Saturday, August 8, 2009

The Growly Wind

I am placing this picture up large because I don't think it will open larger.
The only photo I have of it was finished crop ready for publication purposes. It went to a private owner before I could take further pictures. Since I haven't had either the time or inclination to produce anything new, I thought I would dig up something old.

This is the "Growly Wind".

Produced for a museum show I was booked in about 5 years ago.
This piece is my rendition of the elements that stuck in my mind of the Wizard of Oz. That would be why you see the monkeys and the slipper's and the wicked witch on her broom, and the wind creating its funnel cloud.

I was working in a different restaurant at the time. I was trying to create work to fill this one man show. When the wind began to blow exceptionally hard, since we were in tornado warnings that day we were all talking about them and I was referring to things from the Wizard of Oz and Ghena, (who now owns a different establishment and is my current boss) says "Mar, ya have to do that for the show...a piece called the growly wind" and that was how this came to be created.

This piece was totally made by hand including the glass. Which I replicated the recipe from the glass handbook and poured myself. All the colors were minerals and ores I researched and added.
The art on the glass is rendered in stainer's techniques as described in the post below this.

This was a technically challenging piece for me, as I am NOT a chemist. It turned out well though.

The rest of the story went like this:

Barb (the owner and boss of the then establishment I was working) and I were standing at the door watching this tree lay over as the wind picked up and she says low behind me...
"look I see a monkey...I says oh!! I see it tooo...a customer who we did not know was overhearing us...says where is a monkey...????
well we busted out laughing...
and explained ..to which she was not amused...but
whenever I see this picture it brings this story to mind.

Today we are having horrid weather conditions ripe for tornado's so here we go...

thanks for looking

10 comments:

Anne said...

Hi, Mary! Fabulous art piece! I can see why someone snatched it up! Love the colors. Love the movement in the storm / staining. Stay safe out there! :-)

Linda Vincent said...

Its fantastic Mary - very, very impressive! What a talent you have....
Linda x

Unknown said...

Wow, Mary, this is great! What a beautiful job you did! Chemical recipe too, I am very impressed.

Janet said...

Wonderful piece! I'm not a big fan of strong winds and definitely not tornadoes but yours is beautiful.

Lori Saul said...

Beautiful expressive piece Mar - and how amazing you even created the glass- wonderful fluidity and motion!

Karen said...

That wind does look Growly, indeed! I'm so impressed by the moevement you have achieved. What a wonderful piece to share! New or old, I'm so happy to have come by this morning and seen it! :>

Mary said...

Hey Mar,
This is a wonderful piece, full of movement, I can almost feel the wind.

I love storms - ha - as I speak it begins to rain!!!!!

Look what your painting did!!! lol

mary schweitzer said...

You continue to amaze me. Especially when I think about actually making glass. Dang woman!
Mary

Curio said...

WOW! Love your work! Absolutely perfect!

Anonymous said...

I always inspired by you, your views and attitude, again, thanks for this nice post.

- Thomas