Glass Painting

The decade of the 90's and into the new century was a period of transition from the Vitrolite constructions into a greater emphasis on painting on the surface of the glass. I had experimented intermittently with glass enamels, but never found the glass painting process beneficial to my work. As time progressed, I found myself drawn back to the enameling process and, after some months of experimentation, began to find my voice with the process. Eventually my bright 2 dimensional color surfaces gave way to a textured painterly format. To achieve the effects I desired the pieces were fired 4 and 5 times. Each firing built up layers of color, texture and line. I produced many pieces using the enameling process. Some of the works included 3 dimensional blown elements which were then enameled and affixed to the flat glass surface. As time progressed through the 90's, I abandoned the enameling process and began to use acrylic inks and thin acrylic paints on the glass surface. Prior to applying the acrylic medium, I acid treated the glass surface. This treatment gave the glass "tooth" which facilitated the permanence of the inks. The works below are a few examples of the works produced using the enamel and acrylic process.