I Heard It Through The Grapevine

    I've been unable to work on glass for some time. I interrupted Ed's work on the house to get him to build my glass storage shelves, set up shop in the garage, then for a million reasons not listed here, haven't done much with it.
   But fate has a way of taking you where you need to go. I received a request from a friend for an interior transom in their home. It feels good to be back doing what I love.
   Carol is a Master Gardener and George makes his own wines, so they decided on grape leaves. I went out into my back yard, hacked off a branch of an old, unproductive vine, and dragged it inside for a model. After staring at it for some time and combing the internet for botanical input, I came up with a pattern .
I thought about adding wire embellishment tendrils, but since this is a transom and up high, we decided they would become dustcatchers and left them out.
    The measurements were a little tricky because their house is 100 years old, and the transom isn't plumb or square. I tried to be pretty careful with the measurements, but I forgot one little thing. I didn't ask if they had finished trimming out the interior of the transom, so I made the glass 3" too long. Lesson learned for the next window!
   This weekend, I'll adjust the size, and hopefully next week I'll get it installed.
  

Mother S'kaana

    The Friends of Skamokawa have a wine tasting and auction every September. They maintain the Riverlife Interpretive Center http://redmenhall.blogspot.com/ . It's a spirited (sorry about the pun) event each year.
   The last several years I've donated stained glass and decided to try something new this year. I've been playing around with polymer clay, which is like playdough only more permanent.
    I wanted something to reflect the Northwest but with a shift. The first piece started out well, but began to lose definition as it progressed, and by the time it was done it resembled a badly done kindergarten project. I did like the little tiny whale embryo piece in her belly, but the rest looked like a bad night in San Francisco.

  So I started over, decided to tone it down a little and make it more three dimensional. Finally, after one or two false starts, I had my piece. I incorporated some glass waves, just because it felt right, and mounted it in a beautiful driftwood burl.

Mother S'kaana in the Northwest Tradition

A Little Side Trip On The Glass Road

  My granddaughter and I took a trip up to the Tacoma Museum of Glass. This is a museum that highlights hot glass. They have a huge hot shop with a gallery. The gallery affords a close up view of the entire process.

 

 It was difficult to get clear photos because the crew
and the glass were in constant motion.
   This piece was designed by Marvin Oliver, right in blue print shirt, and facilitated by Richard Royal, left in plaid shirt. They had a crew of about five assistants, all working like crazy.

    

   This is a similar piece by Marvin Oliver. It shows the petroglyphs applied in frit in the inside layer of glass, and raven appliqués on the outside layer of glass. It was an amazing process.   

 

 From the inside to the outside of the museum, we went across the David Chihuly Bridge of Glass.

 

A picture is worth..well you know..

  

 This is the ceiling. No, really...

 

 The open air atrium at the Tacoma Art Museum allows shadow to constantly alter this Chihuly piece.

   It is my fondest hope that Elicia saw something, anything, on this trip that sparked an urge to explore.  That she will allow the beauty in her soul to flourish and flow.
   Or, maybe she just had a fun trip with Nana. That's ok too.

What A Day For A Daydream

   Construction on our house is in full swing, and I am only now unpacking my glass supplies. They've been in the loft of the barn since September and today I carried them all to their temporary home. Up the stairs to the loft (was that a chest pain or a gas bubble?) Down the stairs (did I do 8 steps or nine..yet) Back up the stairs. Down the stairs again. Load up the Gator with glass separated by cardboard. Drive over the dirt road filled with broken cinder blocks verry verrrry slowly. Carry the glass inside without bumping into any of the construction debris. Back down to the barn. Repeat.

     This winter, Ed temped in a craft room in the garage. Since we're living in close quarters while the house is being built, it doubles as some extra space when family comes to visit. The cats think it's for them, and why crush their delusion?

 
   Ed took a few hours yesterday and built shelves for the glass. They may not be pretty, but they are strong, functional, and temporary. Once the house is finished, I'll have the Taj Mahal of craft rooms!
   Now my fingers are starting to itch. The glass whispers to me, and I'm daydreaming about patterns. In no time, I'll be immersed in a project. I can hardly wait.

Kaiser Permanente-Survive..er..Thrive

 Sometimes Life's road is uphill. This time it is not only uphill but full of switchbacks and rockslides. I've been out of state for the last six weeks helping my sister take care of Mom. At 88, Mom is usually an energetic, independent woman. With one misdiagnoses after another, she has been through a very tough time. We hope to get her home this week and back on her very busy two feet.
   For now, glass will have to wait. Thank you, everyone for your prayers and patience.

Show Me!

Our lives have been turned upside down by our construction project, and I'm getting very little done in the glass world. I find I miss it terribly. Hopefully by The Yule, I will be able to start a few new projects.

In the meantime, our local historical society is putting together a small show of local artists. I was suprised and humbled when they asked me if I would like to participate. Many of the my best panels have gone to auctions, or gifts to friends and family. But I brought together six to show.

One of them is already displayed in the building. It went to a fundraising auction and the woman who bought it generously donated it back to the museum, The River Life Center.

The Portrait of Francoise is an interpretation of a Picasso drawing. I painted the eye detail on white glass, and used copper wire to define the lips.

Raven Steals the Sun is one of my favorites. I love the Northwest Native Peoples ' ledgund. It has aspects of the universal theme of the Virgin birth, and son/sun bringing light into the world.

Last year I took a photo of Mt Ste Helens from the highway that runs the Columbia River. It's very difficult to make trees look real, but then stained glass is an impressionist media for the most part. I love looking at the broad river, the rock face rising off the beach, and the towering trees above.

Mary, Clothed In The Sun is a little different, and won't appeal to everyone, but I wanted to try to capture the flowing robe. I also wanted to try painting on the glass, which was a limited success, but each panel is a learning experience. Besides the background glass is delicious! She has a crystal crown and Sacred Heart.

And finally, Schooner Moon, which is such a romantic image.

Until I started working with stained glass, I never thought of myself as a creative person. Now I readily try different creative processes, and I am not afraid to fail. What a liberating feeling!

Taj Magarage Glass

As many of you know, Ed and I are in the process of building a new home. We're in Phase I, which is the apartment above the garage, to be followed by Phase II, The House. I don't even want to think about Phase III. Who knows what's next. At the moment, we're working on the Taj Magarage.

What this means to my glasswork is that the cozy little room in our current living quarters will soon be no more. My choices were...1: in the barn; no heat, no air, no insulation, a long walk in the winter weather, or 2: downstairs in the garage; insulated, possibly heat, large doors for air, and a very short commute. After carting all my glass down to the barn, I decided to go with curtain #2.

Last week, I carted my worktable, most of my tools, accumulated Important Stuff, along with way too much Needless Junk into the garage. See that way cool sign up on the wall? That was a birthday present from my friend, Kim. It's perfect!

It's all very neat and tidy for the moment. Give me a week...I can mess it up bigtime.

The stove? Oh that, my friends is a butter yellow Magic Chef 1000, made in the 1920s. It has 6 burners, two ovens, a broiler and a warming drawer. It cooks like Denny's on steroids, and is going into the new Big House. That is a story you can watch at http://www.washnewoldhouse.blogspot.com/ .

While all this moving and packing and building and painting was going on, I got a call from the folks at a local historical society asking if I could donate a piece of glass for this year's auction. It is so hard to say no. Actually, I did say no, then I felt so guilty I called them back.

It's a design I have done before, but one that I knew would look nice and that I could do quickly.