a l'il sampling of what I'm up to....

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---just click on it to take a closer peek.... :)

another CUSTOM iPod Touch cover for you I designed---

Imagine iPod Cover by SUSIFRANCO
See other iphone cases

you can click on the link to buy this cover for your iPod Touch or as a gift for someone special~ :)

ARTSY FARTSY MOVIE F'YA~ :)

FIRST SNOWFALL at AL DI LA FARM & STUDIO

hope this puts a spot of lovely in your day~ :)

What I'm up to now----- :) A PostScript to Prior Post on Enamelling Glass----

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This started out life as a glass "bowl" chandelier...I got it at a yard sale a while back. You can read the post below ( with the window) to learn more about the technique of enameling glass, I just wanted to show you this chandelier, used the same enamels & technique as the window seen below.

To be able to see the design THROUGH this bowl, I had to spend a couple hrs and a box of Brillo scrubbing off billions of micro-speckles of cream-colored paint the manufacturer had sprayed on to make the glass more opaque, the exact opposite of what you want in any painted glass project.


After I got all the micro-speckles off, next came a thorough wash & dry, making certain there were NO fragments of dust or lint, which the enamels will pick up, colorize and magnify.
The pic below shows my sketch in the bowl, done with Pebeo glass markers. The paper sketch I mapped out for the design is standing behind the bowl. It's very important to be certain of your overall placement BEFORE you begin; sketches really help~

Here she is after about 14 hrs of painting. It has been thermally cured ( described in next post) and is ready to hang~  I used iridescent enamels to give some of the flowers a little more definition.
As a rule, you work with only one color at a time. This view is looking down into the bowl.

To see the design as it will be when it's illuminated, I put it on top of a pasta pot and photographed it from below.

You can see the difference in color intensity when viewed through the lit glass...it is much fainter, which is why you must build many layers of color to get a rich depth after it's lit. If you paint in pale colors or too few layers, it will be very difficult to see your finished images through the glass.

This is not a technique for subtleties...if you want your enamel work to show up, gotta make it bold~

Like Nailing Jello To A Tree----

Well, now that Santa has gone the hell back where he belongs ( ahem) I can get back to work as usual~  :)

I am pretty much constantly exploring new techniques, although in some cases they may be new only to me, such as enamel-on-glass. The technique has been around since the Byzantine Era, but I've only recently resumed playing with it, tried once before & failed miserably. :(

It's kinda like nailing jello to a tree at first, til you arc through your learning curve, but after that it becomes very enjoyable to create your piece IF you can be patient & meticulous. These are enamels, not paints and they are formulated strictly for painting on glass; they are about the consistency of light cream, hatefully thin, and exasperating to control. But let me begin at the begin at the beginning---

First thing is to get your piece of glass. For me, it's primarily old wooden windows, which people discard when they do their renovations in Spring; I religiously log a presence at each construction site, begging for the old windows, my hands held palm up saying "Could I have some more please, Sir ?"  :)

Usually they're happy for me to take them, unbelievably, no one wants wooden windows any more.

So I bring 'em home, clean 'em up & store them until I'm ready to work on them.  usually sand the wooden frame smooth, almost always paint the wood, too. Although I usually do that first thing, I was so excited to get busy with these enamels that I left the wood finish til later. Not a good plan, really, means taping paper over the painted designs to protect them from splatters. But do-able....

I make it a point to thoroughly scrounge through yard sales & consignment shops for old glass light fixtures, the bowl sort of glass chandeliers or flat glass light fixtures are especially good for a new life as hand-enamelled glass objet d'art~ 

I put the window on stryofoam blocks while I work on it, and tape white paper to each pane so I can best visualize the design. You can paint on glass without paper taped to the back but it's diffcult to see your design because of the window's reflection. It is imperative that you clean each pane or glass piece THOROUGHLY, any little wee bits of gluck you leave behind will show up prominently in your enamels !

Because of their extremely light viscosity, you must paint in layers to get any depth to the colors. That means using a hair dryer between layers to dry each layer as you go. That's where the patience comes in. If you make a mistake with these enamels,you must immediately correct it because being so thin, they stay "open" a short time, and although you use a dryer to move things along while working, the first thin layer will scare you with how fast it dries. Take home message: correct errors quickly as you go !

You can use these enamels ( Pebeo Vitrea 160) to paint on any glass surface, really. Only one catch: to make the images permanent, you must cure them ( these are called therma-cure enamels) with heat,which entails putting them in a cold oven and allowing them to bake at the specified temp for 30-40 mins. When the piece has completed it's cure time, do NOT take it out of the oven; instead turn off oven, open the door and allow the piece to come to room temp on it's own. You risk having the entire piece shatter/crack from sudden change in temps from oven to much cooler room temp, esp during cold seasons.

After that happens to you once, thereafter you'll find something else to do for a couple hours while you let it cool as described. ( guess who had to learn that lesson the hard way ??)

When your piece has cured and cooled,you can then hang or display it and it'll be pretty much impervious. To clean, use a damp, wrung paper towels and gently wipe it down. Yes, it really is impervious, but why risk damaging your art work ?? No scouring pads, of course. 

Hope you enjoy this mini-tutorial and thanks for taking time to look~  :)

"Pear-fect"-----Small Works, A Tasty Bite of Art~

Soooooo, this is a little 6x6" Oil on Canvas I did.....I started doing these about 4 years ago when the art market began to contract. People wanted Art but just couldn't pay 3 or four figures for it, so the idea of Small Works really toook hold.  I used to work only in large format, but that has all changed due to our economy troubles. If you want to survive in Art & make a living at it, you must stay relevant,which means keeping up with market trends. I put alot of effort into doing that.

These compact little works are wonderful for grouping on a wall or just hanging one in a place you'd like a wee pop of color~ They have become my bread and butter...and while I'm not likely to do some extraordinary masterpiece on a 6x6" canvas, it is enough space to communicate joy and color

Hoping you enjoyed your visit here and THANKS for taking time to look !~