Wednesday, December 31, 2014

"Pick Me!" - 8 x 8 inches - oil on canvas

"Pick Me!" - 8 x 8 inches - oil on canvas
Happy New Year!   I thought I'd start out 2015 with a happy donut painting, and, as a bonus, it is calorie free!  There is something about painting donuts that makes me smile.  I don't think I'll ever get tired of painting them!  

This painting is available at the Artists Corner & Gallery in West Acton, MA.  

Friday, December 19, 2014

"Halcyon Days" - 12 x 12 inches - sea glass collage - SOLD

"Halcyon Days" - 12 x 12 inches framed - sea glass collage
Back to another sea glass collage but before I talk about it, I just want to say happy holidays and best wishes for a happy and healthy 2015! 

"Halcyon Days" was created using sea glass that I collected from beaches in New England.  I have not altered the glass in any way -- they are exactly as I found them - tumbled smooth by the ocean over many years.

This collage is one of a kind and can never be duplicated as each piece of glass has a unique shape, size, and color.  This collage contains 78 pieces of sea glass.

The frame is 12 x 12 inches.  More photos are below.






Sunday, December 7, 2014

Stained Glass Collage

"Stained Glass Collage" with sea glass
For those who follow my blog, you know that I'm obsessed with sea glass.  What you might not know is that I've always been fascinated with stained glass as well.  

Last week, I arranged a "Girls Night Out" with a group of my buddies and we spent a really fun evening at Periwinkle Glassworks making stained glass collages.  I was able to incorporate a few pieces of my own sea glass into my creation so it has personal meaning to me.  The three pieces are the brown "Vita" piece in the upper right corner, the deep green bottle top in the lower left and the ridged white piece in the lower right.

The process was really interesting.  We spent about an hour arranging scraps of colored glass until we were satisfied with our overall design.  

The second step is to wrap each piece with copper foil.  This is quite time consuming and you need to burnish the foil to make sure it is smooth and adheres well to the glass.  You can see my piece in progress in the lower right corner. 



The next step is a quick brush of a liquid called "flux" that helps the solder stick to the copper foil.  And finally, we used a hot solder iron to melt solder and fuse all the pieces together.  I left my solder quite bumpy and chunky as I liked the irregular effect and thought it added to the charm of my piece.



I now have a huge appreciation for stained glass artists!  Although fun, it was quite tedious and there is a tremendous amount of skill and knowledge required.  I definitely want to go again and am already thinking about what to do for my next creation!