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----

it

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 !~

the 'WORST Blogger On The Net List'----

---I'm afraid I'd be somewhere near the top of that list. I am among the THE WORST about updating my blog and faithfully keeping it. I do have excuses, if you care to read them ?

...It's just that I'm so taken up, every waking hour, with tending this amazing place I call 'home', absorbing every extraordinary item of natural wonder surrounding me...the long, dark purply-green shadows the birches cast in the afternoon...the reflection of bright blue light from the creek that meanders through the trees in the valley below my windows; the pinks, corals, magenta and lilacs of the setting sun....the tinkling melodically-pleasing chorus of the wind chime garden I have hung in the trees....the warm amber glow of my stove at eventide, the crickle-crackle wood makes as it is consumed by flame....the cacophony of honks as Canadian Geese migrate overhead, chattering directions to each other.....flocks of wild turkeys slowly parading across my property, apparently blissfully ignorant of thier potential for dinner.....the way the tender green shoots urgently push up through the umber soil in Spring, anxious to just 'be' in the world.....the dance of determined, busy hummingbirds as they swirl around the nectar feeder...the bloom of hot orange Hibiscus on the tree on my deck, delighting me with each new blossom unfurling....being one with my animals, feeling them enjoy their home and feel safe in it, the exchange of unconditional love flowing between us.....all these things take up a great deal of space, both in my grey matter as well as on my clock. None of these begins to consider the time spent fermenting ideas/creating out in my studio, which like Las Vegas, has no windows nor clocks, so I get lost out there often. :)

Having articulated all this, it is my hope that you, dear reader, will forgive me my immense lapses in attending my blog.  :)  I hereby vow to do much better in 2012. Meanwhile, enjoy some more snippets of life at Al Di La  :

To further your understanding, I'm hoping you can appreciate these photos I took over the last year here at "Al Di La' Farm & Studios, images of the many small gifts this place awards me daily; these are images of that I am daily grateful for, many of my 'Favorite Things From 2011' folder, if you will....and I am wishing you a new awareness of your own favorite things, closely followed by blissful happiness and peace of your own.  Most of these pix are of are things I made/created, dear loved ones, visits from family and so forth. I am especially in love with the flowers I grew and cannot seem to cease taking photos of them ( can you tell ?) .
I am also sharing a link with you which I sincerely hope you will take time to watch-----it will cost but a few minutes of your time and will likely bless you richly.

And believe me, it's all about the blessings.  :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXDMoiEkyuQ&feature=youtu.be

Happiest 2012 to you~

January 2011 at Al Di La Farm and Studios

It is a frozen wonderland here...I am always intrigued by the quiet; the dense, thick silence that winter brings.



I love to stand out in the blistering cold, wrapped up to my nose and just listen...the wind sings sotto voce through the arching naked limbs of trees and the cool blue January sun glitters brilliant on the snow surface. I am mesmerized by that Christmas Card effect to the point that I am dazzled snow blind when I go inside.




I have six acres to wander and adore, and it is my intent to learn the position of every rock and leaf until I know how it's face mutates through each season, through the station of light of each time of day. I am so in love, so besotted by this precious place. I am storing images in my head so that I may paint them. It will be my job to honor this place in my work, something I do not take lightly.



I've approached feeling like this only once before in my life, when I was led to believe a certain home was mine, but it was a cruel illusion, crafted by one hiding a dark heart who sought only to deceive and possess. It never, on my best day there, felt.............like this.



Al Di La...it means "beyond the beyond" in Italian. It took me four months to name this place, because I needed only the most perfect, most appropriate nom for my new kingdom. I awaken each day nearly bewildered and overcome with a quiet, abiding joy and gratitude. I owe no man for this home....it is mine and mine alone and for as many years or days as God awards me, I will cherish it with my entire life and heart.


This is my first winter and it has been truly harsh thus far...huge oil and electric bills trying to heat my house and cavernous studio, which I love, love,love as if it were a person....but, I bartered with a tradesman with a Ruby and Opal necklace and now, wonder of wonders, I have a woodstove in my dear creative womb~ :)  The pups and I went out there yesterday, started a roaring fire and relished it's toasty warmth. We curled up on one of my cushy upholstered Italian benches with some pillows and so gently, so softly, we all fell asleep, lulled by the warmth of the radiating stove and the symphony of crackling wood. I did not mean to sleep, only to rest, but it overtook me like a narcotic and I could not resist. I awoke smiling, a phenomenon which occurs fairly routinely here at Al Di La.
I have such substantial peace here and I treasure it, every second. Sometimes I feel a fierce protection swell in my heart, a steely determination to keep this place whole, to maintain the uncanny serenity I experience when in my element and not encumbered by Life's knotty twists. That deep joy, it brings tears, because it is so new, so unfamiliar but humbly treasured. I suppose I am am war-worn, scarred by many battles....and this place binds up those wounds, slowly they heal where healing could not happen before.



When I trek the 350 yards or so to my studio, it is as if I am traveling across vast oceans and clouds, into a welcoming, enveloping new land...the place of my work, of my heart and serenity, my studio, where creation,learning, satisfaction and accomplishment journeys abound, and await me to fulfill them.



I have been no saint in my life but I've genuinely striven to be a good human being. I've fallen prey to the errors a wanting heart can make, many times if truth be told. I've lost my way a few times and felt abandoned and alone, impoverished of spirit....and that vacuum needed filling, as any vacuum in Nature will, leading me specifically to this place, this time, this tranquil happiness. But whatever good I may've done, was intent upon doing, I thank God so very humbly for this reward, this place of respite for my soul. I never sought any reward,truly only craved feeling as though I belong.



And now I do.



Amen

A Vo-Em---Video Poem of "Al Di La Farm and Studio", by Susi Franco

CINEMATIC MOMENT                        
by Susi Franco                             copyright 2010

She climbed out of
The chambered Nautilus of her needing
Reaching one pitifully thin arm
Up
Around the encyclopedia salesman's neck
In a moment of desperate bravado

Soon after she answered the door and invited him in.

Cellophaning, She wrapped herself around him
Murmuring "Dance with me...".
Woodenly, he allowed her
To momentarily steer him around the floor
To the waltz heard only in her head.

Poignant, he pitied her
But wooden he remained
Until shame overtook her
And she released him.

A moment of heavy silence
Fell like a dusty purple theater curtain;
She suddenly wept, sobbing from bitter humiliation,
The sole architect of her rejection.

He backed up out of
The Hoover vacuum of her embrace.

There was nowhere to go but away
And the knife edge of her pain
Wanted leaving.

He bowed his head to her
An archaic gesture of deference
But still he left-

As she stood hapless, in a
Sparkly red party dress

Hastily donned during a momentary faux bathroom run
Worn in the happy presumption of
Celebratory togetherness
Which like summer morning fog

Rapidly dissipated.

He was only selling encyclopediae.