WarmGlass.com

Steve I am outing you, I hope you don't mind!!! Someone commented on going to your website and I realized I hadn't looked lately. Glad I did and everyone else should too. Bamboo Forest and Grenadine blew me away! Such precision, so much work and so beautiful and evocative. Congratulations!

Oops, here's the link:

http://www.clearwaterglass.com/default.htm

Holly Pasta Fazoli!!!!!!!!!!!!! Incredible Steve. What was that line in that move??

"We're not worthy!!!!!"


Super Steve!

holy cow, Steve!
i see you've been busy!
there are LOTS of things there that are just SUPER to look at!
so glad to have been directed back to your website again.
great looking work -- really splendid.
aloha, kitty

Absolutely fantastic! That's my kinda stuff. I love the precision and geometry. The colors too. Music for the eyes of a Math teacher.

Thanks for puuting them on the site for all of us to enjoy and take inspiration from.

Please announce future updates.............................Jim

I just love

http://www.clearwaterglass.com/coral_chameleon.htm

Ohhhh I just wish I was scuba diving again!

You know, Steve, I check your website fairly frequently. I love to see your fantastic progression and I've yet to visit it without seeing something new. I have to say, you are truly amazing. What is so special about the way your work has developed is that you do a more diverse range of pieces, from sculpture to jewelry, and yet there is something incredably cohesive about all of your work. I mean, I can't get over it. You combine more processes and techniques together than anyone, and yet they somehow all are uniquely "you" from an enormous yard piece right down to something that fits on an earlobe! I find that awesome, really. I'm so proud of you and in awe of your presision and perfection of technique. You are fabulous - in every way!

Jackie

ditto, jackie.

Jim Wolverton wrote:Absolutely fantastic! That's my kinda stuff. I love the precision and geometry. The colors too. Music for the eyes of a Math teacher.

Thanks for puuting them on the site for all of us to enjoy and take inspiration from.

Please announce future updates.............................Jim

Thanks everybody for your comments. You're very kind.

As for updates, since I do the photography myself, and maintain the site myself, I add pieces to the site as they are done and photographed. Actually, I added three pieces last night since they were finally finished. So, feel free to check the site once in a while.

Comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Steve

Well . . . I'm running out of superlatives Steve. Your work is tremendous.

More than that, it's professional.

Comgratulations.

Brock

Verrrrrry nice Steve.

I love the Battuto... really nice work.

Tony

Steve, Ocean Edge II is absolutely incredible!!! Incredible. I'm at a loss for words...
-A

Jackie ..you said it so well. What a wonderfully cohesive body of work, Steve. Thanks for showing your interpretation in glass of your friend's inspirational photos in "Ocean Edge: December" Your work expresses aesthetics in line with my passions...order in nature, and the peacefulness of Japanese and prairie artistic styles in nature and structure. Arts and Crafts period colors. Amy's thread thread asks how one composes...whatever the answer, you've got it down pat. For left brainers like me, this is the hardest part. The right side flows with inspiration and ideas, especially when driving with the radio off, and in the wee hours. So with plenty of inspiration, and lots of technical expertise in the back pocket, why is it a struggle to translate that inspiration into a finished product that meets expectations? I'm getting closer, but that part of the process sure takes time and mental work. Despite that, planning a composition feels highly rewarding, because it's new and creative thought. I wonder if this is one of the things yopu learn how to do in art school.
Well, I'm rambling on into thoughts from other threads. I was wondering if you like to work out your design ideas on paper or if you compose directly from the glass and components.

Nikki
-- most thankful for the expert professorial staff on the WGBB

Nikki O'Neill wrote:So with plenty of inspiration, and lots of technical expertise in the back pocket, why is it a struggle to translate that inspiration into a finished product that meets expectations?

I was wondering if you like to work out your design ideas on paper or if you compose directly from the glass and components.

I usually have some basic idea of what I want to make, but often avoid making up any detailed plans and just sit there with my glass around me and start laying things up, moving them around and seeing what happens. Coming from a stained glass background, where I made my own patterns this was a real stretch. It took me a while to learn to do this, rather than plan every aspect of the piece before taking cutter to glass.

As with anything else, the more you do this, the more your mind can imagine what the piece will look like when finished. Some color combinations are fantastic. Others, are not. I used to think that glass was so inherently beautiful that anything we did with it would be great. I've learned from experience that is not the case!

I often come up with my ideas in the shower in the morning, and try to reserve the hours later in the day doing the assembly work for the ideas that hatched earlier. Often I'll have a thought rumbling around in my head for days before it becomes a concrete idea for a piece.

I also find that if I'm pressured into doing something specific, I'm forced to view it as a "problem" or "excercise" and often come up with something that I like, and that I might not have done on my own. Pieces I made in Brock and Avery's classes are one example. Like these:
http://www.clearwaterglass.com/chinese_horse_bowl.htm
http://www.clearwaterglass.com/horse_sushi.htm

Or, when somebody wants me to "make something sort of Prairie style in earthy colors.." And I come up with these:
http://www.clearwaterglass.com/prairie_style.htm

I wouldn't have come up with any of these pieces unless I was forced into thinking about them by someone else. Some might consider that good or bad, but for me it will sometimes give me a creative boost that goes beyond the exercise.

Sorry to ramble.

Steve

Please, never apologize for rambling! We appreciate being able to get into your head for a moment..... what wonderful work. Being able to express in words just how you compose and what makes you do the art you do is why this weeks' threads have been so interesting!

Thanks!

glenda

Steve:
I can see how that works. A specific assignment allows the focus to be narrowed (technique or subject), creating an opportunity to channel energies for deeper exploration. Self-given assignments work too, but it's easy to wander off- topic (or change the assignment .
I'm off to Breckenridge next week for a family ski spring break, and thinking of what warm glass items to bring. There's an excellent book on Principles of Design (thanks for the recommendation Cynthia) that would be useful and fun to re-read, along with digesting the new Bullseye catalog (eye candy), thinking through and sketching some compositions, and taking pictures of trees. It's going to be a great vacation.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. The creative process really is a process. Don't know why I though it would just "happen."

Nikki

The book I bought on Cynthia's recommendation is "Design Basics" by David Lauer. It's rather text-bookish in that it's a well-organized general introduction to design principles. Relevant photos of paintings and other art work illustrate each point.
Nikki

Congratulations Steve!
Grenadine is absolutely divine!
Katia