The class:
Against my better judgement, I took a glass class from an artist who does and teaches representational art.
I am NOT a representational artist....
I cannot look at something and repeat it in art....
I do dots... and geometric shapes.... and things with molds.
We started the class with learning techniques on "nugget" beads. Those turned out pretty well.
Then we moved on to more representational beads. We made three - a dolphin, an octopus and a coral reef. I haven't received my coral reef beads back yet, the dolphin will never see the light of day.... but, I'm not hating the octopus....
Forgive the pictures as they were taken on the table at the studio.... and focus is off.
Funny story - I sent the picture above (front view) to my almost 7 y/o granddaughter. The conversation went like this:
Me: "Do you think it looks like an octopus"?
Her: "hang on"..... "one, two, three...."
I was pleased with the results, despite not having a lot of faith in myself with representational art. In fact - I made another octopus at home in my own studio.
Silvered glass and fun colors:
Before the representational glass class, I took a class from an artist who works with the expensive silvered glass and uses brass bead presses. Over the last few weeks, I've practiced her color techniques - even combining them with some of the other techniques I've learned - and now have spent the weekend putting those beads into use in jewelry.
The other weekend project
Before taking both the glass classes, I went to the lapidary wholesalers show and gathered up a bunch of cabochons.
