Stained glass windows

 

The trees in the woods across the field from our house have already begun to change color these last two weeks.  Autumn comes early to this part of New York state.

                Today I am going to begin work in earnest on a small but interesting project: painting the face of Christ on glass.  Of course, thereby hangs a tale.

                We meet so many interesting people as we go through life and sometimes we connect in ways not first imagined.  Last winter in Florida, I attended an art exhibit at our local city hall and met an artist who works in wood.  Living on the shore of a lake, in the middle of what once was a cypress grove, his imagination has been fired by shapes he sees in cypress “knees”.  With a minimum of polishing and cutting, he reveals a subject and gives it a title.  I was struck by his Roadrunner, and as we talked, I told him about the several icons I had painted of Christ on weathered wood.  Being a faithful person, he understood what I am trying to express:  that Christ is present in all places and all things, because He is the creator of all.

                It was not until later that I met this artist’s wife, who works in stained glass, usually creating tropical scenes.  She had recently received a commission for a number of stained glass windows for a church in the Florida Keys, each to illustrate a Gospel parable.  However, she felt that she was not capable of painting the face of Christ for the scenes.   Her husband suggested I might be able to do it.  And that was the beginning of a new venture in art for me!

 

In Vince's studio with completed window of "The Good Shepherd"

 

 

"The Loaves and the Fishes" installed in Keys church

 

Christ walking on the water to Peter

 

                Believe me when I say I had no idea what I was doing when I started, and after two completed windows I am still learning how much I don’t know, but apparently my friends and their church are happy with the results.