Announcing the eBook of BREAKOUT! Your Pathway to Success. Now available here.

In my mind, Chapter 9 is the most important chapter because it includes an important case study illustrating the teachings in the book: the story of artist Lin Schorr and the four collaborative murals. But waiting until all four murals was done meant delaying the release until now because the last photos came in YESTERDAY.

Artwork shown in eBook by Jacqui Ridley. Artwork photographs by Robert Medvedenko, Studio M2 Photography.

Yes, at long last, "BREAKOUT! Your Pathway to Success" is finally almost done. In this episode I share the core message(s) of the book as well as a tidbit about myself that might surprise you. It's all good though.

I'm not the first artist to go through the rites of passage. If you want to hear another's perspective on it, read photographer Doug Menuez's story titled "On Chaos, Fear, Survival & Luck: Longevity is the Answer".
Read it here.

I know, I know, this video is long overdue. So here's the latest scoop on topics including:
ebooks, progress on BREAKOUT! Your Pathway to Success, and an announcent about the new workshop, Breakout & Find Your Own Voice. Armand (secret cameraman) and I decided to "keep it real" by just doing 1 "take". So expect a few flubs, which I hope are entertaining, if nothing else.

I've also renamed the series henceforth to "Behind the Scenes" from "Glass Art" since I'm not really working much with glass anymore.

Be a fly on the wall (or ceiling, as the case may be) while I work on my latest "fresco cement" artwork, titled Under Pressure. This piece is the first in the BreakAWAY! series and will make its debut in my upcoming book, BREAKOUT! Your Pathway to Success.

Armand thought it would be interesting to start off in black and white and then move into color. So the room is pretty much empty with the bare white walls and me dressed all in black... The room is small, so you get a sense of being "under pressure" yourself. The whole thing was shot with time lapse photography (In total 6000 photos, to be exact, over a span of 4 days). What can I say, he's brilliant. You can see more of his work here: Liquid Earth.

Curious about the story behind this artwork? Read more here.

Music: Ultra Violet by Way Out West available on iTunes here.

Glass Art Episode 19 - "Under Pressure" from Brit Hammer on Vimeo.

This episode is a follow-up to Episode 17 in which I helped artists decide which images to submit for consideration for my new book, BREAKOUT! Your Pathway to Success.

To submit images for possible inclusion, download the entry form here. All submissions must be received by 9 September 2009.

Ideally your images are minimum 2400 wide x 3000 high, but 4800 × 3000 pixels is even better.

Part 1 gives you some insights into the types of work I'm looking for.
Part 2 gives you a few tips about photographing fine art. Read more here.

PART 1

PART 2

The images I faved are under my Flickr profile here. These are some types of images I would like formally submitted. (NB: not all "faved" images were part of the book pre-submission screening).

Also, I mentioned my husband's images, which I also like. You can see them here. And I mentioned some open calls on Mosaic Art Now--see them here.

Work on my new book BREAKOUT! Your Pathway to Success is well under way. The deadline for receiving all submissions to the open call to artists is 9/9/09.

If you're an artist who wants to submit images but aren't sure which 3 artworks to submit, this video is for you. I will review a limited number of your images so you know which artwork(s) to submit. Please watch the video first.

Here's a brief recap how it will work:

1. Go here and download the submission form.

2. If you agree to the terms of the contract, go to step 3.

3. On Flickr tag up to 10 images/10 artworks with bh_breakout . The images must be professional quality (i.e. sharp and free of glare, nice composition, no other objects in the image, neutral background...in short, an image fit for print). The deadline to tag images is 31 August 2009. NB: Only images on Flickr.com will be reviewed, no other photo sharing websites.

4. I will review all images tagged by 2 September and will "fave" (favorite) the images that might be suitable for inclusion in the book. I will not leave a comment. I will only "fave" images, but this is not a guarantee that I will use these images, only that they are suitable.

Please only tag images if you intend to submit for the book's open call - I am doing this as a service to encourage those who might not otherwise submit. This is not meant to be a portfolio review.

5. Deadline for submissions for the book is 9 September 2009.

Update on Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 18:44 by Brit Hammer

I've posted more about professional quality photos on my blog here.

Come with Brit to South Africa and experience the Cederberg Mountains at Bushman's Kloof reserve after she shares why she loves the area and how that relates to her work.

Featured are San bushmen rock art, animals, rock formations, and flora (see the marker at the half way point in the time bar).

Music in this episode: "Existence" by Nick Murray (available at music.mevio.com)

In this episode Brit takes you back to 1988 to her days before working with glass to show a bit of her progression as a designer. She shares some images of the clothes she designed and made back in her university days (1987-1991) while studying fashion & textile design. The episode ends with a slideshow...and a sneak-peek at the sketches she's working on for her BREAKAWAY! series.

Brit was pretty amp'ed up when she recorded this. In this episode she sheds some light (but not too much) on her latest book project: BREAKOUT! Your Pathway to Success.