full panel 2.6 m x 40 cm
detail 60 cm x 40 cm
detail 60 cm x 40 cm
A few weeks have passed since I was in Germany working on the above details, so it was nice to receive some shots of the work in progress today. The glass treatments have moved on a stage further. I’m pleased because everything seems to be exactly as I’d wished, with some beautiful blending of colour, contrasted with detail and texture in other areas.
I moved the first boxes of art materials into my new studio today! It feels good to have a larger space to work in and the opportunity for regular contact with other artists. There are six or seven others sharing this loft space, which is part of the recently opened BV Studios in Bedminster, home to eighty artists in total. Over the next few months I hope to find a new pattern emerging in my working week, and feel certain this environment will help me focus on new projects and ideas.
Iris at work in the garden
I’ve spent this week in Germany at Derix Studios who are fabricating my glass for two current projects. Above are two full scale working drawings for the BHOC commission. It’s made things far more tangible seeing the designs enlarged in colour. I’ve spent a lot of time carefully selecting the glass and enamel colours, and have been working closely with a studio artist discussing the details and producing samples and possible textures. A really exciting stage in the commission!
I noticed these Anchusa flowers had dropped in the garden after a heavy June rain shower. Rather beautiful out of context.
Back in September of last year I posted a simple monoprint of an angel. There was something about the drawing that I kept returning to, then with seemingly appropriate timing I was asked to begin designing a scheme of glass for a new chapel at St Josephs Hospice in Hackney. The angel became a prominent feature throughout the window designs, [which I'll begin adding here soon].
This week I’ve continued working with the theme, enjoying some valuable time experimenting with screen printed vitreous enamel on glass. Here are two the pieces.
I’m sometimes commissioned to design and make the most specific of things, which has the potential to be inhibiting….. a fox crossing the road, looking over it’s shoulder, at night, with a city park in the background. Right! Several drawings later this idea began to emerge and working on the glass became a pleasure. The glass chosen for the fox was a beautiful amber flash, etched to clear and duly painted with care. The whole idea is a reflection of the clients street who I’m glad to say loved the window.
Fresh from the kiln.
I’ve been completing some fairly routine glass painting over the past few days, with silver staining as the final paint application. This photo shows the opaque red carrier pigment before firing. The glass is in the kiln at the moment and will be removed in the morning. There is still something quite magical about washing away the fired pigment to reveal the pure transparent yellow / orange of the stain. Exciting if it works! I’ll post the results tomorrow.
My workshop is in the garden, and just to prove spring really is just around the corner I’ve added one of several crocus studies produced this week on my way to work. The sequence of glass shots show the progress of a commission this week from cut glass laid out – to the gradual removal of a stipple matt on the glass easel. Some of the flash glass has been heavily etched in stages providing the textures in the final photo.
