I think I have always loved stained glass. When I lived in NY city in my early twenties I spent a lot of time in the Tiffany exhibit of the Metropolitan Museum. I knew I one day would need to own a Tiffany lamp. 

 

Years later when I had moved to New Paltz I had the opportunity to take a beginners class of stained glass. It was like relearning a skill. For the first time the creative images I had in my head weren't as good as the completed art piece. I had found my medium.

 

I quickly graduated from simple designs to more complex ones. My first major piece was a Tiffany style lamp. However it was window panels that I preferred creating. Within a year I had finished my first major piece. The 5 ft. by 5 ft. panel called The Dreamer was the culmination of a year's worth of painstaking work. 

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After that piece I scaled down the size a bit for a while. My creative visions were those things I found beauty in...nature mostly. Birds were a favorite, as were flowers. As I found that solder lines that were only there so that a piece of glass could be cut into a workable shape visually annoying, I endeavored to correct that in my designs. Concentric circles in the background or having the main image spill over a border are some of the tricks I developed. I taught myself to push the boundaries of what could be cut by grinding the glass into complicated shapes such as the arm of The Dreamer. These are the signature design elements that are my creative style.

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Over the years I have played with images other than those from nature. Carousel horses are a favorite. In recent years I have allowed my love of tattoos to influence my art after my tattooist commissioned a skull.

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Discovering photo transfer and glass paint and presoldered wire increased the creative possibilities.

I started experimenting with the addition of 3D elements. Who knows what future discovery will spark my creative juices?

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