New Year

May 2013 be a year of dreams fulfilled!

New addition to family

Sunday Dec 9 my wife gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.  She was 3 1/2 weeks early. It has been a full week with the new one in the family and taking care of our 6 yr old son who is excited to be a big brother.  We are happy to have a daughter in the family.

Thanksgiving

Looking at all the christmas stuff in stores and advertisements one would think that Thanksgiving is being skipped.  I want to express gratitude to my wife and son, I am so thankful for them and for the girl on the way in Dec.  We will be moving into our new house over the Thanksgiving holiday which will be very hectic but grateful to be finally moving in. 
Thank you to all the followers of my blog who appreciate my work and to those who are visiting and are new to my work.

I wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Isaac

Trying to get settled in

We closed on a house in Vancouver, WA and now the flooring need replaced.  We will be out of our apartment the end of the month and will begin the process of unpacking and sorting everything out.  In the mean time I am working night shift at a job and am holding off on art stuff until the house stuff gets settled.  Busy moving stuff from storage into the garage and packing some things in the apt to get ready to move it all into the house.  Very busy time.

Pictures of Mount Rainier from the air with smoke

These were two different shots from the air of Mount Rainier with smoke from forrest fires filling in the landscape. 

Latest pencil drawing

It has been awhile since I posted- busy with current job, looking for work in Vancouver and moving household items over there.  I took a little time this morning to draw a leaf and this is the result.  I enjoy the composition and flow of it.

Relocating

The last month has been very busy as I have been packing up the house and get our belongings to the western side of Washington.  I will be joining my wife and son probably in a couple of months after we find a house and get them settled in.  It has been very busy and exhausting.  I wish I could just move over and be with them as I miss them very much but need to remain here for a little longer.  I hope that my art will sell over there and I will have a successful business.  It has been a long struggle on the eastern side of the state, I am very grateful for the clients that I have had and have enjoyed meeting the people that I have met, but it has not been enough to sustain a business which has been very discouraging.  Looking forward to better things.

My first stained glass window design

Recently we visited my parents in Anchorage, Alaska and I took pictures of their entry way which was my first stained glass design.  I designed, fabricated and installed it in 1991. I enjoy the design with the diagonals creating a foreground.  If you notice in the second picture the top diagonal in the ceiling is pretty much the same angle as in the windows and it moves down to the top diagonal line in the door window.  I intentionally created the diagonals to tie in with the diagonal in the living room.  It was a fun piece.

Setting up for art show

Just spent the last 4 1/2 hrs setting up my art work for a show called Moscow Art Walk in Moscow, ID.  Everything looks great!  Hopefully it will be a good show.

Wedding Gift

I made this stained glass hanging piece for as a wedding gift for friends of mine.  This is a great gift to give someone that is original.

Applying for Artist Trust Arts Innovator Award

I just finished applying for the Artist Trust Arts Innovator Award.  It has been several weeks of pulling stuff together such as artist resume, letter of recommendation, images, essay, etc.  I have put in quite a few hours and glad it is now in.  Now the wait to hear back begins.

International Contemporary Artists Vol IV

I just received my copies of International Contemporary Artists Vol IV and this is my page!  I am in the Installations/sculptures section of the book.

Oil Painting completed

Look closely to see the cream color background right around the figure. I need to get photoshop and figure out how to make the white background actually white in the photo.  I titled this "Beginning of Hope".  This is a follow up to the painting "Anxiety" which you can see in a previous blog. I have felt a lot the last couple of years, part of which was losing touch with who I am by being beaten down so much  and so there is no face on this figure.  Part of that is also to show that this could be anyone.  The unfolded arm is the beginning of reaching out, having enough hope to reach out.  The muscles are not just a stylistic approach but showing there is still strength in me.

Artist Trust workshop

This last weekend I attended a workshop put on by Artist Trust titled "I am an Artist" dealing with the business of art.  Attendees received input on their Artist statements and artist resume.   I learned quite a bit and reinforced other things I knew but have not implemented in quite awhile.  I enjoyed meeting other artists and seeing Karen Mobley from Spokane Arts Commission again.  I hope to do something like this again soon.

Patterns and textures of glass from entry way

Here are a couple of closeup images of the transom and sidelight windows. The first one shows textures of the glass on the window sill as the sun shines through the glass. We find colors and textures on different walls, areas of the floors as the sun moves.  Quite fun!

Transom window and sidelight completed and installed

Transom window

Entry Way before the install

Entry Way after the install

From the exterior

I will show a detail in a later blog.

Painting in Progress- figure completed

The figure is completed! Next comes the background color and a much better photograph.

Stained glass in progress, bonding color bevels

After cleaning the panel the color bevels are being bonded on top of the clear bevels.

An ultraviolet adhesive is used and a ultraviolet lamp cures the adhesive.

Oil painting-progress

Progressing slowly.

Stained glass window-progress, last set of bevels completed

The last set of triangle bevels that will be bonded on top of the clear triangle bevels in the transom and sidelight windows are completed.  I like the color gradation in the bevel on the aqua colored piece.

Stained glass window-progress, last set of bevels

While the putty in the sidelight and transom windows dry I am beveling the triangles that will be bonded on top of the clear triangle bevels throughout the two windows.  The aqua colored one in the center is polished and the surrounding pieces are on step 3-pre polish.

Stained glass window-progress, transom window, pieced together/soldered

Oil Painting in progress

Stained glass window-progress, transom window

This is the transom window in progress that will go above the front door and ties in with the sidelight window I showed earlier.

Oil Painting in progress

Stained glass window-progress, sidelight, puttying and whiting

Putty is used to fill in any space in the channel where the glass fits into the came. The whiting is used to help the putty to dry and to clean off any oil residue from the putty and flux from soldering.

Stained glass window-progress, sidelight, soldering the joints

Email from someone asking about warterfall design

To the person who emailed me about the waterfall design and possible doing a similar design in your windows.  I am so sorry, but I had deleted your email and could you please email me again with the window dimensions and attachment. 

Thank you,
Isaac D Smith

Stained glass window-progress, sidelight, piecing together

Oil Painting in progress

Stained glass window-progress, first set of bevels complete

These are 3 of several  bevels that are interspersed throughout this sidelight.  I enjoy the gradation of the color from dark to light in the bevel.  It really picks up more of what is going on in the glass when it is beveled.

Stained glass window-progress, cutting glass for beveling

These images show the design drawn out and glass pieces that will be beveled.

Oil Painting in progress

Figure drawings in pencil-studies

Stained glass design for ceiling lobby-proposed

 

Top two images are close ups and the bottom image shows the full scale.  

Working on a stained glass design for hotel lobby

6:30 in the morning right now and I have been working on a design for a hotel lobby ceiling since 12:30 am.  Probably still have 3 hours to go.  I need to have this finished today so I can mail it to the architect tomorrow.  I will post the design at a later date.

Figure drawings in charcoal

Stained glass design for our entry way- final design

This is a second design that I drew for our entry way and will be the one that we will put in.  I will start on this today and post the progress. 

This sidelight will align with the right side of the transom window.