The enjoyment of stained glass is building a picture out of light that is ever-changing. Manipulation of light is created with the qualities of glass in the way of transparence and textures. You’re forced to simplify design and the lead is your line work.

I got into STAINED GLASS for two reasons:

We built a house in Plano, TX. The regional architecture, at that time, took advantage of arched windows. On paper, the rounded windows are brilliant, but when you have one of these 5’ diameter, East facing beasts in your bedroom – it’s a different story. There are blinds and other contraptions to block-out the light, but no elegant solutions.

The second reason is a nosey neighbor that still managed to watch us while we were eating our morning Cheerios in spite of blinds.

For the two - 3’ X 5’ Cheerios-eating privacy windows, I used Frank Lloyd’s Tree of Life design as inspiration, adjusting for some color and proportion allocations.

When we relocated to Rhode Island I worked at Christopher Foster Stained Glass, a place that did stained glass restoration. As a perk, I could bring home smaller pieces of scrap and overflow, which would include unique vintage glass. I leveraged these vintage glass treasures in a diptych, celebrating my parent’s 50th anniversary.

Growing up, I had fond memories of spending time at the lakes and woods of Wisconsin. A day might include catching frogs, watching turtles swim and feeding the fish cheese curds from the local cheese factory just down the road. My parents started off at the lake with a camper trailer, then upscaled to the powder blue carpeted mobile home, to finally building a stellar lake home. They installed two quarter moon windows that flanked either side of a fireplace, that my mom thought would be a choice spot for stained glass.