Glass Illustrations

Monkey See Monkey Do by marisol diaz

This illustration was sandblasted onto sheet glass (via the use of Iconics films) that was white washed and fired first. Then black reusche (kiln-fired powder pigment) was rubbed into the etched glass and re-fired. I'll be writing more about vitreous painting in the next post.

More Sandblasted Glass from my time in Corning

Here are some sneak peeks at some more of my earlier sandblasted glass pieces from my time at the Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass.

Since I am really interested in graphic design and illustration I really tried to combine these varied interests. Often glass surface treatment is not narrative, but more decorative in nature. However, the images that I developed for the surface manipulation was more personal with a definitive narrative, so my interest in illustration and graphic line really started to show up.

Popped Balloon by marisol diaz

With this particular image - the assignment was to blast a hole entirely through the glass...I couldn't see how I would do that in manner that made sense me, unless it was through a heart. This piece is actually slightly smaller (than the on screen size) in real life and that adds to its charm - at this scale and with the flatness of the photograph - it loses some of its graphic pop.

Paz by marisol diaz

This particular image is actually much larger than this image (8 1/2' x 11') and the assignment was to create variations in the blasting tones, such as gradations. Since I was coming up with my design ideas on the fly (with no preset plan) I was even surprised to see the imagery I formed, all of which had to be cut out with an exacto knife of a protective sheet (buttercut) in stages to blast (see the last post to understand buttercut).

Think With Your Head Not With Your Heart Fool by marisol diaz

This piece is done on 1/2inch thick glass which is lost with the photogragh...and was most time consuming since the size is around 10 by 10 inches. I also 'royally messed up' by packing the glass in my backpack one evening to work after 11pm and after riding my bike, hence the side of the glass with no protection got scratched (good lesson to learn) and so I had to lightly blast the front edges of the piece to compensate...some say you would never notice if I didn't tell (another lesson to learn).

Still, these pieces are from the first few days of class...after which my work began to evolve in quite a different direction which I will share with you all next...so stay tuned.

Sandblasting @ Corning Glass Studio Class

Well, I am finally back from the Corning Glass Museum in Corning, NY and able to update my blog again! (I was not able to, due to the limited amount of time that I had to do as much glasswork as I could. I put every possible moment of glasswork I could do as priority - I hope I haven't lost too much readership!) Now I have so much to share! Meet my new friend for the last two weeks:

An Empire sand blaster from the Corning studio cold shop! I've used sandblasters with my glasswork before but this class that I took taught by Denise Leone Stillwagon involved the use of stage sand blasting and vitreous painting - either as combined techniques or as separate ways to manipulate the glass surface.

Here is an early image of my desk as I was beginning a stage blasting assignment. Stage blasting is simply the process of blasting glass in stages so as to create deeper and varied levels of depth in the glass. Though I bropugght great picture references with me I often began every project with a drawing.

Here is a pic of the glass piece IN the sandblaster!

And here is the final piece...mind you it was simply a class assignment- there is no kind of 'heavy content' here since I was just trying to familiarize myself with the equipment.

Flickr

flickr mosaic My Sculptures

Ok so it took me forever to finally come around to creating a Flickr account and I am so glad that I did. Not only is it a phenomenal resource for creatives to join groups and link with other creatives, but it lends itself to digital photo innovation and the potential of doing more with your imagery - not only your knock-their-socks-off photos but your everyday photos too. The wealth of inspiration you receive as part of this community is priceless. My students have been telling/sharing this knowledge with me for some time and I have finally come around...I was also inspired by fellow blogger Dragonfly Reflections with her latest flickr venture. Oh and what toys have been created for flickr like this Mosaic Maker! So check out this 'sculptures' mosaic I made of varying detail shots of some of my sculptures. So if you were thinking about it and just haven't gotten around to it - don't think twice - join FLICKR!! Warning it is very addictive and devours hours by the seconds!

The Potential of a Brown Paper Bag

This post is a blast from the past...seeing as I didn't have a blog to brag in the past, I'm taking advantage now. Quite a few years ago, I found a phenomenal Hawaii based artist named Moses who was featured as the 'Mad Hatter' in the July 2000 issue of the Smithsonian archives. Moses is a an artist that made an extraordinary series of hats from a simple brown paper bag.

As some of my readers know I teach high-school visual arts at the Englewood School in Englewood NJ. To begin the spring term of the Studio Arts II portfolio development class that focuses on the three-dimensional arts, I presented my class with some inspiration references from both Moses, and the design show Project Runway to see what they could do with lots of 250 brown paper bags that I got from a local dollar store.

These days I can no longer find the site, luckily blogger Mr.Paper's Blog did a write up on Moses that showcases Mose's phenomenal paper bag hats. Please click on the link and check it out!!! I was so inspired, I had my students explore principles of design through the designing of their hats and years later I am still blown away by the results. They were allowed to pierce, sew, wrinkle, fold, cut, burn, shred, layer, glue, braid, paper mache and anything else they could think of to their bags. I am so proud of these now alumni students and the job they did honoring Moses and his work, as well as invoking their inner designers.

So this is what they come up:

Don't Forget to post your 'rainbird' comment on the giveaway post (two posts back) to win your print - I am getting some amazing comments and it will surely be difficult to choose! One person suggested the winner should also do a giveaway - that would surely be in the nature of Guerilla Art so I think its a great idea!!!!!

Cleopatra- A Contemporary Revision

These days I'm posting about the Herstory Exhibit. The first post can be found through the blog archives under Herstory. Then be sure to check out my revision of Judith and Holofernes, and The Three Graces which can also be found in the Blog Archive. They are all categorized together now!

The Death of Cleopatra by Johann Liss

I based my revision of Cleopatra on the composition by Johann Liss from 1622 entitled the Death of Cleopatra. I am always so amazed at how many artist renditions of Cleopatra offer a very fair skinned version of Cleopatra with cognizance of ethnicity when it comes to the handmaids and servants. Despite contemporary rhetoric on the true origins of Cleopatra and her heritage, many of these paintings were painted at a time when all anyone knew was that she was queen of Egypt. Notice the two figures surrounding Cleopatra in Johann's version. There is the figure holding the basket of asps and figure leaning over to get a better look at the definitive choice of death.

The above piece is entitled, Cleopatra's Alchemy. It is done with graphite, liquid acrylic glaze and spray paint on raw wood. It is around 36" x 36" I wanted to focus on the fact that many people don't realize Cleopatra was an avid scientist and alchemist. She studied poisons and therefore knew the most effective way with which to end her life when she chose to. I hand-cut stencils with the alchemical symbols of mercury, gold, silver and the ouroboros (the snake eating its own tail) to demonstrate her wisdom. Alchemy also lends itself to the idea of reincarnation...

Cleopatra photo by marisol diaz

My husband (artist Gregg Emery) feels quite passionate about the photos from the Herstory project being a very different body of work than the paintings and thinks they shouldn't be butted up against each other (like I did in the last post). I am going to agree. So I am including only a small thumbnail of the image here:

Models: Ally Rodrigues (with basket), Maya Guneseharan (Cleo), Dana Butler (onlooker)

As you can see, I altered many things from that springboard photograph. The most satisfying part of creating the artwork was discovering the aesthetic satisfaction and power of working on a raw unprimed surface like that of wood. In the detail shot below you can have a better sense of the raw graphite line and the natural grain of the wood working together.

Well, we're in June and school is almost FINISHED (I have two days left!!) Which means it's almost time for my first GIVEAWAY post! So stayed tuned and look out, because before June is out I will be posting a Giveaway Collage Post and selecting a 'winner' from the comments to mail the small piece of artwork to for free!

Marie Antoinette Inspired Collage

I'm getting ready to write another 'Inspiring Artist' Blog, but until I have all my facts straight I thought I would share another collage with you all!!! I did this one right after I returned from the Europe trip. It is directly related to the images, Laduree treats, color and Marie Antoinette Exhibit that I saw while I was in Paris (See past posts). I cannot tell you how relaxing collaging like this is!!

Soon I'll be putting prints of my collages up for sale on Etsy...but I've also been inspired by other creative bloggers to do GIVEAWAYS once a month of collage prints - so let me know if you would be interested in me- doing that kind of thing. I was thinking I would post the small artwork as Giveaway art, then choose a 'comment' to which I send the piece to FOR FREE!!!! I believe in exchanging too, so lets see how this goes! Anybody interested in me doing this??

Embroidery & Body Image Life Question

This is one of my sewing machine drawings that I thought was appropo to todays post.

I am also miss asking questions of my readers from The Book of Questions, so I thought I would ask another question today, please leave a comment with an answer and I may feature your response in an up and coming post!

Question # 169:How many times during the day do you look at yourself in the mirror?

I'm doing a senior selective/presentation (for students who are seniors) these days on historical perspectives of body image, the definition and the pursuit of aesthetic beauty. The presentation is entitled From the Hottentot Venus to Barbie: Historical look at Beauty and Body Image and I thought that this question suited the topic. I'm interested in people's responses, so please leave a comment!

HerStory Exhibit Opening!

So thanks to one of my students (and Herstory participant - see her in Cleopatra Alchemy), Maya, I finally have some opening pics to share with you all. The opening was fairly successful, as far as campus openings go. The student turnout was phenomenal and as a teacher, I felt blessed with all the love!

So these don't show the gallery at it fullest peak, but it shows some of the students I did this labor of love for and some of my art students who I care deeply about! When you see students gazing to the right outside of the gallery it's because they're watching the Herstory Re-Envisioned movie with student interviews about role-models, self-esteem and participating in the Herstory project. If you look as some of the students I'm posing with closely you'll see they are the very subjects in the paintings!!!

Hope you enjoyed virtually attending the opening!! I will be showing you more detail versions on the six paintings in the show next so stay tuned!!

Judith and the Beheading of Holofernes- Graffiti Inspired

Since I am still waiting for the images of opening night I figured I would start to show you some of the art that I made for the exhibit.

This is a 4foot by 6foot canvas painting done entirely with stencils and spray paint. I used contact paper and exacto knives, no brush, no acrylic or oils. I was so inspired after my trip to Berlin (see my posts on how I think Berlin is the graffiti capitol of the world) I really wanted to experiment with the medium.

I also have a former student who is a professional graffiti artist who stopped by and helped me make the pink bubbles - the white starburst and the yellow table! Thank you Acet!!!
This painting is based on the composition that I developed for the Herstory project which is this image that you see to the left. I based that composition on two classic versions of Judith that I love. First is Andrea Mantegna's version in which the tent is so predominant...

The second painting I am deeply inspired by is the Gentileschi Judith, one of the only versions done by a woman showing the truly rageful capacity of a woman's full strength...

I, like many other artists, have painted many different versions of Judith I really am not too fond of Caravaggio's version since it looks as though she yields the sword in disgust and mistrust of her capabilities and her handmaid doesn't appear as a trusted confidante, but an instigating persuader.

This time I was also really interested in what i think to be a deeply powerful role - that of the handmaiden, the accomplice, the assistant and in the end the BFF. If you don't know the story of Judith one of the heroines from the Bible you should read about it...it's a fascinating tale that the young women in our lives should hear!