawaii with us, perhaps because she missed it too much.  She did not say and we were too young to understand it even if we asked.  Those were grown-up topics.
Uncle Junior was exciting and new to us.   He talked of Grandma and their other siblings and the mischief they would get into as children.  My mother's eyes lit up with excitement when they talked about those old familiar places and events.  He used words like "kolohe" and "da kine" and "cut short".  Today I even use them in my "talk story" with them.
Later, came the Aunties and other Uncles to our unsuspecting New Jersey town.  Auntie Charis and Uncle Randal and Auntie Roberta brought with them the flavors, the colors, and the unforgettable plumeria lei flowers.  My one and only tattoo is of plumeria in honor of that awakening.  Uncle Randall coached us in the fine art of building an imu in the back yard! In the following years I was to meet and grow to love Auntie Ann in Connecticut.  It was a hike up the New England Turnpike, but it was well worth it and I was eager to meet my new-found cousins.  It wasn't until I made my first trip to the Islands that I met Uncle Jerry, Auntie Honey and Uncle Pete, Auntie Lehua and Uncle Geoff, and Uncle Harold.  The only ones absent were Auntie Jeanie, who lived in Wisconsin and Uncle Glen who passed away some years earlier.  It was quite good fortune, I thought, to be able to discover the richness of my mother's family after all these years.  It's been many years since my Mom passed on...I see her in them; they see her in me.  And so, she lives still in the memories, the stories, and the talk story sessions.  My Aunties and Uncles watch over me and I honor them as if they were my parents.  I've found my home in their arms, me ke aloha pumehana (with the warmth of my love)." 

Always in my heart.  Me ke aloha, dear sister. Please hang over the kiln and watch it for me :)

This was started pushing powder away.  I wanted to stay with black & white but I couldn't really tell it was plumeria until I added color.  We'll see how it fires...  I also used a rubber shaper tool to clear away white to bring out the petals but I had a static electricity issue and powder sort of flies back onto the petals. 

Fired plumeria:

Day 18 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge _ 3rd White

The last of my  white drawings is of my dog, Rafiki.  Once again, I never would have thought I could do this... I'm just so thrilled!

This was done almost exclusively with a straight edge rubber shaper and a brush that a very nice lady on the blog told me how to make.  It's made from bristles of a whisk broom, taped to a chopstick.  It only took a few bristles... like 4 for this guy's long hair. 

Doesn't he have such soulful eyes??!

Day 17 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Something White #2 - Dolly

Day 17 is my second white drawing.  I've had this picture of Dolly for over a year now and have always wanted to do something with it in glass.  Honestly, I thought I was getting in over my head trying to draw a sheep, but I'm pleased with the results!

Most of this was done with the business card but the rubber shapers were invaluable tools today!  One was a straight edge which was good for the woodwork and the hay floor.  The other was curved and thus useful for leaves and the wooly coat.  This was so much fun!  I'm astonished at the progress I've made since the beginning of the challenge.  Never in a million years would I have thought I could draw this.

Day 16 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Something White for Special Olympics

The next 3 days we will be drawing something white.  Today's choice of subject was an easy one for me because I can bring attention to one of our favorite causes, Special Olympics.  This is the logo for the Polar Plunge adapted for my family's team, the Frozen Zebras.

This is the 5th year the team has been together (formerly Team Let's Take a Dump... don't ask!) and they have raised over 6K for the Special Olympics during that time.  Please check out my son's page and help the team with their fund raising efforts as they take another icy plunge into the Atlantic Ocean on February 1st.  It is said that the more money they raise, the warmer the water! 
http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/david-moellers-1/2015-lewes-polar-bear-plunge-for-special-olympics

Day 15 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Something I ate today

Day 15 assignment is to draw something eaten today within a 15 minute time limit.  Here is my offering:

This is a gyro, in case you are wondering, lol...  In my defense, it's hard to make a gyro appetizing in black and white...  15 minutes doesn't give me enough time to develop details either so it's tough to differentiate between the meat and onions and tomatoes...  Just a business card and my finger was used in this drawing.

Day 14 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Fear Factor

Day 14 assignment was to draw our fear factor.  I thought about this for awhile since there really isn't much I'm afraid of.  If I had to name something I guess those gross spiders would be it.  I'm not as afraid of them as I used to be but the sight of them on my wall still does get my adrenaline going.  I just know that once I turn off the light it will come down from the wall and wreak havoc on me...

ewwww!
The only thing worse than finding a spider in your room is losing a spider in your room, lol!
The only tool used on this sketch was the business card.  I had to tear small strips to get to the smaller spaces and when doing that it left a curled up edge which became useful for distributing the powder for shading.  Cool discovery!

Day 13 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Gnarly Shark

Day 13 Challenge is to draw a really gnarly looking shark.

Like this

I opted to attempt to draw the less scary looking one...

Not so much because of fear but in an effort to quell negativity.  To wrap my mind around this attempt I tried to remember that this magnificent creature is my spirit animal... my 'Amakua... determined by Hawaiian folklore from a belief system which named the shark as one of my family's ancestral deity. Before missionaries brought the Christian religion to Hawaii, religion was intimately entwined with nature and each family had their own 'amkua who could be called upon for protection, support and spiritual comfort.  I was always told that sharks were our cousins.  Our protectors.

I found this in a quirky little website:

“If Shark has come swimming by you today;

He is reminding you that opportunities in life are abundant – however you must move forward in order to create the opportunity. By exploring the world around you and the emotions within yourself you will be shown new ways and be presented with abundant opportunities. The universe can be so much larger for you if you simply stop waiting. Do something – anything to stir up the energy and create motion with in yourself.” 

http://spirit-animals.com/shark/

Here is my tribute to my 'amakua

I hope I did him justice.

The whole point of this assignment was to learn about contrast, texture and form.  I won't quit my day job just yet, but I think this is respectable.  I couldn't quite figure out how not to be too heavy handed with the powder.  Tools used were the basic ones... tiny sifter, business card, fingers and occasionally the flat end of the chopstick.  I wound up covering my pointer finger with a small strip of the card and just sort of mashed the powder around to get the shadowing.  It isn't what my mind's eye envisioned, but perhaps with practice...

Day12 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Draw something used every day

Day 12 assignment is to draw something I use every day.  As I read this last night I couldn't imagine what I would draw... my toiletries???  As I was getting ready for breakfast I grabbed the coffee beans to grind and that's when I decided I would draw my french press coffee maker.  Coffee is my sustenance.  Coffee, coffee, coffee, coffee... I've had and have just about every kind of coffee maker made in the past 50 years from the glass stovetop percolator to electric percolator to Mr. Coffee, Kitchen Aide, stove top and electric espresso makers, Keurig, etc, etc, etc... but I've always come back to the french press.  This brings out the flavor and richness of the coffee bean way better than the percolator and drip coffee makers but not as bitter as espresso so no milk or sugar is required.  Mmmmm... I love a good mug of coffee!

Tools used were the standard business card, sifter, bamboo skewer, chop stick, and I used the handle of the sifter to get the holes in the strainer.  I wanted to also draw some coffee beans but honestly, it took so long to do this... and I do have a day job!  Once again, I am sooo thrilled about how well I am now using my left hand to draw!!!  

Day 11 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Vegetable

Day 11 assignment is to draw a vegetable.  meh.  Winter vegetables are not that exciting.  I tried to get interested in working on shading.  It took me so long to complete that the shadow changed, lol!

Oh, this is a turnip in case you couldn't identify it:)

Day 10 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Fun with fruit

Today's assignment was to take yesterday's fruit drawing and make something fun with it.  Oops!  My powder is in the jar and I blended the fruit into a rum smoothie.  So technically one could say that I've already had fun with it but I can't go telling the teacher I drank my homework!  So I did a 5 minute sketch of the party scene.

Day 9 Powder Sgrafitto DrawingChallenge - Fruit

Day 9 assignment is to draw fruit.  I made a little mini still life to draw using pineapple, strawberries, kiwi and lime.  I scrapped the first attempt because the lime and kiwi were indistinguishable.  Once I cut them open I could give each more definition.  
Tools used were business card, bamboo skewer and a chop stick.  I'm really thrilled that I'm becoming more and more able to use my left hand as this challenge progresses.  My main goal for today was to work on shading.  meh.  It's a process.
The powder went back into the jar... the fruit went into the blender.  It is Friday, after all :)

Day 8 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Add a tool

Submission for Day 8 is from a photo of an egret.  We used to see this guy hunting fish in the shallow end of our lagoon.  I hope I did him justice.

Got to add another tool today whoo hoo!!!  I reach for my chopstick when I paint as much as my bamboo skewer so that was my grand addition. 

Day 7 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge

Whew!  Too late and too rushed but I eeked something out! We were allowed to choose one tool today.   My "go to" tool is a bamboo skewer when I paint glass with enamels so I  stuck with that.  It helped with the shaping of the palms and gave some good definition to the bark.  Still need a lot of work before I feel like I've mastered palms but I'm getting there!

Day 6 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Speedy Hands

My plan for today was to use the Speedy Hands assignment to learn how to draw palm trees.  Since going to the studio would have required cleaning the snow off of my car and getting out of my fuzzy bunny slippers, I opted instead to raid the pantry for powder materials.  The winter wonderland surrounding my home was my inspiration.  I'm not always fast enough to complete what I see, and sometimes what I see won't come through my fingers, but I'm loving this challenge!  Day by day I feel like I can draw at a level above stick figures.

Here is what I consider to be my best attempt.  It is the back of my property (minus the underbrush I didn't have time to complete).

This was done directly on the counter using ovaltine for the trees and baking soda for the snow.

The first of my attempts is a small oak tree in my front yard.

Ovaltine and baking soda in a cast iron pan.  I wish I had time to add the little caboose birdhouse that hangs from this lower branch.  But, since it isn't glass powder I wouldn't fire it anyway.

This next one is of my holly tree. 

Ovaltine and baking soda on a baking pan (hence the Emeril logo).  I ran out of time to add the green leaves.

This was supposed to be a cedar tree in front of a large oak tree, lol. 

 What can I say?

And finally, this last drawing is of a palm tree... because that's where I really want to be right now :)

I searched for the most colorful plate I could find to make this drawing using ovaltine, baking soda and parsley crumbled into powder for the leaves.  Aloha!

Day 5 Powder Sgrafitto Drawing Challenge - Speedy Hands / Zebra

Day 5 was speedy hands again.  I combined this with trying to learn how to draw a zebra.  Some were not good at all, lol but I did realize more and more control with each successive drawing.  My aha for today is less is more.  I think I got too tied up with trying to make sure the powder was thick because it's ingrained in us that frit needs to be 1/8th inch thick to fire.  I made out much better when I added just a little bit of frit at a time rather than sift the powder all over and then take away.  This is evident in the progression of drawings.
1st attempt:

2nd attempt:

3rd attempt:

4th attempt:

5th attempt:

So, I wasn't able to complete the drawing I wanted in 5 minutes but I was happy with the way this last one was developing so I decided to finish this one.  After taking a critical look at it I think there are some minor touch ups to make and then I will fire it.




Finished Frozen Zebra :

 Frozen Zebras is the team name of my children's Polar Bear Plunge Team, and I made this from their fb banner.  Each year, the first Sunday in February marks the Lewes Polar Bear Plunge and the Frozen Zebras plunge in the icy Atlantic Ocean to raise money for the Special Olympics.  I am the official towel holder and photographer :)

Since the whole animal wouldn't fit on glass, I took away the back and legs before I fired.

First Firing:

I then added clear glass to the back and slumped to make a little vessel.

Perfect for a ring dish, or a tea bag holder!