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St. Francis Pet Portrait Reverse Glass Painting

New custom pet portrait reverse glass painting in the St. Francis series, finished! I love painting these colorful highly detailed glass paintings. This is St. Francis in Fair Oaks.

Each reverse glass painting in the St. Francis series is painted backwards, in reverse, with richly colored glass enamel paints. Gold and silver metallic highlight swirling stars, whiskers, leaves and more for a soft magical feel.

All of the paintings in this series are commissions with loved companions and animals. Regional flora and fauna are part of the paintings. They are personal custom mementos created especially for each client.

In this most recent painting Snuggles, Buggles, Mocha and Pepper are with St. Francis and friends in a magical forest on a starry night.
Snuggles is hanging out in the tree, Mocha is cuddled in St. Francis arms and kitty Buggles with Pepper are resting at St. Francis feet.

Squirrels, an owl, raccoon, deer, tiny bluebird, bright cardinal with nest, poppies and wild chickens are all part of the charm of this painting.

Below are progress photos, starting with the finished painting.
What a pleasure it is to paint these very personal portraits. St. Francis is an iconic figure who is also one of the original environmentalists!

St. Francis in Fair Oaks, 11" x 14" reverse glass painting,  SueBetanzos.com



St. Francis reverse glass painting. BACK side with one layer of sky painted in.


St. Francis reverse glass painting. FRONT side with one layer of sky painted in.

St. Francis reverse glass painting. FRONT side detail of Buggles and Pepper.


St. Francis reverse glass painting. BACK side detail. Second sky layer.


St. Francis reverse glass painting detail. BACK side. Second layer of leaves.

St. Francis reverse glass painting. FRONT side - Detail of Mocha.


St. Francis reverse glass painting. FRONT side in progress.



Tiny Rufous Hummingbird Painting

More miniature paintings, studies of favorite subjects. This tiny Rufous Hummingbird is migratory.
I like using metallics, especially gold in my paintings and artwork. All of my glass paintings have touches of gold.

Rufous Hummingbird Gem - SueBetanzos.com


I have used gold paint, rather than leaf for years. It looks beautiful without the mess of applying leaf. However, I'll be placing an order of gold leaf with LA GOLD this year and play with it.

Golden brand of acrylic paints is my favorite gold paint. I have tried several metallic paints, and so far prefer this one for bright, opaque consistent gold. It does not require shaking to mix.

Lately, the trend I have seen is using gold leaf. Many artists are using it in their paintings. The term for using metal leaf on glass is Verre' Eglomise'.  French for gilding on glass. I found more artists in the UK and Europe using this method than in the USA.

Plenty of sign painters, but not much fine art. In the UK however, I follow several fine artists that use glass gilding as a fine art. A trip across the pond is in the planning, saving to visit the artists whose work inspires me!

Get Inspired!

When I'm stuck, tired or burned out, I tend to go to my sketchbooks and do small studies. It keeps me creating art in a non-pressure mindset.

They start out as doodles or light studies of a favorite subject. From there, they usually grow into detailed little paintings, drawings. Possibilities for future artworks in one of my mediums (glass painting, glass mosaics, colored pencil, acrylic).

Tiny Verdin on Cactus - SueBetanzos.com
I love songbirds, hummingbirds, birds. They are so full of life, lively. Actually, I love animals :) but find myself drawn to bird subjects these past few years.

Working in a series, exploring a theme, subject, style, medium is how art develops for me. My Gemini personality really shows in my ability to multi task in several mediums, enjoying the process of each one.
Example - diving into glass mosaics for a project, then acrylics for preliminary studies is effortless for me and many artists I know.

The only medium that require a day of mindset prep is going from painting traditionally to painting in reverse on the glass. It takes a day or so of practice for a few hours to rethink how I paint, front to back, backwards on the glass!