A Few of My Favorite Things 6 ~ why do I do this, some Stratozpheric portraits

I have developed a habit of searching out statues to duck behind, but not before I hand the camera off to Mosaic Woman.  I am not sure if I dig the statues or the hunt to find ones to duck behind ~ 

Stratoz with The Fawn by John B Flannagan
Rochester NY
2012

Atmosphere and Environment XII by Louise Nevelson
Philadelphia, PA
2012

Ceremonial Table of the Bontoc People
Reading, PA
2010

Cloumn of Peace Antoine Pevsner
Washington, DC
2010

John L Surra Landscape II
Olean, NY
2010

?
Rochester, NY
2011

New Heart for Valentine's 2009

My last four hearts were done on an old design, so it was time for something new...

to see all of our hearts stop by our ETSY shop. I have started cutting out pieces for a second one using this design. This time the perimeter glass will not be used at all in the center. Will be interesting to see how that affects the design.

Maybe time for one more design, I was working on one and it only came close to being "good enough." It will be more in the flame like design of my burning bushes mandalas... branching out from the bottom.

though I rarely think to ask... your input is most valuable and always appreciated.

peace

Epic Stained Glass--- no less will do for Giggles

It is epic for me. when it is done it will have 99 pieces inside of 120 square inches. She must have done something nice... future post.

It involved cleaning up my studio so I could sit at a drafting board. Lots of erasure dust is about. a bit of research on a quilt pattern. adapting it to make it my own. getting it photocopied, cutting out 99 pattern pieces...

But today I got to picking out glass and cut out most of the larger pieces. She wants to be surprised... so no images allowed

Youghiogheny Stained Glass--- Nothing but the best for Bert..

I made this for my father-in-law. It gets shipped on Saturday...

Youghiogheny is a word I know from studying about my home state. It is a river out by Fallingwater. But it is also home of a company which makes some of the finest stained glass in the world, in the style of Tiffany.

setting up a shop

All pieces are my original designs and can be shipped to you by priority mail with plenty of support and bubble wrap.

 

My stained glass and mosaic hearts come in a variety of sizes and colors. Purchase Here.

 

My sun catchers have been described as stars and flowers and I call them starflowers. They come with different number points and pieces and some have a hollow a center. My framed pieces are often the only places you see straight lines. Purchase them here.

Collaborations with my wife, mosaic artist Margaret Almon: I design and cut out the pieces for the letters. She takes it from there... You can buy them here.

My wife and I truly enjoy making mandalas as part of our spiritual practice. Check them out here.

tugged

My buddy Jim at Brainwaves speaks about a spirit filled life, centered on being tugged... "Did you do your best to follow His tug on your reins, to commune with him at the well," he wrote at the end of a recent post. I think Saint Ignatius would have agreed.

So here I am one day away from my first day off from teaching since Labor Day, and I will be filling two days getting ready (with a break to feast with family), two days attending, and a Sunday resting... a craft show.

I have been tugged my whole life to draw designs. Glass is relatively new, but I may have made a discernment that it is where I am being tugged.

I have a friend named Bud Hohlfeld, who is a wood worker. A talented one at that. He used to be tugged by glass. He has a lot of stained glass. He has given us a lot of what he calls scraps. I went to his house to check out his glass and he said he wanted to sell all the big pieces. He told me a price. I am being tugged.

For now I am still working on washing the "scraps" he gave us and the old dishwasher as dish rack trick is working out nicely...



When I got to Bud's house, I tried to take a look at his glass pieces, but the sun was setting. One was a large rose. The next "original design" I drew reminded me of it, and I used seven types of Bud's glass in it. Bud's own rose had a greater likeness of a rose but the center reminded me of a Rennie MacIntosh rose. My center does that too but I spiral out differently than Bud did. Here is what I have called Bud's Rose... one up close shows the colors, the other shows a cool sky... well what sky isn't cool????