How Do I Paint Glass so it Looks Transparent?

Question: How Do I Paint Glass so it Looks Transparent?

I am painting a picture in oil of various wine glasses. My problem is how do you get the glasses to look transparent like real glass? I have my background color in and my glasses drawn, where do I go from there? What paint color do I use to highlight the glow to make the glasses appear clear?" -- D.Waiters

Answer:

There is no simple answer, no one color that you use that magically creates 'transparent glass'. You need to forget about the objects you're painting and see the shapes, colors; to over-ride your brain's interpretation of 'glasses'. You have to observe very closely the colors that are in the objects, which I presume you have set up and are not painting from imagination.

You can't separate out the background that's seen through a glass and the actual glass itself as the background gives color to the glass. The highlights on the glasses are most likely not pure white either, as they're influenced by what's around them. Take a small piece of white card and place it next to each 'problematic' bit, to help you decide. Also look at the tone, not just the color.

Remember that when you look through a wine glass, what you see through it is distorted: stretched and squashed. It's almost as if you see the glass is there by inference rather than by a physicality.

Painting on Glass With Acrylics

There is no single color or paint that could be labelled 'transparent glass'. The color of a glass is determined by what's around it, what you see through it, what is reflecting in it, and how much shadow there is.

The two glasses in this photo are both simple, transparent glass. The one at the front is empty and the one at the back has liquid in it. Now your brain knows that the color of the glass at the back hasn't changed, it's the liquid in it that's making it a different color. But to turn it into a painting, you don't first paint the glass itself and then what's in it.

painting on glass THE HISTORY and TECHNIQUE

THE HISTORY of painting on the reverse side of a sheet of glass has to be as long as the history of glass itself - since Antiquity. Nobody now can say for sure when and where this technique was born. Actually Ancient Rome and China can argue for being the cradle for it. The oldest, surviving examples of reverse glass art are Roman dishes from the 3rd & 4th centuries, where the gold design was sandwiched between two layers of glass. Towards the end of the Renaissance, the technique was adapted for use with water based paints in Italy and subsequently grew in popularity across the rest of Europe. As glass making skills spread throughout the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, other countries incorporated reverse painting into their work & culture. Reverse painting appealed to both classically trained and folk artists. The term 'reverse glass painting' generally refers to vernacular, icon-like and religious-themed paintings that were made from the mid-18th century until the close of the 19th century. They have been made particularly in the forested mountainous regions of Central Europe, such as Silesia, Bohemia, Bavaria, Austria and Switzerland. That art form can be found not only in Europe, but in Turkey, Syria, Iran, India and Japan. A favored art form of long standing in the Orient and Europe, reverse painting on glass enjoyed its greatest popularity in America during the early 1880s. The finest American reverse paintings on glass were produced between 1800 -1850. Reverse painting on glass is rarely seen today; few have ever seen a work of art produced by this unusual method.

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THE TECHNIQUE is not such complicated, as it appears to be. The image is carried on glass in exactly the same resulting in unique effects manner as on canvas, paper or wood; but when we look at the image, we look through the glass - which serves both as a support and a protective varnish. Everything is backwards from traditional painting. The working image is on the back of the glass. The viewer looks trough the glass on to the painted layers. Letters, symbols, and images are painted as the mirror image to how they normally read, in order to be correct when the glass is turned over to be viewed. Details or accents which would ordinarily be painted last, are painted first; the background, instead of being painted first, is last. All the details have to be correct as it is not possible to make corrections without destroying the underlying work. When the painting is finished the glass is turned over and displayed with the paint behind the glass. Therefore, three "reverses" take place: the paint is applied in reverse order, the glass is turned over when the painting is completed, and the design or painting is seen in reverse -- that is, the right-hand side of the pattern appears on the left-hand side through the glass. When painting on glass special care must be taken in the selection of the color palette due to the primacy of color. The synergy of paint and glass has a depth and luminousness unlikely in any other medium. Painting on glass is a very time-consuming and difficult handicraft operation. There is no place for a mistake because this what you first paint will always be in the front of the painting and you have no possibility to change it.

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visual-arts and paintingsglass

GLASS PAINTING

Sous-verre or painting under glass was popular in Turkey in the 19th and early 20th centuries. At one time such paintings were to be found not only in houses, but in places of worship, coffeehouses, confectioners, butchers and barbers shops. When girls got married their trousseaus were not complete without a sous-verre painting. Yet today they have become a rarity, and the artists who made them have given up as their customers dwindled. Until 15 years ago it was still possible to find sous-verre paintings on sale in Istanbul, particularly in the Antiquarian Book Market. The artists worked in powder paint, water paint, gouache, oils, and in latter times even in acrylic. They worked on the back of the glass, adding the colours in layers, so that once one colour had been covered, retouching or alteration was impossible. The outline, details, signature and date were executed first, unlike an ordinary painting in which these come last. The artist then filled in the surfaces between the lines, and finally the background. Sous-verre painting was done on sheets of 2-3 mm thick glass, which had to be prepared so that the slippery glass would take the paint. Numerous different techniques were employed for this purpose, such as garlic in some European countries, and gum Arabic or other adhesives, diluted and applied with a brush were common. When the picture was completed it was backed with paper, cardboard, wood or paint to protect it. In Turkey painting under glass was mainly the preserve of untrained folk artists, who neglected to back their pictures, with the result that very few have survived. Different subjects were preferred for homes and work places.

Pictures of Sahmeran, a creature half-human and half-serpent who was a symbol of wisdom, were generally hung in houses, in the belief that they brought good fortune and health. The serpent has been a symbol of womanhood, and hence fertility and abundance, in many places around the world. Another picture is the Seven Sleepers (Eshab-i Kehf) motif, a calligraphic composition in the form of a galley, which was believed to bring prosperity. This was commonly hung in shops and offices. At one time coffeehouses were Istanbul's art galleries, and naturally the pictures hung on the walls reflected the political and religious inclinations of the time. Favourite subjects included a scene from the Sahmeran myth about Zaloglu Rüstem's defeat of Sefik the giant, Sührab's battle with the seven-headed dragon, and the Iron Wrestler fighting the lion. Early sous-verre paintings were done singly by hand, but as their popularity rose, they began to be mass produced, so that many identical copies of the same painting were to be seen. As well as people who were artists by trade, glaziers also turned their hand to painting under glass. The majority of these paintings originate in Istanbul, because this was where Turkey's glass producers were situated. However, a second centre of production was the city of Konya, where there was also a tradition of calligraphy and painting, encouraged by the teaching of the Mevlevi dervish order, whose founder Mevlânâ Celaleddin Rumi lived here in the 14th century. The sous-verre paintings of Konya were for the most part in the form of calligraphic compositions incorporating the name of Mevlânâ. In eastern and southeastern Turkey, meanwhile, pictures were inspired by Shiite symbolism. Paintings with religious subjects included calligraphic inscriptions, calligraphic compositions (in the form of mosques, ewers, jugs, fruit, birds and medallions), and views of Mecca, Medina, mosques and the Hejaz railway. Another genre was based on folk tales and myths, and finally there were imperial armorial devices.

The fragility of glass is one of the main reasons for the rarity of these delightful pictures, about whose anonymous artists very little is known. Some interesting examples can be seen at Topkapi Palace, and in the Museum of Divan Literature in Istanbul. There are also some of these pictures in private collections, such as those of Balkan Naci Islimyeli, Neveser Aksoy, Ömer Bortaçina, Sahin Paksoy and Hifzi Topuz. A handful of leading Turkish artists are now using the technique, including Mustafa Plevneli, Neveser Aksoy and Mevlut Akyildiz, so that it may be sous-verre is in for a revival.

Creating the window pattern

Though some of the tools to make stained glass windows have been improved, the windows are still hand crafted as they were centuries ago. The first step of the process involves the artist creating a small scale version of the final design. After the design has been approved, the craftsperson takes measurements or templates of the actual window openings to create a pattern. This pattern is usually drawn on paper or cardboard and is the actual size of the spaces to be filled with glass.

Next a full-sized drawing called the cartoon is prepared in black and white. From the cartoon, the cutline and pattern drawings are made. The modern cutline drawing is a careful, exact tracing of the leadlines of the cartoon on heavy paper. The leadlines are the outlines of the shapes for patterns to which the glass is to be cut. This drawing serves as the guide for the subsequent placing and binding with lead of the many pieces of glass.

The pattern-drawing is a carbon copy of the cutline drawing. It is cut along the black or lead lines with double-bladed scissors or a knife which, as it passes through the middle of the black lines, simultaneously cuts away a narrow strip of paper, thus allowing sufficient space between the segment of glass for the core of the grooved lead. This core is the supporting wall between the upper and lower flanges of the lead.

simple-glass-painting

Simple glass painting designs encourage to explore fabulous craft ideas, unleash creativity, make impressive room decor items and gifts. Glass painting adds charming details to simple objects, like plates, table glasses and vases. Colorless glass tableware items, decorated with paint, help create beautiful table decoration and unique gifts for holidays and birthdays.

Glass painting patterns can be simple or complicated, made with pastel or bright glass paint colors. Floral or geometric, striped or abstract glass painting designs can transform gifts for special occasions or holidays into striking masterpieces, and create very personal and attractive home or table decoration.

There is nothing particularly difficult in leaning glass painting techniques. Starting with simple glass painting design ideas and staying patient are all you need for leaning this great craft. Dots or stripes are not complicated vase, plate or wine glass painting design ideas, and can be your first diy projects.