When Fractured Glass and Kaleidoscopes Collide

Having acquired a number of new paint colors during the past few weeks, I want to explore them and to see how they work with one another, and with the related colors on my ever-expanding palette.

As you can see, I am not yet finished with Fractured Glass (three paintings unambiguously celebrating random color), nor have I abandoned the nanoscapes' vision of Kaleidoscopes and Molecular Biology. DISCLAIMER: My version of molecular biology is not a reflection of what I may have learned in 9th grade Biology in 1963 at Hyattsville Junior High School in Hyattsville, MD.

Fractured Glass #1 celebrates random color and begins to answer the question "What happens when triangles go wild?" It is 12x16 inches.

For a painter who can't have or make too many colors and who (as she learned from Russ Dittmar) never met a color she didn't want to enhance, Fractured Glass is a platform for fun.

Among the earliest nanoscapes, Molecular Biology 112 shows things heretofore unrevealed by electronic microscopes.  It is 4x6 inches.

In 2007, in the beginning of the nanoscapes' creative process now called Painstaking Enthusiasm, I used cookie cutters to create the circles, drew the patterns, painted them with Sepia (now abandoned for the lighter Davy's Gray), painted in the shapes, and outlined the shapes with a Rapidograph,  a technical pen with a very, very tiny point. Once I was brave and confident enough to use a tiny watercolor brush, I ditched the Rapidograph.

This first and as-yet-unnamed marriage (or collision) of the Fractured Glass and Kaleidoscope Families (12x16 inches) may be an exploration of patterns of surface tension on bubbles of unknown origin.  Or perhaps not.


But each color will be fun to explore.

Two nanoscapes accepted into Altered Aesthetics' "Straight Trippin'"

The nanoscapes Fractured Glass 3 and All the Colors and Paths #1 were juried into Altered Aesthetics' 2013 "Straight Trippin'" Exhibition which will run from February 28 to March 28, 2013 at the gallery which is in the Q'arma Building at 1224 Quincy Street NW, Minneapolis, MN 55413 in the Northeast Minneapolis Artist District. 

Wild Triangles

Fractured Glass 3 is part of a series of watercolor paintings that answers the creative question "What happens when triangles go wild?"

I make these with my five-part Painstaking Exuberance process: (1) make a pencil drawing, (2) outline each shape with Winsor & Newton Davy's Gray, (3) paint inside the lines, (4) paint an outline for each triangle with a contrasting watercolor, and (5) paint a border for the entire piece. The paintings don't really come to life until I paint the outlines for each tiny triangle.

I have also used the triangles in a some of the whimsical creatures (small friends) in the Stained Glass Family, which includes Sarah Stained Glass Cat, The Stained Glass Elephant, Hernando Stained Glass Hippo,  Amelia Tall Glazed Window Cat, a Green Stained Glass Camel, and one of  the 7 Hippos Marching.

Fractured Glass 3 (22x33) Framed  $800

Bright Boxes

All the Colors and Paths is part of a series loosely called Bright Boxes which celebrate the depth of color achievable with watercolor while challenging space and perspective. I like to think that I am painting in two-and-a-half dimensions. Most (including this one) were painted on 300# paper which is like painting on felt or a very welcoming sponge.

All the Colors and Paths #1 (13x23) $350

Altered Aesthetics Gallery is at 1224 Quincy Street NW, Minneapolis, MN 55413 in the Q'arma Building in Minneapolis' Northeast Minneapolis Artist District. 

Stained Glass Cat: a creative conundrum

Stained Glass Cat

Stained Glass Cat will be a new small friend, but her roots are with the nanoscapes' Fractured Glass family. She has brought me to the brink with a creative conundrum: is she finished?

Because the Fractured Glass technique is in my comfort zone, I began work on her when I needed a break between identifying and painting new small friends and tackling new nanoscapes projects.

Now that all of her "glass bits" are finished and "grouted" with watercolor, she might be finished. But perhaps not. I might paint a "fractured glass" frame or add a horizontal line to anchor her. Or maybe not.

This eerie feeling -- hesitating before making a paint stroke -- may be as close as I ever get to what I imagine sculptors and gem cutters feel before making a critical cut. Will it work? Will it do what I want it to do? Will it do something better? Will it cause the entire enterprise to fall flat on its face?

Fractured Glass Meets Kaleidoscopes: Day 11. The End.

It took 11 days to paint 39 "Fractured Glass Bubbles."  I used new colors, and, in three of the bubbles, worked out a new approach to painting Fractured Glass -- painting all of the lines in one color, and then filling in the spaces.

I took all of the blog photos with my Palm PRE.  This afternoon "Fractured Glass Bubbles" will have its professional digital image taken.

Fractured Glass 3: In the beginning there was a triangle

No sooner did I finished Fractured Glass 2, then I started Fractured Glass 3, which, at 22x30 will be about four times the size of Frac 1 and Frac 2.  When completed, I will have nanoscaped on 726 square inches. 

A Fractured Glass nanoscape looks like this with just pencil on the paper. 

Bright Glass Bubbles Holiday Card is a "Today's Best" at zazzle.com

Bright Glass Bubbles

The Bright Glass Bubbles blank holiday card was selected as a "Today's Best" for June 6, 2012 at zazzle.com.


It was "...hand-picked as an example of creativity at its finest. Out of billions of products on Zazzle, your design was chosen for being one of the best!" I am honored.


Fans of nanoscapes may recall the 13 weeks in 2010 that I spent in the World of Fractured Glass when I painted Fractured Glass 1, 2, 3, and this glass bubble painting. It was fun!


Click here for the link to this card at my zazzle store

Fractured Glass 2: Finally Finished

Finally finished. 

Two weeks of Painstaking Exuberance, the hallmark and motto of every nanoscape.

Every line, every block of color, every time a new line in motion appeared.

I loved every minute of it.

Fractured Glass #2.
May 2010.
Watercolor on Arches 140# hot press paper 
10-1/4 x 14-1/2"
The original and a limited edition of digital prints are, indeed, for sale at the nanoscapes website.
http://www.susangainen-nanoscapes.com/ 

And because I can't help myself, I have already begun Fractured Glass #3, which will be 22x33." That would be a total of 723 square inches, which I calculated after the pencil work in Step 1 took 16 hours over four days.  

nanoscapes' interview @Still Point Gallery Blog

  

When the three Fractured Glass paintings were accepted into  Still Point Gallery's TRUE ARTIST exhibition, I was honored and delighted.  Gallery owner Christine Cote interviewed for the gallery's blog and I talked about nanoscapes, Fractured Glass 1,2 & 3, and Painstaking Exuberance.

Fractured Glass #1 and #3 are for sale through Still Point.

 

July 4th Weekend Fractured Glass #3 Marathon Report #4

Fractured Glass #3 has  hundreds, if not thousands of tiny spaces that I hope to finish painting today.

Fortunately, I have a deep and abiding fondness for triangles, a treasured memory of creating 100 Pythagorean Theorem problems in 9th grade geometry, and an ever-growing admiration for the people who cut tile and glass for mosaics and stained glass art.

Today (July 5) will be a busy day.

Stained Glass Cat: in progress

Stained Glass Cat Day 2

Yes. I love stained glass. Yes. I think that any work with glass is magic. No, I will never work with glass because it requires safety equipment for cutting or being a heat-resistant human who can work with the temperatures required by melting and fusing.

But wait! I can paint. Adding to the nanoscapes' Fractured Glass and The Glazes, this small friend Stained Glass Cat is based on a needlepoint pattern that I have carted around for 30 years. When complete, it will be for sale through the small friends website.

July 4th Weekend Fractured Glass #3 Marathon Report #1

Welcome to my July 4th Weekend Painting Marathon!  The only way that Fractured Glass #3 can be finished in time for State Fair framing is for me to paint and paint and paint and paint.  What a great gig!

After nearly three weeks, I am well into nanoscape Step 3 -- adding color.  Just last night "Frac 3" crossed the threshold into the place in the paint/space continuum where the glass "pieces" began to show their potential for motion. 

Because I can paint and cook, too, I've also been able to begin to work on an interesting recipe for baked beans for the July 4th picnic (even Paint Marathoners have to celebrate.)

Stained Glass Cat: progress report

First color

September 6

Friends and fans of nanoscapes may remember the Fractured Glass paintings that I made in 2010, and that there was a magical moment in each painting when the loops and whirls began to come together inside the image. It has happened again with the Stained Glass Cat.

Throughout this work, I have used a new brush: a #1 Rafael 8408 Martre Kolinsky Sable France which I purchased from Wet Paint in St. Paul, MN. It holds a lot of paint and gives me a lot of control, too. 

Stained Glass Cat is 15x22 and painted on 300# Fabriano Extra White paper. When complete, the Stained Glass Cat will join her family in the small friends website.

Fractured Glass 2: Step 1 - A triangle, a pencil and an eraser

I am often asked: "How do you begin?"  I started Fractured Glass 2 with one triangle, and was delighted to watch it grow, shrink, and change directions. While working in pencil, I sort out the corners and the places where the shapes meet or overlap.  My two tools are a General Pencil Kimberly Premium Graphite 6H drawing pencil and a Faber-Castell Dust-Free Vinyl eraser.

Robert the Tap Dancing Rooster

After six weeks of painting with Painstaking Exuberance entirely in the world of Fractured Glass, I needed a break.

And what a break!  Today, through Pass the Baton, I booked some "Alternative Careers" and "Professionalism Has Attached" programs, and then I painted a rooster. 

Meet my new Small Friend, Robert The Tap Dancing Rooster.  Because tap dancing 'til 2 a.m. annoyed the hens and cut into his ability to crow at dawn, he was banished from the hen house. He has landed in my studio.  Except for attacking the paint brushes while I worked on Robert's portrait, my cats have ignored him.

Robert will appear on a note card and in a small (6x9") print. He and the now completed 22x33" Fractured Glass #3 will be on the nanoscape website next week.

Nameless traveling nano: Day 11

One of the pleasures of creating nanoscapes is endless surprise at what the shapes do with (and to) one another. The Wild Triangles of the Fractured Glass Family (FG 1,2,3, & Fractured Glass Bubbles) had boundless energy that became apparent as I added more and more color, and then began outlining each shape.

As the nameless nano's shapes began to cover the paper, first with pencil, then Davy's Gray and finally, with colors, they asked me "What are we? Leaves? Printed Circuits? Paper cutouts? Hawaiian Quilts? Molecules? Cast-off movie tickets?"  No answer yet...

Late yesterday, I began to outline some shapes in the lower left corner,  and started to paint in some of the links. As always, that defining step changed the character and the motion of the piece....

     

Earlier in the day, when I finished painting all of the shapes, I was very tempted to stop -- or at least to paint the outline for each shape, and then to stop.  Not possible, though, because the Davy's Gray connecting pieces are already painted in.

I am really fond of these shapes, and I see (hear) their potential.  I know that I will revisit them in a much much larger painting.

July 4th Weekend Fractured Glass #3 Marathon Report #2

After 11 hours -- the shapes are definitely in motion...

Fractured Glass #3 is 22x33 inches, but while painting triangle after triangle, I lost the size and reveled in the tiny spaces.

Fractured Glass 2: Step 3 - Color comes to the nanoscape

I always hold my breath when I put the first color on a nanoscape, and I always reach for a red.  As an enthusiastic collector of colors, I have a lot from which to choose.  While I am partial to Daniel Smith's reds, I also have Winsor Newton and Sennelier reds.  I also love to mix colors on the palette, so the dozen or so red tube colors slide toward orange, purples or yellows, mix with Daniel Smith Pearlesent White and more.

In Fractured Glass 2, I worked from left to right, color by color. At this early stage, you can see red, green and Holbein Lavender

Fractured Glass 3: Painted outlines bring the triangles to life

Painting the outlines of each shape -- Step 4 for every nanoscape, is my last chance to make the shapes  as perfect as possible by making their corners meet and connecting them into their swoops and swirls.  I expect that it will take six days to finish outlining the 726 square inches of Fractured Glass 3. 

 

Here is a closeup that lets you see the difference between lined and unlined triangles.

Fractured Glass 2: Step 2 - Winsor Newton Davy's Gray and Daniel Smith #3 Brush

This should look just the first step of Fractured Glass 2 because it is.  I pick up a paintbrush after the pencil lines are in place, and set the design with Winsor Newton Davy's Gray, a very light gray  watercolor.

In the earliest nanoscapes, I used Winsor Newton Sepia, which has a darker character and is staining (a painter's word for either delightfully or annoyingly permanent) or Daniel Smith Sepia, which is unabashedly brown.  I also experimented with Daniel Smith Payne's Gray, which was too dark for the nanoscapes' framework.

Fractured Glass 2: More color and yet more color (Still in Step 3)

While all five nanoscapes' creative steps are equal, they are not equal in the time that each takes to complete.  Step 3, the color adding step, usually takes the bulk of the time.  Lucky for me, adding colors and making new colors with Daniel Smith Prima Teks (mesmerizing minerals) and Daniel Smith Luminescent (magical colors made with titanium bits), are among my favorite things to do in life.

 

The patterns in Fractured Glass 2 come to life with the addition of more color.

Two things happen at this point:  People urge me to leave some white triangles, and I begin to think that I am almost finished.

For the first, I politely decline.  For the second,  I have done this long enough to know that "almost finished" is a delusion.

There is a lot more work to do.