"Parrot" makes its debut

Finally!

I'm pleased with it for a first project, but I do see some things I would do differently.

I can't photograph them very well; I need different lighting, and/or a lens that can fit the whole thing in without messing up the perspective, or both. But these rough photos will at least provide an idea of what I'm getting at.

The first photo of the piece hanging on the wall has an awkward flash in it, but it does do a good job of showing the texture of each kind of glass. So you can see that the sky is kind of striated, the blue feathers are kind of pebbled, etc. The beveled panels all around are a nice touch; they weren't my idea, but a suggestion that really worked out.



The second piece is taken with the piece on a light box, so it is illuminated uniformly from behind. All the texture is flattened out, and the contrast between the transparent yellow and the translucent or opaque other colors disappears--but you can see details here that you can't in the first photo.



I am pleased with the red that runs through the brown in the tree branch, which you can see better in this photo. Something I'm not quite so proud of is the gap between the parrot's large blue wing and its yellow body; it is the small white spot above the lead came in the blue wing.

Most of this design was pretty forgiving (unlike the Necker cubes I wrote about below); this is an example of where I needed to be more precise. For a hanging, not such a big deal (especially for a first project); if this were an exterior window, on the other hand, that would have to be redone.

I am pleased and impressed with our teachers John and Rumi, and their pushing us to do a project right away. I thought we were just going to do rectangles or something; when I saw what they had in mind, I did wonder what I had gotten myself into. But it worked out well.

I will not have an opportunity to finish the copper goldfish until I get back from Philadelphia, but it's ok. I already know what I want to do for my third project--a sun bear! and both the goldfish and sun bear will still be here when I return in November.