YAY!! Blowing Glass Again!!

Well I am very fortunate indeed, and there are truly some very kind individuals left in this world. A friend of mine whom I haven't seen in about 3 years has been very hospitable to me recently. After he found out that I was longing to blow glass again he offered me some space in his studio, to come and blow glass with him. This is such a wonderful opportunity for me, and I am truly grateful for the kindness this Friend has shown me. His studio is a short drive from my house, and I am able to go blow glass a few days a week for a few hours at a time. I Really LOVE to blow glass. It is so awesome to get back behind a torch and dance with the flames the torch produces. Blowing glass is truly my artistic passion. It is so nice to be able to blow glass again, and not have to worry about having to produce glass to pay the bills. This opportunity is allowing me to really enjoy glass once more.
The more time I spend behind the torch the more I remember about how glass moves; as it transforms solid glass into liquid glass, and then back into a solid. Glass is such a unique artistic medium. With glass an artist can create 3D forms which are only limited by the artists imagination and skills. If a glass artist has enough skills the glass grants him or her the ability to create anything imagined.

I have decided for now to focus on making glass pendants to be worn as jewelry. Glass jewelry is so beautiful; it is even more stunning when viewed in the sunlight. The color combinations are endless. There are so many wonderful and beautiful colors to chose from, and most artists enjoy mixing these colors together with a plethora of techniques to get the effects they envision.

Glass Blowing

I have a real passion for art, and I am so ready to get back to blowing glass. I am jones'n to get behind the torch and dance with the elements of fire, solids, liquid, and gravity. I started blowing glass in 1999, In the mountains of North Carolina just west of Asheville. I was 24. Working in the medium of glass was very addicting to me. I spent 12 hours nearly every night for the first few months of my learning curve. I was fortunate to work with, and be taught by 4 of my friends who were all at different levels of experience. They were willing to teach me the ropes while lending me the supplies I needed to experiment and create with. I am very thankful for those who provided me with the opportunities to blow glass with them.

Being able to spend that much time blowing glass, day in and day out, I soon started to develop the skills that provided for me to run a small yet lucrative glass blowing business. I spent the next five years learning about, and creating with hot glass. I spent a lot of time making production pieces ,that would take between 10-25 minutes; these I would sell at wholesale prices. This was one avenue of bringing in income. I would also make glass pieces that I would spend 6-12 hours on. These pieces would be very intricate, consisting of lots of color patterns and very unique shaping. These were my favorite pieces to make because they would stretch the limits of my knowledge of glass. I always enjoyed pushing my limits to see where I could go with it.

I have only blown glass a few times over the past few years, mainly because I don't have a studio set up currently. I do like to spend time blowing with my friends though from time to time. But the urges to get behind a torch and being creative are really boiling up inside. I am making plans to build a shop and equip it with all new ventilation and glass blowing equipment. I am very much looking forward to making new glass art.

Check out these videos about creating glass art

Milon Townsend



Acroduster

A tribute to BEE-BOP

Creating is my passion. Heavenly Father has blessed me with many talents, as well as the desire to create. For this I am grateful. Art is just part of who I am. It rests somewhere deep within my soul from time to time. There are also times when it boils over, and all I want to do is be creative. Right now I am applying most of this creative energy into painting and networking with other artists; who are passionate about there work also. I have only been painting for a short time. I have always wanted to paint. I took art classes in high school and knew that making art was part of who I am. My grandfather Karl Baumann, was a very well known artist in San Francisco in the last half 0f the 1900's. All he did was paint, teach art, walk through Golden Gate Park, visit the aquarium, and raised his family. He painted a lot. I grew up admiring his art. Everyone in my family has many of his paintings. To us they are priceless. His art is of a style all to its own. I see many different influences in his work. And he has definitely influenced my art. When I was very young he spent time painting with me. during the few times we visited San Francisco. While traveling across country in a Station Wagon.(those trips across this great country from South Carolina to San Francisco and back is a whole blog in itself)
My grandfather taught me how to create organic shapes by drawing many smaller geometric shapes. In a way these lessons have shaped my life. At least my artistic side. Much more I am Sure. I recently read an article in a magazine devoted to California artists where BEE-BOP (what we call our grandfather) shared how he viewed the pictures he painted. He described his work as "his love for nature, and the conflict of mans impact on nature." What a profound statement. What an awesome ideal to attempt through painting. He loved Nature. He took my mother and her siblings on walks through Golden Gate Park countless times. He was very fond of his garden and house plants. He also tended to his room full of fish tanks over fifty of them at one time. Bee-bop was born in Germany between the World Wars. He was able to come to America to live with his father as the onslaught of World War 2 was beginning. He started drawing with colored pencils as a child in Germany. He would draw pictures of landscapes and nature, for his grandparents. He lived with them for some time, up into his youth.
As an artist in San Francisco he painted with mostly oils and water colors. He also did pencil drawings. He painted on many different surfaces. Canvas was expensive so he painted a lot on board. He also would make and paint frames for his paintings, out of an assortment of random types of wood materials. He painted a lot of different things. He mostly painted landscapes, still life's, and abstracts. He used a lot of geometric shapes with heavy dark outlines. His use of vivid color expression is probably what stands out most about his work. His use of color is is amazing, which is something I wish to learn, and attempt to emulate.