Here is the programme for the BSMGP discussion day, & details of how to book a late place. See you there!
Circular yellow /
Circular Yellow Detail of window in the Morris Room (tearoom), V&A Museum
"Circular Yellow", as I call it, is the type of ex-front door textured glass that I have hanging around in the studio waiting to be used. I have more often seen it installed in mid twentieth century churches, imparting a machine made and frankly repellent yellow glare. I think of it as the poor relation to crown glass windows, or the circular backgrounds that William Morris and Philip Webb made for the firm's stained glass windows.
Yellow - or "gold" to make it sound more attractive - can really overpower the other transparent colours. In the most lovely crown glass windows, my favourites are in the Doge's Palace, Venice, rows of pale pastel glass circles convince you they are in the most perfect windows anywhere.
Inside the Doge's Palce, Venice Chapel window, Gualdo Tadino, Umbria
However, in Umbria recently, I found three good examples of "Circular Yellow". The first, a chapel window (above right): in combination with other machine textured glass the circles looked good. The second, a view through a connecting bridge (below left): higgledy-piggledy with the direction of the circles but a good yellow/pink combination going on. The third in the huge basilica of Santa Maria Degli Angeli (beneath Assisi): I was shocked to see lowly "Circular Yellow" in such a lavish interior! However one side chapel (below right) was decorated with all kinds of golds and yellows, the strong glow from the semi circular yellow roof light above was really effective even on a dull day.
Gualdo Tanino Basilica of Santa Maria Degli Angeli
Two Types of Rose Window /
Early morning drawing of the Basilica in Assisi Cathedral of San Rufino, Assisi
The rose windows in the buildings of Assisi are particularly beautiful. Painton Cowen, writing in 'Rose Windows' calls them "Wheels within wheels...The wheel finds its greatest expression at Assisi". The one that I drew on the facade of the Upper Basilica of San Francesco (above left, dated c.1250) "faces the rising sun - exactly the opposite of most other wheel or rose windows." Another beautiful, west facing and earlier example is on the facade of the Cathedral of San Rufino, with carved figures holding it up.
It's the geometry in these windows that is much more interesting than the little bits of stained glass they contain. And so fabulous to see them made into a curtain pattern, complete with troupe l'oeil beam and hangings, in a fifteenth century fresco in the church of San Francesco in nearby Montefalco - the design comes with a yellow background on one wall and blue on the other.
C15th frescoes, Chapel of the Annunciation, San Francesco, Montefalco, Umbria
My design and photo of sandblasted wall with mosaic band, Leeds General Infirmary 1997
The type of rose window that I've used a lot in my own design work is made from intersecting circles. An example shown above is from Leeds General Infirmary: I did this commission in 1997 and I think it must still be there as it was sandblasted into the wall of the entrance rotunda. I loved this technique which I never had the chance to use again, I also love the intersecting circle patterns but will definitely be making them more complicated and wheel like in future designs.
The simple circle pattern cropped up in a local doorway and in the balcony outside Santa Chiara, Assisi (both below) where there is another intricate "wheel within wheel" window and a wonderful view of the setting sun.
Click on the images to enlarge them
Resolute Beginnings /
'Resolute Beginnings' was a title that I always liked given by one of my fellow art students to her mass of smashed up and refired glass pieces. In this case it refers to drawing with colour, which I never do. So, for a trip to Assisi, Umbria, Italy, I bought a new box of watercolours and set off with resolution. If in doubt I draw the view through the window, this green view (below) was what I could see when sitting up in bed.
New watercolours View from my bed On opening the door
Through the door there was a balcony with a beautiful view of the mountains to the north east of Assisi. The camera captures the rhythms and shadows of the balcony, the ink drawings, one example below, are better at getting into the contours and details of the landscape.
On the last evening I went as far as painting the sky from the end of the balcony. As the sun set on the other side of the building there was a riot of colour in the sky and briefly across the illuminated landscape. Phthalocyanine and cinereous blues, even dioxazine purple, more useful than I could have imagined.
With Added Plants /
This has been the first winter that I've let the plants into my studio. I thought they would get in the way and I could just carry on making them up if I wanted a plant in a design. However it has been great watching the daily changes and working out how to keep them happy. I've even bought a new one whose flowers match my current window display - a yellow and maroon auricula.
The purple plant climbing up the window has flowered in a way that frames the star on one of my grey glass samples. I thought I'd add the plant to another of the grey samples, really enjoying using two of the best glass colours, yellow and pink and the red that results where they overlap, after a long period figuring out how to work in neutral tones.
Plants doing their thing Painted plant on grey glass sample
Meanwhile, I came across a lovely neutral plant form window in a local church, St. Mary's in Great Shefford, Berkshire. It shows a stencilled vine on an opaque but very pale background, with scratches (looks like cleaning damage) that only add to the peaceful, textured atmosphere. These type of windows often have yellow silverstain details - you can imagine the dots being coloured in for example. This one looks great in its simplicity.
Vine window and detail - St. Mary's, Great Shefford