Postcard from the Past.
I hadn’t made anything out of glass in 2026 until last weekend when I chopped and assembled pieces together to make a window of a window as seen on the lightbox above with a pen for scale. On top of the desire to make something was the need to cut parts out of a large unsuccessful panel and combine them with samples and old bits to remind me of what I want from my work. In the sandblasted window is a view of a landscape I painted in 1983, like a postcard from the past. In the centre are the blocks of colour chopped out of the unsuccessful panel, a lovely blue and a green that turns brown on the tin side of glass (below right).
Sample window, 475 × 510 mm. and detail of the unsuccessful panel.
And at the bottom is the grid reference of the cabin in the Adirondacks that Juliet Goodden drew originally in 1982 (below left). That became a painting (below right) on which I’m intending to base a window for her new bathroom.
Drawing and painting by Juliet Goodden.
Left: Through the blind. Right: bottom right corner with colour stripes.
As soon as I saw the panel in the kiln after its first firing I knew that it hadn’t worked - the colours were wrong, the enamelling was too thick, therefore bubbly, and the sandblast grit was too fine. I could only stand looking at it through the blind (above left) or in little sections (above right) and was delighted to chop it up.
Full size drawing for the panel, 881 × 786 mm and sample of intended colours.
The other technical problem was the fact that all my samples (of which a lovely pale example is shown above) were on a different thickness and manufacturer of glass, so for the new attempt I’ll do my colour samples on a glass match. The mini versions of the design (below), like the new sample window, look best against daylight where the play of transparency and opacity really works. A new version of the cabin interior is now in development having become part of a series in the ongoing and enjoyable dialogue with my friend and fellow artist.
Four little samples showing the development of the design.