Bathroom window, 881 × 786 mm. The grid reference at the bottom is for a wooden cabin in the Adirondacks.
A bathroom window is the perfect spot for a glass commission. Usually you need to block the view for passers-by outside but with this solution you also get to see some of the outside world, here it’s the quickly changing sky as it passes over the sand dunes and estuary in Hayle, Cornwall. Because of the damp air in a bathroom, the enamelled surface of the glass has to be sealed inside the double glazed unit and because I was wary of making the room too dark I used only pale, watered down colours with opacity coming from sandblasted areas of glass.
Left: Painting of the cabin in the Adirondacks by Juliet Goodden, 1982. Right: Bathroom in Hayle.
Two months ago in a blog post called Postcard from the Past I described my struggles with the concept for this commission, which was based on a painting by Juliet Goodden of her family’s wooden cabin in the Adirondacks, New York State (above left). The interior of her new bathroom (above right) is also based on memories of the cabin, so my final design is not a copy of the painting (it’s proportions are different for a start) but is one that takes the billowing curtain then adds in a grid of colours as if they’re streaming through the open window.
Left: View of the bathroom. Right: detail of curtains and enamel colours.
Grey was the best colour to complement this range of colour washes against the brown of the wooden walls. I have three different grey enamels and I love them all, although the pot of my favourite discontinued soft grey is nearly empty. I particularly like the photo of the open window (below left) that looks as if it’s floating away, but wonder why the modern window is not a thing of beauty in itself. From the outside, high up and facing west, you catch a glimpse of colour and the white lines of the sandblasted window and curtains.
Left: Window open. Right: Bathroom window from the outside.