Dee Day - a new website, a new beginning!

Announcing my new art website!
Fast forward a few years to view the poetic essence of my art that has been forged over the past thirty years.  I’ve used the good from my experience in art blogging by focusing completely on the core passion of my artistic voice.
I hope you will visit my new full website at deedayart.com where I’ve organized my best and most current artwork (with original artworks and prints also available for purchase).
Thank you for visiting with me!
Blessings,
dee

"Transformation" (Final Firing)

($300.00.....8" x 10"....Kiln Formed Glass.....Presented in a Limestone Base)

Even though this piece does not have a particular quote, the word written in glass is "transform". The exhibit I am working on now is "The Psalms". Consequently, this piece will be associated with a Psalm that I have not selected yet, although I have several in mind.

The very nature of the textures and imagery have numerous spiritual implications as well as just viewing it as a contrast in texture, line, transparency, edges, etc. The separate pieces of glass that I posted yesterday were cut and reassembled with more opaque and tinted glass added to create this three layer collage. (The textured section on the left is transparent where you see white....the right side where the crosses are was fired on top of an opaque glass with a pale lavender tint.)

It is exactly the same process used in creating a mixed media piece. You might be surrounded by mono printed rice papers which is equivalent to what I showed yesterday in sheets of glass. You then get out your cropping "L's" and make design decisions based on what you have created in single layers. By adding plain rice paper, text pages, or opaque glass, or tinted glass, you begin to reassemble and design your piece based on what you want to visually describe.

More often than not, you will discover that the piece tells you what it needs and your original thought may go by the wayside completely or change dramatically from your original thought. So be prepared to enter this process with joy and when you feel satisfied.....STOP! And of course, this is the hardest part. 

You can have a way of knowing when enough is enough by testing each addition to your piece. After deciding on a particular element of glass or paper, lay it down and then take it away. If the piece looks more confusing or just the same with the additional element...then remove it and be done. You might also try something totally unexpected and use the same test. If you go beyond the point where the piece is really finished, it will look contrived rather than convincing.

I am also making the case here for having adequate amounts of single layered glass that you have designed or adequate amounts of mono printed rice papers. You will need to have on hand a range of contrasting colors, values, shapes, textures and edges in order to be able to get as close as possible to the best piece you can create at this moment in time. And there you have it...just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.

"Ashes"

($100.00......6" x 6".....Kiln Formed Glass Collage.....Presented on an Easel)

"Rise up out of the ashes and trust again." The texture and color of this glass very much reminds me of ashes. And since we are now in the season of Lent, it seemed very appropriate. The truth of the matter is that there are times in everyone's life when it seems as though everything has turned to ashes. Stay hopeful, trust God, and rise up out of the ash heap.

As I have explained before, three layer glass collages are very much like mixed media layering. The advantage of glass is that true transparency can be achieved quite easily. It is the combination of texture created with glass powders/frits combined with other glass that creates fantastic depth and complexity. It's a classic case of one medium playing off of another and vice versa.

So, in mixed media, I create that transparency with silk tissue paper and rice papers along with revealing bits of the previous texture. A very good exercise is to study textures that you see in walls, ancient looking photos, etc. and try to figure out how the texture was achieved. One thing I do know is that it is not created with one layer of paint.

Try diluting one color of acrylic paint with water or Fluid Acrylics and brushing a glaze over the paper. After that dries, choose another color and do the same thing. Only this time, blot or brayer parts of the paint off to reveal the first layer. Let that dry and do it again. After you've had experience with this type of layering the paint, you will begin to see textures you never thought you could achieve. 

Also try throwing alcohol into the paint (about the third layer) and brayering over it....wiping the brayer....more alcohol....more brayering...wiping off and you will be stunned at the texture you can achieve. It's a wonderful way to experiment and if you look closely at old walls with peeling paint, you will figure out what color to lay down first. All very exciting! And there you have it....just a few more things to think about.

Please contact me personally to inquire about this piece.