Acrylics, Humpback whale fluke

This is Bread Knife! So identified by http://www.happywhale.com. I took this photo as an intern for Monterey Bay Whale Watch.

And this is my painting, inspired by this beautiful creature!

On Being A Witness

I had written this originally for Facebook and it got such a good response I thought I would repeat it here–to save it for myself and to share with you. Thank you for being my witness.

I found this movie clip on Instagram with Susan Sarandon, and the quote has been haunting me.

But it’s incomplete. They’re talking about marriage, but I see it as going so much further.

The question is asked, why do people get married and he thinks the answer should be passion, but she responds with this:

“Because we need a witness to our lives. There’s a billion people on the planet. I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you’re promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things, all of it, all the time, every day. You’re saying “Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go unwitnessed because I will be your witness.““

While that is beautiful, I don’t think it’s confined to marriage. In fact, I believe that the beauty of living in a society is that we are constant witnesses, in big and small ways, of each others lives. That witnessing occurs in friendships, acquaintances, families, interactions with the grocery store clerk, even reflected in the eyes of our pets.

Sometimes it’s just a moment, like the time I was at the airport, and the girl behind me was obviously struggling to keep her emotions in check. I turned and made eye contact , and just handed her a stone heart. We never spoke. But in that moment, I was a witness for her.

Sometimes it’s a season, I’ve been a witness as a teacher to many sixth, seventh and eighth grade versions of people, for example.

I believe that we can share the witness of a divine moment, like standing on the deck of whale boat watching an orca wake-ride, and that moment will always be something sacred between those who are there. A unifying breath. A bond.

Sometimes the witness is an artist, or a musician, or a writer, or a photographer, creating that shared space, and inviting others into it.

I also think it’s why sometimes being in society, families, friendships and marriages can feel so lonely, if no one in it with you is taking the moment to witness your life, or is so busy trying to “fix it” for you or mold you into their version, that you just feel like a project. Or if you are so guarded, you don’t allow anyone to actually see you. 

I don’t know exactly what my point is. I guess to remind myself—keep witnessing? Allow myself to be witnessed? And acknowledging when those moments occur because they are fleeting and beautiful and special, and it isn’t always within the traditional parameters of perceived relationships. They’re everywhere…and I’m training myself to acknowledge them when I am given that gift.

And just say, thank you, for all of these witnesses here in the shared community of the internet. While it is a stylized, distorted, strange and diluted social experiment, it does have its moments of shared witnessing that enrich this community life. Announcements of life beginning and ending, celebrations and sorrows, shared laughter and soap box speeches. Questions that ask, is it just me? And strangers that answer, no it is not.

These things that say, I am here. Witness me. I see you. Individually and collectively.

There’s something extraordinary about that.

12 Heart mold, fused glass test #4

I wanted to rework the hearts that didn’t quite please me yet. I also wanted to answer the question, will the Val Cox frit stretch with the filler glass piled on one side?

Not really. But now it is the right size. You can see a shadow of the pile on the back but I am not sure there is a way around it.

I wanted to see what would happen with some clear coarse frit.

I didn’t put enough white in this one, so I am again playing with the idea of gravity by putting the extra white just on the one side. I also read that Val Cox’s Princess White reacts with the red, so I add a little. No stretching but the result is interesting.

Coarse clear adds cells and some see-through qualities.

Dressing up this piece. The ZYP (mold release agent) stuck to the back on a few of these. I am going to have to re-apply it before the next batch.

I added some Val Cox Ocean Deep, some fell underneath the piece and created lovely depth.

I had a lot of left over puddles from a past project. That and some clear…..ooooohhhhhh! I’ll definitely make more of these!

Added more interest to this one.

The red had more spread when placed at the same time.

This time I put a layer of fine black frit under the dichroic pieces to give an even underside.

Stripes! And more ZYP came up. Gr.

More ocean. More ZYP issues. I am going to have to up my coldworking game.

I am learning a lot through these tests. I may try to pre-stretch some of the Val Cox frit, cut into a small enough bit and refire in the mold to see if I can pull off the look I want.

12 Heart mold, fused glass #3

On to test number 3! Starting with the two that shrank up too much… I put more glass underneath them and in the case of the Atlantis, added more frit.

Gorgeous stretch starting on the Royal Ballet!

I also noticed this little nub. The ZYP (a mold release agent) looks thin on the mold there.

Then I noticed a little ZYP pulled off the back of this one.

I can’t say I am thrilled that this is happening after three firings. I bought the ZYP that had the spray bottle like a Windex bottle instead of the aerosol. I thought it would be more economical but the ZYP dries soooooo quickly I found it impossible to spray. Online people said they brush it on. The drying is still problematic. I need to find better solutions.

Tried a stack of 10 white squares with the red frit and I guess they fell over! 🙂 Also not enough glass. Next time, I may try fusing a few squares stacked first, then putting them in the mold. The reason to do this is I am trying to get the frit to stretch and make cool cells of color.

The right center heart is this Moonflower one. Ten total white squares arranged. It’s ok, just a little boring. I will probably refire it.

I tried putting three clear squares under the Veronica, don’t like the backside. I piled the frit high in the center. I may play with it more as well.

Same with the King’s Robe heart. I let the frit fall into the gap between the squares just to see. Pretty. I won’t do clear underneath in squares again tho. Shows funny.

Same here with Solitude. I will probably refire this one. It needs a bit more glass and some razzle dazzle. But this is getting me familiar with the colors in the sample packs I bought!

This Ocean Deep one I used scraps of white and coarse clear frit, which created a bit of grey almost, but I like it.

This striped one also had an area where the ZYP didn’t quite work. But it will be soooooo pretty with some cold working. Top left is before firing, I just stacked random scrap vertically. I purposefully didn’t go all the way to the edges. When filling these molds, you have to be careful not to scratch the ZYP. Plus I wanted to see if it would fill in. It did!

9 pieces of black glass and the Princess White.

Another ocean… 🙂

And a look into my brain….

Overall I think ten squares of glass isn’t quite enough.

More mad scientist observations to come!

12 Heart Mold Test in fused glass #2

l had some dicro pieces I was unhappy with so I nipped them up and placed them in the mold. I filled in the voids with black frit of various sizes and a little rainbow dicro frit. I brushed off the frit from the faces of the dicro. Then covered with coarse clear on the smallest pieces of dicro heart and nipped clear on the other two. *I can’t tell the difference.* Nipped scrap is cheaper, but a little more labor intensive. Noted.

I think I might place these on a bed of black in the future, note where the clear got to the floor of the mold and you can see all the way through.

Remember these two? I placed them back in the mold and covered everywhere that was clear with more coarse white frit and more Val Cox’s Sour Grapes and Veronica. I think it saved them nicely!

I wanted to play with the stack idea more without the clear issues so I did stacks of 8 high with Val Cox’s Royal Ballet and Atlantis. BAHAHA apparently white condenses more than clear!

The little murrini pieces warped. I need to research more how people are doing these…

A few more just scrap pieces and another ocean attempt. Waterline needs to be level. I tried bigger chunks of the transparent darker blue but I don’t like the effect.

This one was from the last batch, all white, with Val Cox’s Aurora pink in the center. It was a little dull so I popped it back in with some clear nipped pieces on it and I like it better.

These notes are for you and for me to remember what I did as well! Hopefully they are useful to you, or you just like the eye candy!

12 heart mold tests in fused glass

I purchased this 12 heart mold, and ZYPed it (put a mold release agent on it so the glass won’t stick!) This is my first batch!

I began exploring ideas. The two green below…you can see in the above photo I had these half marble blobs on the bottom. One I covered with nipped chunks of clear, the other, with coarse clear frit. You can see how the clear influenced the green blobs! Interesting to explore further later.

The next group were basically nipped bits of colors with clear.

The two below I used Val Cox’s frits–leaded and gorgeous. One had white and clear nipped pieces, the other fully white.

These two I didn’t get a ‘before’ photo but I was attempting a frit stretch by stacking 5 squares of clear and one white, plus Val Cox frit, giving me the less formed piece on the left. The right was 7 clear plus one white and frit. Both I threw in some course white around the edges. Obviously not exactly it but I am on to something maybe.

Stringers placed like Pixy Stix and covered with clear coarse frit. The frit was warped by the frit but still interesting.

And a fun attempt at an ocean!

This is starting to answer some of my questions! More to come!

Drop vase!

Click on photos to see the images larger.

I started with a nine inch circle of clear. After the last drop failed, I told myself to do a SIMPLE design. Turns out I am not capable of doing so! LOL. I had a lot of black scrap so I spritzed the base with hairspray just to give a little grip then hand placed each piece. I left the opening on purpose to see what would happen. I added a little glue along the edge of the circle, between the black pieces, for a barrier so that the frit wouldn’t just fall out sideways. Spritzed with hairspray again, then added the transparent blue frit. And a little fine black aventurine. I used the fan brush to clear the frit off the surface of the black glass and fill in all the spaces. I then cleared the extra away from the edge so that it wouldn’t have a bunch of little tag along bits along the edge. Fired on a full fuse. I was a tad disappointed I forgot the frit chunks would ‘wobble’ the lines of the black, making the look a little less crisp. I’m not exactly sure how to correct for this. I wonder if just a tack fuse would suffice?

The final piece turned out quite beautifully. A little on the thin side for the walls, a little top heavy feeling. I will put marbles in the bottom to help with weight. Many people cut the rims off but I think this is part of the design on this one.

I would also like to remember next time to put the aventurine on the bottom so it shows on the outside. I need to think more backwards on these.

There are a few places where the blue wasn’t quite thick enough and got see-through. It occurs to me now that I could have used a transparent blue circle instead of clear, but I was designing as I went so I didn’t have a precise enough picture in my mind to start there. Next time….

Fused glass Zebra

I love this stripey glass! I tried it in a new way.

Liner, an orca painting

This painting was inspired by a photograph I took as an intern for Monterey Bay Whale Watch in Monterey California in December 2023.

This awesome killer whale was displaying kelping behavior–playing with kelp– they like to drag it around. He actually brought it towards the boat and left it there! Orcas are very tactile creatures, rubbing against each other in ‘cuddle puddles’ and interacting with their environment. One example of how intelligent they are.

Dragonfly, the Humpback Whale

This is a special whale to my friend and photographer Morgan Quimby (Check her work out!!!) and this is her photograph. 

I painted a little 4 x 4 inch acrylic piece first to practice going even smaller….

Necklaces! What a fun challenge!