In the Studio

When I look for images that spark my creative energy, other people sometimes look me like I’m crazy. The most boring piece may appeal to me because I can “see” the glass and visualize what I want to make. Sometimes it is the color combinations, or it could be the flow of the composition, or a dynamic slash of color. I have a love-hate relationship with birch and aspen trees. The negative side is simply the sheer number of them, because yes I do have a bit of that artist temperament and get bored… On the plus side, I truly love the [...]

A good design looks good the way it is intended, but also works upside down, sideways, and sometimes backwards. Balance is what makes it work, visual balance and structure. So when I work on a piece, I move around and look at it from different directions. I am always looking at my work in progress from the top, side, bottom and sometimes even climb on the table or set up the step-ladder to get a better view. Because if the visual balance is off, then the artwork is simply not going to be as good. And then sometimes when I get done, I’ll cock my head [...]

Some artists cannot talk without sketching, like my friend Tracie Thompson. I have never really been a doodler, but I was one of those kids always drawing horses instead of doing my homework as kid. So with inspiration from Tracie, I have been making an effort to explore the artiste part of my psyche by finding joy in some old mediums. While off in the north woods of Wisconsin working on my business plan I took some time to sketch a couple of rough landscapes. Then I stole Tracie’s watercolor set and tried my hand with them after a twenty year hiatus. Not exactly Rembrandt, [...]

Everyone always asks, “How do you do that?” Well, the answer to that is actually not too complicated. I start with an idea, usually a photo, or a sketch, or a painting. Then I begin choosing the glass. The glass can be in a palette that matches the inspiration imagery or it can be something that you may like. Either way, I begin by laying out the glass intuitively while glancing at the inspiration image Step 1 With the inspirational image of a Super Nova star exploding in the background, the glass is being laid out on the work table. You can see the [...]

In my previous life as an architect, we would ask our clients what they absolutely really needed, what they would really like, and what that one really “wow” factor was. Then we would ask what the budget was… and sometimes reality got in the way. But there is always a way to work around limitations– that is what creative vision is about in the design (and art) world. In working out the plans, I would design as many of the likes and “wow’s” into the project as feasible, but creative editing is a good thing. Sometimes, the compromise is actually better than [...]