Tin-Tone

I made this (rather wobbly!) sign late one night for our great friend Jon Free, who makes incredible guitars out of tins. It's painted and gilded on the back of a piece of glass...

Tornado & Briton

Tornado Smith was a brilliant showman, a wall of death rider whose name still lives on. Briton was his pet lioness who would ride the wall with him. This painting is on the glass of a reclaimed cellar window, in enamel, gold leaf and palladium leaf.

Exotica

Another glass painting, this time on the thick bevelled glass of a Victorian cabinet door - one of the joys of reusing old stuff!

Board Tracker

This is one of the glass paintings I made for the Hot Rod Hayride art exhibition this year. It's painted on the back of the glass, with metalflake and gold leaf.

Man's best friend...

Yesterday we delivered this panel to Steve at Brown and Carroll. It's going to hang in the reception of their new joinery works, a 60s factory building being restored to its former glory, resplendent with its floating cast concrete outdoor stairs and pampas grass planting. The factory is totally self-sufficient, using wood waste to heat the building and generate its own electricity. The office workers and wood workers all eat together in the cafeteria every day, and there are large windows down from the meeting rooms onto the workshop floor so clients can see their work being made.

Very inspiring stuff!

Black and White

These paintings are done on glass, painted on the reverse backwards. I love the depth you get in the black...

...and it's always good fun to turn it over and see what a mess I've made

1909 signs rewritten

I was commissioned to rewrite a number of glass signs from a shopfront. The signs had been hidden behind hardboard panels for years, and when they were uncovered it was found that many of them had large cracks running through them. As they were made of 8mm thick untoughened 100-yr-old glass the council insisted on them being removed for safety reasons.

The shop was George Mence Smith, grocers, colour merchants and ironmongers. You can see a couple of the original broken panels leaning up against the wall, with one newly-written replacement on new safe laminated glass.

Here are the new signs in place. I copied the original signatures of the two signwriters who had made the originals, and signed one panel myself. Usually this type of fascia is carved from wood, the carved letters gilded and then the glass placed over the front.

When we removed the signs we discovered that in this case the letters are made of pressed copper, gilded, and adhered to the reverse of the glass with lead tape. I gilded the lining top and bottom and repaired the letters where needed...

...and repainted the signs using the same materials and techniques as the originals. It was a real honour to have the opportunity to see how these things had been made in 1909.

What happens on tour, stays on tour...

Thee Shrunken Heads, having a particularly bad day. Enamel and palladium leaf on glass, painted on the reverse backwards.

Glass painting is something I have been developing for a few years. Inspired by the incredible signs and mirrors painted by 19th century signpainters, I began to learn glass techniques. I now use some other little things I have invented too to get interesting effects.

I love the fact that I don't know what the painting looks like until I turn it over - it's how I get my kicks!