Drawing Started for New Painting

 I've had an idea for a new painting for quite awhile and it has been slowly coming together both in my head as well as the design being drawn on the canvas.

The size of this canvas is 60 inches tall by 42 1/4 inches wide. I stretched the canvas and have been slowly working out the design, changing certain aspects as I go.  Even though I have a good image in my head, sometimes the actual supplies I have on hand are slightly different which changes the size and thus the composition.  I am working from a photograph of the pose and have to change certain aspects because a photograph tends to flatten the image and I am drawing and redrawing to create more depth of the figure and surrounding space.

Fun to show the initial aspects of getting the design on the canvas before starting the painting.

Glass Panel Installed, Interior Door

 The glass panel is now installed into the interior door frame.  

Here are some different angles and details:

Very happy with how this turned out, love the bevels and how they create dimension and light play.  Really has a lot of movement to it.

Bonding Glass Completed!

 Bonding the beveled color pieces onto the clear bevels is now completed. 

The panel is still on the table so there is no back lighting.  The following is what the panel looked like before bonding the color pieces on.

Next up is installing the panel into the interior door frame which is scheduled for this coming Friday.

Bonding Glass- Halfway through

 I am now halfway through the bonding process.  11 more pieces to go.

Autumn Equinox and Bonding Glass

Today is the Autumn Equinox and it was the perfect day to start bonding the beveled color glass pieces onto the clear bevels of the large glass panel I had been working on a few months ago.  I am finally at a good point with all that has been happening to start this part of the project.

 My goal is to bond 1 - 2 pieces on the days in which I work 12 hr nights and then on my days off I will do more.  I plan on installing this door panel by mid October.  This is a tedious process and will take considerable time.  The 2 red/orange color pieces took 45 minutes.  The outcome is definitely worth the effort.  

Glass Colors all Polished!

 Very excited about all of the glass color pieces now polished, completed!

One thing I really enjoy about beveling glass that has different color that is fluid through the center of the glass is that whatever color is under the top/bottom layer pops out in the bevel.  The above pics show how the purple is on surface and is clear underneath which shows up in the bevel.  The next few images show how the white which is fluid through the center of the glass comes out in the bevel sections indicated in yellow. The white flakes on surface of glass is the powder left over from the polishing process.  It will all be cleaned off later.

Side note:  The bright white in the bottom left corner is light reflecting off the glass. The same thing in bottom image left of the yellow circle.

Color Pieces Being Beveled

 Life has been a little hectic lately resulting in being a little behind schedule in beveling the color pieces for the Interior Door stained glass panel.  I did start and completed the first phase of beveling (Roughing):

22 of these to bevel, 3 more stages to go.  The goal is to have these completed by the end of the week and then clean the panel followed by bonding the color pieces on top of the clear bevels throughout the design.

Colored Glass Cut for Clear Bevels

 I am now cutting the colored glass to the shape of the center portion of the clear bevels.  They will be hand beveled after I putty the whole panel, both sides.  After the cleaning of the panel, the color pieces will be bonded on top of the clear bevel.

Next up is puttying the panel on both sides and let it set for a couple of weeks.  During that time I will be beveling the color pieces that will be bonded on top of the clear bevel.

Completed Piecing Together Glass Panel

 Finally completed piecing together the stained glass panel for the Interior Door!

I really like this design, the flow, movement, color!

Far from being completed, next up is soldering all the joints front and back then putty both sides, followed by cutting color glass the size of the middle section of each clear beveled piece. While the putty sets for a couple of weeks I will bevel each color piece, then clean the panel and lastly bond the color pieces on top of the clear bevels.  Once that is all completed the installation will happen soon after. 

Last Set of Bevels for Glass Panel

I have been working on the last set of bevels needed to continue and complete piecing together the stained glass panel for the interior door.

The first 2 stages (roughing, smoothing) are complete, 2 more to go - pre polish and polish. 

Interior Door Stained Glass Update

 I completed the last batch of bevels, pieced together more of the panel.  

I have cut the glass for the remaining 7 pieces that need beveling.  After those are completed then I will be able to finish assembling the panel.  

Sunlit Glass!

This morning when the sun was rising, the glass in the kitchen lit up and the image appeared on the window shade.  I love the effect of this!  I noticed this on a window in a different house we had many years ago and I make sure I have this same type of shade that I purchased in Japan to get this type of effect.

 Fun how the textures appear on the shade!

Current Masters

Recently, my work was juried and accepted into a book titled Current Masters 7.  I just approved the proof for the 2 pages that I will have in this book:

 The editor did a wonderful job editing the bio which I usually avoid.  The typical bio is in third person and tells of background info such as education and awards, etc.  I figure if someone really wants to know that kind of information then they can ask me and I will send an artist resume which has all that in it.  

The book will be released online sometime this month with the printed version in March.

Story Behind Spiritual Tuning

I've been looking at Spiritual Tuning quite often since completing the varnishing and am now at a point where I can verbalize different aspects of this painting, what was going on while painting it and where the imagery originated from.

This was created over a two year period from 2021-2023 as indicated from earlier posts.  The pose of the figure really captivated me- don't think I understood why fully at the time, definitely the overall shape and form of the pose as well as the light/dark aspects of it.  After reflection I feel the pose has an introspective quality which I was going through at the time- healing from the past from religion, relationships, hurts, etc.  Throughout the 2 year period I listened to a lot of music which allowed me to see so many colors, shapes, movement which all came out in this figure.  The background has a yin yang feel which came from a lot of reading, learning and understanding dynamics of relationships/marriage and my own marriage.  Learning about the dynamics of security and sexuality in a a marriage/relationship and how they are opposites.  Once I really understood what was happening internally such as emotional healing, learning, introspection, changing- along with the musical aspects creating the color, movement, etc, the title Spiritual Tuning was quite vivid in my mind- an adjustment to become more of who I am.

Glassy Bevels Update

 The following are images of this current group of bevels that are beginning step 3, pre polish. 

The shape on the right with 2 written on it is at the 2nd stage, #3 on the left shows completion of pre polish step. 

Completed with pre polish step.

Glassy Bevels!

I was told that I needed a catchy title and this is what I came up with.   

Following are close up images of the 1st stage of the beveling which will be easier to see each bevel.  I am showing these to explain how the bevels that I create are different from anything you have seen.  Typically when you see bevels in glasswork such as in entryways, mirrors, bevel clusters that stained glass artists can purchase, etc.  each bevel is a particular width and remains that width all around the shape.  

Quite a few years ago I was taught how to hand bevel and the width had to be the same all around the shape.  In the mid 1990s I was piecing together a panel with bevels that I had created and the design was flat due to each bevel being the same width all around the shapes and each one next to each other. I wanted more movement and depth to the design so I started playing with the idea of changing the width of the bevel from one side to the other and different widths from opposite sides of the shape.  This created much more movement and depth throughout the design.  This can be seen in many of the images I have throughout this blog as well as in my web sites isaacdsmith.com and stained-glass-creations.com

This additional light play as well as increased depth and movement adds to my purpose to Nourish Your Soul Through a Symphony of Light and Colour!

 

Glass Beveling, Stage 1

 Today I started hand beveling the pieces shown in previous post.  This first stage entails getting the initial angles in the glass, grinding glass away to the width and angle desired.  

Because of grinding glass away there are tons of scratches in the glass which create the cloudy feel.  The next couple of stages will be more of a finesse in smoothing out/taking layers away to get rid of those scratches.  The second stage is smoothing followed by pre polish and finally polish.  

Stained Glass Design for Interior Door

 Back in March and April I had posted a design for a stained glass panel to be inset in an interior door. This is the design I posted:

 I have since completed the door frame and hung it up:

It is a nice door slider.  I also have worked on the design a bit more and have reduced the number of hand beveled pieces and added more color.  I think this is a more interesting design:

Lot more interest, movement and light play. I will enjoy working on this.

Preliminary Color for Stained Glass Design

 I colored in different areas with a basic idea for the color scheme.  

The squares are clear hand beveled pieces and the color will be hand beveled and bonded on top of the clear bevel.  The same with the larger triangle shapes.  The areas without color will be different clear textured glass.  Next is going through the glass and using pieces that are similar albeit with variation of texture and other slight differences.  Picking through and choosing the color is a very fun part of the process!

Stained Glass Design further along

 Here is the design drawn in ink and with bevels.  The next step is working on the color scheme.

The dimensions of this panel is 85 in tall by 30 in wide.  With all the hand beveling this will take quite a few months.