PAINTING ON GLASS

Several years ago I found an old window frame at a yardsale and I was hooked. I loved the weatherbeaten wood and the rusty hardware. It had no glass, and I used it to make a collage. The next week (yes, I am a compulsive yardsailor) I found some more windows, this time with glass. What to do?? What to do?? (view the paintings)

Roaming around the craft supply store later that week I came upon some craft paint made for glass. I rushed back to the studio to try it out. More yardsales, and much begging to contractor friends, got me many more windows to practice on. Eventually, I developed a technique.

I now use regular opaque acrylic paint, and rarely use any translucent paints, although sometimes I like to have transparent details. I work from back to front, in reverse. It takes a while to get the hang of it, but after a while it becomes second nature.

I am still in love with the windows themselves. Sometimes I spend a lot of time scraping layers of old paint, sometimes I cover the wood in decoupage or painted designs. Each window calls for a different treatment. I still find my windows at yardsails, dumpsters and construction sites.

For more on my technique, see my section FAKE! And look at the PBS video of me in the MEDIA section of this site. You can see me painting a window and describing more of my technique and theories.

These paintings are one of a kind, and many of the ones you see here are already in private collections. Also, they are too heavy and too breakable to ship in any reasonable way. Therefore they are not available for sale over the web. If you are near, or will be near, Burlington, Vermont, please come see my work at my gallery, pine street art works, at 404 Pine Street.

» "Fakin' It" a PBS video of Liza

REVERSE PAINT ON GLASS
private collection

RUSSELL WRIGHT

My fascination with Russell Wright ceramics pops up in my paintings a lot. Summer 2002

REVERSE PAINT ON WINDOW
private collection

WILLA'S HORSE

Children's drawings inspire many artists. Kandinsky, Miro, Picasso are but a few. The origional for this window was a drawing by my then five year old daughter, Willa. She claims it was not one of her best drawings, but I loved its energy and bold distortions.
Summer 2001

ACRYLIC ON WINDOW
private collection

SWAN

Another swan obsessed image. The horizontal layout of this window was perfect to hold one mighty bird.
Summer 2001

REVERSE PAINT ON WINDOW

CHICKENS IN WHITE FRAME

These guys are a little looser and freer than some of my earlier versions. Painted in Sept. 2004. I often use children's book illustrations as my models for chickens. They are so silly, I love them.

REVERSE PAINT ON GLASS

CHICKENS WITH WORD FRAME

September 2004. The frame is decoupaged text from an old medical dictionary.

REVERSE PAINTING ON WINDOW
private collection

CHICKENS WITH DECOUPAGE FRAME

obviously part of the same september 2004 series. The frame for this is decoupaged hand made paper.

reverse painting on window
private collection

LEDA AND THE SWAN

This is one of a series I did in the fall of 2003. I've always loved painting swans, and I wanted to see what would happen if I added a human figure to the composition. Of course, Leda sprang to mind immediately. The swan, Zeus in disguise, becomes the consort of Queen Leda. In most versions of the story he rapes her, but I never really believed that, so I have given them a more tender, egalitarian kind of encounter.