Here are two Armenian inspired toplights designed with my client. They are waiting to be unveiled for Armenian New Year in January.
Armenian toplights in stained glass
Five Glass Sculptures for new Physic garden at Blackthorn Trust, Maidstone.
The new Physic garden at Blackthorn Trust has opened and in the healing garden I have installed five glass sculptures. The garden was designed by Marian Boswall. The Blackthorn Trust at Maidstone, Kent is a charity that helps people with mental health issues and chronic pain. The Blackthorn Trust was set up following the principles of Rudolf Steiner. They also do amazing colour therapy in their medical centre using intensely coloured glass panels so there is a strong link with coloured glass. The sculptures were designed to be sensitive to how people may feel on any given day, the brief was that they should be abstract and colourful and each have their own feel.
From my original watercolours the technique used was vitreous enamels painted and air-brushed and fired multiple times on to float glass that was then toughened and laminated.
I am delighted to be part of this wonderful place where they do such fantastic work helping people in so many creative ways.
Mondrian stained glass window for Twickenham
This tall landing window on the stairs of a new house in Twickenham was based on a Mondrian type design. The clients wanted to keep it simple and so I used no colour but many different textured clears, sometimes less is more! It was fun to source the glass, some of it was old glass that was recycled - you just can’t get some of it any more. The stained glass is encapsulated in sealed units.
Talk at Forum Day for Contemporary Glass Society
I was delighted to be asked to be one of four speakers at the ‘Glorious Glass’ Forum Day held at Maidstone Museum for the Contemporary Glass Society’s 20year celebration. It was a very interesting and informative day and we were also able to see the exhibition of glass running at the same time.
Three panels for Val d'Isere
I was commissioned to make three panels for an apartment in Val d'Isere in the French Alps, so what better subject than Val d'Isere, with a few ibex and eagles added in!
My Artist Profile in magazine
I was delighted to be asked by Inside Kent magazine to be their artist of the month.
http://insidekentmagazine.co.uk/kent-artist-profile-stoney-parsons/
Window at Eridge Church installed at last!
I am thrilled to at last install my window at Eridge Church (East Sussex), what a journey it has been! It has taken 6 years to see this project completed through many different obstacles and heartaches but we have made it and the clients are very happy which is the main thing.
The Great Book of Contemporary Stained Glass
Thrilled to take delivery at last of The Great Book of Contemporary Stained Glass from Chartres where the exhibition is on.
Each panel has a page of it's own, so chuffed to be included.
Also lots of pictures of wonderful glass made at Peters Studios.
Art for the Heart at Skyros, Greece
Just come back from Skyros (skyros.com) where I was a facilitator at Atsitsa for two weeks.
I had really wonderful creative groups of people and they sang along and made fantastic art, great fun!
They painted Mandalas about their life, made sculptures and mobiles from found objects and we did a giant collage altogether, topped off with a private view at the end.
DRAWING UP THE CUTLINE FOR CHURCH
I have been drawing up the cutline to work from for the church.
I had to get all the panels lined up to draw the central circle so that it is in the correct position across the three windows, a bit tricky.
My posh compass wasn't quite big enough so I resorted to an old blackboard compass but it did the job perfectly!
Next I will work on the crests and other details.
Lumieres du Monde exhibition at Chartres
I am excited to be included in the 'Lumieres du Monde' exhibition at the Centre International du Vitrail at Chartres. I have a panel in the Panorama international du vitrail contemporain. It has been beautifully put together by the wonderful Peters studio in Paderborn, Germany.
Glass screen for Two Brydges Club, Covent Garden
I am very pleased to have installed a stained glass screen at the Two Brydges Club, a lovely private members' club in London's Covent Garden.
It divides the members' bar from the public area of the club and comprises of three large panels, a door, and three thin vertical strips. It was good to be able to design the glass and frame to achieve the best result. The vertical strips allow light into the bar at a lower level whilst maintaining privacy for the members.
The design is influenced by Weiner Werkstatte and uses some of their motifs; spirals and squares. I wanted it to be fun and it has quite a few references to food and drink, it is quite detailed and so people may notice different elements on separate visits. I used many different textured clear glasses and opaque whites which enables it to read and twinkle in lower light levels.
Working in Germany on London Club commission
Drawing up the cartoon
Read MoreGrapes door
This door is of a classic grapes design, for a private residence in Sussex. It opens on to a greenhouse with a real vine.
The hand-blown glass is painted and fired.
Hampstead Glass Feature
This glass feature was made to replace a fish tank! The height was doubled and a light box was installed.
The water-colour design is based loosely on Hampstead Heath with a flowing leaf motif.
The glass was air-brushed and painted with vitreous enamels that were then fired.The painting was done in reverse.
Then the leaves were cut out of hand-blown glass and laminated.
Creative Art Workshop in the South of France
It was a great workshop! We explored the local environment through art via Dufy and Matisse, photography and art and text.
The landscape was magical with hidden ruined castles on pointy mountains, dense fields of wild flowers and lavender, dozens of butterflies, a perfect chapel on a steep hill with one cypress tree and rivers you could bathe in.
We went to the brilliant local market at Die a picturesque town and sat outside the cathedral for lunch, painted the lavender fields and visited a sculptor's hilltop village up the road which he had brilliantly built again from scratch with such clever and inspirational design and making skills.
The workshop was rounded off with an exhibition and we worked on a large group Matisse cut-out all about the place where we were staying.
Snowdrops screens for Hospice
I have recently completed two screens for the new In-Patient Unit at St Richard's Hospice, Worcester.
The two screens for the reception desk are of a snowdrop design picking up on the Hospice's logo of snowdrops (seen in the background of the first picture).
The design was in watercolour and this was then digitally printed on to optically clear film, applied to the glass and then sandwiched between two pieces of toughened glass.This means that it is even more durable.
Art workshop in the South of France
I am excited to be running an art workshop for adults in the South of France from July 12th - July 19th 2014. It's in a lovely rambling old stone farmhouse with it's own swimming pool in a medieval hamlet in the Drome region. The lavender and sunflowers will be out then, with a backdrop of the Alps.
It's for anyone who would like to have fun, be inspired and be creative!
Daily morning sessions making art in response to the surroundings using watercolours, acrylics, collage, photography etc. - all in a friendly group in a safe supportive environment! There will be time to pursue your own work in the afternoons whether by the pool, on the terrace, the meadow garden or around the village (a ruined castle and hill-top church are in easy walking distance).
There will be inspirational field trips to hill-top villages and market towns taking in the stunning mountain scenery with its tumbling streams and waterfalls.
Meals will include gorgeous regional French cookery using local produce and delicious local wines.
There are still a few places left!
Cost including tuition, accommodation and full board £495.
For more info visit www.escoulin.com
Contact me stoney@stoneyparsons.co.uk
Escoulin
Roses round window
Here's a recent window depicting four different genuses of roses :- Alba, Banksia, Damask and Gallica.
There is a swooping Harris Hawk in the centre.
A good example of a personalised window! After all if you are commissioning a window it's a good idea to make it mean something to you!
Working in Germany....
I have just returned from Germany at Peters studio where they are working on a job for me.
I was surrounded by art, fantastic glass and great skills - all very inspirational!
The commission is for a private house and I did a design in watercolour which will be reproduced using air-brushed vitreous enamels which are then fired.
There are also antique glass leaf elements which will be bonded on.
We were working on the preliminary samples. The whole piece will be back-lit and this effects the colours.
The one to one!
Painting tips from Claus
Painting with the badger
Air-brushing a sample
Samples
More samples
Choosing glass
Refining the leaves