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!