Glasmalerei Peters - Continued Pt. 1.

The next job I worked on was also for the gift shop and it was again a screen printed design that I had to colour in.

(Fig.21. Madonna and Child with mixing palettes and colour samples to match original.)

This was an image of the Madonna and child. I first painted in the blue and yellow garments and yellow backdrop before firing, then added pink for the skin tones and more blue to the garments and background. It was very straight forward and I was happy with them because I think mine turned out better than the one I had to copy from.

The final project they gave me was the job of adding in painted shadows to a fused rose design. I tried the first rose with the same oil and turpentine mix as I had used before and then did the rest with water because it seemed to be easier. The oil was very hard to clean up after but the effect was softer, possibly a little nicer. I used black paint and stippled all of them.

(Fig.21. Completed Rose designs.)

The original design was by Albert Bocklage and they had been recreating the same image using lots of different techniques in order to show prospective clients the different possibilities that were available to produce a similar decorative effect.

I was also permitted to create my own work in the studio in my own time which was very kind of them and it was really nice for me to be able to work on my own creations. I translated drawings I had done in the past into painted glass.

(Figs.22. My finished work. Reclining woman design)

(Fig. 23. Sitting man design.)

I was extremely happy with my reclining woman image which I liked even better than the original, but the figurative painting of a man sitting I did I don't feel worked as well.

I am grateful of the opportunity I was given to come to Paderborn and work at the studios and Jan Peters especially was extremely kind to me. If later in my career I am ever in a position to get such a large commission I would not hesitate to go to this studio to get it made. The staff were all extremely competent and hard working and really cared about the art they were helping to realise. I would definitely recommend their services to anybody considering taking their designs abroad and would feel very safe in their capable hands. On a personal note however I found the experience quite isolating because I could not really communicate in any meaningful way with the people around me and I am sure had I been a little more multi-lingual the experience would have been quite different.