Tag Archives: stained glass panel

According to Scale

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Weekly Photo Challenge: Scale

Weekly Photo Challenge: Scale

Stained glass is not a medium that lends itself easily to realism. I mean, I can make a panel that depicts something specific – a rose, for example – but even if I attempt to make it look realistic, you aren’t likely to view it and be led to believe that you are seeing an actual rose.

Even from a distance. In the dark. With one eye closed.

I really like that, because it lets me off the hook. I don’t feel compelled to portray images in perfect proportion or according to scale. Which is good, because I don’t think I could do it if I tried.

A lot of artistic people are blessed with multiple creative talents. They can paint and draw and sculpt, or whatever. Their artistic abilities just splash all over the place, like an overfilled cup of coffee. Me, not so much.

I can design a stained glass panel to my liking, but if you ask me to make a drawing of the same subject, the outcome would be pretty dismal. That’s why God invented abstract art… for people like me. And Picasso.

Window installation at UCC church, Tillamook, Oregon

Window installation at UCC church, Tillamook, Oregon

The only time I attempted realism in a panel was with a commissioned piece for a church. The window had to “match” or compliment the already existing windows in the structure, which were of a realistic nature.

And so I took on Jesus. Of course, we don’t really know what Jesus looked like, so I pretty much took my cue from the drawings I’d seen throughout my stint in Sunday school. And in those pictures, Jesus is a pretty proportionate fellow.

I will never be satisfied with the results (which you can see pictured here). Does it look like his left forearm is raised higher than the right (hint: it’s supposed to), or does it look like his left arm is shorter than the right (hint: that would be bad)? There are other areas that do not seem made to scale (depending on how you interpret body placement), but I’ll give myself (and Jesus) a break and not pick him totally apart.

So here’s my life analogy: things don’t always have to be according to scale. People talk about wanting to live “balanced” lives, and that’s great. But sometimes it’s okay to let one arm hang a little lower than the other.

Yeah, well, analogies aren’t my strong suit, either.

The Daily Post weekly photo challenge: Scale

Depth Finder

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Close up of light reflection on stained glass panel.

Close up of light reflection on stained glass panel.

In my little corner of the world, it seems that interest in glass work is swinging greatly towards the direction of “warm glass,” or kiln-formed glass. Which is very understandable. There is so much potential for creativity in the three-dimensional forms that melting glass allows.

Even the vocabulary of fused glass is fun: slumping, frit, draping, stringers, confetti…

And the vocabulary of my work with flat stained glass panels? How about “fid?” It’s just not a sexy word, although it works well in Scrabble when you’re really stuck. Or “lead,” which elicits sayings like: get the lead out… lead-footed… lead poisoning. Also not sexy.

Of course, there is some dimensionality in panels – in glass bevels, for example. Or in textured glass. And a flat panel doesn’t exclude the incorporation of three-dimensional objects.

Just because a panel is flat, however, does not mean it lacks depth.

“Depth” has so many meanings beyond the concept of a dimension. From Dictionary.com:

  1. a dimension taken through an object or body of material… [the extent, measurement, or distance downwards, backwards, or inwards]
  2. the quality of being deep; deepness.
  3. complexity or obscurity, as of a subject: a question of great depth.
  4. gravity; seriousness.
  5. emotional profundity: the depth of someone’s feelings.
  6. intensity, as of silence, color, etc.
  7. lowness of tonal pitch: the depth of a voice.

So a flat stained glass panel can be complex – either in design or in abstract meaning, can emote or evoke a sense of seriousness or profound feeling, and can incorporate intense colors. And if it could talk, who knows? It might just sound like Morgan Freeman.

Not bad for only two dimensions.

Weekly Photo Challenge:  Depth

Piece.by.Piece.

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Monday, January 2015 – Dear Diary:  I’ve had my pattern laid out for this stained glass panel for a while now, but for some reason I can’t get myself to go into the studio and start cutting glass.

  • Maybe it’s the dog. Every time I head to the studio he starts running amok all over the house.
  • Maybe it’s just getting over the inertia of starting a new project.

I’ll start cutting glass tomorrow. 

 

huly in trouble

Tuesday – Dear Diary:  The studio just doesn’t feel right. I got in there and cut one piece of glass, but something’s off.

  • It could be the new layout of the studio. I just moved and so the setup isn’t quite the same. I just need time to get used to it.

I’ll do better tomorrow.

one piece

 

 Wednesday – Dear Diary:  I went into the studio today and cut another piece of glass. Just one. This time I began to feel dizzy and ill.

  • Maybe it’s the mats on the floor. They’re squishier on this floor than at my previous studio.

I just need to get my “sea legs.” Or would that be my studio legs?

mat2

 

 Thursday – Dear Diary:   The more I think about it, there could be a number of reasons for feeling ill yesterday.

  • Perhaps I drank too much coffee and overdosed on caffeine.
  • I probably need to improve my diet. I could have felt dizzy because of all the crappy food I’ve been eating.

I’ll eat better tomorrow.

starbucks

 Friday – Dear Diary:  I think the studio just needs airing out. There was some nasty stuff on the walls when I moved in, and the fumes from the bleach-based cleaner I used were strong enough to fell a horse. Had there been a horse in my studio.

I’ll open a window and get some fresh air in here.

pokey

 Saturday – Dear Diary:  The open window thing didn’t work. I forgot that there are storm windows on this side of the house, and I didn’t open the storm window when I opened the inner one, so no fresh air got in. Oops! Today I’ll open BOTH windows.

window

 Sunday – Dear Diary:  Wow! It’s been a week already, and I’ve only gotten two pieces cut. Let’s see… It’s January. There are 91 pieces to this panel. At this rate, I’ll be ready to solder it together in roughly 44 more weeks. Right around Thanksgiving. But then we’ll be into the holiday season and it’s hard to get much of anything done during the holidays.

christmas

 New Year’s Resolution for 2016:

Get this stained glass panel finished!!!

Note: No horses were harmed during the photographing of this post. The dog, however, was chastised. But just a little.