DC No. 94: Glass

Boro beads by Emily Trespas Summer 2012 

Glass

At the mention of this word, I think of my first creative experience with glass . . . film. 

For many childhood birthday parties my father checked out a special film from our local library and played it on a projector for our guests. It was Bert Haanstra's, 1958 Dutch short documentary, Glas.

Please enjoy this timeless film documentary here: Bert Haanstra's Glas (on YouTube).

Since then my love of glass certainly continued into the 1990's from exploring a slumping and fusing class at Serviente Glass Studios (Ithaca, NY) to a weekend workshop at the North Bennet Street School (Boston, MA). Meeting artist Dale Chihuly years ago at the New England Quilt Museum in Lowell, MA, also contributed to my love of the medium.

This past summer (2012) I returned to the glass studio for a wonderful class at the Sharon Art Center in Sharon, NH with artist Janet Duchesneau.  

Some more of my boro beads: I love frit!

Over many hours and several weeks I made handfuls of glass beads from boroscilicate glass rods. Needless to say....earrings are on the way!

 More of my beads— little cosmos to behold

Many many thanks to Susan Christensen for hosting this week's drawing challenge. Her blog Flying Dog Studio Design Wall offers many interpretations of the theme, Glass, by her and other talented artists. 

My favorite glass painting jar:

A Limited Four-Color Earth Palette

As I start to think about various assignments for my advanced painting students this spring, I remember the four-color palette with which I experimented eight years ago. This small study was painted in oils using only four colors: Yellow Ochre, Indian Red, Lamp Black and Titanium White. 

To Go, oil on canvas, 10 x 8 inches, 2004

The nature of this palette is color temperature and color relativity. Place a cool gray against a warm red and the cool gray appears blue.  I will post more example of my paintings using this limited palette if I come across them.

Other variations of four-color earth tone palettes are out there. Experiment, substitute and see what color and spatial relationships you create in your paintings.

EARTH TONE PALETTE:

Titanium White

Yellow Ochre

Indian Red

Lamp Black

Thoughts/Notes:

Venetian Red (more orange/warmer; makes a better orange); Terra Rosa (better pinkish red); English Red is more brown. Lamp is a cooler black, which is good for "blue;" while Ivory Black is warmer. Yellow Ochre substitutions might be explores with Pale Yellow or Naples Yellow for Ochre?

DC No. 93: Lighthouse

What a stormy week it’s been. I will leave it at that. 

Thank goodness for Renilde’s  theme this week—LIGHTHOUSE—a beacon for hope and stability.

Sifting through some of my “scrap” monoprints, I found one with a towering silhouette shape amidst a turbulent, violent, ocean.  With conté pastels I added a ship and the radiating light.

 Hoping for calmer waters this week.