How to Reverse Glass Paint

Risa StarGazer - Reverse Glass Painting

Seven years ago, while instructing at a glass academy, I was introduced to glass painting and fell in love with the technique. The rich jewel enamel paints glowed under the clear glass, creating a magical effect I am still currently exploring as my style continues to evolve.

The history of glass painting goes back hundreds of years to China and India. In mid century America and europe, tiny portraits of dogs, people, landscapes were often reverse painted on glass or carved clear quartz (intaglio) and worn as brooches, depicting the culture, people and times of the country.

Today in 'modern times' I am often asked how I do the ancient fine art of reverse glass painting. People think it's hard - but not really :) Like everything else, it just takes practice.
Glass or clear plexiglass can be used. Acrylic paints or enamel paints are good for this.
Often seen as "Acrylic reverse painting" if the acrylics are used and often with plexiglass.
I love the look of glass, so prefer enamels. They tend to be more durable.

Here is a short "How To" for those curious about the reverse glass painting technique which I use for rich, jewel colored glass paintings. At first glance painting backwards seems daunting, but actually it's easier to get into the rhythm than expected.

Materials you will need:
One piece of glass or clear plexiglass
Peebo enamel paints or Folk Art enamel paints (Dick Blick, Michaels, Jo-Ann carry these)
Few small round brushes ranging small, medium, large.
One liner brush for details
One larger square (chisel) brush for painting larger areas.



Step One: Make your drawing of your subject, keeping the first few projects simple to build your skills and technique. Use white paper and remember that any writing needs to be mirror imaged. Easy to do by writing on tracing paper and flipping it over to a backwards view.
Keep in mind that the finished painting will be the Opposite of your drawing.

Step 1

Step2: Start by painting in all the small details that will be in front. Eyes, leaves, stars. 

Remember you are going Front to Back - details first. Tape your drawing to the back side of the glass with clear tape at the top so you can flip the drawing to check your painting progress.

Clean the painting surface well to remove all traces of oil, grease, dirt. Try not to touch the glass because the oil from fingers/skin will leave a residue the paints don't like to adhere to.

Step 2

Step 3:  Keep painting and flip over to check your progress or have a mirror  behind to see the painting from the right side. Sometimes I prop a mirror behind the easel to see the right side quickly.

Step 4: Now that the painting is almost done the sky background is added last.  This is where you triple check any changes that need to be made. Once the background is applied it is very difficult to change or correct - next to impossible in most cases.  Small Changes Before the background can be made by carefully scraping with razor blades. Some areas of broad color are very difficult to rematch and are best left alone. I use colored paper to help establish form, color, contrast and composition adjustments.

Step 4

Step 5: Apply the background, in this case night sky. Pay careful attention to the direction of the brush strokes. Every brush stroke is visible in glass painting. Flipping it upside down was helpful for this little painting. The paints are semi-transparent, so it takes 2 - 3 coats for Each Element (leaves, bird, grass etc.) Some may want to be left with one coat to layer colors or special effects.

Step 5

Finished! The sky is several coats of Ultramarine blue and Dioxide Purple. I call this folky little style my StarGazer style and enjoy playing with it for the glass paintings.  Now try out this unique painting style and enjoy! In another post I will share some of the exquisite historical reverse glass paintings as well as modern reverse painting.

Will Terry - Children's Book Illustrator: Climbing Out Of The Public School Dumpster

Will Terry - Children's Book Illustrator: Climbing Out Of The Public School Dumpster: Imagine an alternate universe. A place where kids that are good at computation and reading skills are cute but are good for "elective c...

Tohono Chul Exhibit

Last night was the artist reception for the Tohono Chul exhibits Piece by Piece mosaics and Dia de los Muertos. As usual, it was very well attended with crowds of viewers jostling to view the artwork.
Tohono is one of my favorite nature oasis in Tucson and I always feel fortunate and privileged when my work is selected to participate in an exhibit.
Ran into several friends and met wonderful art lovers and artists.
Sold the Heart Song, yellow warbler and hope for another sale before the show ends October 20th.  I think the fact that Heart Song was featured on the Tohono web banner for the show helped :)

Dusting The Cobwebs

Confession time - "bless me father for I have sinned - it's been almost a year since I have blogged..."
After my blog domain was taken by a Chinese company I didn't come back for a long time, spending it on my Facebook page Sue Betanzos Design instead :/
Frustrated and upset, I even tried to set up a Wordpress site - no go - I was totally uninspired to write and cancelled the site (ha - a rhyme!)

I even had ideas of a separate blog devoted solely to studio stuff, but that didn't go either. So here I am, back at my original site with my original name Betanzos Designs except now there's no .com and the .blogspot handle.   I guess I can live with that for now...

I'll have a little of this and a little of that - Comsi, Comsa because it is by Living Spherically in many directions that inspiration is fed and stewed in my head to emerge as artwork.
I hope those that join will save this cyber channel and check in to read, share, or just say hi!

That's it for now - more later today!

Miniature Portraits

What is a Limner?
I had never heard of the word until I read the second book in the Deborah Harkness All Souls trilogy, Shadow of Night (the first is A Discovery of Witches). Both of these books are excellent reads and I especially enjoyed the audio versions. The second has colorful, realistic descriptions of life in the Queen Victoria era.
In this story which is mostly set in 15th century England during the reign of Queen Victoria, there is mention of a Limner. A Limner is a freelance artist, a decorative painter, and in this story, who specializes in tiny, miniature portraits of the royal court that were often done to fit lockets or worn as brooches.
There are some very famous limners and the one mentioned in the book is Nicholas Hilliard.
As I fell down the rabbit hole of information regarding this genre, I am fascinated by the detail of these tiny portraits. I also found pets and animals painted in reverse on the backside of glass and rock crystal. How I would love to have one of these miniature gems or at least see how they were done to such perfection. Most are 1 1/2" to 3".

What does this subject have to do with my paintings? Currently I will be painting another 5"x7' miniature and also a reverse glass painting with many very fine miniature details. Both are very entailed and require a magnifying glass to paint them. Oh, and very tiny brushes and liners! I am assuming that is what the limners of the past used for painting the tiny portraits - magnifying glass.

I love the fact that it is thanks to artists visual recordings that we know the history of fashion, lifestyle, and so much more about different eras in human history. Enjoy these exquisite little masterpieces by Nicholas Hilliard that you can hold in the palm of your hand, 1 1/2" - 3". Notice the tiny dog in the full length portrait "~)  All are 3/4 views with jewel like colors and details. Click on the image for the full size.

Sprinkle Bakes: Blue Velvet Cupcakes and Finding the Perfect Hue

Sprinkle Bakes: Blue Velvet Cupcakes and Finding the Perfect Hue

Did I say how much I enjoy playing in my kitchen when not in the studio? Well, actually it IS like another studio for me. Only my palette is food and my canvas is whatever comes out of the oven.

One activity I am addicted to is cruising food blogs. Just looking at the gorgeous photos as I read the recipes already has my tummy growling and my pen scratching out the ingredients list. Now that winter has finally come to Tucson I am motivated to turn on my oven to unwind from the day. Summer it's just not happening - I mean seriously, who feels like baking when it't 90º outside? Obviously, not me...

I am sharing this beautiful recipe from a favorite food blogger Sprinklebakes because I LOVE the color and it's actually pretty easy. Like making Red Velvet cake, but in blue. Adding few teaspoons of water to the color paste makes for smoother mixing into the batter though.
Check out Heather's blog for more tasty treats!

Millie Finished

 I know I was supposed to show the in-between stages of the painting but it has gotten pretty busy and no time! So here is little Millie a sweet little dog who is so endearing that it's easy to overlook her little habit of stealing and hiding things.

Owner Laura was telling me the story of Millie stealing and chewing up some pretty expensive hearing aids and as I sat looking and Millie's sweet, innocent, bright eyed little face I could not help but laugh.
We all have met people and dogs who can get away with almost Anything! It's hard to stay annoyed with them and we end up laughing instead knowing we should be upset, but finding it easier to laugh.  O.k.  - lesson there - don't hang on to your anger and hold grudges! It takes more effort to stay mad and gives you frown lines - Very unattractive.
Plus, everyone wants to be around Happy people who are easy to hang out with instead of those heavy personalites - yeek!
Dogs have an lot to teach us, just pay attention and Go Play "~)
Because Millie is so cheerful and bright, that stupid OLD rhyme tune goes thru my head "Millie, Millie, mo Millie, banana fana fo fillie me mi mo Millie - Millie!" It's great that our dogs like our silly song and dances - knowing it's just for them LOL  :~D

 Hi Millie, Hi Laura!

Face Painting for Feast of The Dead

Alright, here's a little side painting that turned out to be a blast. Did I say I love to paint? My canvas can be traditional, cookie or face/body.
These are a couple of the Many faces I painted for Tucson Botanical Gardens Feast of the Dead event this past Saturday.
The theme was Day of the Dead so it was mostly skulls except for grandmothers who just wanted something on their cheek or the little ones who wanted animals or something very simple.

I am grateful someone took these photos because the reality was that almost as soon as I got there (and I arrived 20 min. early) people started lining up to get their faces painted. My plans to have photos taken never happened because the line for face painting never let up and was at least 6 people deep for the next 2 hours.

There was another face painter there whom I never formally met because even though I arrived early - he was there Earlier already painting!
He had a large kit full of paints, sequins etc. and as it turns out, he is a professional face painter so his kit was very tricked out and he was very experienced. I brought some nice Snazzaroo face paints, my paint brushes, some wipes and water thinking I would have time to get fresh water, wipes etc. - never happened.

It was an intense two hours of painting and at the stroke of exactly 7 pm the other face painter packed up and left - quickly. He was already booked for another gig and knew as long as he stayed, people would keep coming.

I stayed an extra 30 minutes to finish the little ones that had been waiting and one lovely Mariachi girl, then I packed it in too. 

What a fun event - I was buzzed on adrenaline driving home thinking wow, I had a great time AND got tips! Actually it was the other painter who put out a tip jar and people just started giving me tips too - which made me smile All the way  home.   A bit of extra cash to keep my Risa in cans of her favorite doggy food - LOL :~D

I hope TBG keeps me in mind for next year. Then I will be a bit more prepared for the crowd, with more glitter colors (love using them!!) sequins, glitter paint. As it turned out I did pretty good with eight colors, two glitters, a water bottle, some wipes and a handful of brushes. Plus when people found out what I paint for my day job, dogs/animals, they asked for my card.

Painted lots of skulls - calaveras. All the while in the background there was a fabulous Mariachi youth band which I loved and could have listened to all night.

Keep your eyes open for next years Tucson Botanical Feast of the Dead event. Music, food, sugar skull decoration, presentations and Face Painting "~)

The next event will be the Luminaria Nights December 7, 8, 9 from 5:30 - 8 pm. A lovely evening at the gardens full of twinkling lights, music and treats.

More adventures in Porcelain Painting

Desert Kit Fox porcelain painting (click to enlarge)

Another experiment in porcelain painting as I explore this new media. It will be added to the que to fire at the end of this month. All of the plates will eventually be put up in the cookie store as decorative serving plates.

Foxes are such adaptable creatures. In the UK they are common urban wildlife much as the coyote is in the southwest. In the Tucson, AZ area kit fox is rarely seen, being mostly nocturnal. This plate painting is of of a San Joaquin kit fox which is endangered due to habitat encroachment. They are California residents.

Though wildlife Do Not make good pets due to their wild nature they are born with, there is a story of a man who rescued an injured red fox that is so touching! Watch the story of Cropper The Fox  HERE.

"You had me at Hello"

Loved Companions 

Honoring our loved companions that had us at the tail wag "hello". From the first look, lick, tail wag or bark, they have our hearts and give unconditionally of themselves. For this and so many additional reasons I do not tire of portraying the love. Doing my best to reflect and capture the spirit of the bond that owner and dog have.

I have only seen that look of innocent, trusting love and devotion in young children. Oh, and my Risa every day when I return or speak to her "~)

Beautiful Leaves

Fall,  my favorite time of year. Cooler days and crisp nights perk me up after the summer heat.  It motivates me and for some reason, I need less sleep!  Instead there are more late nights in the studio.
This year I want to get out more instead of getting caught up in the usual hustle of pre-holiday designing and gearing up. It would be great to Enjoy my favorite season so I am resolved to get out of my studio, off the design computer and touch the lovely trees.
I do miss the gorgeous fall colors. When I visit my parents their streets are lined with a kaleidoscope of fiery reds, rich yellows, golden oranges. Makes me want to jump in the leaves and toss them in the air!

I have created a fall gift box to help scratch that itch and will also Try to get a couple of paintings in of fall leaves.  These sugar cookies are light and crisp in texture and taste, decorated with sparkling sugar crystals. They will look pretty on any table.
I wanted to create a porcelain botanical painting of leaves to go with this set, but might be running out of time :~( .   If only I didn't need sleep - I'd rather be in the studio!
A porcelain painting of a kit fox and a couple of others coming soon...

Fall Holiday Sugar Cookie Gift Set

Retriever Bonnie

Bonnie was a wonderful Chespeak Bay Retriever. Lively and always ready for action, these sporting dogs are strong swimmers and have a lovely, curly coat that comes in two colors. This is the light cinnamon and it was fun to paint the curly hair. A nice memorial portrait of a sweet girl who lived a long, wonderful life.